In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First

From the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2008 (.pdf) This journal article by Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein and Kristi Yuthas on microfinance from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, is definitely worth a read for those of you interested in learning more about the topic. From the introduction:

In the debate over whether microfinance works, few microfinance institutions articulate what, exactly, their ultimate goals are and by how, exactly, they will achieve them. The authors cut through the confusion by mapping a clear theory of change for microfinance. If the goal of microfinance is to alleviate poverty, they say, then MFI’s should focus on helping their clients build successful enterprises, rather than on making more and bigger loans.

Posted via web from Renjie Butalid