microfinance, banking to the poor, is a recent global phenomenon introduced as a way for combating the poverty in the 1970’s. before that the poor were not allowed access to credit and loans due to the widespread belief that the poor could not repay loans. but microfinance movement with financial innovations reduced the costs and risks of lending to poor households, and presented as tool for re...

Donors, governments, microfinance networks, and foundations have promoted housing microfinance (“HMF”) for a decade. Considerable operational experience has accrued on this practice over this time. Meanwhile, many emerging economies have grown rapidly, which has changed housing markets and the context for HMF. The moment, then, is auspicious for a re-examination of housing microfinance and its ...

This paper attempts to provide a critical appraisal of the debate on the effectiveness of microfinance as a universal poverty reduction tool. It argues that while microfinance has developed some innovative management and business strategies, its impact on poverty reduction remains in doubt. Microfinance, however, certainly plays an important role in providing safety-net and consumption smoothen...

OBJECTIVE To quantify the impact of cash transfer and microfinance interventions on a selected list of tuberculosis (TB) risk factors and assess their potential role in supporting TB control. DATA SOURCE Published and unpublished references identified from clinical and social electronic databases, grey literature and web sites. METHODS Eligible interventions had to be conducted in middle- o...

BACKGROUND Despite Uganda's progress in promoting affirmative action for persons with disabilities and its strategy of using microfinance to fight poverty, access to microfinance services by persons with disabilities is still problematic due to barriers, characterised by discrepancies between policies and practices. Regarding education, the affirmative action in favour of learners with disabili...

Microfinance loans have expanded greatly in the recent years as a way of helping the poor gain cheaper loans, but percentage take-up of microcredit has remained lower than expectations. In an attempt to explain this phenomenon, this paper uses a randomized evaluation of the impact of introducing microfinance loans in a new urban setting in Hyderabad, India, to determine if lack of flexibility i...

Microfinance programs and institutions are increasingly important in development strategies but knowledge about their impacts is partial and contested. This paper reviews the methodological options for the impact assessment (IA) of microfinance. Following a discussion of the varying objectives of IA it examines the choice of conceptual frameworks and presents three paradigms of impact assessmen...

In this paper we analyse the effects of microfinance programs upon household welfare in Vietnam. Our analytical framework builds upon the rural household models of Singh et al. (1986) and Rosenzweig (1990). Data on 470 households across 25 villages was collected using a quasiexperiment survey approach to overcome self-selection bias. In our econometric analysis the welfare effects of microfinan...

Microfinance institutions supply loans, savings and other financial services to the poor low income clients on a sustainable basis play role in alleviation of poverty. The objective this article is, therefore, examine impact Saving Micro-Credit Program (SMCP) improving livelihood its clients. SMCP is one two microfinance active Eritrea. data collected from (both old new) was analyzed through he...

This note reviews the microfinance sector in Ghana within the context of its potential for growth and development. The paper argues that microfinance, when properly harnessed can make significant contributions through several channels. Microfinance can promote higher investment leading to economic empowerment, which in turn promotes confidence and self-esteem, particularly for the vulnerable. I...