LIST OF BOOKS ON MICROFINANCE

Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance

Author:  Mike Goldberg, Eric Palladini

Publish Date:  August 2010

Summary:

This book covers risk management topics such as risk management systems, good governance, interest rates, and microinsurance. The authors present information on new product development and efficient delivery methodologies including housing microfinance, microleasing, disaster preparedness, and new technologies. It is intended for microfinance institutions (MFIs) board members, managers, and staff, students and professors of microfinance, and government regulators and supervisors.

The book brings together the latest information on microfinance institutional sustainability from leading international experts and microfinance practitioners in four Latin American countries. Each chapter focuses one topic: risk management; good governance; interest rates; microinsurance; housing microfinance; microleasing; disaster preparedness; or new technologies.

The papers in the book are the result of a series of meetings financed by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and supported by the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network. The Bank engaged practitioners in these four countries in response to a movement in some South American governments to impose policies and practices that would, in the long run, reduce the MFIs’ sustainability. The meetings were designed to strengthen MFIs by disseminating innovative approaches in the above eight areas, promoting a South-South dialogue, encouraging greater ties between these MFIs, and highlighting the Bank’s ability to mobilize international experts and local practitioners. The discussions took place between 2006 and 2008.

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

Author:  Muhammad Yunus

Publish Date:  October 2003

Summary:

It began with a simple $27 loan. After witnessing the cycle of poverty that kept many poor women enslaved to high-interest loan sharks in Bangladesh, Dr. Muhammad Yunus lent money to 42 women so they could purchase bamboo to make and sell stools. In a short time, the women were able to repay the loans while continuing to support themselves and their families. With that initial eye-opening success, the seeds of the Grameen Bank, and the concept of microcredit, were planted.

After earning a Ph.D. in economics at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Yunus returned to Bangladesh to settle into a life as a professor. But a famine in 1974 ravaged the country, leading Dr. Yunus to alter his thinking and his life profoundly: "What good were all my complex theories when people were dying of starvation on the sidewalks and porches across from my lecture hall?.... Nothing in the economic theories I taught reflected the life around me." Armed with little more than a lofty dream to end the suffering around him, he started an experimental microcredit enterprise in 1977; by 1983 the Grameen Bank was officially formed.

The idea behind the Grameen Bank is ingeniously simple: extend credit to poor people and they will help themselves. This concept strikes at the root of poverty by specifically targeting the poorest of the poor, providing small loans (usually less than $300) to those unable to obtain credit from traditional banks. At Grameen, loans are administered to groups of five people, with only two receiving their money up front. As soon as these two make a few regular payments, loans are gradually extended to the rest of the group. In this way, the program builds a sense of community as well as individual self-reliance. Most of the Grameen Bank's loans are to women, and since its inception, there has been an astonishing loan repayment rate of over 98 percent.

The Economics of Microfinance

Author:  Jonathan Morduch, Beatriz Armendariz

Publish Date:  May 2010

Summary:

The microfinance revolution, begun with independent initiatives in Latin America and South Asia starting in the 1970s, has so far allowed 65 million poor people around the world to receive small loans without collateral, build up assets, and buy insurance. This comprehensive survey of microfinance seeks to bridge the gap in the existing literature on microfinance between academic economists and practitioners. Both authors have pursued the subject not only in academia but in the field; Beatriz Armendariz founded a microfinance bank in Chiapas, Mexico, and Jonathan Morduch has done fieldwork in Bangladesh, China, and Indonesia.

The authors move beyond the usual theoretical focus in the microfinance literature and draw on new developments in theories of contracts and incentives. They challenge conventional assumptions about how poor households save and build assets and how institutions can overcome market failures. The book provides an overview of microfinance by addressing a range of issues, including lessons from informal markets, savings and insurance, the role of women, the place of subsidies, impact measurement, and management incentives. It integrates theory with empirical data, citing studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and introducing ideas about asymmetric information, principal-agent theory, and household decision making in the context of microfinance.

