Women's micro credit groups in particular have demonstrated excellent credit histories with financial institutions and proved that the urban poor are bankable.

21. The UNCTAD initiated private BIL fund, investing in microfinance, has demonstrated to the international financial markets that the poor are bankable.

Inability to provide the required collateral and security or to provide adequate documentation or a bankable project tends to exclude SMEs from the formal financial sector.

Targeted research and or bankable projects focused on land degradation and poverty eradication should be given due consideration in the context of the UNCCD national, regional and subregional action programmes and within the framework of NEPAD.

Establishing national or regional project development facilities, possibly with donor support, could assist local authorities and community based organizations in preparing bankable water and other infrastructure project proposals, as part of broader national financing and budgeting systems.

61. Over the past two decades of providing financial aid, much of it through microcredit programmes for the poorest of the rural poor in developing countries, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) firmly believes that the poor are bankable .

Another policy option would be to mobilize donor financial support for national or regional project development facilities that would provide seed capital, training and technical assistance to national and local authorities and community based organizations in developing bankable project and programme proposals.

Experts believe the departure of the This Morning presenter, who is among Britain's most bankable stars, could cost the firm millions due to hefty investment in products ranging from cushions and candles to clothing and homewear, and the potential for further delays to its launch.

Under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, bankable projects have been prepared in more than 30 African countries and tremendous efforts have been made to develop a tracking mechanism to monitor the commitments made by African Governments to allocate 10 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture.

Innovative ways of harnessing the domestic capital markets for pro poor development include the use of appropriate risk sharing mechanisms to reduce the costs of lending in slum communities, as well as the development of bankable investment projects, possibly with support from donor financed national or regional project development facilities.