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> Posted by Center Staff
This week’s Top Picks includes some good news for banks, some welcome calls in Mexico’s mobile market, a wrap-up of Vijay Mahajan’s trek across India’s microfinance landscape, and a look at Kiva’s contributions to non-traditional services and loans.
- “These are not the best of times for banks globally” might be an understatement, but Kabir Kumar identifies some reasons for optimism in his CGAP Technology Blog post “Banks Have Some Good News…Are They Listening?”
- Vijay Mahajan, who we earlier noted was “Treading Carefully in Indian Microfinance’s Troubled Landscape,” encapsulates the insights gained during his investigation/walk in his blog’s post “Shodh Yatra – A Video Summary of 79 Days in 15 mins.”
- “Without a credit card, bank account, or official employment history, mobile providers are unwilling to take the gamble on providing a post-paid monthly plan option to Mexico’s poor,” observes Josh Cleveland in his post “Reinventing the Mobile Market in Mexico” for NextBillion. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
How does the idea of “measuring microfinance impact” play out on the ground?
Aurélie Dagneaux takes a close look at this question through the lens of her observations of Fundación Paraguaya. She’s been visiting there as part of the ACCION International Ambassadors. She and the other Ambassadors have been deployed around the globe to gain insight into the state of the industry. Their blog is here; you can even subscribe.
Here at the Center blog, we have already highlighted reports from Ambassadors Nirav Chheda, Pamela Chang, David Firth Bard, Stephen Matthew Lee, Jason Loughnane, Wei Wei Pan, and Leah Vinton.
Dagneaux’s post “Measuring Microfinance Impact” begins:
As ACCION Ambassadors, our mission is to document the impact of microfinance.
Let me share with you what my first week in Fundación Paraguaya taught me. I’ll shed a light on some other experiences I had in other places as a microfinance consultant.
“Fundación en Acción”
For our readers already familiar with the Fundación, I’ll be brief on what they do.
Fundación Paraguay is a 25-years old NGO, conducting 3 main programs: microfinance, self-sustainable agricultural schools, and youth business education. I’ll only discuss here the microfinance part. I will even narrow it only to its village banking part (making the bulk of clients: 70%). The village banking consists of women committees of 10-15 entrepreneurs each. There are over 2,000 committees, representing 32,000 clients. Women receive loans, starting from 100,000 Guarani’s ($25), up to 1,200,000 Guarani’s ($300) after a few loan cycles. FP also provides them with training (ranging from financial and business education, increasing your sales, business plans to interpersonal relations). Women are required to save money in order to educate them to do so. Unfortunately that’s not a service of the Fundación itself, as it is not a regulated bank enable to take savings, but a NGO.
Last year, Fundación Paraguay – like many organizations maturing – started feeling the need to measure their impact on client’s lives and to document it. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America has just released an issue that maps out Bolivia’s changing social, political, cultural, and economic landscape.
CFI Managing Director Beth Rhyne’s article “Microfinance: A World-Class Performance” takes readers on a tour of the “Bolivian model” of microfinance, which has “led to the transformation of dozens of MFIs around the world, launching the expansion of microfinance from a few tiny, donor-driven programs to a global industry that today brings access to financial services to 150 million people.”
Rhyne’s analysis begins:
When I first saw the photos of the sacking of BancoSol, I cried. The slide show began with chaotic pictures of the mob hauling desks, computers and files into the street and setting them on fire. Next were two captured looters lying face down and handcuffed amid the wreckage of what hours before had been a functioning bank branch. Finally, next-day photographs documented the ravaged premises of BansoSol’s branches all over La Paz and El Alto.
Thinking back to 2003 when these events occurred, I ask three questions. Why did protestors ransack a socially motivated bank that lends to the poor? Why did that make me cry? And what has become of BancoSol and the rest of the microfinance sector since then? Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Rosita Najmi
Credit Suisse is a strong believer in corporate social responsibility, and a key part of its strategy is the establishment of the Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative in 2007. This initiative seeks to strengthen microfinance institutions by investing in training structures and facilitating the flow of knowledge between microfinance institutions and the financial services industry. By combining charitable contributions with employee engagement, Credit Suisse fully invests its resources in building capacity and expanding the reach of microfinance institutions. Credit Suisse officially partners with four microfinance institutions, one of which is ACCION. Through this sponsorship, Credit Suisse became a proud founding sponsor of the Center for Financial Inclusion at ACCION. Credit Suisse also supports the establishment of training centers in India and China to provide training in credit methodology, program management, and best practices to staff at all levels.
In addition to sponsorships, Credit Suisse’s Microfinance Capacity Building Initiative mobilizes employees all across the bank to spread awareness of microfinance — educating one another and sharing knowledge. The Microfinance Advocates network was formed globally with regional steering committees in London, New York, and Singapore/Hong Kong and is now more than 500+ members strong, including an impressive pool of individuals to whom an opportunity to virtually volunteer with the Center was presented in the spring of 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Alex Counts finds himself reflecting on patriarchy in the latest post on his blog, where he chronicles writing a book about Haitian microfinance pioneer Fonkoze.
I sense that part of what feels liberating to work as a woman in Fonkoze is not getting ones strengths “stripped out” and seeing one’s ability to contribute “dry up” as often happens in patriarchal (i.e., “normal”) organizations. (At the same time, I have been wondering how my own organization, Grameen Foundation, and others that I am associated with score on this spectrum, and on the experiences of women staff at all levels.)