The Economics of Microfinance can be used by students in economics, public policy, and development studies. Mathematical notation is used to clarify some arguments, but the main points can be grasped without the math. Each chapter ends with analytically challenging exercises for advanced economics students.

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits

Author:  C.K. Prahalad

Publish Date:  October 2009

Summary:

"C. K. Prahalad argues that companies must revolutionize how they dobusiness in developing countries if both sides of that economic equation areto prosper. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, his compelling new bookoffers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability."Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect,Microsoft

"The Bottom of the Pyramid belongs at the top of the reading list forbusiness people, academics, and experts pursuing the elusive goal ofsustainable growth in the developing world. C. K. Prahalad writes withuncommon insight about consumer needs in poor societies andopportunities for the private sector to serve important public purposes whileenhancing its own bottom line. If you are looking for fresh thinking aboutemerging markets, your search is ended. This is the book for you."Madeleine K. Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State

"Prahalad challenges readers to re-evaluate their pre-conceived notionsabout the commercial opportunities in serving the relatively poor nations ofthe world. The Bottom of the Pyramid highlights the way to commercialsuccess and societal improvement--but only if the developed worldreconceives the way it delivers products and services to the developingworld."Christopher Rodrigues, CEO, Visa International

"An important and insightful work showing persuasively how the privatesector can be put at the center of development, not just as a rhetoricalflourish but as a real engine of jobs and services for the poor."Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme.

A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking, and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty

Author:  Phil Smith, Eric Thurman

Publish Date:  February 2007

Summary:

A bold manifesto by two business leaders, A Billion Bootstraps shows why microcredit is the world's most powerful poverty-fighting movement-and an unbeatable investment for your charitable donations.

A Billion Bootstraps unearths the roots of the microcredit revolution, revealing how the pioneering work of people such as Dr. Muhammad Yunus-winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize-is giving hope to billions. Philanthropist and self-made millionaire Phil Smith and microcredit expert and consultant Eric Thurman provide a riveting narrative that explores how these small loans, arranged by “barefoot bankers,” enable impoverished people to start small businesses, support their families, and improve local economies. By paying back their loans instead of simply accepting handouts, men and women around the world are continually giving others the same opportunity to change their futures.

Smith and Thurman also examine why traditional charity programs, while providing short-term relief, often perpetuate the problems they are trying to alleviate, and how applying investment principles to philanthropy is the key to reversing poverty permanently.

A Billion Bootstraps explains how ordinary people can accelerate the microcredit movement by investing charitable donations in specific programs and then leveraging those contributions so the net cost to lift one person out of poverty is remarkably low. You'll discover how to get more for your money by donating with the mind-set of an investor and calculating measurable returns-returns that will change lives and societies forever.

The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

Author:  Jeffrey D. Sachs

Publish Date:  March 2005

Summary:

Economist Jeffrey Sachs brings a lifetime of scholarship and experience to the complex problem of the wealth and poverty of nations. He reviews two centuries of history, explaining the reasons behind the uneven dispersal of wealth, and provides a holistic way to assess a nation's resources. Sachs is no ivory-tower thinker; he has been to the places he writes about, has worked with governments and NGOs, and has seen firsthand the devastating effects of poverty and poor sanitation, as well as the great benefits of roads and power grids. Sachs's how-and-why book about changing the conditions for much of the world's poor offers hope that this is not an unsolvable problem.

Poverty Capital: Microfinance and the Making of Development

Author:  Ananya Roy

Publish Date:  April 2010

Summary:

This is a book about poverty but it does not study the poor and the powerless. Instead it studies those who manage poverty. It sheds light on how powerful institutions control "capital," or circuits of profit and investment, as well as "truth," or authoritative knowledge about poverty. Such dominant practices are challenged by alternative paradigms of development, and the book details these as well. Using the case of microfinance, the book participates in a set of fierce debates about development - from the role of markets to the secrets of successful pro-poor institutions. Based on many years of research in Washington D.C., Bangladesh, and the Middle East, Poverty Capital also grows out of the author's undergraduate teaching to thousands of students on the subject of global poverty and inequality.

