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Subject: Pambazuka News 458: Women’s rights: Looking back or moving forward?

PAMBAZUKA NEWS 458: WOMEN’S RIGHTS: LOOKING BACK OR MOVING FORWARD?

The authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social
justice in Africa

Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839

CONTENTS: 1. Features, 2. Comment & analysis, 3. Pan-African Postcard,
4. Advocacy & campaigns, 5. Letters & Opinions, 6. Blogging Africa

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Highlights from this issue

Pambazuka News is pleased to bring our readers a special issue on
women’s rights in Africa, guest edited by Muthoni Murithi, on behalf
of the pan-African coalition, Solidarity for African Women's Rights
(SOAWR).

The issue commemorates Beijing +15, the 15-year review of the
implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the
30th Anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the Protocol to the African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women, which
came into force four years ago, on 25 November.

Against the backdrop of the Beijing +15 Africa Regional Review, which
takes place in Banjul, Gambia, from 16-20 November, contributors to
the special issue discuss how these instruments have changed women’s
lives on the ground.

FEATURES
- Mary Wandia on the persistent problems around securing women's rights
- Marren Akatsa-Bukachi on the challenge of revitalising Beijing +15
- Morissanda Kouyaté says it's time for tangible results, not talk
- Norah Matovu Winyi asks what Beijing has delivered for African women
- Carole Ageng’o considers the relationship between gender relations
and conflict in Kenya's electoral process

COMMENT & ANALYSIS
- AU women and gender experts adopt key instruments
- Zimbabwe ratifies SADC Protocol on Gender and Development

PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD
- L. Muthoni Wanyeki on Graça Machel's visit to Kenya

ADVOCACY & CAMPAIGNS
- People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA)'s 16 Days of Activism Against
Gender Violence campaign
- DiasporaKenyan on the November attacks in Samburu

LETTERS & OPINIONS
- Syracuse University's Africa Initiative responds to allegations of
intimidation of conference participants

BLOGGING AFRICA
- Sokari Ekine on the need for more female leadership


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1 Features

WOMEN’S RIGHTS: LOOKING BACK OR MOVING FORWARD?
The Beijing Platform for Action in Africa
Mary Wandia
Despite the wide adoption of protocols for gender equality across
Africa, ‘violations of women’s human rights have reached epidemic
proportions,’ Mary Wandia writes in Pambazuka News, ‘and unless we
adopt a multi-sectoral approach in the implementation and monitoring
of regional and international commitments, we shall continue to
marginalise half of the continent’s population.’ With the Beijing +15
Africa Review meeting underway in Banjul, Wandia asks whether Africa’s
ministers for gender and women will ‘rise up to the challenge’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60352
******


SPOTLIGHT ON BEIJING +15
Marren Akatsa-Bukachi
Addressing gender inequality remains central to the drive to improve
livelihoods and engender development for all, writes Marren
Akatsa-Bukachi. While progress has been made, the key challenge will
be to revitalise the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action
(BPFA) and ensure genuine momentum is sustained around achieving
gender equality in all areas of life, the author argues.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60349
******


WHY WE SHOULDN’T NEED BEIJING +15
Morissanda Kouyaté
‘The idea behind “Beijing” was not to get together every five years
and count the victims of gender discrimination and violence’,
Morissanda Kouyaté writes in Pambazuka News. ‘It was intended to be –
and remains – a campaign to end these problems. A lack of will remains
a key obstacle to achieving this – not just political will, but at all
levels, to consider women as equal members of society, enjoying all
inalienable rights accorded to men.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60356
******


THE BEIJING PLATFORM FOR ACTION: WHAT HAS IT DELIVERED TO AFRICAN WOMEN?
Norah Matovu Winyi
The Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was unveiled some 15 years ago,
leading Norah Matovu Winyi to ask what has really changed for Africa's
women since the platform's inception. Over the last 15 years progress
in women's position has on the whole been regrettably slow the author
notes, with a wide gap between commitments and actual action still
persistent. But with the unveiling of a new resolution to 'establish
[a] new gender-equality entity in the United Nations', there is fresh
hope that the international organisation will be able to work with
governments and Africa's citizens to revitalise the drive for
equality, peace and development.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60350
******


KENYA: PEACE AND SECURITY IMPERATIVES FOR WOMEN
Gender dimensions in the electoral process
Carole Ageng’o
Carole Ageng’o takes a closer look at the interplay between gender
relations and conflict in the three phases of Kenya’s electoral
process – pre-election, election and post-election. Highlighting the
barriers women face to participating in each phase despite
international standards and regional instruments for protection of the
rights of women, Ageng’o argues that entrenched social roles have
‘made it difficult for men and women to share power, privilege and
status on the basis of equality'. A change in prevailing gender
relations, Ageng’o suggests, is key to ‘empowering communities torn
apart by war to build peace from below’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/60353
******


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2 Comment & analysis

AU WOMEN AND GENDER EXPERTS ADOPT KEY INSTRUMENTS
African Press Organization
African Union (AU) experts on women and gender affairs will submit
their recommendations to establish the African Union Women’s Trust
Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action
Plan, and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade: 2010-2020 to
ministers in charge of gender and women’s affairs on 21 November. In
order to disseminate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan
the meeting proposed using faith-based groups, imams, and the media to
sensitise and transmit messages to women and society at large.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/60360
******


ZIMBABWE RATIFIES SADC PROTOCOL ON GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
Rozaria Memorial Trust
Zimbabwe has ratified the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, a regional instrument for
advancing gender equality and women's rights. It is the second country
after Namibia to ratify the protocol.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/60355
******


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3 Pan-African Postcard

GRAÇA MACHEL RETURNS
L. Muthoni Wanyeki
With Graça Machel set to re-visit Kenya this weekend as a member of
the Panel of Eminent Persons overseeing the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM), L. Muthoni Wanyeki stresses the need for all Kenyans
to ensure that those in charge are not permitted to paint a rosy
picture of 'achievements' for Machel's team.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/60351
******


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4 Advocacy & campaigns

16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
25 November – 10 December 2009
POWA
People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) ( http://www.powa.co.za/ ) , based
in South Africa, has put together a programme of action for the 16
Days of Activism Against Gender Violence ( http://tinyurl.com/4mmf8u )
, from 25 November to 10 December.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60359
******


SEVENTH MEETING OF THE PANEL OF THE WISE, ADDIS ABABA
Ethiopia 9–10 November 2009
The African Union Panel of the Wise held its seventh meeting at the
African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 9 and 10
November 2009 under the chairmanship of Ahmed Ben Bella.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60348
******


KENYA: NOVEMBER ATTACKS IN SAMBURU
DiasporaKenyan
DiasporaKenyan reports on renewed attacks by police and security
forces on communities in Kenya’s Samburu East. ‘Thousands of residents
have been displaced as they now flee in terror, remembering the
February 21 attack on Lerata and Kalama communities', in which
innocent villagers were beaten, raped and terrorised, DiasporaKenyan
writes.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/60357
******


