Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-2.ED
L. Jones
In recent years, debates on microfinance have gravitated towards a discussion of financial inclusion and away from the role of microcredit in poverty reduction. A consensus has emerged that although microcredit may not reduce poverty, neither does it cause harm for the most part. At a minimum, access to microcredit gives people options for managing their financial lives, usually with greater predictability, privacy and dignity, while opening the door to other forms of financial service – certainly not something to be dismissed. But, now that financial inclusion (access to finance) is almost synonymous with the financial technologies (FinTech) that enable inclusion, is financial inclusion enough and what role does FinTech play?
{"title":"Guest editorial: Poverty reduction in the FinTech age","authors":"L. Jones","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-2.ED","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-2.ED","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, debates on microfinance have gravitated towards a discussion of financial inclusion and away from the role of microcredit in poverty reduction. A consensus has emerged that although microcredit may not reduce poverty, neither does it cause harm for the most part. At a minimum, access to microcredit gives people options for managing their financial lives, usually with greater predictability, privacy and dignity, while opening the door to other forms of financial service – certainly not something to be dismissed. But, now that financial inclusion (access to finance) is almost synonymous with the financial technologies (FinTech) that enable inclusion, is financial inclusion enough and what role does FinTech play?","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-2.ED","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42367620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-06-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.17-00013
Isabelle Guérin, M. Labie, Solène Morvant-Roux
Microcredit markets and institutions have experienced a certain number of major crises over the last decades. This paper aims to understand the dynamics that have led to those crises, including latent crises, by analysing a set of factors at three levels: customers, institutions, and markets. Based on multidisciplinary research, it provides a holistic and systemic understanding of microcredit crises and a graphic representation of the main causes and interactions. It calls for a broad conception of sustainability, which should be understood not only as a financial issue, but also as a sociocultural and political issue, at the level of both microfinance institutions (MFIs) and clients. The paper also identifies some of the key questions that anyone should ask when getting involved with microcredit programmes or institutions in order to avoid crises.
{"title":"Inadequate growth, over-indebtedness, and crises in microcredit: what have we learned?","authors":"Isabelle Guérin, M. Labie, Solène Morvant-Roux","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00013","url":null,"abstract":"Microcredit markets and institutions have experienced a certain number of major crises over the last decades. This paper aims to understand the dynamics that have led to those crises, including latent crises, by analysing a set of factors at three levels: customers, institutions, and markets. Based on multidisciplinary research, it provides a holistic and systemic understanding of microcredit crises and a graphic representation of the main causes and interactions. It calls for a broad conception of sustainability, which should be understood not only as a financial issue, but also as a sociocultural and political issue, at the level of both microfinance institutions (MFIs) and clients. The paper also identifies some of the key questions that anyone should ask when getting involved with microcredit programmes or institutions in order to avoid crises.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49566612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Across the world, programmes that reach the ultra-poor have a similar design, with few differences. Based on secondary literature and practical experience, this paper describes the key features, and examines the innovations and adaptations of the scale-up and replications of these programmes. A participatory review of the Targeting the Hard Core Poor programme forms the basis of the discussions, with references to CFPR, CLP, and CAIM programmes. The paper highlights very high success rates of ultra-poor programmes across the world and in India. The critical adaptations in replication include preference to inclusion errors over exclusion errors, confidence building of the ultra-poor women, an expanded choice of enterprises, flexible graduation indicators, and rigorous monitoring systems. Areas of further research include studying the sustainability of village-level institutions for protection of the ultra-poor. The paper cautions that ultra-poor programmes should not replace official social protection sche...
{"title":"Innovations for success and scale-up: an analysis of Bandhan’s Targeting the Hard Core Poor programme in India","authors":"Smita Premchander, Aindrila Mokkapati, Sumit Dutta","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00025","url":null,"abstract":"Across the world, programmes that reach the ultra-poor have a similar design, with few differences. Based on secondary literature and practical experience, this paper describes the key features, and examines the innovations and adaptations of the scale-up and replications of these programmes. A participatory review of the Targeting the Hard Core Poor programme forms the basis of the discussions, with references to CFPR, CLP, and CAIM programmes. The paper highlights very high success rates of ultra-poor programmes across the world and in India. The critical adaptations in replication include preference to inclusion errors over exclusion errors, confidence building of the ultra-poor women, an expanded choice of enterprises, flexible graduation indicators, and rigorous monitoring systems. Areas of further research include studying the sustainability of village-level institutions for protection of the ultra-poor. The paper cautions that ultra-poor programmes should not replace official social protection sche...","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"13-31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45869197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1ED
Smita Premchander, M. Harper
This special issue focuses on the ways in which microfinance and enterprise development initiatives do and do not help very poor people – that is, their capacity to ‘reach the poorest’.
