Microfinance and Poverty Reduction

Abstract

* Acknowledgements * Introduction 1. Current debates in microfinance * Subsidised credit provision * The move to market-based solutions * Making use of social collateral * Savings Can microfinance interventions reduce poverty? o Poverty as powerlessness o Credit for micro-enterprises o Reaching the poorest * Financial interventions and social change * Treading carefully in microfinance interventions 2. Informal financial services * Introduction User-owned informal financial services o Some examples of user-owned financial services * Turning the informal into the formal * What can be learned from informal finance? * Deciding when and how to intervene o Research questions on existing informal financial services * Filling the gaps o Some examples of innovative services * Promotion: an alternative strategy for NGOs o Formation of savings groups and development of internal credit facilities o Promotion of small-scale formalised approaches o Linking groups to the formal system o Linking with specialised financial service NGOs o Advocacy * Summary and conclusions 3. The design of savings and credit schemes for poor people * Introduction * Targeting savings and credit to poor people * Women as users of financial services * Lending through groups o Functions of the group in microfinance schemes o Including the poorest o Other examples of group-based schemes * Savings o The value of savingd facility o Compulsory or valuntary savings? o Linking savings to credit * Forms of loan o Credit in cash or kind? o Directed or undirected credit? * Loan disbursement and repayment schedules * Interest rates * Integrating financial services with other activities 4. Savings and credit group formation and institution-building 5. Social development programmes 6. Economic development activities 7. Summary and conclusion 8. Financial performance and sustainability * Introduction * Managing and assessing financial performance o The repayment rate o Arreas and default * Financial sustainability o The pros and cons of 'scaling up o Issues in sustainability: the experience of 'village banking' o Sustainability through exstending coverage o Measuring financial sustainabilty * Managerial and organisational sustainability o The role of staff in microfinance interventions o Organisational sustainability and change * Summary and conclusions 9. Assessing impact * Introduction * The difficulties of assessing impact o Establishing loan use o Measuring change: controls and baselines o Proving causality * Innovations in impact assessment o Researching usefulness: a case study o Assessing impact on social relationships o Impact assessment as a dynamic process o Validating quantitative data in impact assessment o Using quantitative data in impact assessment * Learning and adaptability * Summary and conclusions 10. Case studies * Introducing the case studies * Union Regional de Apoyo Campesino (URAC), Mexico o Background o Design o Financial performance and sustainability o Impact assessment o Conclusions * SUNGI Developent Foundation, Pakistan o Background o Design o Financial performance and sustainability o Impact assessment o Conclusions * Ladywood Credit Union, UK o Background o Design o Financial performance and sustainability o Impact assessment o Conclusions * ACTIONAID in The Gambia o Background o Design o Financial performance and sustainability o Impact assessment o Conclusions * Casa Campesina Cayambe, Ecuador o Background o Design o Financial performance and sustainability o Impact assessment o Conclusions * Conclusions * Annex 1 Table 1 Six microfinance institutions * Annex 2 Repayment rate and arrears rate * References