Microfinance Horizon

Author(s):

Katsushi S. Imai (Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK & Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, Japan)

Raghav Gaiha (Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India)

Ganesh Thapa (International Fund for Agricultural Development, Italy)

Samuel Kobina Annim (Economics, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK)

&
Aditi Gupta (Yes Bank, Mumbai)

Abstract:

Under the continued effects of global

Foreword:

This publication presents edited versions of the interventions made by the writers at a seminar organized by the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks (FEBEA) on the occasion of its Annual General Meeting held in Malta in April 2010. The theme of the seminar was Microcredit as a Tool of Ethical Financing for Sustainable Development. The views expressed are the authors. APS Bank is publishing these proceedings in order to widen the discussion on such an important subject. Microcredit is presently the theme under scrutiny in terms of the evolving market forms that it is

Presented by: Natalia Realpe Carrillo

Abstract:

This study investigates the influence of family ties on dynamics of microfinance lending groups. In collaboration with Servicios Financieros Alternativos S.A de C.V., S.F.P, a Mexican Microfinance Institution operating in the state of Oaxaca, we conducted a set of experimental one-shot games, involving randomly selected clients. A first experiment, focusing on risk-taking and repayment behavior, was composed of an individual lending game and a group lending game. In both cases, participants receive a loan that has to be invested either in a safe or

Author(s): Rachel Amosu , Jin Woo Kim, Coleen McMillon, & Robertha Reid (George Washington University)

Executive summary:

This study was undertaken with the support of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, the Overseas Development Institute, and the George Washington University. Through in-country and desk research, the research team assessed the extent to which multidimensional women‟s microfinance groups in Bolivia and Bangladesh are capable of supporting civic activism among chronically poor women. For the purpose of this paper, multidimensional microfinance programmes are defined as those that offer more than finance services; they

Author: Camille A. Sutton-Brown

Abstract:

The assumptions underlying the relationships between microfinance and women‟s empowerment are typically rooted in a financial paradigm, wherein the prevailing belief is that increases in economic resources necessarily lead to increases in women‟s empowerment.  This results in a conceptual erasure of the multi-dimensionality of empowerment and disregards the influences that microfinance has on women that extend beyond the economic sphere.  This study explored how 6 women in Mali perceive and experience empowerment in relation to their participation in a microfinance program using photovoice.   Photovoice is