Financial promise for the poor : how groups build microsavings / edited by Kim Wilson, Malcolm Harper, and Matthew Griffith.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Wilson, Kim.

Harper, Malcolm, 1935-

Griffith, Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Microfinance--Developing countries.

Microfinance.

Savings and loan associations--Developing countries.

Savings and loan associations.

Rotating credit associations--Developing countries.

Rotating credit associations.

Poor--Developing countries.

Poor.

Physical Description:

xii, 242 p. : ill.

Place of Publication:

Sterling, VA : Kumarian Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

* Balanced assessment of recent savings-led programs in microfinance* Contributors include wide range of scholars and practitionersThe entry of the private sector into financial services for the poor is a relatively new development, but already the glossy promises of credit-led microfinance are facing scrutiny from the development community. Policymakers and economists have begun picking through the hype of microfinance to identify where and how top-down loans might fit into broader human development efforts. To many, the answer involves shifting focus to another financial service: savings. Serving as a strong and perhaps more effective tool than microcredit, micro savings is quickly becoming a lauded poverty-alleviation tool.Contributors to Financial Promise for the Poor cover current innovations in microsavings happening around the world. They describe how savings group members in the developing world are avoiding many of the financial liabilities and debt of other microfinance programs while gaining skills and finding opportunities in collective enterprise. The turn from credit to savings speaks to the growing empowerment of individuals and communities as they break the bonds of indebtedness and find their own paths to financial security.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Illustrations

Acronyms

Introduction

PART 1 DO-IT-YOURSELF FINANCE

1 Teacups and Hand Hoes: Home-Grown Savings Groups in East Africa

2 Dhukuti-A Real Treasure: The Growth of a Savings Group Idea in Nepal

3 From Self-Help Groups to Village Financial Institutions in Bali: How Culture Determines Finance and Finance Determines Culture

4 On an Informal Frontier: The ASCAs of Lower Assam

PART 2 NOW THEY NEED US (OR DO THEY?)

5 Revisiting the Early Days of CARE's Savings Groups: Interview with Moira Kristin Eknes, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) Program Originator

6 The Savings Experience: Catholic Relief Services El Salvador

7 Saving Cash and Saving the Herd: The Role of Savings Groups in the Livelihoods of East African Pastoralists

8 Informal Group-Based Savings Services: The Indian Experience

PART 3 MORE WAYS OF SKINNING THE CAT, AND DIFFERENT KINDS OF CATS

9 Jipange Sasa: A Little Heaven of Local Savings, Hot Technologies, and Formal Finance

10 Retrofitting an Agricultural Program with Savings-Led Microfinance: The Oxfam Experience in Cambodia

11 Virtual Staff: Exploring a Franchise and Incentive Model for Group Replication

12 Market-Led Expansion through Fee-for-Service Agents

13 The Green Box: The Savings Systems of Smallholder Farmers in Southern Haiti

14 Adapting the Bachat Committee: Helping Pakistan's Urban and Rural Poor Save Better

PART 4 SINKING, SWIMMING, AND STAYING AFLOAT

15 Women's Empowerment through Literacy, Banking, and Business: The WORTH Program in Nepal-Post-Program Research Findings

16 Savings Groups and Village Development in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountain Range

17 A Snapshot of Oxfam's Saving for Change Program in El Salvador

PART 5 AN ALTERNATIVE, OR SOMETHING ALTOGETHER DIFFERENT?.

18 The Savings-Led Revolution: Mass-Scale, Group-Managed Microfinance for the Rural Poor

19 Pushing the Rich World's Debt Crisis onto the Poorest: Why Savings Groups Should Not Rush to Borrow from Banks

20 More! Better! Cheaper!: Savings Groups as Commodities

21 The Box and the Ark

Conclusion

Contributors

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-56549-365-6

OCLC:

704418238