What's Wrong With Microfinance?

Author:  Malcolm Harper (Editor), Thomas Dichter (Editor)

Publish Date:  August 2007

Summary:

Microfinance has been a long-lived development fashion. It has been around since the 1980s, and in 2005 it enjoyed the accolade of a UN international year. The reasons for this success are obvious. It reaches millions of poor people, particularly women, and it can be profitable both for some of its customers and also for the institutions which finance it.

There are, however, some important problems, discussed in this book. Some arise from exaggerated expectations, some from bad design and mismanagement and some from erroneous basic policies. Is microfinance really a step on the road to economic growth, or is it a short-term palliative, keeping poor people poor? Can an MFI really work if it embraces the double bottom line of both profit and social good? Is microfinance, especially credit, harmful, often landing the vulnerable poor in debt? Should microfinance be reaching the poorest? The chapters, written by well-known experts in the field, are grouped around the categories: clients, institutions, and expectations.

The authors sound a timely warning to governments, bankers, donors and the general public. The intention is not to bring microfinance to a stop, but to make people pause, reassess their expectations and re-think some policies. Microfinance is never a panacea and may sometimes be actively damaging to its intended customers.

Microfinance Investment Funds: Leveraging Private Capital for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction

Author:  J.D. Von Pischke (Editor), Ingrid Matthaus-Maier (Editor)

Publish Date:  August 2007

Summary:

Microfinance investment funds are a recent development that will grow in importance. These funds expand the range of opportunities for financing microfinance institutions, enabling them to offer greater outreach and diversity of products for microentrepreneurs and small businesses. Microfinance now spans the range of finance, from the most simple enterprise to the complexity of capital markets. KfW actively promotes microfinance investment funds and other activities that facilitate the growth of microfinance. This book is an expression of KfW's role as information broker and trend setter. The authors who contributed to this collection offer a comprehensive range of perspectives and themes related to microfinance investment and its promotion.

Microfinance Handbook: An Institutional and Financial Perspective

Author:  Joanna Ledgerwood

Publish Date:  October 1998

Summary:

Microfinance is not simply banking; it is a development tool. It has been estimated that there are 500 million economically active poor people in the world operating microenterprises and small businesses. Most of them do not have access to adequate financial services. The purpose of this Handbook is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions. The Handbook takes a global perspective, drawing on lessons learned from the experiences of microfinance practitioners, donors, and others throughout the world. This volume covers extensively matters pertaining to the regulatory and policy framework and the essential components of institutional capacity building, such as product design, performance measuring and monitoring, and management of microfinance institutions. The handbook has three parts. "Issues in Microfinance Provision," Part I, takes a macroeconomic perspective toward general microfinance issues and is primarily nontechnical. "Designing and Monitoring Financial Products and Services," Part II, narrows its focus to the provision of financial intermediation, taking a more technical approach and moving progressively toward more specific (or micro) issues. "Measuring Performance and Managing Viability," Part III, is the most technical part of the handbook, focusing primarily on assessing the viability of microfinance institutions.

Women's Health and Poverty Alleviation in India

Author:  K. S. Mohindra

Publish Date:  January 2010

Summary:

Poverty and ill health are intertwined; therefore, social responses need to address the links between the two. There has been increasing attention paid towards the role of microcredit as a poverty alleviation strategy (that especially targets women), yet little scrutiny of how microcredit may influence population health in general and women's health in particular. In this book, we ask: can microcredit be considered a “pro-health” poverty alleviation strategy for women? Using a multi-disciplinary approach, the linkages between poverty alleviation and women's health are investigated from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. The theoretical perspective draws upon Amartya Sen's capability approach and population health models and theories. The empirical perspective is based on a study examining female participation in self help groups (a form of microcredit) and their health in the South Indian state of Kerala.

