Fri, 03 Jul 2009

Waldorf crisis intervention team allowed to return to Gaza

KARLSRUHE (NNA) – A crisis intervention team sent to Gaza by the international Waldorf organisation Friends of Waldorf Education to help traumatised children following Isræl’s military offensive at the start of the year can now return to the territory.

As NNA reported at the time, the team had been forced to leave Gaza on the urgent advice of the German foreign office and the UN after Egypt said it would close the Rafah crossing point and that thereafter teams working in Gaza would no longer be allowed to cross back into Egypt.

Although it initially remained in El Arish on the Egyptian side of the border in the hope that it would be allowed to return again soon, the team eventually had no choice but to go back to Germany when it became clear that there would be no quick change in the situation.

Now Friends of Waldorf Education has announced that a ten-member team will return to Gaza from 14 to 27 July, once again with the support of the German foreign office, to resume its work.

“We will work together with our established Palestinian partners in Gaza City – the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme und the Al Qattan Centre for trauma work as well as the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, a school for deaf children,” the Friends said in a press release.

“Since it is school holidays during the period of our deployment, the team will also work in the customary holiday camps,” the organisation added.

A new field of deployment for the team will be training adults. “We will use workshops to provide training for teachers and carers in working with psychologically traumatised children,” the statement said.

The aim is to communicate the basic theory and on that basis teach in a practical way the various Waldorf educational methods.

“Together with our Palestinian partners, we want to build on the educational successes of our previous deployment and further deepen our collaboration,” the Friends said.

Because of its decades-long experience in helping children in war zones or in the wake of natural disasters – most recently in Lebanon in 2006/2007 and the earthquake in China last year – Friends of Waldorf Education decided to send the intervention team to Gaza to provide acute assistance to children and their families traumatised by the recent fighting.

Numerous children who came under fire have been psychologically traumatised and require urgent help to prevent or reduce the psychological after-effects such as post-traumatic stress, Friends of Waldorf Education says.

Waldorf education and the various anthroposophical forms of therapy were particularly suited for this purpose, the organisation adds.

Crisis intervention teams consist of physicians, therapists and health and education professionals with experience in crisis intervention work.

The organisation is also still appealing for funds to cover the costs of the deployment. In February the costs were estimated at 43,000 euros (£37,000, US$60,000). (Bank details below).

END/nna/cva

Link: www.freunde-waldorf.de/die-freunde/arbeitsbereiche/pædagogische-nothilfe/

Bank account for donations: Name: Freunde der Erziehungskunst Rudolf Steiners, Bank: GLS Gemeinschaftsbank Bochum, Bank Sort Code: 430 609 67, Acc. No.: 13042010, Reference: “pädagogische Nothilfe”

Item: 090703-01EN Date: 3 July 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

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Thu, 02 Jul 2009

Keeping the inner fire of freedom alive: APAC-AWTC conference in Manila

By NNA correspondent Walter Siegfried Hahn

MANILA (NNA) – How can children in a society increasingly dominated by artificial and cognitive technologies still develop meaningful values, attitudes, skills and abilities? And how can Waldorf education contribute to protecting childhood and helping children cultivate the “inner fire of freedom”?

These were the themes for discussion at the week-long Asian Waldorf Teachers Conference (AWTC) and the Asia Pacific Anthroposophical Conference (APAC) held in May at the Seimeo Innotech centre in Quezon City in the Philippines.

The majority of participants came from the host country as well as China and Taiwan. As in the Philippines, a growing number of anthroposophical initiatives, above all Waldorf projects, can be observed in China and Taiwan where the transformation of the status quo in schools and other areas of society is being tackled with great enthusiasm.

But even if fewer people attended from countries such as Nepal, Vietnam, Malaysia or Indonesia, it became clear that in these places, too, there is great impetus to work with anthroposophy and the conference was an important event to connect with the sources.

That this was possible was due, not least, to the contributions from prominent speakers such as Hans Mulder from New Zealand and Paul Mackay, Cornelius Pietzner and Christof Wiechert from Dornach.

It was Wiechert who identified the spirit of new departure, which one participant compared to the years 1923/24 in Europe, and he accordingly spoke in his daily morning lectures about the beginning years of the Waldorf movement.

In his opening address, Raph Lazo from the Anthroposophical Group in the Philippines had already pointed to the special importance of the conference, something which was then elaborated in the many individual seminars and courses. In his own APAC workshop, “I am a TV baby”, Lazo tackled the central conference theme, as did many other seminar leaders: the current trends in technological development and their influence on the development of the child.

