DONATIONS POUR IN
Donors continue to send school supplies and financial support for our upcoming shipment to Fais. Habele board members will also be seeking donations and publisher contacts at this weekend’s South Carolina Book Festival. There is still time to send your books!


NEWS AND LINKS
Micro Finance as a tool for aid-in-development has been in the news again. While Muhammad Yunus was awarded a Nobel Prize for "efforts to create economic and social development from below" others argue that emerging markets need to fully embrace the rule of law and private property rights before they can functionally absorb the infusion of direct aid.

Quick introduction can be found at Wikipedia’s Micro Finance Entry. Also check out:

A Second Look at Microfinance:The Sequence of Growth and Credit in Economic History by Thomas Dichter of Cato’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

How the Scope of Government Shapes the Wealth of Nations by Brett D. Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation.

Governance and Foreign Aid Allocation Rand Graduate School Dissertation by Hamilton T. Akramov.

The Habele Outer Island Education fund is 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities and accomplishment in Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands. Visit Habele.org

As part of the upcoming National Peace Corps Week the Habele Outer Island Education Fund is compiling donated books and school supplies for the Island of Fais.

Generous donations of books have already arrived from the Pacific Northwest and New England. The cost of shipping will be covered by a donor who sent Habele a check last week in response to our annual report. Thanks for all your help!

A few Pacific news items:

Pacific States Bid for More Ocean Wealth
The West Australian - Perth, Australia,

Report: Guam Not Living Within Its Means
Pacific Daily News - Hagåtña,GU,USA

Canoes Nearing Micronesia
Honolulu Star-Bulletin – Honolulu,HI,USA

Baby Goats on Falalop Ulithi
PCV Micro Joe, Joe Andrews

Chinese Salvage Operation in Ulithi
Live Journal Entry, Ron Ledgerwood

Habele is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. The Fund has no paid employees and all US board members are former teachers who have lived and taught in the Outer Islands. Visit habele.org for more details!

Habele’s first annual report is receiving rave reviews from volunteers and donors to the Fund. We thank you all for your kind words of encouragement. Habele is now working on a major website revision and the development of print media in preparation for our 2007 summer fund raising campaign. All this PR will be the result of donated time and talent, ensuring Habele directs the bulk of its financial resources to scholarships for the 2007-08 school year. More details in the weeks ahead. In the mean time here are some Outer Island links from around the web.

Paradise, if you can find it
Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2007
Yap, one among the Caroline Islands, is in the Western Pacific and part of the Federated States of Micronesia, or FSM. I visited last summer with my ...

FSM Congress Passes Govt Worker Wage Hike
The Kaselehlie Press, January 29, 2007
At the Christmas and New Year celebration of the FSM National Government on January 12 Speaker Peter Christian had a grand announcement to make….

Guam's environment, culture may be factors in homelessness problem
Pacific Daily News, January 29, 2007
How do we wind up, on this small island, having so many homeless people? I think it is a great thing that a coalition of concerned groups get together to count the homeless on Guam. But I would think it is a far better thing not to just count them…

Also check out www.olekoi.com for an excellent overview of all things Central Pacific and visit www.myspace.com/14582929 to see Habele's new Myspace page photos.

To download a PDF copy of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund FY 2006 Annual Report visit Habele.org and click on downloads.

The format for this report is based upon the “CIAO” acronym which stands for Customer Feedback, Incentives, Accountability, and Outcomes. Dr. William Easterly, a fellow at the Center for Global Development and a former research economist at the World Bank, developed this rigorous standard of evaluation for foreign aid in development. The report also includes copies of Habele’s IRS 501(c)3 tax exemption determination letter. Among the highlights are nearly $3,000 in scholarships awarded to students from the remote and underdeveloped atolls of Yap State.

The Habele Outer Island Education fund is 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities and accomplishment in Micronesia’s remote Outer Islands.