Poverty Alleviation and Self Help Groups: A Case Study of Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh

Author:  G.P. Kapoor, Neha Kapoor

Publish Date:  January 2010

Summary:

"This book consists of eight chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter containing some basic information and performance of Self-Help Groups in India; as also an introduction to Himachal Pradesh with special reference to District Kangra. The second chapter throws light on Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the district. Fourth and fifth chapters are related to income profile of SHGs and SHGs' Women Empowerment respectively. In the Sixth and Seventh Chapters, financial independence of women and SHGs' comparative roles in India have been analysed respectively. Conclusions and suggestions are highlighted in eighth chapter."

Banking, Micro Finance and Self-help Groups (SHGs) in India

Author:  A. Vijayakumar (Editor)

Publish Date:  July 2009

Summary:

Prior to initiation of reforms in 1991, Indian banking industry suffered from lack of competition, low capital base, inefficiency and high intermediation costs. Ever since the bank nationalisation of 1969, the banking sector had been dominated by the public sector along with a high degree of financial repression characterised by administered interest rates and allocated credit. Banking sector reforms of the last two decades have placed greater emphasis on structural measures and improvement in standards of disclosure and levels of transparency in order to align the Indian standards with international best practices. Reforms have brought about considerable improvements as reflected in various parameters relating to capital adequacy, asset quality, profitability and operational efficiency.

Southeast Asia's Credit Revolution: From Moneylenders to Microfinance

Author:  David Henley, Aditya Goenka

Publish Date:  July 2009

Summary:

Southeast Asia’s Credit Revolution describes and explains the rise of microfinance – the provision of credit and other financial services for the poor – in Southeast Asia, over the past four decades the most consistently successful region of the developing world. In recent years microfinance has come to be seen as a key weapon in the battle against global poverty, generating more enthusiasm and optimism than any other development strategy.

Southeast Asia has a special place in the history of microfinance. Historically, Southeast Asian societies and economies were perceived as almost uniquely debt-ridden and credit-constrained. In the twentieth century, however, the region was in the forefront of the modern microfinance revolution. This book asks what factors have made it possible for formal microfinance institutions to replace moneylenders and other traditional credit providers.

Bringing together economists, sociologists, anthropologists and historians, the book covers seven Southeast Asian countries. The topic is explored from cultural and institutional as well as economic perspectives, and policy-relevant lessons are offered for the design of successful microfinance institutions. Focusing on recent developments while putting them in historical context, this will be an important text for scholars and students of economic history, finance, institutional economics, and Asian Studies.

Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day

Author:  Stuart Rutherford, Jonathan Morduch, Daryl Collins, Orlanda Ruthven

Publish Date:  April 2009

Summary:

About forty percent of the world's people live on incomes of two dollars a day or less. If you've never had to survive on an income so small, it is hard to imagine. How would you put food on the table, afford a home, and educate your children? How would you handle emergencies and old age? Every day, more than a billion people around the world must answer these questions. Portfolios of the Poor is the first book to explain systematically how the poor find solutions. The authors report on the yearlong "financial diaries" of villagers and slum dwellers in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa--records that track penny by penny how specific households manage their money. The stories of these families are often surprising and inspiring. Most poor households do not live hand to mouth, spending what they earn in a desperate bid to keep afloat. Instead, they employ financial tools, many linked to informal networks and family ties. They push money into savings for reserves, squeeze money out of creditors whenever possible, run sophisticated savings clubs, and use microfinancing wherever available. Their experiences reveal new methods to fight poverty and ways to envision the next generation of banks for the "bottom billion." Indispensable for those in development studies, economics, and microfinance, Portfolios of the Poor will appeal to anyone interested in knowing more about poverty and what can be done about it.

