In the early 1990s, a consensus emerged among the leading experts in the field of small and micro business finance. It is based on three elements: The focus of projects should be on improving the entire financial sector of a given developing country; a commercial approach should be adopted,...

In the early 1990s, a consensus emerged among the leading experts in the field of small and micro business finance. It is based on three elements: The focus of projects should be on improving the entire financial sector of a given developing country; a commercial approach should be adopted,...

Recently NGOs have begun to be regarded as ideal providers of credit to small and micro businesses. The paper investigates whether this claim is justified and how the co-operation between donor institutions and NGOs should be structured. It reports the main results of an empirical investigation...