The Paul Carlson Partnership is now part of a strategic partnership that will reach from the boardroom of the Gates Foundation into the communities of the Ubangi. Here's how:

You may have seen the recent Newsweek article by Melinda Gates on the importance of being able to save money, and the difficulty that people in very poor areas encounter in simply finding a place to put it away. "At the Gates Foundation," she writes, "we've committed more than $350 million to make financial services widely accessible to the poor because we're convinced that safe places to save can help break the cycle of poverty." That's step 1.

In step 2, Opportunity International, the largest Christian microfinance organization in the world, received funds from that Gates program to establish microfinance operations in four African countries -- including the DR Congo.

And now step 3: The PCP has formed a partnership with Opportunity International to build on that Gates venture and extend banking and microfinance beyond Kinshasa to Gemena and the surrounding Ubangi area, where there are now no banks.

Banking, of course, requires an initial capital investment, and raising the necessary capital for the Ubangi extension of the program is PCP's part of the bargain. We need $1.2 million to bring a branch bank into Gemena, and $600,000 more to launch mobile banking--the best way to serve the rural villages.

Raising this amount of money is a challenge, but the good that this program can do for the people of northwest Congo is incalculable. Anyone interested in joining this strategic partnership by donating to the Ubangi extension, please contact PCP executive director Byron Miller.