Microfinance: A Reader

Author:  David Hulme (Editor), Thankom Arun (Editor)

Publish Date:  March 2009

Summary:

Microfinance has become an important component of development, poverty reduction and economic regeneration strategy around the world. By the early twenty first century tens of millions of people in more than 100 countries were accessing services from formal and semi-formal microfinance institutions (MFIs). Much of the initial attention on microcredit came through work on Bangladesh’s much-lauded Grameen Bank but, there are now many different ‘models’ for microfinance and many countries have substantial microfinance sectors.

This timely book, written by one of the major players in the UK in development economics explores, amongst others, topics such as:

microfinance and poverty reduction microfinance, gender and social development microinsurance regulating and supervising microfinance institutions.

Topical and insightful, this important text examines what has become a vast global industry employing hundreds of thousands of people and attracting the attention of large numbers of governments, banks, aid agencies, non-governmental organizations and consultancy firms.

New Partnerships for Innovation in Microfinance

Author:  J.D. Von Pischke (Editor), Ingrid Matthaus-Maier (Editor)

Publish Date:  March 2009

Summary:

Microfinance has experienced dynamic development. Today, microfinance providers reach close to 100 million clients worldwide and are growing fast. New partnerships expand the impact of microfinance even further. Three types of partnerships are examined in this book, each consisting of a thematic pillar. Pillar I focuses on equity investments in microfinance, especially the possibilities for engaging private investors through structured microfinance investment funds. Rating agencies are involved in providing more transparency in this emerging fund industry. Pillar II focuses on collaboration among microfinance providers, governments, private investors and technology companies which help microfinance institutions to integrate new technologies into their business models, reducing cost and increasing outreach to clients. Pillar III covers micropensions, microinsurance and the role of securitisation for the future of microfinance.

Microfinance: Emerging Trends and Challenges

Author:  Suresh Sundaresan (Editor)

Publish Date:  January 2009

Summary:

Sundaresan (economics and finance, Columbia Business School) compiles six chapters by scholars and practitioners from Europe and the US on microfinance, based on contributions from a conference hosted by the Social Enterprise Program of Columbia Business School in April 2007, "Credit Markets for the Poor: Focus on Micro-Finance." Chapters discuss the integration of capital markets with microfinance, securitization and micro-credit backed securities, technological innovations such as the delivery of banking services using mobile phone technology, regulatory issues, and the consequences of gender empowerment, due to the high percentage of women borrowers of micro-loans. The book is aimed at practitioners, policymakers, and academics in developmental economics, finance, gender studies, and public development policy.

Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2008

Author:  N. Srinivasan

Publish Date:  January 2009

Summary:

Microfinance India: State of the Sector Report 2008 is a part of a series of annual reports on the microfinance sector in India which seeks to document developments, clarify issues, publicise studies, stimulate research, identify policy choices, generate understanding and enhance support for the sector. It is a comprehensive one-stop document that provides the latest data and a holistic view of the sector, combines analysis and description and integrates a variety of topics hitherto treated separately.

The book highlights recent developments in Self Help Groups (SHGs) and SHG Bank Linkage Programme (SBLPs), and focuses on microfinance with regard to the investment scenario in India. It also deals with the burgeoning field of urban microfinance, developments in micro-insurance, and the impact of new technologies on the microfinance sector. Additionally, it recognises the high demands which the state makes on microfinance institutions and discusses the need and relevance of new policy regulations. Complementing these analyses, statistical annexes provide essential data on the sector, strengthening its utility as a reference document. It contains extensive original material, and yet draws widely on the findings of other recent studies and reports, thereby emerging as a complete, detailed analysis of the status and the future of the microfinance sector in India.

Banking the Poor: Measuring Banking Access in 54 Economies

Author:  World Bank

Publish Date:  January 2009

Summary:

Banking the Poor explores level and determinants of financial access in 54 countries, mostly in Africa. It collects information from two sources: central banks and leading commercial banks in each surveyed country. It explores associations between countries' banking policies and practices and their levels of financial access, measured in terms of the numbers of bank account per thousand adults. It builds on the previous work measuring financial access through information from regulators, from banks, and also from users' perspectives in household surveys.