{"title":"Guest editorial: Reaching the poorest with finance and enterprise support","authors":"Smita Premchander, M. Harper","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1ED","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1ED","url":null,"abstract":"This special issue focuses on the ways in which microfinance and enterprise development initiatives do and do not help very poor people – that is, their capacity to ‘reach the poorest’.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"1-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1ED","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44961013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1CF
F. Sinha, Rabeya Yasmin
Microfinance was started as a tool to address extreme poverty, or even ‘to put poverty in a museum’. There is continuing debate about whether it can or cannot do this. Some argue that microfinance can and does alleviate or even ‘cure’ poverty, others that it has little or no impact, or even that it may even exacerbates poverty, particularly for the very poorest people. Two well-informed protagonists from South Asia discuss this issue. Rabeya Yasmin worked for Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh for 19 years, and was director of the well-known BRAC targeting the ultra poor (TUP) programme. She was educated at the University of Dhaka and at the IDS in Sussex, and is a member of the boards of several institutions in Bangladesh. Frances Sinha is a Director and co-founder of M-Cril, the international financial services and social business rating and research agency, based in Delhi. She is originally from the United Kingdom but has lived and worked for over thirty years in India, but also throughout South Asia and Africa.
{"title":"Crossfire: Microfinance can serve the very poor, but does it?","authors":"F. Sinha, Rabeya Yasmin","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1CF","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1CF","url":null,"abstract":"Microfinance was started as a tool to address extreme poverty, or even ‘to put poverty in a museum’. There is continuing debate about whether it can or cannot do this. Some argue that microfinance can and does alleviate or even ‘cure’ poverty, others that it has little or no impact, or even that it may even exacerbates poverty, particularly for the very poorest people. Two well-informed protagonists from South Asia discuss this issue. Rabeya Yasmin worked for Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh for 19 years, and was director of the well-known BRAC targeting the ultra poor (TUP) programme. She was educated at the University of Dhaka and at the IDS in Sussex, and is a member of the boards of several institutions in Bangladesh. Frances Sinha is a Director and co-founder of M-Cril, the international financial services and social business rating and research agency, based in Delhi. She is originally from the United Kingdom but has lived and worked for over thirty years in India, but also throughout South Asia and Africa.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"7-12"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.2018.29-1CF","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41698139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.17-00016
S. Sinha, K. R. Pandey, N. Madan
There is a push for digitizing payments across the board in India. This has picked up steam after the demonetization of large currency notes in November 2016. But how ready and willing are low-income Indians (as well as low-income people in other developing countries) to adopt digital payments? This question needs more thought as there is a range of issues around mobile phone penetration, bank account features, acceptance of digital payments across value chains, and the viability of small transactions.
{"title":"Fintech and the demand side challenge in financial inclusion","authors":"S. Sinha, K. R. Pandey, N. Madan","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00016","url":null,"abstract":"There is a push for digitizing payments across the board in India. This has picked up steam after the demonetization of large currency notes in November 2016. But how ready and willing are low-income Indians (as well as low-income people in other developing countries) to adopt digital payments? This question needs more thought as there is a range of issues around mobile phone penetration, bank account features, acceptance of digital payments across value chains, and the viability of small transactions.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"94-98"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00016","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49108580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.17-00015
Annie Harper
This article is about the financial difficulties faced by people living in the United States who are poor and have mental illness, and a pilot programme seeking to help them. Millions of people in the United States cannot afford to meet their basic needs, and levels of unsustainable debt are high, given low incomes and a relatively high cost of living. People with mental illness are disproportionately represented among this group, even those who receive financial assistance from the government. The pilot project focused on helping people understand and make the best use of financial services, and worked with local banks and the government to try to improve locally available financial services. The United States has a great deal to learn from the experience of global microfinance. In addition, the benefits system must be reformed to increase people’s incomes, and reduce disincentives to saving and finding employment.
{"title":"Relegated to chronic poverty: financial difficulties faced by people with mental illness in the United States","authors":"Annie Harper","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00015","url":null,"abstract":"This article is about the financial difficulties faced by people living in the United States who are poor and have mental illness, and a pilot programme seeking to help them. Millions of people in the United States cannot afford to meet their basic needs, and levels of unsustainable debt are high, given low incomes and a relatively high cost of living. People with mental illness are disproportionately represented among this group, even those who receive financial assistance from the government. The pilot project focused on helping people understand and make the best use of financial services, and worked with local banks and the government to try to improve locally available financial services. The United States has a great deal to learn from the experience of global microfinance. In addition, the benefits system must be reformed to increase people’s incomes, and reduce disincentives to saving and finding employment.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"64-79"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42033972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.17-00011
G. Yaron, R. Gordon, J. Best, S. Choudhary
The Rojiroti approach to microfinance involves creation of women’s self-help groups (SHGs), rotated loans from savings, and subsequent credit from CPSL, a Bihar-based NGO. Rojiroti serves customers who are significantly poorer and more marginalized than those typically served by microfinance (MF) in India. In the data analysed, more than 90 per cent of members are from scheduled caste and tribes (62 per cent) or other disadvantaged castes. This paper analyses the impact of Rojiroti MF using panel data on 740 new SHG members and 340 women in matched control sites at baseline and after 18 months. We consider changes in assets, children’s education, empowerment, and domestic violence among other indicators. These results show significant gains for Rojiroti borrowers relative to control sites for important, but not all, variables. Comparison with more long-standing SHGs (at least 36 months) helps to explain how the borrowing patterns of poor and marginalized SHG members evolves.
