By Yoon Ja-young
A series of global financial crises show just how much people are vulnerable to the irregularities of the financial system that dominates the world.
In response, several Christian scholars have gathered for the "International Seminar on Social Finance," to discuss how social finance can be an alternative.
Running from Nov. 4 to 8 across the country, the seminar includes notable speaker Dr Gert Van Maanen, former managing director of Oikocredit in the Netherlands.
Oikocredit is a global financier of microcredit ― using private capital, it lends money or invests in microcredit, cooperatives, and SMEs in developing countries.
Founded in 1975 by 80 Dutch churches, it boasts 630 million euros in capital and has provided loans to 860 microcredit organizations and cooperatives in 63 countries. More than 90 percent of its loans are paid back.
It is notable that Oikocredit had a record-high inflow of funds during the global financial crisis when the major Wall Street players collapsed.
During the seminar, Maanen will give tips on how to form a network of social financing organizations while expanding the network. He also explains how this model could help reunify the two Koreas. A united Korea would mean an exodus of people from the North, who would then form a new lower class. In this instance, microcredit would help stabilize their lives.
"In Korea, the government has adopted policies that encourage social enterprises," said Prof. Kim Yong-bok, chancellor of the Asia Pacific Center for Integral Study of Life, a main organizer of the seminar.
"Around 3,000 cooperatives have registered after enactment of related laws, and there has been a need to discuss where social financing policies should head. I think this seminar will be a good starting point," he said.
A series of global financial crises show just how much people are vulnerable to the irregularities of the financial system that dominates the world.
In response, several Christian scholars have gathered for the "International Seminar on Social Finance," to discuss how social finance can be an alternative.
Running from Nov. 4 to 8 across the country, the seminar includes notable speaker Dr Gert Van Maanen, former managing director of Oikocredit in the Netherlands.
Oikocredit is a global financier of microcredit ― using private capital, it lends money or invests in microcredit, cooperatives, and SMEs in developing countries.
Founded in 1975 by 80 Dutch churches, it boasts 630 million euros in capital and has provided loans to 860 microcredit organizations and cooperatives in 63 countries. More than 90 percent of its loans are paid back.
It is notable that Oikocredit had a record-high inflow of funds during the global financial crisis when the major Wall Street players collapsed.
During the seminar, Maanen will give tips on how to form a network of social financing organizations while expanding the network. He also explains how this model could help reunify the two Koreas. A united Korea would mean an exodus of people from the North, who would then form a new lower class. In this instance, microcredit would help stabilize their lives.
"In Korea, the government has adopted policies that encourage social enterprises," said Prof. Kim Yong-bok, chancellor of the Asia Pacific Center for Integral Study of Life, a main organizer of the seminar.
"Around 3,000 cooperatives have registered after enactment of related laws, and there has been a need to discuss where social financing policies should head. I think this seminar will be a good starting point," he said.
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