This study explores the extent of access to formal banking services in poor countries, and how access could be expanded.

This paper explores questions about poor people’s access to banking services through surveys conducted in 54 developing countries, most of which are in Africa.

The extent to which people are banked depends primarily on how wealthy they are. Even in the poorest countries, rich urban customers access good banking services. The poor use a range of financial services that are outside the formal banking system. Banks are especially used by salaried employees with steady incomes that encourage banks to seek them as clients. Study findings include:

Banks can increase access by expanding credit for enterprises leading to the creation of a salaried class that wants to bank;

Recurring costs and complex procedures reduce access to banking; Convenient features may enhance usefulness of banking for those already banked,

but they do not bring new clients; Good credit information, effective protection of creditors’ legal rights and

flexibility in collateral helps make more credit available to entrepreneurs; More information about loans, greater transparency in loan processes, and

consumer protection laws widen access to banking services.

Women Empowerment through Capacity Building: The Role of Microfinance

Author:  P. J. Christabell

Publish Date:  January 2009

Summary:

This book has been divided into three parts, incorporates articles/research papers contributed by scholars who belong to different universities, colleges, institutions and professionals (some of them are from foreign countries). The contributors have presented their views analytically which are connected with the different aspects of micro-finance and Self-Help Groups performance and their role in socio-economic empowerment of women. The papers contributed for this book have been grouped in different sections. Section I: Empowerment of women through SHGs and micro-finance; section II: Self-Help Group and micro-finance; section III: Micro-finance and poverty reduction; section IV: Women employment; section V: Women entrepreneurs; and section VI: Gender issues. Surely this book will be quite useful for policy makers, researchers, academicians, bankers, NGOs and SHGs."

Micro-Credit and Rural Development

Author: Praveen Sharma, Indian Economic Association, Anil Kumar Thakur

Publish Date: January 2009

Summary:

Micro-credit has assumed a special significance in the context of increased emphasis on rural development. The noble peace prize to Muhammad Yunus for his work on micro-finance in Bangladesh will not only boost the sector but also inspire governments, banks, voluntary agencies and individuals to strengthen and expand the micro-finance sector. In India, the micro-finance sector has grown form a few self-help groups (SHGs) promoted by NGOs in the mid-1980s to over 29 lakh SHGs at present. The SHG-bank linkage programme of NABARD accelerated the growth of the sector. The Government of India and RBI have laid greater focus on the micro-finance sector to increase the access of the poor to financial services. In time to come, the micro-finance sector is expected to growth further in term of reaching out to more families and would include more services for the poor. To provide an enabling environment for realizing the potential of micro-finance in India, a close scrutiny of issues that are constraining the growth of the sector is required and a strategy needs to be prepared for strong and consistent growth so that a majority of the poor have access to institutional financial services.

NGOs, IGOs, and the Network Mechanisms of Post-Conflict Global Governance in Microfinance

Author: Anna Ohanyan

Publish Date: September 2008

Summary:

Partnerships between international organizations and NGOs are central to delivering services in post-conflict settings. This book examines how such partnerships and policy networks comprising large international organizations and NGOs generate policies to heal the wounds of war-torn communities and build institutions of the post-conflict state for long-term governance. Exploring the international community’s application of microfinance in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, this book follows how these policies were subsequently transferred to and modified for Kosovo and Afghanistan. Drawing on multiple, varied cases this book offers a new framework of policy analysis in post-conflict zones, and bridges global policy studies with conflict resolution.

