We in the community of microfinance specialists want to help alleviate poverty. We think microfinance is a useful tool … other one the development of a healthy microfinance industry. If poverty reduction is our objective, then microfinance is … likely to be only one of several instruments; in fact it might turn out to be of minor importance. If viable microfinance …

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are often seen by aid practitioners as a manifestly effective means of improving the … Asia and Latin America and contrasts experiences in the two regions. Studies on the former have been carried out more … rigorously, but in both regions the evidence that microfinance is reaching the core poor is very limited. …

accumulating on the impact of microfinance activities on poverty reduction. In particular we ask what is the evidence on three … specific issues: - the extent to which microfinance initiatives have made a lasting difference in pulling households out of … poverty on a permanent basis; - the extent to which microfinance programs reach only the better-off amongst the poor, leaving …