The topics discussed were probably familiar to most in the Waldorf environment but the message was no less uncompromising for that: the necessity of self-development by teachers and educators, intensification of relationships, as well as strengthening of the will from nutrition through the rhythmical structure of lessons to the intensification of sensory activities and movement.

Basic principles were discussed in contributions about ecology (Mulder), economics (Mackay) and community (Pietzner), since it was clearly assumed that the audience might be less well informed about these subjects.

Hans Mulder spoke about the way our images of the earth and its landscapes shape it. Paul Mackay dealt with the three qualities of money: purchase money, loan money and gift money, emphasised the necessity of gift money to support culture and spoke of the transition from slave labour to the labour market to the service economy. He left the question open how the respective qualities of money could be transformed.

Cornelius Pietzner spoke on the basis of his own experience of community, having grown up in a Camphill community. He too spoke about three pillars, this time related to community: the common idea is just as much a condition as constant and adequate communication and the diversity of opportunity.

At the teachers’ conference, Wiechert’s morning lectures were accompanied by workshops on the various classes and subjects. Many of them were led by participants from the Philippines, Taiwan and India. But there were also contributions from Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand.

Each day ended with an artistic performance. If the first day was concluded with indigenous music from the Philippines, the second ended with dance and music from PETA (Philippine Educational Theater) which has strong links with the Waldorf school movement and uses Waldorf elements in its workshops. Subsequent evenings showcased performances from the participating countries and the teachers’ colleges from the various Philippine schools.

When the participants departed at the end of the conference, they had many stimulating ideas to take back to their home countries.

The conference was supported by the Friends of Waldorf Education in Berlin, the Anthroposophical Group in the Philippines und the Manila Waldorf School.

Background: The first meeting of anthroposophical initiatives in the Asian region took place in 1996, also in Manila, with 25 participants. If at that time seven countries were represented (Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, USA), the number of countries had doubled by the time of this seventh meeting with participants also from China, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. They were joined by speakers and seminar leaders from Britain, Germany, Isræl and Switzerland.

The dates for the next conferences, which take place in a two-yearly rhythm, have been set for 29 April to 6 May 2011 in India. At the same time there was a lively discussion how the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s birth might be appropriately celebrated in many different locations in Asia.

END/nna/wsh/cva

Item: 090702-01EN Date: 2 July 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Tue, 30 Jun 2009

Creating an unbroken world: obituary for Jakob Streit

The much-translated Swiss writer of children’s books and books for young people, Jakob Streit, died in Switzerland on 15 May at the age of 98. In the following obituary by Dominik Rose, the publishers Freies Geistesleben and Urachhaus celebrate one of their most successful authors

STUTTGART (NNA) – Born on 23 September 1910 in Spiez on Lake Thun, Jakob Streit published more than thirty books for children and young people. The city of Bern honoured him with its literary prize in 1956 and many of his works have been translated into English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Czech and Slovenian.

One focus of his literary work was on animal stories, fairy tales, legends and the retelling of Biblical stories, books which enjoy great popularity among children and adolescent readers. “When I stopped being a teacher,” Jakob Streit once said, “I felt as if I was surrounded by children and young people who helped me as I was writing.”

Apart from his literary work, Jakob Streit worked as a teacher for many years and never ceased to be in demand as a speaker on education and anthroposophy.

In addition, this versatile artist worked, among other things, as an actor in the theatre and opera director (directing Gluck’s “Orpheus” in Chieming in 1989 for example). A keen nature lover, he passionately devoted himself to beekeeping.

With his books, Streit wanted to reintroduce his young readers - but also their parents telling the stories - to nature, awaken the artist in the child and contribute to a more profound understanding of nature and the human being (for example in “Das Bienenbuch” (The Book of Bees) and his popular novel in schools “Milon und der Löwe” (Milon and the Lion)).

“Children should be given a lot of unbroken world, they will get the broken one soon enough,” the teacher and children’s author once said. He saw children as “little plants which had to be protected from the frost”.

They should only gradually and cautiously be confronted with the evil in the world and stories and fairy tales could support that process. As a result, he created the childhood legends, books about gnomes and animals which were intended to introduce the reader – be it children or adults – to the wonders of nature.