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5 Letters & Opinions

CONFERENCE ON ZIMBABWE: HEALING, RECONCILIATION AND RECONSTRUCTION
Syracuse University's Africa Initiative responds to intimidation allegations
Otieno Orwa
A statement issued by the Africa Initiative of Syracuse University and
the organising committee of the special conference on Zimbabwe:
Healing, reconciliation and reconstruction challenges the veracity of
allegations of harassment and intimidation (
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/60204 ) of some
participants by members of Minister Sekai Holland’s security personnel
during the three-day conference.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/60354
******


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6 Blogging Africa

A CALL FOR MORE FEMALE LEADERSHIP ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Sokari Ekine
A call for more female leadership across the continent, discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation, the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS
and the trial of Charles Taylor are among the stories in Sokari
Ekine’s selection of the best of the African blogosphere for this
week’s edition of Pambazuka News.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/60358
******


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ISSN 1753-6839

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 2, 2009: Microfinance Focus conducted an opinion poll
during the Microfinance India Summit 2009 held in New Delhi last week. The poll
has established certain trends for some key issues including, Transparency,
Regulation, Mission drift, Cap on interest rate and "Livelihoods in the Indian
Microfinance sector. Of those who were present at the venue, 165 delegates,
representing some key stakeholders in the sector participated in the poll,
making it significant and truly reflective.
Interestingly, not many respondents believe that Indian microfinance
Institutions are honest enough to promote transparency. Nearly 57% said 'No',
while 24% said 'yes'. Those who had opted for 'Can't say' were at 19%.  The
response to our question whether the industry requires a uniform regulation, the
answer was quite emphatic with 87% saying 'yes'. Only 9% said 'no' and 4% said
'can't say".
One suggestion by Shachikant, Secretary, Prepared, was:"MFIs should make one
uniform platform like banks to stop multiple financing and over financing. MFIs
need very cautious in evaluating the repayment capacity of clients and should
stop top up loans unless there is a specific purpose. Promote small NGOs and
organizations in the sector, which require seed capital to start."
Another concern in the sector is that many MFIs are increasing their emphasis on
commercialization or drifting away from helping the poor. When asked this
question, only 67% said 'yes', 20% said 'no' and the rest opted 'can't say'
option. One question that haunts the sector is that of high interest rates
charged by MFIs.
When Microfinance Focus asked whether the government  should put a cap on
interest rates charged by MFIs, the answer was  an emphatic 'no' but more than
one-third of the respondents were positive to the idea. Out of 165 responses,
39% said 'yes' and 51% said 'no', while 10% said 'can't say'.
One of the respondents, Mr. P. Kannan, DGM - Fund raising (Head), of
Chennai-based Grama Vidiyal Microfinance, says, "If we do consider that MFIs
facilitate/enable financial inclusion and of late, the current trend is towards
commercialization, is pushing mission drift in Indian MFIs, then it is really
apt and necessary for the government to impose a cap on interest rates charged
by MFIs, so that the real purpose of "financial inclusion" is not defeated. Also
the MFIs shouldn't take it for granted that the poor are another wholesale
market for business opportunity."
The question on livelihoods which has been included to get a response on the
importance of livelihoods agenda for MFIs in the country was an overwhelming
'yes'. When asked whether MFIs should expand into providing livelihood services,
83% said 'yes', 13% said 'no' and 4% said 'can't say'. The reasoning is simple.
Explains, Mr. Sharad Verma, Programme Officer, FWWB, Ahmedabad: "I strongly feel
after spending two-and-a-half years in monitoring MFIs that purely micro credit
activities are not going to help the Indian MF sector. MFIs should provide
vocational training and skill enhancement training to clients in rural areas for
their financial uplifting/sustainability."
Finally, an opinion by a respondent, who preferred to remain anonymous, sums up
briefly the state of the microfinance industry:"MF industry is struggling with
the historical baggage of social development, the basic premise on which the
whole movement had begun. Now with majority of the MF players going for
stringently regulated legal entities and having to adopt banking processes and
systems, they are grappling with whether to transform completely and entirely
into a commercial financial institution or to continue adhering to social
development causes which will hamper their growth and expansion as a commercial
financial institution."

