The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is known worldwide for its success in providing credit to the poor. However, subsequent replications of its methodology in other parts of the world have been less successful. Is there really an infallible solution that works everywhere, and is outreach to the poor...

Rural and agricultural banks, among them state-owned agricultural development banks (AgDBs) and cooperative banks, have a wide outreach in Asian countries. Their potential as retailers and wholesalers (through cooperatives, rural banks, NGOs) for providing sustainable savings deposit and credit...

Only relief achieves short-term poverty reduction, but is ineffective in the long run. Sustainable poverty reduction can only be attained through well-designed long-term development measures. For example, Indonesia is considered one of the most successful countries with regard to poverty...

The IFAD Rural Finance Policy lists among the initiatives to be supported commercially-operated apex organizations for refinancing MFIs (para. 20) and stipulates that, Equity financing through appropriate apex institutions may be developed by IFAD as a new instrument, which would provide the...

Why does IFAD need rural finance guidelines? With its exclusive emphasis on rural poverty alleviation, IFAD enjoys a competitive advantage over other development agencies, and should strengthen its role by providing support for the development of rural finance as an important instrument. The...

Agricultural development banks were established to extend credit and other financial services to customers considered noncreditworthy by the commercial banking sector. Although frequently unprofitable, they play an important role in the fight against rural poverty. This article asks if these...

By the mid-1970s, in virtually all of Africa, strategies of modernization and technology transfer had clearly failed to initiate self-sustained processes of development. Government intervention and centralized planning had spurred economic disaster, rather than growth. In the world of finance,...

Linking banks and self-help groups has been a major program of German development cooperation since the mid-1980s. Given the involvement of GTZ in SHG banking and the outreach of that program in India, the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has proposed to study the...

The case of BRI is evidence that, in a deregulated policy environment, the microfinance section of a government-owned bank can (a) be transformed into a highly profitable, self-reliant financial intermediary; and (b) turn into a major microfinance provider, offering carefully crafted...