Alongside the “Book of Bees”, the stories about gnomes “Tatatucks Reise zum Kristallberg“ (Tatatucks Journey to the Crystal Mountain”) and “Liputto”, as well as “Louis Braille”, a biographical novel about the inventor of braille who celebrates his two hundredth birthday this year, belong to his most successful works

The publishers Freies Geistesleben and Urachhaus, who published many of Jakob Streit’s books, have lost a versatile and inspiring author who with his poetic and empathetic stories had a particular sense for the feelings of his young readers.

Jakob Streit – 23 September 1910–15 May 2009

END/nna/cva

Item: 090630-02EN Date: 30 June 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

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Nicanor Perlas announces candidature for Philippine presidential election

By NNA correspondent Walter Siegfried Hahn

MANILA (NNA) - The leading Philippine activist Nicanor Perlas (59) has announced that he intends to stand as a candidate in next year’s presidential elections. The elections will take place in spring 2010 but no firm date has yet been set.

Speaking at the launch of his campaign on 17 June, Perlas said he was standing because he wanted to give Filipinos a real choice. He emphasised in a short address that he had been working actively for the country and its people for the last 40 years.

He said he had been particularly pleased that he had successfully managed to introduce elements of social threefolding into national and international institutions.

Social threefolding draws on ideas first introduced by the social thinker Rudolf Steiner which seek to separate out and redefine the relationship between politics, culture and economics and represent a revolutionary approach to addressing local and global problems.

If he is elected, Perlas said his focus would be on combating poverty in a country where 50 percent of the population still have to survive on less than one dollar a day.

Perlas launched his campaign at the Heroes Memorial in Quezon City, a place which is particularly evocative as it commemorates among other things the peaceful and non-violent People Power revolution which overthrew the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Perlas first came to prominence in the early 1970s when he organised protests against the construction of the Bataan nuclear power plant (BNPP). He helped to uncover the massive bribery and fraud surrounding the purchase and construction of the BNPP and subsequently contributed to the mothballing of the plant when he was appointed technical consultant to an enquiry during the administration of President Corazon Aquino which found the plant to be defective.

He also played a key role in keeping the Philippines nuclear free, stopping the government from implementing their plan to build 12 nuclear power plants.

The environmental and social activist has so far rejected the public offices offered to him, including environment minister, but now considers the time to be ripe for a change. At the same time he said he would be willing to step aside if a “better qualified candidate” turned up.

Perlas added that he had decided to announce his decision to stand for the presidency at this time because of the attempt to change the 1986 constitution to keep President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in power, a process which reached a culmination at the beginning of June.

He said he saw this as an attempt to give “permanent totalitarian control over the country to the current administration under the cover of democracy”. He saw the current administration as worse than the Marcos regime.

“Marcos controlled and damaged the institutions of society. But Arroyo is increasingly taking control of our morality and thinking,” he wrote in a circular earlier this month. Following subjugation by the Spanish, Americans and Japanese, the country was now confronted by subjugation from its own.

Of his achievements, Perlas is cited by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the country’s leading dailies, as being proudest of the “societal three-folding” framework he drafted, which was later adopted by the United Nations as a strategy in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Perlas first used the framework in crafting the Philippine Agenda 21, a blueprint for sustainable development, during the term of President Fidel Ramos, the paper writes, and was presented and adopted during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in 1996.

Perlas was disappointed that while the framework is being implemented not only by the United Nations but also by advanced economies, the Arroyo administration had ignored it.

He said that while Presidents Ramos and Estrada attempted to integrate business and civil society in governance, Arroyo had not: “The government alone cannot do the job if the business sector and civil society are not involved,” the paper quotes him as saying.

Perlas is a pioneer of anthroposophy and biodynamic agriculture in the Philippines. He is also involved in many other fields, such as the training of Waldorf teachers, and is consulted by many organisations from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference to the OCCI Seminars management consultancy.

As part of his environmental record, he succeeded in having 32 particularly harmful pesticides banned, reducing the chronic pesticide poisoning of millions of farmers.

Furthermore, in the political field he played a key role in developing the detailed strategies that eventually succeeded in removing President Estrada from office in 2001 following allegations of corruption.

It is, however, an irony of fate that this opened the way to Estrada’s vice president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to succeed him – the same Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who is now attempting to cling to power.

Perlas has received many national and international honours, including the Right Livelihood Award – also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize - in 2003.

In 1994 the UN presented him with the Global 500 or Champions of the Earth Award. And in the Philippines he was honoured with the Outstanding Filipino Award, one of the country’s most important honours.