Counts, the CEO of Grameen Foundation, notes Fonkoze’s “culture rooted in strong female leadership.”
Counts, who was interviewed for the Center’s “Microfinance Matters” series, joined other friends of Grameen Bank to set up Grameen Foundation in 1997. During his recent trips to Haiti, he has been meeting with microfinance industry leaders in general, and in particular with Fonkoze staff.
“Insights from ‘The Female Vision’ for Fonkoze and Microfinance,” his most recent post, begins:
Despite my busy fall schedule working as CEO for Grameen Foundation, the book on Fonkoze is advancing in exciting ways. I’ve written a draft of the first chapter and gotten helpful feedback from my writing guru Mark Levy. I’ve talked to Jessica Papin, the woman who is likely to be my agent, and she had some great feedback on the overall project.
One of Jessica’s recommendations is that for the book to have the best chance of success, Fonkoze needs to become better known prior to publication. So, she suggested that I first write a 10-15,000 word “long form article” for publication in something like Harpers or the New York Times magazine. (This could push back publication of the book by a year while giving me more time to do research next summer.) On first blush, I think this sequenced approach is a great idea and most of all, I like the energy and ideas she brings to the project. It’s exciting to see the team of people who believe in this book and are helping it succeed grow each and every month!
One of the most important and enjoyable parts of writing a book is reading other books whose content and/or approach is helpful. I recently finished The Female Vision by Sally Helgesen and Julie Johnson after someone who read my earlier blog on Fonkoze as matriarchy. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
We’re excited that the Smart Campaign’s decision to enshrine non-discrimination in its core principles has received mention in the most recent newsletter of the Microfinance for All Alliance. In it, the alliance’s Coordinator, Grégory Doucet, writes:
The most positive estimates now confirm that less than 0.5% of people with disabilities are clients of MFIs. But, more than 650 million people are disabled, now representing 12% of the world population.
By prohibiting all discrimination against people with disabilities and more generally against disadvantaged populations, Smart Campaign has made great progress in the protecting the rights of marginalised populations. Eliminating any ambiguity, this new rule provides that “the selection and processing of applications shall not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, political affiliation, disability, religion or sexual orientation.” Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Beth Rhyne
When 35 experts come together to talk about how to achieve financial inclusion, one area of common agreement turns out to be the importance of trust.
On Monday I participated in a conversation organized by Visa and The Atlantic magazine as a side event to the Clinton Global Initiative. The conversation included microfinance providers, researchers, diplomats, journalists, donors, and technology providers. A discussion among so many people of diverse perspectives is anything but linear, even with excellent facilitation by Steve Clemons, Editor-in-Chief of AtlanticLIVE. I had to pay close attention as the talk sped around the table. As I listened, I was struck by how often the remarks turned on the theme of trust.
At issue was this question: Why is the take-off of cell phone banking moving so slowly? There are dozens of mobile banking pilots around the world, but only a handful have reached scale. Visa itself is making a big bet on mobile payments with its recent purchase of Fundamo, a mobile banking platform based in South Africa.
A number of answers to the question involve trust. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
Smart Campaign Director Isabelle Barrès is the latest to write for the CGAP Microfinance Blog‘s new series on responsible finance.
“Client Protection: Are We There Yet?” begins:
Since its launch, the Smart Campaign has made enormous strides toward ensuring that clients of microfinance would receive transparent, respectful, and prudent treatment. The Campaign is proud to now have more than 1000 institutions as endorsers and these organizations that serve over 40 million low-income people.
In the last year, at least 10 major microfinance investment funds managing over US$2 billion have integrated client protection into their due diligence and reporting. Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
We’re excited to see MIX‘s latest contribution to creating a world where full financial inclusion is a reality!
Until now, there has been a lack of transparent and detailed information on financial services for the poor in Africa, which has contributed to limited growth and investment in the sector. This week, however, MIX launched the “Africa Map of Financial Inclusion for the Poor” in partnership with The MasterCard Foundation, to help practitioners and policymakers better understand access to finance in Africa.
In addition to the raw data from surveys and analysis of the data, MIX released a visual map, which provides a comprehensive view of the African landscape in order to raise the visibility of institutions serving the poor in sub-Saharan Africa and to steer future improvements in financial inclusion.
MIX’s research has already uncovered:
- Financial institutions targeting the poor manage over 71 million accounts across sub-Saharan Africa
- The sector has a reach that covers 44 million deposit accounts and 20 million loans Read the rest of this entry »
> Posted by Center Staff
In their television interview, “Taking Down Poverty from Day One,” Charles Payne and Shibani Joshi from Fox Business Network announce Financial Access at Birth (FAB)’s goal to raise $5M to finance FAB’s first pilot. In the interview, they discuss with FAB’s founder (Bhagwan Chowdhry), to what global challenges FAB is responding, and how financial inclusion can be supported through this model, one baby at a time. FAB is ready for its first pilot, has earned an invitation from a host country, and needs help raising funds.
Bhagwan Chowdhry reminds viewers that nearly half of the world’s adult population, 2.7B people lacks access to safe and quality financial services. Poor women in India and Africa are even willing to pay for the opportunity to save safely. Not only do most countries lack unique, universal ID systems, but also, many births go unregistered.
“Poverty knows no season, borders, or race. It affects us all in some way. If we asked those whom we aim to serve, they would say the ‘right time’ is yesterday. We must act now, act together, and act differently, if we want to see full financial inclusion in our generation,” notes FAB’s manager, Rosita Najmi. Read the rest of this entry »
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