There are two outstanding aspects to Nabard’s Linking Banks and Self-Help Groups: with an outreach to 500,000 SHGs and a population of 40m rural poor, it is the largest non-directed microsavings & microcredit program in the developing world; and its bank lending rates – fluctuating at market...

Jabal al-Hoss is one of the poorest areas in Syria where UNDP has supported the establishment of self-reliant local financial institutions, sanduq (sg.) lit. savings box: a novel concept in centralized banking system. The sanadiq (pl.) are self-managed and autonomous in their decision-making,...

In many countries, Grameen replication has not fared well in terms of outreach and sustainability. There is no country where the Grameen Bank, reaching two million poor women in groups of five and centers of 30 in Bangladesh, has been truly replicated. In The Philippines, rural banks and...

Cet article présente un exemple de commercialisation de la microfinance aux Philippines, sous l’égide d’un projet de reproduction de l’approche « Grameen Bank ». Selon l’idée initiale du projet, de modestes prêts devaient être fournis aux foyers les plus pauvres par des ONG et des...

Microfinance is not a recent development, and neither is the development of regulation and supervision of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Every now developed country has its own history of microfinance. It is important to recognize this because it presents a view different from that of many in...

The Lembaga Perkreditan Desa (LPD) in Bali are the most recent form of local finance in Indonesia. Their establishment was initiated by the provincial government of Bali after several studies on local financial institutions in Indonesia had been presented at a seminar carried out by the Ministry...

Selbsthilfe und Armutsbekämpfung werden heute als selbstverständliche Elemente von Entwicklung und Entwicklungspolitik gesehen. Allerdings ist es wichtig, sich über die inhaltliche Bedeutung dieser Begriffe zu verständigen.

The interventionist rationale of economic policy-making in Indonesia was already laid down in the 1945 constitution, but only the abundant oil revenues during the oil boom period between 1973 and 1982 enabled the government to realize the envisaged state-led model of development. In order to...

In most Asian countries including Vietnam, inadequate access of small farmers and microentepreneurs including women and the poor to effective financial services presents a major challenge. Such services must include facilities to deposit microsavings, access to microcredit for production,...

The Philippines, a country of great promise in the 1950s, has greatly lagged behind many other Asian countries. Between 1991 and 1994 urban poverty declined from 26% to 29%; but rural poverty virtually stagnated at a much higher rate: 55% and 54%, respectively. Poverty lending programs were...