Read more at : www.microfinancefocus.com/news

Vikash Kumar

Executive Director | Microfinance Focus

> To: "Development Finance" <devfinance@...>
> From: "Hugh Allen" <Hugh@...>
> Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:29:03 +0200
> Subject: Devfinance: [SPAM?]  RE: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter
  pressure to the microfinance backlash
>
>
> Dear Milford
>
> I think you take a broadsword to a battle that need rapiers or scalpels.
> You make sweeping assertions that, in sum, suggest that microfinance is a
> busted flush and has done nothing to alleviate poverty.  You also suggest
> that efforts to place emphasis on savings are a way to shift responsibility
> for development outcomes away from the political arena and into the hands of
> individuals.  But I strongly believe you err in suggesting that savings
> invested in microfinance takes away capital that can be invested in areas of
> the economy that will lead to a rising tide for all ships.
>
> But I partly agree with you.  We need a rising tide.   But I think itÂ’s a
> mistake to see this as a zero sum game.  Economies rise or fall on the basis
> of what happens globally and national policies that either encourage or
> depress economic growth.  Microfinance is a bit player, taken by and large.
> I donÂ’t really see that IndiaÂ’s been unduly held back by misguided
> microfinance investment (40 million people in SHGs) after the economic
> liberalization of the 90s – and this in a country that deliberately directs
> its banks to lend 40% to ‘pro-poor’ sectors.
>
> So while microfinance is a bit player it is a breathtaking generalization to
> suggest that itÂ’s all of it rubbish.  It isnÂ’t.  It may not make the cake
> grow larger but often helps poor people to get a fairer share of the cake.
> And there is now abundant evidence that community-managed microfinance keeps
> capital and profits in the places where it is generated and that people DO
> experience dramatic improvements in their living conditions.  I feel no
> particular sadness that poor people have found ways of aggregating their own
> capital for their own benefit instead of waiting for the miracle of
> trickle-down.
>
> And, by the same token, what benefit to the economy is conferred by retail
> banking in the developed world, except to increased personal debt and
> encourage corporate irresponsibility and greed.  Should I be sad that some
> of these obese institutions are now on a diet, and consider it a cause for
> tears?   And why should I be confident that increasing the availability of
> investment capital will go to productive use instead of asset bubbles?  If
> itÂ’s wrong to lend to the poor, would you propose abolishing high-street
> banking in the developed world? And have we all not benefited from financial
> services to finance investments that make no great contribution to the
> common weal?
>
> LetÂ’s not take an either-or position on this and letÂ’s not forget that
> responsible savings and credit services for the truly poor have a worthwhile
> human dimension (even if people stay poor) that, I suggest, doesnÂ’t unduly
> impinge on Wall Street (especially when itÂ’s self-financed).
>
> Hugh
>
>
>
> VSL Associates
> Neuenkamper Strasse 27
> 42657 Solingen
> Germany
> Tel:   49 (0)212 247 2435
> Fax:  49 (0)212 818091
> Web:  <http://www.vsla.net/> www.vsla.net
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: Development Finance [mailto:devfinance@...] On Behalf Of
> milford bateman
> Sent: 30 October 2009 11:09
> To: Development Finance
> Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
> backlash
>
> Dear Jamie
>
> As one of those really pleased that microfinance is now, finally, being
> seriously challenged, on the basis that there is almost no evidence
> whatsoever to support the notion that it is linked to genuine poverty
> reduction, I simply must respond to your posting. To my mind, your argument
> for some minor modifications to microfinance, and some asset building
> financial services too, and then all will be OK, is quite egregiously wrong.
> I think it is really doing further serious damage to the poor. The fact is
> that the microfinance industry has had the floor to itself for nearly thirty
> years or so, and it should surely worry us all that nothing concrete has
> been found to support the idea that microfinance is associated with genuine
> poverty reduction impact. Importantly, remember, financial
> self-sustainability and outreach are NOT impacts, but modalities of
> operation. If microfinance doesnÂ’t work, then having lots more of it (and
> less of something else) will only further entrap the poor in their own
> poverty.
>
> Since the 1990s many economists have challenged the almost total lack of
> real evidence supporting microfinance. Most of us were pointed to the work
> of Pitt and Khandker, the ‘keystone’ work that gave rise to Muhammad
YunusÂ’s
> famous (now revealed as quite incorrect) statement that ‘5% of Grameen Bank
> clients exit poverty every yearÂ’. Now we find that even this famed body of
> work was seriously dodgy, as excellently shown by David Roodman and Jonathan
> Morduch in their recent paper. This paper now effectively strips away the
> most important piece of evidence used to support the rise of microfinance.
> So the rise of microfinance came about because of almost no concrete
> evidence of poverty reduction – it was all largely hype! Meanwhile, there IS
> a huge amount of concrete evidence from East Asia that, among other things,
> Bangladesh has been left behind by neighbouring countries, countries that
> have all invested more of their scarce resources (i.e., savings) in
> sustainable businesses (especially SMEs), new technologies, inter-enterprise
> connections and scaled up businesses. As IÂ’ve said before, this is why
> Vietnam has scooted way ahead of Bangladesh, as did China, Taiwan and others
> in the region before it, after rejecting both the Grameen Bank AND the later
> commercialized microfinance model, in favour of its own unorthodox local
> financial model based on principles quite anathema to the microfinance
> industry (i.e., subsidies, policy-based lending, public ownership of MFIs,
> etc). Yet the Vietnamese local financial model has worked wonders in
> supporting scaled-up businesses and agriculture, and Vietnam is now the
> international development community’s ‘poster child’ for successful poverty
> reduction. But instead of welcoming the lessons of the Vietnamese
> microfinance model, almost all in the microfinance industry (particularly
> USAID and CGAP) simply refuse to accept its lessons, and continue to dump on
> the Vietnamese local financial model as they have done right from the start.
> This is a huge tragedy for the global poor – yes we support poverty
> reduction, but it simply MUST be achieved using the correct (neoliberal)
> ideological model. This makes me really sad.
>
> I am also very disturbed that, rather than face up to the growing evidence
> that microfinance is clearly undermining the functions of the local economy,
> microfinance advocates like yourself have quietly fallen back into arguing
> in favour of ‘financial inclusion’, especially savings, as though this was
> all along the real driving force behind the donor communityÂ’s love affair
> with microfinance. This was NOT the original aim of the microfinance
> industry – it was all supposed to be about creating jobs and raising incomes
> and ensuring empowerment. Have a look at Muhammad YunusÂ’s early works and
> those of Hernando De Soto. When you start shifting the goalposts in this
> way, it is a clear sign that the game is up. Savings and back accounts and
> so on are useful, I admit, but they simply cannot form the core of the
> argument today in favour of the huge emphasis upon, and investment in,
> microfinance. ItÂ’s the equivalent of justifying US government spending on
> NASA on the basis that it eventually (so they say) led to the discovery of
> the Teflon-coated frying panÂ….
>
> And, finally, let me reiterate once again that the issue of ‘individual
> asset buildingÂ’ is certainly not meant to offer anything for the poor; the
> opposite is the case. The entire individual asset building agenda is a
> political project associated with the Reagan ‘workfare’ reforms, a set of
> reforms that centrally aimed to disengage the state from any active role in
> the economy, thus allowing business elites to have the floor to themselves.
> We are all now sadly aware of the end macro-result of this Reaganite (and
> Thatcherite) agenda – the Wall Street-driven global economic meltdown. At
> the micro-level, individual asset-building programs, including via
> microfinance, are intended to persuade the poor that they themselves should
> individually seek out the solution to their own poverty. A few will succeed,
> and we will use them as our role models. But most remain poor, and the core
> idea is to persuade them that it is their own fault - they were simply not
> managing their own asset portfolios correctly. But the really crucial thing
> is that at no point should the poor be given any encouragement to seek out
> the state or collective solutions (e.g., trade unions, social movements) or
> wealth or income redistribution to address poverty – these real solutions
> are now invalidated and off the agenda, as intended. The core truth always
> forgotten by those involved in the asset building movement, moreover, is
> that accumulation of assets by the poor is most often the RESULT of an
> active poverty reduction program (e.g., New Deal style job creation
> measures, government spending, progressive taxation, the application of
> technologies, etc), and NOT the cause.
>
> So letÂ’s encourage lots of criticism. If something clearly doesnÂ’t work to
> reduce poverty around the globe – for example, microfinance - lets figure