New Partnerships for Innovation in Microfinance

Author: J.D. Von Pischke (Editor), Ingrid Matthaus-Maier (Editor)

Publish Date: June 2008

Summary:

Microfinance has experienced dynamic development. Today, microfinance providers reach close to 100 million clients worldwide and are growing fast. New partnerships expand the impact of microfinance even further. Three types of partnerships are examined in this book, each consisting of a thematic pillar. Pillar I focuses on equity investments in microfinance, especially the possibilities for engaging private investors through structured microfinance investment funds. Rating agencies are involved in providing more transparency in this emerging fund industry. Pillar II focuses on collaboration among microfinance providers, governments, private investors and technology companies which help microfinance institutions to integrate new technologies into their business models, reducing cost and increasing outreach to clients. Pillar III covers micropensions, microinsurance and the role of securitisation for the future of microfinance.

Expanding the Frontier in Rural Finance: Financial Linkages and Strategic Alliances

Author: Maria E. Pagura (Editor)

Publish Date: May 2008

Summary:

Despite significant innovations in rural microfinance over the years, millions of people around the world still do not have access to financial services. Can linkages and strategic alliances between formal and informal financial institutions and private firms help resolve this problem?Drawing on twelve case studies and one review conducted in eleven countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the contributors show how formal financial institutions and companies use a variety of less formal, often rural, organizations to overcome the information and enforcement problems of serving rural clients. Research indicates that these linkages seem to afford both partners the opportunity to overcome weaknesses experienced when working on their own. This book is of interest to all involved in rural development, particularly those concerned with financing economic development and innovation.

Maria Pagura has contributed to Expanding the Frontier in Rural Finance: Financial Linkages and Strategic Alliances as an editor. Maria Pagura is a Rural Finance Officer at FAO, Rome; she has 16 years' experience in rural and microfinance and small enterprise development in Africa and Asia.

Microfinance and Public Policy: Outreach, Performance, and Efficiency

Author: Bernd Balkenhol (Editor)

Publish Date: April 2008

Summary:

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) provide a public good: they provide income-creating financial services to un-bankable people. If MFIs create and deepen markets where none existed before, there may be a case for public support. While subsidies are generally not favorably seen in financial sector development, being difficult to target and possibly distorting the local financial market, there may be situations where the net social benefits of micro-finance may exceed those of not doing anything and of alternative anti-poverty programs. Under such circumstances longer-term public support may be justifiable. This book is based on a study of forty-five MFIs carried out by ILO, in partnership with the Universities of Geneva and Cambridge. The application of factor analysis and cluster analysis shows that MFIs form clusters in terms of social and performance. Within each cluster there is one institution that is most efficient on both scores. Public support should ensure that the relative efficiency of MFIs is enhanced, it should not prod MFIs to modify their mission and position between poverty outreach and profitability.

Bernd Balkenhol has contributed to Microfinance and Public Policy: Outreach, Performance and Efficiency as an editor. BERND BALKENHOL heads the Social Finance Program of the International Labour Office (ILO). SFP is the focal point for work in the ILO on financial sector issues. It examines the impact of financial policies on employment, incomes and social cohesion, analyses the accessibility of different types of financial institutions and promotes innovations in finance that work for the poor, entrepreneurial or not.

For several years Bernd Balkenhol served as advisor to central banks in Africa on policies and regulations in supoort of SME financing.

Rural Microfinance and Microenterprise: Informal Revolution

Author: Amitabh Bhatnagar, Bhopal MPRLP-Livelihoods Forum

Publish Date: January 2008

Summary:

This book attempts an overview of varied dimensions, constraints and best practices related to Rural Microfinance and Microenterprise, along with in-depth papers on some key/emerging focus areas by erudite development practitioners/ scholars.

The book contains contributed articles on microfinance and small business in India.

Poverty and Sustainability Issues of Microfinance in China: A Case Study in Fu'an, Fujian Province

Author: Lunds universitet, LiLian Lau

Publish Date: January 2008

Summary:

Microfinance has a unique position in China. Currently striving for recognition as a tool for poverty alleviation, microfinance programmes in China, and especially the NGO types, are competing with local rural credit cooperatives and other existing financial infrastructures to provide similar services. NGO microfinance programmes are currently at a crossroads as to where and how their existing organizations will lead to with issues on sustainability and on the dynamism of poverty in the landscape of an economy with double-digit growths. This thesis focuses on NGO type microfinance programmes and the challenges they face to survive and continue providing services for poverty alleviation.