{"title":"Microfinance for the marginalized: the impact of the Rojiroti approach in India","authors":"G. Yaron, R. Gordon, J. Best, S. Choudhary","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00011","url":null,"abstract":"The Rojiroti approach to microfinance involves creation of women’s self-help groups (SHGs), rotated loans from savings, and subsequent credit from CPSL, a Bihar-based NGO. Rojiroti serves customers who are significantly poorer and more marginalized than those typically served by microfinance (MF) in India. In the data analysed, more than 90 per cent of members are from scheduled caste and tribes (62 per cent) or other disadvantaged castes. This paper analyses the impact of Rojiroti MF using panel data on 740 new SHG members and 340 women in matched control sites at baseline and after 18 months. We consider changes in assets, children’s education, empowerment, and domestic violence among other indicators. These results show significant gains for Rojiroti borrowers relative to control sites for important, but not all, variables. Comparison with more long-standing SHGs (at least 36 months) helps to explain how the borrowing patterns of poor and marginalized SHG members evolves.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"80-93"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47429194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.17-00010
Jo Sanson, F. Bielsa, Saara Shanti Kumar
People with disabilities (PWDs) are overrepresented among those in extreme poverty. They are also often excluded, or self-exclude, from economic strengthening programmes. For the past six years, Trickle Up has had promising results in adapting graduation programmes to the needs of PWDs living in extreme poverty. Drawing upon mixed-method data analysis, participatory assessment, and case studies from six projects in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico involving 936 households with PWDs, this article discusses graduation programme design for PWDs in extreme poverty. This includes when and how to engage PWDs as primary programme participants, homogeneous versus integrated savings groups, the role of field staff in changing negative attitudes about disability in families, communities, and among PWDs themselves, and how ‘graduation’ itself should be conceptualized when working with specific vulnerabilities. Finally, consideration is given to the broader lessons for program designers and implementers engaging othe...
{"title":"Economic empowerment for people with disabilities through the graduation approach: lessons from Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico","authors":"Jo Sanson, F. Bielsa, Saara Shanti Kumar","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.17-00010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.17-00010","url":null,"abstract":"People with disabilities (PWDs) are overrepresented among those in extreme poverty. They are also often excluded, or self-exclude, from economic strengthening programmes. For the past six years, Trickle Up has had promising results in adapting graduation programmes to the needs of PWDs living in extreme poverty. Drawing upon mixed-method data analysis, participatory assessment, and case studies from six projects in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Mexico involving 936 households with PWDs, this article discusses graduation programme design for PWDs in extreme poverty. This includes when and how to engage PWDs as primary programme participants, homogeneous versus integrated savings groups, the role of field staff in changing negative attitudes about disability in families, communities, and among PWDs themselves, and how ‘graduation’ itself should be conceptualized when working with specific vulnerabilities. Finally, consideration is given to the broader lessons for program designers and implementers engaging othe...","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"49-63"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44623144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-03-01DOI: 10.3362/1755-1986.18-00002
I. Matin, Atiya Rahman
Headcount extreme poverty in Bangladesh has been declining since 2000, but how has the profile and income distribution of the poorest changed and what do these mean for intervention design and directions for innovations? Using national and BRAC datasets, we find important changes among the extreme poor over time including their income distribution, which has become more dispersed with a stronger positive skew. The overall economic progress seems to be lifting all boats. However, most of the extreme poor remain trapped in chronic poverty. Long-term escape out of extreme poverty, even for well-designed and well-executed programmes such as BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) programme, remains modest, though the overall impact is extremely positive. We suggest a few directions for future design to accelerate progress. This will require a bolder knowledge partnership between researchers working on rigorous evidence using experimental methods and behavioural insights, and practitioners.
{"title":"Changes in extreme poverty in Bangladesh (2000–2015): trend, dynamics, and implications for research and interventions","authors":"I. Matin, Atiya Rahman","doi":"10.3362/1755-1986.18-00002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3362/1755-1986.18-00002","url":null,"abstract":"Headcount extreme poverty in Bangladesh has been declining since 2000, but how has the profile and income distribution of the poorest changed and what do these mean for intervention design and directions for innovations? Using national and BRAC datasets, we find important changes among the extreme poor over time including their income distribution, which has become more dispersed with a stronger positive skew. The overall economic progress seems to be lifting all boats. However, most of the extreme poor remain trapped in chronic poverty. Long-term escape out of extreme poverty, even for well-designed and well-executed programmes such as BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) programme, remains modest, though the overall impact is extremely positive. We suggest a few directions for future design to accelerate progress. This will require a bolder knowledge partnership between researchers working on rigorous evidence using experimental methods and behavioural insights, and practitioners.","PeriodicalId":39025,"journal":{"name":"Enterprise Development and Microfinance","volume":"29 1","pages":"32-48"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3362/1755-1986.18-00002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44758072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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