> out what needs to take its place. LetÂ’s look at those countries that really
> HAVE substantially reduced poverty through local level financial sector
> innovation, like in Vietnam and China, and lets argue and try to agree on
> what they did right and what they did wrong, and try to build other local
> financial systems around their practical and successful methodologies,
> rather than around the ideologically-driven methodologies that lie at the
> core of the modern microfinance industry today.
>
> Milford
>
>
> From: Development Finance [mailto:devfinance@...] On Behalf Of
> Jamie Zimmerman
> Sent: 27 October 2009 21:19
> To: Development Finance
> Subject: Devfinance: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance backlash
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> IÂ’ve been arguing for awhile now that microcredit has been overly hyped,
> even dangerously so (i.e., credit will end poverty). But now media (see The
> Times, The Boston Globe, etc) are beginning a backlash against microcredit
> (likely caused in large part by failed expectations caused by said hype)
> that I nonetheless find equally, if not more, disturbing (i.e., microfinance
> isnÂ’t working). IÂ’ve never thought of credit as a panacea, but I do believe
> financial inclusion and access to an array of asset building financial
> services are essential if the poor are ever to move out of poverty.
>
> So, IÂ’m please that my colleague, Shweta Banerjee, just published an piece
> in Foreign Policy magazine that applies some much need counter pressure to
> the new naysayers of microfinance, by focusing on what is working, what
> might work, and why we should continue our efforts to innovate before
> falling back into old (and bad) development policies and practices. Here is
> a link to the article (and pasted below):
> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/how_microfinance_changes_th
> e_lives_of_millions?page=0,0.
>
> We welcome your thoughts.
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Jamie
>
>
>
> How Microfinance Changes the Lives of Millions
>
> One person at a time.
> BY SHWETA S. BANERJEE | OCTOBER 26, 2009
> A
> <http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/20/small_change_do
> es_microlending_actually_fight_poverty?mode=PF> recent op-ed in the Boston
> Globe argues that microlending "doesn't actually do much to fight poverty"
> and that it may be time to "think macro rather than micro." Maybe the hype
> surrounding microcredit as a panacea for everything from poverty to
> discrimination is undeserved. But debunking the whole bottom-up, micro
> approach on the basis of two unpublished papers is not just premature, but
> dangerous. Macro, trickle-down development policies have rather effectively
> kept billions of people poor for decades. In comparison, the microfinance
> field is young, evolving, and ripe with innovation. Lending to the poor is
> just one facet of microfinance. And helping the poor save, before or along
> with providing credit, might be the missing piece to help solve the poverty
> puzzle.
>
> Some argue that it is naive or even cruel to suggest that the poor should
> save. How can people living in destitution be asked to set money aside? It
> turns out that even very poor people can and do save if provided with the
> right opportunities. After two decades of providing microloans to the poor,
> Bangladesh's Nobel-winning Grameen Bank, for instance, started offering
> savings products to its clients in 1998. Just seven years later, Grameen's
> clients started saving more than they borrowed -- around $460 million.
> Although most banks aren't interested in handling small nest eggs, poor
> people desperately need a safe way to save. Small-scale farmers, for
> example, often need to stretch out three months of income over an entire
> year. "During the time between harvests, my family still has needs, and we
> utilize everything we have in order to survive until the next harvest,"
> explains Benito Ojeda Juárez. He and his family participate in a program set
> up one year ago by the World Council of Credit Unions,
> <http://www.matchsavings.org/> MatchSavings.org. It gives people in rural
> Mexico the opportunity to save for things like home improvements, business
> investment, health care, and education.
>
> Such programs, which are becoming more common around the world, also provide
> a wonderful vehicle for charitably minded people who want to help the poor
> help themselves. MatchSavings.org provides a forum for potential donors to
> read participants' stories and choose a goal to support. This makes it
> possible for new savers, after making six monthly deposits to their account,
> to receive a matching donation. Juárez hopes that building his savings will
> prevent him from going deeper into debt. Maria Alejo, another participant of
> the program, used her matched amount on a long overdue visit to the dentist.
> These people never had access to such financial services before. There is a
> credit union in their village, but neither Juárez nor Alejo could afford its
> membership fee. Now, with the MatchSavings program, they can build enough
> capital to join the credit union, allowing them to keep their savings
> accounts and gain access to microloans.
> Such programs are also popping up -- and thriving -- in Africa and Asia. In
> Uganda, Stanbic (a large African banking company) partnered with the
> start-up Assets Africa to create a mobile bank for young women in rural
> areas. Each week, a van travels from village to village, taking deposits.
> Local committees help by selecting participants and coordinating with Assets
> Africa to make sure the program runs smoothly. Similarly, Oxfam's Saving for
> Change helps members save small amounts and pool them into a common fund,
> which disburses loans for various needs and investments. Initiated only four
> years ago, the program now reaches 250,000 in villages across Africa and
> Asia. Building a reserve of savings empowers the groups to make investments
> and have access to formal credit. Thus, creative microfinance programs
> clearly have the capacity to fill in gaps the financial world has not,
> despite what the Globe op-ed says.
> Another issue raised in the op-ed is that of aggregation. "Forty workers at
> a textile plant are going to be much more productive than 40
> microentrepreneur weavers each working by themselves," the Globe op-ed says.
> It argues against microlending because it says that dealing with thousands
> of microsavers and microentrepreneurs is time-consuming and costly.
> But many microlending institutions can aggregate workers and savers,
> beneficially and efficiently. Take, for instance, the large-scale,
> grass-roots savings project in Andhra Pradesh, India, the "
> <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTARD/EXTRURLIV/0,,content
> MDK:22027188%7EpagePK:64168445%7EpiPK:64168309%7EtheSitePK:5097010,00.html>
> Indira Kranthi Patham." The project aids poor female farmers who have no
> access to the formal banking infrastructure and are geographically
> dispersed. When distressed and in need of cash, these farmers sometimes have
> to sell their produce to middlemen or, worst of all, make emergency sales at
> a loss. The project helps them collectivize: Neighbors form local savings
> groups, which become part of village groups, which form larger district
> groups. At each level, the program helps participants save money and access
> microloans. Further, private players can negotiate at the district or
> village level to buy produce from the previously dispersed poor farmers.
> Thus far, the program has helped nearly 9 million women, who have seen their
> incomes rise at double the regional rate. There's nothing micro about that.
>
> Another benefit of savings-led programs is psychological -- a point unnoted
> in the Globe. Savers don't just acquire capital. They experience what
> Michael Sherraden, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, terms
> "asset effects." These include a greater sense of control over their lives
> and a more positive attitude toward the future. A participant of the
> MatchSavings program, Gloria Gomez Lauriano, points out, "I was saving to
> fix my house and make a better living. It's good to save so you can move
> forward." Many savers in the program felt that even after the program ended
> they would continue their habit of saving every month to help build a more
> secure future.
> Recently, the Gates Foundation announced a $35 million grant for designing
> and delivering new savings products for the poor across Africa, Asia, and
> Latin America. This is welcome news. There are many more ideas to choose
> from, fitted to different local economic and political conditions. Good
> old-fashioned thrift, it turns out, can be married to 21st-century
> technologies like mobile banking and Web-based fundraising to provide a
> powerful engine of self-help to the world.
> So, let's not be so dismissive of micro, and let's give up the idea of going
> back to the old days of thinking only at the macro level. A million people
> here, and a million there, and pretty soon thinking small can have a very
> big impact indeed.
> Shweta S. Banerjee is a consultant with the
> <http://globalassetsproject.org/> Global Assets Project at the New America
> Foundation.
> <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
> <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
>  <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
> Help Wanted at the State Department
>
>
> ***************************************************
> Jamie M. Zimmerman
> Deputy Director, Global Assets Project
> Asset Building Program, New America Foundation
>
> 1899 L ST NW, Suite 400
> Washington, DC 20036
> 202.596.3362
> zimmerman@...
>
> www.newamerica.net
>  <http://www.globalassetsproject.org> www.globalassetsproject.org
>
>

