Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people,...

Growing commercialization and competition in microfinance drives the focus of micro lenders from outreach per se to achieving financial sustainability in serving the poor. Such a goal can conflict with the traditional social mission of microfinance – outreach to the poor. In places where...

Using a stochastic frontier approach, we analyse the imposition of financial sustainability requirement on the traditional social mission of microfinance – outreach to the poor. We also address whether the way ownership is organised and practiced affects the costs of microfinance delivery....