Microfinance Challenges

Microfinance Challenges
Author: Isabelle Guérin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2005
Genre: Microfinance
ISBN:

Contributed papers presented earlier in a conference.

Beyond Micro-credit

Beyond Micro-credit
Author: Thomas Fisher
Publisher: Oxfam
Total Pages: 396
Release: 2002
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780855984885

Beyond Micro-Credit sets out how Indian Micro-Finance Initiatives are combining micro-finance with a wide range of development goals, these include not only poverty alleviation through providing savings, credit and insurance services but also promoting livelihoods, empowering women, building people's organizations and changing institutions.

Rural Credit and Self-Help Groups

Rural Credit and Self-Help Groups
Author: K G Karmakar
Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Limited
Total Pages: 376
Release: 1999
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Looking to examples in Thailand and Bangladesh, this book enumerates the various factors which have been instrumental in weakening the rural credit agencies set up to relieve rural poverty in developing countries.

Community-based Rehabilitation

Community-based Rehabilitation
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher:
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2010
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9789241548052

Volume numbers determined from Scope of the guidelines, p. 12-13.

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition

Women’s Empowerment and Nutrition
Author: Mara van den Bold
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

Self-help Groups and Rural Development

Self-help Groups and Rural Development
Author: S. Bose
Publisher: MJP Publisher
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2019-06-07
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN:

Introduction SHGs and Development: The Scenario SHGs and Micro credit and Micro finance Global Analysis of Self-Help Groups Detailed Analysis of SHG in Tamilnadu Self-Help Group and its Members Role of SHGs in Social Transformation Summary of Major Analysis Promotion of Self-Help Groups Bibliography Index

Microfinance in Developing Countries

Microfinance in Developing Countries
Author: J. Gueyie
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2013-01-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137301929

Microfinance in developing countries is a collection of studies by leading researchers in the field of microfinance. It discusses key issues that the rapidly growing microfinance industry currently faces, and offers interesting views and analysis of topical matters concerning the microfinance realm.

Catalyzing Development

Catalyzing Development
Author: Homi J. Kharas
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 319
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0815721331

"Provides analysis of how the field of international aid is changing with new approaches necessary because of new actors providing assistance, including middle-income countries, private philanthropists, and the private sector, and new challenges, including climate change and the large number of fragile states"--Provided by publisher.

Sustainability of Microfinance Self Help Groups in India

Sustainability of Microfinance Self Help Groups in India
Author: Ajai Nair
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 46
Release: 2005
Genre: Microfinance
ISBN:

The major form of microfinance in India is that based on women's Self Help Groups (SHGs), which are small groups of 10--20 members. These groups collect savings from their members and provide loans to them. However, unlike most accumulating savings and credit associations (ASCAs) found in several countries, these groups also obtain loans from banks and on-lend them to their members. By 2003, over 700,000 groups had obtained over Rs.20 billion (US$425 million) in loans from banks benefiting more than 10 million people. Delinquencies on these loans are reported to be less than 5 percent. Savings in these groups is estimated to be at least Rs.8 billion (US$170 million). Despite these considerable achievements, sustainability of the SHGs has been suspect because several essential services required by the SHGs are provided free or at a significantly subsidized cost by organizations that have developed these groups. A few promoter organizations have, however, developed federations of SHGs that provide these services and others that SHG members need, but which SHGs cannot feasibly provide. Using a case study approach, Nair explores the merits and constraints of federating. Three SHG federations that provide a wide range of services are studied. The findings suggest that federations could help SHGs become institutionally and financially sustainable because they provide the economies of scale that reduce transaction costs and make the provision of these services viable. But their sustainability is constrained by several factors--both internal, related to the federations themselves, and external, related to the other stakeholders. The author concludes by recommending some actions to address these constraints. This paper--a product of the Finance and Private Sector Development Unit, South Asia Region--is part of a larger effort in the region to study access to finance in India.