> To: "Development Finance" <devfinance@...>
> From: "Hugh Allen" <Hugh@...>
> Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:29:03 +0200
> Subject: Devfinance: [SPAM?]  RE: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter
  pressure to the microfinance backlash
>
>
> Dear Milford
>
> I think you take a broadsword to a battle that need rapiers or scalpels.
> You make sweeping assertions that, in sum, suggest that microfinance is a
> busted flush and has done nothing to alleviate poverty.  You also suggest
> that efforts to place emphasis on savings are a way to shift responsibility
> for development outcomes away from the political arena and into the hands of
> individuals.  But I strongly believe you err in suggesting that savings
> invested in microfinance takes away capital that can be invested in areas of
> the economy that will lead to a rising tide for all ships.
>
> But I partly agree with you.  We need a rising tide.   But I think itÂ’s a
> mistake to see this as a zero sum game.  Economies rise or fall on the basis
> of what happens globally and national policies that either encourage or
> depress economic growth.  Microfinance is a bit player, taken by and large.
> I donÂ’t really see that IndiaÂ’s been unduly held back by misguided
> microfinance investment (40 million people in SHGs) after the economic
> liberalization of the 90s – and this in a country that deliberately directs
> its banks to lend 40% to ‘pro-poor’ sectors.
>
> So while microfinance is a bit player it is a breathtaking generalization to
> suggest that itÂ’s all of it rubbish.  It isnÂ’t.  It may not make the cake
> grow larger but often helps poor people to get a fairer share of the cake.
> And there is now abundant evidence that community-managed microfinance keeps
> capital and profits in the places where it is generated and that people DO
> experience dramatic improvements in their living conditions.  I feel no
> particular sadness that poor people have found ways of aggregating their own
> capital for their own benefit instead of waiting for the miracle of
> trickle-down.
>
> And, by the same token, what benefit to the economy is conferred by retail
> banking in the developed world, except to increased personal debt and
> encourage corporate irresponsibility and greed.  Should I be sad that some
> of these obese institutions are now on a diet, and consider it a cause for
> tears?   And why should I be confident that increasing the availability of
> investment capital will go to productive use instead of asset bubbles?  If
> itÂ’s wrong to lend to the poor, would you propose abolishing high-street
> banking in the developed world? And have we all not benefited from financial
> services to finance investments that make no great contribution to the
> common weal?
>
> LetÂ’s not take an either-or position on this and letÂ’s not forget that
> responsible savings and credit services for the truly poor have a worthwhile
> human dimension (even if people stay poor) that, I suggest, doesnÂ’t unduly
> impinge on Wall Street (especially when itÂ’s self-financed).
>
> Hugh
>
>
>
> VSL Associates
> Neuenkamper Strasse 27
> 42657 Solingen
> Germany
> Tel:   49 (0)212 247 2435
> Fax:  49 (0)212 818091
> Web:  <http://www.vsla.net/> www.vsla.net
>
>
>   _____
>
> From: Development Finance [mailto:devfinance@...] On Behalf Of
> milford bateman
> Sent: 30 October 2009 11:09
> To: Development Finance
> Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
> backlash
>
> Dear Jamie
>
> As one of those really pleased that microfinance is now, finally, being
> seriously challenged, on the basis that there is almost no evidence
> whatsoever to support the notion that it is linked to genuine poverty
> reduction, I simply must respond to your posting. To my mind, your argument
> for some minor modifications to microfinance, and some asset building
> financial services too, and then all will be OK, is quite egregiously wrong.
> I think it is really doing further serious damage to the poor. The fact is
> that the microfinance industry has had the floor to itself for nearly thirty
> years or so, and it should surely worry us all that nothing concrete has
> been found to support the idea that microfinance is associated with genuine
> poverty reduction impact. Importantly, remember, financial
> self-sustainability and outreach are NOT impacts, but modalities of
> operation. If microfinance doesnÂ’t work, then having lots more of it (and
> less of something else) will only further entrap the poor in their own
> poverty.
>
> Since the 1990s many economists have challenged the almost total lack of
> real evidence supporting microfinance. Most of us were pointed to the work
> of Pitt and Khandker, the ‘keystone’ work that gave rise to Muhammad
YunusÂ’s
> famous (now revealed as quite incorrect) statement that ‘5% of Grameen Bank
> clients exit poverty every yearÂ’. Now we find that even this famed body of
> work was seriously dodgy, as excellently shown by David Roodman and Jonathan
> Morduch in their recent paper. This paper now effectively strips away the
> most important piece of evidence used to support the rise of microfinance.
> So the rise of microfinance came about because of almost no concrete
> evidence of poverty reduction – it was all largely hype! Meanwhile, there IS
> a huge amount of concrete evidence from East Asia that, among other things,
> Bangladesh has been left behind by neighbouring countries, countries that
> have all invested more of their scarce resources (i.e., savings) in
> sustainable businesses (especially SMEs), new technologies, inter-enterprise
> connections and scaled up businesses. As IÂ’ve said before, this is why
> Vietnam has scooted way ahead of Bangladesh, as did China, Taiwan and others
> in the region before it, after rejecting both the Grameen Bank AND the later
> commercialized microfinance model, in favour of its own unorthodox local
> financial model based on principles quite anathema to the microfinance
> industry (i.e., subsidies, policy-based lending, public ownership of MFIs,
> etc). Yet the Vietnamese local financial model has worked wonders in
> supporting scaled-up businesses and agriculture, and Vietnam is now the
> international development community’s ‘poster child’ for successful poverty
> reduction. But instead of welcoming the lessons of the Vietnamese
> microfinance model, almost all in the microfinance industry (particularly
> USAID and CGAP) simply refuse to accept its lessons, and continue to dump on
> the Vietnamese local financial model as they have done right from the start.
> This is a huge tragedy for the global poor – yes we support poverty
> reduction, but it simply MUST be achieved using the correct (neoliberal)
> ideological model. This makes me really sad.
>
> I am also very disturbed that, rather than face up to the growing evidence
> that microfinance is clearly undermining the functions of the local economy,
> microfinance advocates like yourself have quietly fallen back into arguing
> in favour of ‘financial inclusion’, especially savings, as though this was
> all along the real driving force behind the donor communityÂ’s love affair
> with microfinance. This was NOT the original aim of the microfinance
> industry – it was all supposed to be about creating jobs and raising incomes
> and ensuring empowerment. Have a look at Muhammad YunusÂ’s early works and
> those of Hernando De Soto. When you start shifting the goalposts in this
> way, it is a clear sign that the game is up. Savings and back accounts and
> so on are useful, I admit, but they simply cannot form the core of the
> argument today in favour of the huge emphasis upon, and investment in,
> microfinance. ItÂ’s the equivalent of justifying US government spending on
> NASA on the basis that it eventually (so they say) led to the discovery of
> the Teflon-coated frying panÂ….
>
> And, finally, let me reiterate once again that the issue of ‘individual
> asset buildingÂ’ is certainly not meant to offer anything for the poor; the
> opposite is the case. The entire individual asset building agenda is a
> political project associated with the Reagan ‘workfare’ reforms, a set of
> reforms that centrally aimed to disengage the state from any active role in
> the economy, thus allowing business elites to have the floor to themselves.
> We are all now sadly aware of the end macro-result of this Reaganite (and
> Thatcherite) agenda – the Wall Street-driven global economic meltdown. At
> the micro-level, individual asset-building programs, including via
> microfinance, are intended to persuade the poor that they themselves should
> individually seek out the solution to their own poverty. A few will succeed,
> and we will use them as our role models. But most remain poor, and the core
> idea is to persuade them that it is their own fault - they were simply not
> managing their own asset portfolios correctly. But the really crucial thing
> is that at no point should the poor be given any encouragement to seek out
> the state or collective solutions (e.g., trade unions, social movements) or
> wealth or income redistribution to address poverty – these real solutions
> are now invalidated and off the agenda, as intended. The core truth always
> forgotten by those involved in the asset building movement, moreover, is
> that accumulation of assets by the poor is most often the RESULT of an
> active poverty reduction program (e.g., New Deal style job creation
> measures, government spending, progressive taxation, the application of
> technologies, etc), and NOT the cause.
>
> So letÂ’s encourage lots of criticism. If something clearly doesnÂ’t work to
> reduce poverty around the globe – for example, microfinance - lets figure
> out what needs to take its place. LetÂ’s look at those countries that really
