I read somewhere that humans at best utilize only 33% of their brains in their lifetime and for someone like me it would be around 0.33%. However, today was an exception with nothing better to do I picked up ' Banker to the Poor' from the library and could not put the book down till I had but finsihed reading it.
I have read several accounts of how this autobiography of Prof.Md. Yunus has inspired people to join the MF sector, but frankly could never understand the impact a single book can make on deciding people's career choices. But now I can say that I fully understand what those people meant.
The book has further reinforced my faith in microfinance. Some things that would stay with me for a long time are:
1. Start Slowly: get to know the community first, work with people win their trust spend time and your microfinnace initaive will be a success.
2. Engagement with the govt: It is important to work with and engage govt institutions (however frustating the task)
3. Never loose focus of your target group:MF services should be aimed at poorest of the poor. Poor itself is a very vague term
4. Remember Gresham's law: the poor and the rich cannot be part of the same inytervention/programme. The rich invariably would benefit at the expense of the poor
5. Providing micro finance is not a end in itself, it is a tool to acheive an end which being povert eradication
A poverty free world is possible...........
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Rajasthan Microfinance Sector Report 2007
The Rajasthan microFinance Report 2007 was released on 10th January 2008 at the Annual microFinance Colloquium organized by Centre for microFinance, Jaipur. The report a first of its kind for a state, will act as a bench mark for the sector. It presents a comprehensive picture of the current status of microFinance in Rajasthan.
As local context guides the development of the sector, the report is grounded in the realities of Rajasthan. It is the largest state in India and occupies 10 percent of the total area of the country. The state has a population of 56.67 million, which is about 5.5 percent of the country’s population. Around 17.29 Lakh rural households are Below Poverty Line. Through the SHG around 24 lakh people,( mostly women ) have been provided mF services.
It analyses the demand for microfinance services amongst poor, who is serving these needs, what is the potential for growth and the constraints faced by mF service providers in the state. It attempts to map the unreached sections and areas in the state where microFinance services are yet to make in roads.
It highlights the fact that inspite of the advantages of microFinance, the outreach of the sector in the state is insufficient, geographically limited and not organized. While the cumulative disbursement under SHG programme is around 362 crore (as on March 2007), the outstanding credit through SHGs is around Rs170 crore, a miniscule figure given the annual demand. Moreover, 50 percent of the SHGs are concentrated in nine districts only out of the thirty two districts. There are only a couple of MFIs operating in the state, with work areas limited to three to four districts.
In Rajasthan serious efforts are being made to deliver mF services to a large number of households. This report documents these efforts, shows the weaknesses and indicates the opportunities.
It will help mF stakeholders at various levels in preparing an appropriate strategy for growth and expansion of the sector. Researchers will get an idea of the current systems of knowledge creation and inherent gaps
Limited number of print copies (along with CD) is available with Centre for microFinance, Jaipur. The report is priced at a token amount of Rs 180/-(including postal charges). To order your copy of the ‘Rajasthan microFinance Report 2007’please contact payal@cmfraj.org
As local context guides the development of the sector, the report is grounded in the realities of Rajasthan. It is the largest state in India and occupies 10 percent of the total area of the country. The state has a population of 56.67 million, which is about 5.5 percent of the country’s population. Around 17.29 Lakh rural households are Below Poverty Line. Through the SHG around 24 lakh people,( mostly women ) have been provided mF services.
It analyses the demand for microfinance services amongst poor, who is serving these needs, what is the potential for growth and the constraints faced by mF service providers in the state. It attempts to map the unreached sections and areas in the state where microFinance services are yet to make in roads.
It highlights the fact that inspite of the advantages of microFinance, the outreach of the sector in the state is insufficient, geographically limited and not organized. While the cumulative disbursement under SHG programme is around 362 crore (as on March 2007), the outstanding credit through SHGs is around Rs170 crore, a miniscule figure given the annual demand. Moreover, 50 percent of the SHGs are concentrated in nine districts only out of the thirty two districts. There are only a couple of MFIs operating in the state, with work areas limited to three to four districts.
In Rajasthan serious efforts are being made to deliver mF services to a large number of households. This report documents these efforts, shows the weaknesses and indicates the opportunities.
It will help mF stakeholders at various levels in preparing an appropriate strategy for growth and expansion of the sector. Researchers will get an idea of the current systems of knowledge creation and inherent gaps
Limited number of print copies (along with CD) is available with Centre for microFinance, Jaipur. The report is priced at a token amount of Rs 180/-(including postal charges). To order your copy of the ‘Rajasthan microFinance Report 2007’please contact payal@cmfraj.org
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Women Empowerment or Debt Trap?
The left parties & organizations want a cap on interest rates.Besides the left parties In recent months various organizations havechallenged the notion that micro credit is a tool for empowerment.
Nirantar, a Delhi-based women's resource centre has organized womensummits, media campaigns, led delegations to the Finance Ministeretc. to oppose the proposed MF Bill. It also raises the fundamentalissue of why subsidy as a right (for instance agricultural subsidy)is being taken away and credit given as a burden. Moreover, the cashorientation of micro-credit is located in an analysis ofexploitative usury arrangements, rather than being located in ananalysis of the breakdown of food security or mutuality of villagesystems.
Nirantar in its interaction with SHGs in Gujrat, Uttar Pradesh &Kerela has found that when micro-credit becomes central, themodalities of financial transactions consume the SHGs. There isexcessive focus on records and bookkeeping. Health, education, andwomen's personal needs become marginal to this process. The `happy'face of micro-credit is that women are a conduit for bringing creditto the family, but the `sad' face is that women are burdened withloan repayment.According to them, ironically, in most of the schemes, women's ownmoney is locked up, and they are forced to take a loan against theirown savings at a higher interest. NGOs have become collecting agentsfor banks that are trying to increase their penetration of credit.But this penetration is only creating more dependence. Back-to-backlending ensures that women are continuously in debt and have toundergo the stress of repayment.
The myth that micro-credit will empower women or enable povertyalleviation has been propagated by international agencies to drawpeople into a market economy based on cash or credit. It is alsoa `win-win' scheme promoted by a State that is increasinglywithdrawing from its development and welfare responsibilities. Themicro-credit approach implies that it is people's own responsibilityto lift themselves out of poverty – an impossible goal in thepresent economic paradigm.According to the organization, Micro lending cannot change macrostructures. It does create space for women, more mobility andexposure, but this is in the restricted framework and a pre-setagenda, not a transformative framework.
I think mF practioners at all levels need to deal with thesequestions. Should there be ceiling or rather an upper limit fixed oninterest rates? Does the women's need become marginal to the savings& credit process? Do the SHGs act as support networks that enablethem to advance their individual and collective interests at thelocal as well as macro level?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