The notion of sustainability for microfinance programmes has been an indispensable discussion amongst international donors, academics and practitioners. The concern for China is that mainstream concepts of sustainability, especially in the achievement of financial sustainability, can misguide and discourage microfinance programmes from achieving its main objective of poverty alleviation. This thesis attempts to redefine the concept of sustainability so that microfinance programmes in China can continue to serve the financially marginalized.

By empathizing the concept of poverty and bringing insights into various aspects of financial services in response to villagers’ needs based on a casestudy in Fu’an, Fujian Province, this thesis also illustrates the conditions unique in China for the design of products and improvements in the programmes which can contribute to the long term sustainability of microfinance programmes.

The Microfinance Promise in Financial Inclusion and Welfare of the Poor: Evidence from Karnataka, India

Author: Institute for Social and Economic Change, Naveen K. Shetty

Publish Date: January 2008

Summary:

Microcredit is a recent addition to India’s poverty-alleviation strategy. However, it has been taken a paradigm shift from credit (only) services to microfinance (credit plus services) services. This study examined the promise of microfinance (institutions) programme in the (financial) inclusion of marginalized and vulnerable poor, who have been excluded from the formal credit markets for a long period of time. In the paper we also looked at the welfare impact of “credit plus services” on the poor. This paper uses primary data on household participants of microfinance programme in the state of Karnataka. We find that majority of the sample households were not accessed the credit and non-credit services in the pre-microfinance programme.

While, in the post-microfinance large numbers of the member households are not only accessing the credit services, but also they are competent enough to access the savings, micro-insurance and other non-financial services. The access to “credit plus services” of microfinance programme has improved the income, employment, assets, household expenditure, housing condition and empowerment of the poor. Policy recommendation includes the delivering of credit plus services to the marginalized and vulnerable poor at a minimum cost will have wider impact on the socio-economic welfare of the poor.

Microfinance In India

Author:  K. G. Karmakar

Publish Date:  January 2008

Summary:

Microfinance in India provides an informative and holistic status of microfinance in the country and suggests a road map for the future. A valuable source of information for policy makers, Finance and management students, and professional alike, it is a collection of essays by experts from diverse backgrounds on topical themes that capture the complexities of the continuously evolving microfinance sector in India. It covers major microfinsance delivery models in an unbiased manner through well-researched articles.

The book provides an overview on microfinance institutions and measures that help promote the same. Among other things, it reflects upon the challenges faced by the dominant credit delivery model, i.e. SHG-bank linkage programme and issues related to the emerging Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). It also dwells upon innovations in the microfinance sector and the efforts being made to evolve new models such as SHG federations."

Building Inclusive Financial Systems: A Framework for Financial Access

Author:  Anjali Kumar (Editor), Robert E. Litan (Editor), Michael S. Barr (Editor)

Publish Date:  October 2007

Summary:

Broad-based and inclusive financial systems can significantly aid financial development, reduce poverty, and expand economic opportunity in developing countries. Poor households and individuals often have difficulty obtaining financial services for a multitude of reasons, including transaction costs, perceived risk, inadequate legal and financial infrastructure, and information barriers. Yet many financial institutions have begun making profitable inroads into these underserved markets through the continuing expansion of financial access and microfinance.

The authors in this volume take stock of what has been accomplished so far and address the challenges that remain in making financial systems more inclusive. They examine methods for measuring financial access, the link between access and poverty reduction, the question of private profitability and social returns, the role of commercial banks in improving financial access, the need for innovative financial and technological infrastructure, and the ways government policies can expand access. Building Inclusive Financial Systems offers an indispensable guide for governments and the private sector to increase access effectively and responsibly.