> HAVE substantially reduced poverty through local level financial sector
> innovation, like in Vietnam and China, and lets argue and try to agree on
> what they did right and what they did wrong, and try to build other local
> financial systems around their practical and successful methodologies,
> rather than around the ideologically-driven methodologies that lie at the
> core of the modern microfinance industry today.
>
> Milford
>
>
> From: Development Finance [mailto:devfinance@...] On Behalf Of
> Jamie Zimmerman
> Sent: 27 October 2009 21:19
> To: Development Finance
> Subject: Devfinance: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance backlash
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> IÂ’ve been arguing for awhile now that microcredit has been overly hyped,
> even dangerously so (i.e., credit will end poverty). But now media (see The
> Times, The Boston Globe, etc) are beginning a backlash against microcredit
> (likely caused in large part by failed expectations caused by said hype)
> that I nonetheless find equally, if not more, disturbing (i.e., microfinance
> isnÂ’t working). IÂ’ve never thought of credit as a panacea, but I do believe
> financial inclusion and access to an array of asset building financial
> services are essential if the poor are ever to move out of poverty.
>
> So, IÂ’m please that my colleague, Shweta Banerjee, just published an piece
> in Foreign Policy magazine that applies some much need counter pressure to
> the new naysayers of microfinance, by focusing on what is working, what
> might work, and why we should continue our efforts to innovate before
> falling back into old (and bad) development policies and practices. Here is
> a link to the article (and pasted below):
> http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/how_microfinance_changes_th
> e_lives_of_millions?page=0,0.
>
> We welcome your thoughts.
>
> Warm regards,
>
> Jamie
>
>
>
> How Microfinance Changes the Lives of Millions
>
> One person at a time.
> BY SHWETA S. BANERJEE | OCTOBER 26, 2009
> A
> <http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/09/20/small_change_do
> es_microlending_actually_fight_poverty?mode=PF> recent op-ed in the Boston
> Globe argues that microlending "doesn't actually do much to fight poverty"
> and that it may be time to "think macro rather than micro." Maybe the hype
> surrounding microcredit as a panacea for everything from poverty to
> discrimination is undeserved. But debunking the whole bottom-up, micro
> approach on the basis of two unpublished papers is not just premature, but
> dangerous. Macro, trickle-down development policies have rather effectively
> kept billions of people poor for decades. In comparison, the microfinance
> field is young, evolving, and ripe with innovation. Lending to the poor is
> just one facet of microfinance. And helping the poor save, before or along
> with providing credit, might be the missing piece to help solve the poverty
> puzzle.
>
> Some argue that it is naive or even cruel to suggest that the poor should
> save. How can people living in destitution be asked to set money aside? It
> turns out that even very poor people can and do save if provided with the
> right opportunities. After two decades of providing microloans to the poor,
> Bangladesh's Nobel-winning Grameen Bank, for instance, started offering
> savings products to its clients in 1998. Just seven years later, Grameen's
> clients started saving more than they borrowed -- around $460 million.
> Although most banks aren't interested in handling small nest eggs, poor
> people desperately need a safe way to save. Small-scale farmers, for
> example, often need to stretch out three months of income over an entire
> year. "During the time between harvests, my family still has needs, and we
> utilize everything we have in order to survive until the next harvest,"
> explains Benito Ojeda Juárez. He and his family participate in a program set
> up one year ago by the World Council of Credit Unions,
> <http://www.matchsavings.org/> MatchSavings.org. It gives people in rural
> Mexico the opportunity to save for things like home improvements, business
> investment, health care, and education.
>
> Such programs, which are becoming more common around the world, also provide
> a wonderful vehicle for charitably minded people who want to help the poor
> help themselves. MatchSavings.org provides a forum for potential donors to
> read participants' stories and choose a goal to support. This makes it
> possible for new savers, after making six monthly deposits to their account,
> to receive a matching donation. Juárez hopes that building his savings will
> prevent him from going deeper into debt. Maria Alejo, another participant of
> the program, used her matched amount on a long overdue visit to the dentist.
> These people never had access to such financial services before. There is a
> credit union in their village, but neither Juárez nor Alejo could afford its
> membership fee. Now, with the MatchSavings program, they can build enough
> capital to join the credit union, allowing them to keep their savings
> accounts and gain access to microloans.
> Such programs are also popping up -- and thriving -- in Africa and Asia. In
> Uganda, Stanbic (a large African banking company) partnered with the
> start-up Assets Africa to create a mobile bank for young women in rural
> areas. Each week, a van travels from village to village, taking deposits.
> Local committees help by selecting participants and coordinating with Assets
> Africa to make sure the program runs smoothly. Similarly, Oxfam's Saving for
> Change helps members save small amounts and pool them into a common fund,
> which disburses loans for various needs and investments. Initiated only four
> years ago, the program now reaches 250,000 in villages across Africa and
> Asia. Building a reserve of savings empowers the groups to make investments
> and have access to formal credit. Thus, creative microfinance programs
> clearly have the capacity to fill in gaps the financial world has not,
> despite what the Globe op-ed says.
> Another issue raised in the op-ed is that of aggregation. "Forty workers at
> a textile plant are going to be much more productive than 40
> microentrepreneur weavers each working by themselves," the Globe op-ed says.
> It argues against microlending because it says that dealing with thousands
> of microsavers and microentrepreneurs is time-consuming and costly.
> But many microlending institutions can aggregate workers and savers,
> beneficially and efficiently. Take, for instance, the large-scale,
> grass-roots savings project in Andhra Pradesh, India, the "
> <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTARD/EXTRURLIV/0,,content
> MDK:22027188%7EpagePK:64168445%7EpiPK:64168309%7EtheSitePK:5097010,00.html>
> Indira Kranthi Patham." The project aids poor female farmers who have no
> access to the formal banking infrastructure and are geographically
> dispersed. When distressed and in need of cash, these farmers sometimes have
> to sell their produce to middlemen or, worst of all, make emergency sales at
> a loss. The project helps them collectivize: Neighbors form local savings
> groups, which become part of village groups, which form larger district
> groups. At each level, the program helps participants save money and access
> microloans. Further, private players can negotiate at the district or
> village level to buy produce from the previously dispersed poor farmers.
> Thus far, the program has helped nearly 9 million women, who have seen their
> incomes rise at double the regional rate. There's nothing micro about that.
>
> Another benefit of savings-led programs is psychological -- a point unnoted
> in the Globe. Savers don't just acquire capital. They experience what
> Michael Sherraden, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, terms
> "asset effects." These include a greater sense of control over their lives
> and a more positive attitude toward the future. A participant of the
> MatchSavings program, Gloria Gomez Lauriano, points out, "I was saving to
> fix my house and make a better living. It's good to save so you can move
> forward." Many savers in the program felt that even after the program ended
> they would continue their habit of saving every month to help build a more
> secure future.
> Recently, the Gates Foundation announced a $35 million grant for designing
> and delivering new savings products for the poor across Africa, Asia, and
> Latin America. This is welcome news. There are many more ideas to choose
> from, fitted to different local economic and political conditions. Good
> old-fashioned thrift, it turns out, can be married to 21st-century
> technologies like mobile banking and Web-based fundraising to provide a
> powerful engine of self-help to the world.
> So, let's not be so dismissive of micro, and let's give up the idea of going
> back to the old days of thinking only at the macro level. A million people
> here, and a million there, and pretty soon thinking small can have a very
> big impact indeed.
> Shweta S. Banerjee is a consultant with the
> <http://globalassetsproject.org/> Global Assets Project at the New America
> Foundation.
> <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
> <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
>  <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/call_in_the_civilians>
> Help Wanted at the State Department
>
>
> ***************************************************
> Jamie M. Zimmerman
> Deputy Director, Global Assets Project
> Asset Building Program, New America Foundation
>
> 1899 L ST NW, Suite 400
> Washington, DC 20036
> 202.596.3362
> zimmerman@...
>
> www.newamerica.net
>  <http://www.globalassetsproject.org> www.globalassetsproject.org
>
>

