Sustainable microfinancing: improving microenterprise's traditional measures of success

Microfinance has over three decades of experience serving the needs of the poor on earth. Unfortunately, academia and the secular world are divided on its effectiveness to lift the impoverished from the bottom of the economic pyramid. India is the focus of this paper, but measures of microfinance success are essentially universal. This paper examines the metrics used to evaluate programs and their benefit to India's poor. Current estimates find 2.8 billion people survive on less than $2 per day. Subsistence living impacts nutrition, shelter, sanitation, transportation and access to healthcare and education. India's caste system creates discrimination and overpopulation causes high unemployment. Women's rights and empowerment become major issues in the developing world, as well as the status of orphans. The literature review covers case studies, outcomes, and best practices that have evolved to help the under-privileged. Can government and non-government organizations stimulate the economy of the poor? Will teaching job, life and entrepreneurial skills elevate standards of living? Ultimately, it is the poor who must lift themselves from poverty with incentives, education and motivation. This Study by: Stephen R Watson Entitled: SUSTAINABLE MICROFINANCING: IMPROVING MICROENTERPRISE'S TRADITIONAL MEASURES OF SUCCESS has been approved as meeting the research paper requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts. S\l.\ \tS" \ Date " /t--· j Dr. Rodney Dieser, chair 3