Nicanor Perlas has been preparing his candidacy for a considerable time. The Karangalan conferences since 2005 served to build a broader base of sympathisers and he has also used the PAGASA organisation to gather a group of responsible multipliers.

It was in these circles that he launched two articles in May about “winnability” and how an election might be won the “non-traditional way” by a candidate who is not necessarily a face well-known in the media in a country where previously a film actor like Estrada or the current boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao has much better prospects of political office because of their TV presence than a candidate who might be much better qualified.

But here, too, Perlas has attempted to take his fate in his own hands – since the start of the year he has been hosting his own TV talk show. Whether he can enhance his popularity in comparison to western heroes and sports celebrities through intelligent conversation will become evident over the coming weeks and months.

END/nna/wsh/cva

Links: www.nicanorperlas.com, www.truthforce.info, www.pagasa.net.ph

Item: 090630-01EN Date: 30 June 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Mon, 01 Jun 2009

Swiss vote in favour of complementary medicine

BERN (NNA) – The Swiss have voted significantly in favour of a greater recognition of the role played by complementary medicine. In a referendum on 17 May, more than two thirds of those voting (67 percent) expressed their support for the proposition that alternative forms of treatment should be formally recognised in the Swiss constitution.

The new constitutional provision now makes it incumbent on the federal and cantonal authorities to ensure that complementary medicine is “fully taken into account.”

The referendum concerned anthroposophical medicine, classic homoeopathy, neural therapy, phytotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine.

Reporting the result, NZZ Online said the new constitutional norm was intended to ensure that complementary medicine is better integrated into the health care system and is better coordinated with conventional medicine. “Now it is largely up to parliament to decide how the popular will should be implemented in concrete terms – in training for example – and how much money is to be spent on it,” NZZ Online said.

One of the demands in the referendum was that complementary medicine should once again be covered by the basic health insurance provision. Health minister Pascal Couchepin introduced legislation in 2005 which removed these five types of medical treatment from basic health insurance.

“This clear statement of support by the people for holistic medicine, which puts the focus back on the individual, will also significantly strengthen the position of anthroposophical medicine in the Swiss health care system,” Herbert Holliger, chief executive of “anthrosana”, the Swiss association for anthroposophically extended medicine, said.

The result of the Swiss referendum was also welcomed in Germany. The umbrella organisation for anthroposophical medicine in Germany, DAMID, said in a statement that the referendum result in Switzerland reflected the support for complementary medicine in Germany. Studies in recent years had shown that the great majority of patients wanted an integrated holistic medical approach.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), both traditional medicine (TM) and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are of rapidly growing importance with regard to the health system and the economy.

In some Asian and African countries, eighty percent of the population depend on traditional medicine for primary health care. In many developed countries, seventy to eighty percent of the population has used some form of alternative or complementary medicine, the WHO says.

Herbal treatments were the most popular form of traditional medicine, and were highly lucrative in the international marketplace: annual revenues in Western Europe reached five billion US dollars in 2003-2004. In China sales of products totalled 14 billion US dollars in 2005. Herbal medicine revenue in Brazil was 160 million US dollars in 2007, according to WHO figures.

Indeed, a WHO study has found that in many parts of the world expenditure on TM/CAM in general is not only significant, but growing rapidly. In Malaysia, an estimated 500 million US dollars are spent annually on this type of health care, compared to about 300 million US dollars on allopathic medicine. In the USA, “total 1997 out-of-pocket CAM expenditure” was estimated at 2,700 million US dollars. In Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, annual CAM expenditure is estimated at 80 million, 2,400 million and 2,300 million US dollars respectively, the WHO reports in its “Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002-2005”.

END/nna/cva

Item: 090601-01EN Date: 1 June 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Fri, 29 May 2009

Reconnecting values to banking: Princess Maxima addresses Global Alliance for Banking on Values

ZEIST (NNA) – Princess Maxima of the Netherlands has called for a return to basic values in the banking sector. Speaking at the establishment of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values earlier this year, the Princess, herself an economist and member of the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors, said that core values of banking – trust, building sustainable and long-term relationships, and offering products that add real value – were more relevant than ever.

The Alliance - founded by Triodos Bank in the Netherlands, the BRAC Bank in Bangladesh, part of the BRAC Group, the globally largest microfinance institution in the world, and the ShoreBank from Chicago - includes banks from across the world, among them the German GLS Bank, XacBank from Mongolia, the Peruvian Mibanco and Banex in Nicaragua (for a full list see NNA report “Global alliance to promote sustainable banking”, 29 May 2009).