Continuing the debate
> To: "Development Finance" <devfinance@...>
> Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:24:47 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Peter van Dijk <petrusvandijk@...>
> Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
  backlash
>
> I hope more people, especially the donors such as DFID, read the GEM (Global
Entrepreneurship Monitoring Program) reports that over years demonstrate that
(easy) access to (affordable) access to credit is NOT a major incentive for
small enterprise development.
>
> The 'truth as a cow'  (simple fact) that MSMEs are the pillar of any economy
in the world does not mean banks, donors and governments should lend more to
them. Over 3/4 s of MSMEs in wealthy, inclusive as well as in less advanced
economies obtain finance from own and related resources.
>
> To seek answers on the impact of microcredit (or other financial services) in
MSME development is in my view a non-starter that provides many jobs in the
development and political arenas.
>
> Kind regards, Peter
>
>
>
>
> --- On Fri, 10/30/09, milford bateman <milford.bateman@...> wrote:
>
> From: milford bateman <milford.bateman@...>
> Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
backlash
> To: "Development Finance" <devfinance@...>
> Date: Friday, October 30, 2009, 2:53 PM
>
>
>
>































Malcolm

   

No, I never said
  Bangladesh was not making ANY improvements or
that specifically it was better or worse off than
  India . I said that its massive emphasis
upon microfinance has held it back compared to neighbouring high-growth
countries
(meaning South Korea, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam) that took bold
steps to ensure that the financial sector was configured in such a way that it
pro-actively invested into more sustainable businesses, such as SMEs. Even DFID
agrees with me on this, arguing that in
  Bangladesh

   

The financial
system - including banks, capital markets and the micro-finance sector - is
inadequate to support long term investment financing for growth. Smaller firms,
responsible for the lion’s share of employment, have severely limited
access to financial resources. Rural areas, with the highest potential for
lifting low income groups out of poverty, are cut off from most financing
mechanisms.

   

(DFID (Department for
International Development) (2008) The Road
to Prosperity through Growth, Jobs and Skills, Discussion Paper,
Dhaka: DFID Bangladesh ).


   

Think about it – in the most
microfinance saturated country in the world, there is almost NO facility for
SME lending! This is at least partly because most locally mobilised finance goes
right back into high-profit (for the MFIs) microfinance. The country therefore
has
almost no chance of sustainably developing, and certainly not anywhere near as
fast as its neighbours who have taken a different route. OK,
  Bangladesh has indeed
enjoyed some growth, as you say yourself, but even the World Bank does not put
this down to microfinance. It seems it was largely because of growth in the
FDI-driven
textiles sector, among other things.

   

And it is not surprising that
  India is
lagging many countries, given its increasing emphasis upon leaving local
development up to profit-seeking commercialized microfinance (e.g., SKS) and so
growth of the informal sector rather than more sustainable businesses. This
adverse
dynamic is making a lot of money for some people in microfinance (SKS again!)
but
it is effectively helping to destroy
  India ’s bottom-up capacity to
grow and develop. I recommend the excellent papers by Aneel Karnani on this
point.

   

David

   

There is a ton of data on the huge poverty
reduction success in China and
  Vietnam ,
even from heterodox sources (e.g., World Bank). Referring to the huge poverty
strides made by China
this last 30 years or so, it all started in the coastal provinces and then moved
inland (and is now accelerating thanks to the $700 bn stimulus package which
focuses among other things on rural infrastructure). And importantly, for those
of us interested in local finance, much of this poverty reduction progress is
attributable to a particular set of local financial institutions - the Urban
and Rural Credit Cooperatives (UCCs and RCCs). These were fantastically
successful in mobilising savings and then recycling this largesse into
sustainable businesses, mainly local government-owned Township and Village
Enterprises (TVEs). The Vietnamese government then sought to learn from this
fantastic success and implement its own version of the UCCs and RCCs, rejecting
in the process any sort of Grameen Bank direction or commercialized microfinance
as per USAID-CGAP recommendations. The Vietnamese too have been successful
beyond
all doubt. There is lots of material on this and why it is connected to its
heterodox local financial system. UNDP is a good source, since the MDGs were
met early in Vietnam .
Oxfam has also centrally argued that
  Vietnam ’s status as the
latest poverty reduction poster child means we should really learn lessons from
them. Their website has a couple papers on the issue.

   

Milford

   

   



   

From: Malcolm Harper
[mailto:malcolm.harper@...]
>
Sent: 30 October 2009 13:05
>
To: Development Finance; milford
bateman
>
Subject: Re: Devfinance: Re:
Applying counter pressure to the microfinance backlash



   



Sorry Milford ,
but you've got it wrong, on Bangladesh
anyway. Figures that really tell you something about well-being, such as
children's malnutrition, tell us that Bangladesh
is better off than India , in
spite of the hype and Bollywood and Jaguar Land Rover and all
that. 





 





Maybe it's nothing to do with MF,
but Bangladesh
is not doing too badly in things that really matter, in spite of pretty
useless government and pretty desperate geography.    





 





Malcolm







----- Original Message -----





From: milford bateman





To: Development Finance





Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:08 AM





Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the
microfinance backlash





   



Dear Jamie

   

As one of those really pleased that
microfinance is now, finally, being seriously challenged, on the basis that
there is almost no evidence whatsoever to support the notion that it is linked
to genuine poverty reduction, I simply must respond to your posting. To my
mind, your argument for some minor modifications to microfinance, and some
asset building financial services too, and then all will be OK, is quite
egregiously
wrong. I think it is really doing further serious damage to the poor. The fact
is that the microfinance industry has had the floor to itself for nearly thirty
years or so, and it should surely worry us all that nothing concrete has been
found to support the idea that microfinance is associated with genuine poverty
reduction impact. Importantly, remember, financial self-sustainability and
outreach are NOT impacts, but modalities of operation. If microfinance
doesn’t work, then having lots more of it (and less of something else)
will only further entrap the poor in their own poverty.