The Princess praised the establishment of the Global Alliance: “I understand the Global Alliance for Banking on Values has ambitious goals, to set inspiring examples of what banking can really do. Examples that will encourage the expansion of the boundaries of mainstream finance and contribute to social innovation in the financial sector.”

Over the last few months it had become clear how important it was to have and develop a sound inclusive financial system that not only promoted growth and reduced income inequality but also gave customers financial services they really needed and could afford: “Because with it we can safeguard our people’s savings and protect the financial system as a whole,” Princess Maxima said.

However, the Princess also highlighted the fact that over two billion people worldwide remained excluded from the financial services “we take for granted”. The possibility to save in a savings account had also been lagging. Only 20 percent of the world population had access to a savings account against more than 90 percent in the countries of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - the club of mostly rich economies).

The same two billion people did not have access to electricity, oil or gas to cook and for daily living either: “This perpetuates the poverty trap and undermines attempts to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals while putting pressure on economically important ecosystems such as forest for fuel and charcoal.” It was a huge challenge, “but can also be a business opportunity to build alternative energy systems and healthy environments,” the Dutch Royal said.

Highlighting the role of the microfinance institutions, Princess Maxima said that this is where microfinance banks could play a huge role. To date BRAC in Bangladesh, for example, had successfully installed 37,000 solar panels bringing sustainable energy to 180,000 people living in remote areas.

There was also a strong business case for using microfinance for sanitation and waste management activities: SEWA in Gujarat in India had formed a for-profit company with women’s self-help groups by training them through an external agency to be “barefoot” engineers. The skills had enabled women not only to provide services for water and sanitation needs of the villagers but also to address the broader infrastructure needs they may have.

“I can quote similar examples of microfinance involved with water irrigation systems, healthy and efficient cooking stoves, water filtering systems, and so on,” the Princess said.

Financial institutions could be the catalyst for change: “In the past three years I have seen the power of microfinance banks to change people’s lives and to benefit communities and societies as a whole,” she added.

The UN advisor said she was delighted that some of the leading microfinance institutes were founding members of the Alliance.

However, Princess Maxima also saw lessons for the developed economies which are currently suffering serious economic downturns as a result of the financial crisis which is massively restricting access by business to finance, leading to company failures and rising unemployment.

“Banks in developed countries, too, have much to learn from microfinance banks about how to efficiently and effectively provide microfinance.” Financial development and improving access to finance accelerated economic growth, reduced poverty and income inequality, the Princess said.

The Dutch Royal also emphasised the importance of transparency in banking and the financial education of consumers: “While access to financial services is crucial, it requires informed consumers who understand the obligation they are undertaking and have the ability to fulfil it. If people are borrowing money, they depend on a lender treating them fairly, with clear and transparent loan terms.”

The current global financial crisis was in part due to the absence of these factors, and to overzealous marketing of inappropriate loan products to vulnerable consumers, many of whom did not fully understand what they were getting themselves into. There was an appropriate role for the government in establishing “light touch” but adequate, market regulation, and establishing and promoting effective programs that informed consumers about financial services. “And it is the role of banks and microfinance institutions to have consumer protection and transparency written into the DNA of their organisation,” Princess Maxima said.

As one example of responsible stewardship, the UN advisor cited the case of Banex in Nicaragua, another member of the Alliance. Banex had installed an ombudsman who dealt with client complaints as part of a programme for client protection.

The Princess also raised the role of governments and regulators. A subject which had come up consistently in her work for the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors was whether there should be a ceiling on interest rates for micro-credits. “Our argument would be, and this has been proven in many countries, that market-forces like competition drive down interest rates over time. If governments chose to regulate interest rates and set ceilings, they limit commercial growth of microfinance institutions, stifle competition and increased efficiency and ultimately restrict access to finance for more people,” she said.

However, this argument was more difficult to make in the exceptional cases where microfinance institutions saw profit as an end in itself rather than a means to an end. It was hard to explain why shareholders of a microfinance institution should earn extraordinary profits at the expense of poor people paying extremely high interest rates.

“In the end this is about balance. Balance between all financial institutions’ stakeholders is essential - from clients and shareholders to co-workers and management,” the Princess said. “In the current climate, the roles of the banks in this Alliance could be to set an example for the financial industry as a whole to follow, to show how this balance between stakeholders and the balance between people, planet and profit can work as a successful business model.”

In conclusion, Princess Maxima told the Alliance: “We also need banks that drive the social and environmental change the world needs to meet the greatest challenges of our time. I hope this group of frontrunners will play a leading role in that task and that many will join you in your mission. I wish you all the wisdom and vision to make this Global Alliance into a starting point for connecting values to banking.”

Prinzessin Maxima has been married to the Dutch heir apparent, Willem-Alexander, since 2002. She comes from Argentina and before her marriage worked for various financial institutions and banks, including Deutsche Bank in New York and Brussels. Apart from her current UN advisor role on inclusive financial sectors, She was also involved in the Advisors Group to the International Year of Microcredit 2005. She has three daughters.

END/nna/cva

Item: 090529-02EN Date: 29 May 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/

Global alliance to promote sustainable banking

ZEIST (NNA) - The worldwide crisis in the financial sector provides the opportunity to move towards a more sustainable form of banking. That is the view of 11 banks who are the worldwide leaders in sustainable banking and who make up the Global Alliance for Banking on Values which was launched in the Netherlands earlier this year.

The banks aim to offer a socially, ecologically and economically sustainable alternative to the crisis-ridden financial markets as they exist today.

The Alliance - founded by Triodos Bank in the Netherlands, the BRAC Bank in Bangladesh, part of the BRAC Group, the globally largest microfinance institution in the world, and the ShoreBank from Chicago - includes banks from across the world, among them the German GLS Bank, XacBank from Mongolia, the Peruvian Mibanco and Banex in Nicaragua (for a full list see end of report).

Together the 11 banks dispose over assets of more than 10 billion US dollars and look after seven million customers worldwide.

Speaking at the launch of the Alliance, Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, herself a former banker and UN advisor on financial topics, praised the establishment of the Global Alliance: “I understand the Global Alliance for Banking on Values has ambitious goals, to set inspiring examples of what banking can really do. Examples that will encourage the expansion of the boundaries of mainstream finance and contribute to social innovation in the financial sector.”

“I hope this group of frontrunners will play a leading role in that task and that many will join you in your mission. I wish you all the wisdom and vision to make this Global Alliance into a starting point for connecting values to banking,” the Princess said.

To qualify for membership, each institution has to meet three criteria: that they are independent and licensed banks with a focus on retail customers; that they have a minimum balance sheet of 100 million US dollars; and that they should be committed to responsible financing and the triple bottom line of people, planet and profit.

The new partnership plans to develop new ways of working, build organisations better suited to long-term sustainable thinking, and new forms of ownership and economic cooperation, Triodos Bank said in a press release.

“Unlike their enormous mainstream contemporaries, these banks are profitable, growing and crisis resistant. When it was unfashionable to do so they stuck to simple, core banking services that balance people, planet and profit,” Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank, said at the launch of the Alliance.

“There’s no one single answer to the global financial crisis. There are many. But the leaders of these organisations, acting on an international stage, hold many of them. Together they are an extraordinary force for change,” he continued.

“We are increasingly dependent on each other economically, wherever we live in the world,” the press release quotes Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of BRAC, as saying.

“If we are to tackle the global problems we face, we are going to need international action to do it. We believe these banks have the potential to change the architecture of the financial world, and start delivering lasting solutions for unserved and underserved communities and sectors,” Fazle Hasan Abed said.

Mary Houghton, president of the ShoreBank Corporation, said: “We will promote responsible finance - supporting existing banks and helping to develop new ones.”

“We will lead the debate on the banking models we think could inspire profound changes in the mainstream financial industry. We won’t just talk about change, we will work together to deliver it,” she added.

End/nna/cva

The Global Alliance for Banking on Values comprises: Alternative Bank ABS, Switzerland, Banca Popolare Etica, Italy, Banex, Banco del Exito, Nicaragua, BRAC Bank and BRAC Microfinance Programme, Bangladesh, GLS Bank, Germany, Merkur Bank, Denmark, Mibanco, Banco de la Microempresa, Peru, New Resource Bank, United States, ShoreBank Corporation, United States, Triodos Bank, The Netherlands, XacBank, Mongolia.

Item: 090529-01EN Date: 29 May 2009

Copyright 2009 News Network Anthroposophy Limited. All rights reserved. See: www.nna-news.org/copyright/

More NNA reports at: www.nna-news.org/en/