   

Since the 1990s many economists have
challenged the almost total lack of real evidence supporting microfinance. Most
of us were pointed to the work of Pitt and Khandker, the ‘keystone’
work that gave rise to Muhammad Yunus’s famous (now revealed as quite
incorrect) statement that ‘5% of Grameen Bank clients exit poverty every
year’. Now we find that even this famed body of work was seriously dodgy,
as excellently shown by David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch in their recent
paper. This paper now effectively strips away the most important piece of
evidence used to support the rise of microfinance. So the rise of microfinance
came about because of almost no concrete evidence of poverty reduction –
it was all largely hype! Meanwhile, there IS a huge amount of concrete evidence
from East Asia that, among other things, Bangladesh has been left behind by
neighbouring countries, countries that have all invested more of their scarce
resources (i.e., savings) in sustainable businesses (especially SMEs), new
technologies, inter-enterprise connections and scaled up businesses. As
I’ve said before, this is why Vietnam has scooted way ahead of
Bangladesh, as did China, Taiwan and others in the region before it, after
rejecting both the Grameen Bank AND the later commercialized microfinance
model, in favour of its own unorthodox local financial model based on
principles quite anathema to the microfinance industry (i.e., subsidies,
policy-based
lending, public ownership of MFIs, etc). Yet the Vietnamese local financial
model has worked wonders in supporting scaled-up businesses and agriculture,
and Vietnam
is now the international development community’s ‘poster
child’ for successful poverty reduction. But instead of welcoming the
lessons of the Vietnamese microfinance model, almost all in the microfinance
industry (particularly USAID and CGAP) simply refuse to accept its lessons, and
continue to dump on the Vietnamese local financial model as they have done
right from the start. This is a huge tragedy for the global poor – yes we
support poverty reduction, but it simply MUST be achieved using the correct
(neoliberal) ideological model. This makes me really sad.

   

I am also very disturbed that,
rather than face up to the growing evidence that microfinance is clearly
undermining the functions of the local economy, microfinance advocates like
yourself have quietly fallen back into arguing in favour of ‘financial
inclusion’, especially savings, as though this was all along the real
driving force behind the donor community’s love affair with microfinance.
This was NOT the original aim of the microfinance industry – it was all
supposed to be about creating jobs and raising incomes and ensuring empowerment.
Have a look at Muhammad Yunus’s early works and those of Hernando De
Soto. When you start shifting the goalposts in this way, it is a clear sign
that the game is up. Savings and back accounts and so on are useful, I admit,
but they simply cannot form the core of the argument today in favour of the
huge emphasis upon, and investment in, microfinance. It’s the equivalent
of justifying US
government spending on NASA on the basis that it eventually (so they say) led
to the discovery of the Teflon-coated frying pan….

   

And, finally, let me reiterate once
again that the issue of ‘individual asset building’ is certainly
not meant to offer anything for the poor; the opposite is the case. The entire
individual asset building agenda is a political project associated with the
Reagan ‘workfare’ reforms, a set of reforms that centrally aimed to
disengage the state from any active role in the economy, thus allowing business
elites to have the floor to themselves. We are all now sadly aware of the end
macro-result
of this Reaganite (and Thatcherite) agenda – the Wall Street-driven
global economic meltdown. At the micro-level, individual asset-building
programs, including via microfinance, are intended to persuade the poor that
they themselves should individually seek out the solution to their own poverty.
A few will succeed, and we will use them as our role models. But most remain
poor, and the core idea is to persuade them that it is their own fault - they
were simply not managing their own asset portfolios correctly. But the really
crucial thing is that at no point should the poor be given any encouragement to
seek out the state or collective solutions (e.g., trade unions, social
movements) or wealth or income redistribution to address poverty – these
real solutions are now invalidated and off the agenda, as intended. The core
truth always forgotten by those involved in the asset building movement,
moreover, is that accumulation of assets by the poor is most often the RESULT
of an active poverty reduction program (e.g., New Deal style job creation
measures, government spending, progressive taxation, the application of
technologies, etc), and NOT the cause.

   

So let’s encourage lots of
criticism. If something clearly doesn’t work to reduce poverty around the
globe – for example, microfinance - lets figure out what needs to take
its place. Let’s look at those countries that really HAVE substantially
reduced poverty through local level financial sector innovation, like in
Vietnam and China, and lets argue and try to agree on what they did right and
what they did wrong, and try to build other local financial systems around
their practical and successful methodologies, rather than around the
ideologically-driven methodologies that lie at the core of the modern
microfinance industry today.

   

Milford

   



   

From: Development Finance
[mailto:devfinance@...] On
Behalf Of Jamie Zimmerman
>
Sent: 27 October 2009 21:19
>
To: Development Finance
>
Subject: Devfinance: Applying
counter pressure to the microfinance backlash



   

Dear colleagues,

   

I’ve been
arguing for awhile now that microcredit has been overly hyped, even dangerously
so (i.e., credit will end poverty). But now media (see The Times, The Boston
Globe, etc) are beginning a backlash against microcredit (likely caused in
large part by failed expectations caused by said hype) that I nonetheless find
equally, if not more, disturbing (i.e., microfinance isn’t working).
I’ve never thought of credit as a panacea, but I do believe financial
inclusion and access to an array of asset building financial services are
essential if the poor are ever to move out of poverty.

   

So, I’m
please that my colleague, Shweta Banerjee ,
just published an piece in Foreign Policy magazine that applies some much need
counter pressure to the new naysayers of microfinance, by focusing on what is
working, what might work, and why we should continue our efforts to innovate
before falling back into old (and bad) development policies and practices. Here
is a link to the article (and pasted below):
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/how_microfinance_changes_the_li\
ves_of_millions?page=0,0.


   

We welcome your
thoughts.

   

Warm regards,

   

Jamie

   

   

How Microfinance Changes the Lives of Millions



One person at a time.



BY SHWETA S. BANERJEE | OCTOBER 26, 2009

A recent
op-ed in the Boston
Globe argues that microlending "doesn't actually do much to
fight poverty" and that it may be time to "think macro rather than
micro." Maybe the hype surrounding microcredit as a panacea for everything
from poverty to discrimination is undeserved. But debunking the whole
bottom-up, micro approach on the basis of two unpublished papers is not just
premature, but dangerous. Macro, trickle-down development policies have rather
effectively kept
billions of people poor for decades. In comparison, the microfinance field is
young, evolving, and ripe with innovation. Lending to the poor is just one
facet of microfinance. And helping the poor save, before or along with
providing credit, might be the missing piece to help solve the poverty puzzle.

   

Some argue that it is naive or even cruel to
suggest that the poor should save. How can people living in destitution be
asked to set money aside? It turns out that even very poor people can and do
save if provided with the right opportunities. After two decades of providing
microloans to the poor, Bangladesh 's
Nobel-winning Grameen Bank, for instance, started offering savings products to
its clients in 1998. Just seven years later, Grameen's clients started saving
more than they borrowed -- around $460 million.

Although most banks aren't interested in handling small nest
eggs, poor people desperately need a safe way to save. Small-scale farmers, for
example, often need to stretch out three months of income over an entire year.
"During the time between harvests, my family still has needs, and we
utilize everything we have in order to survive until the next harvest,"
explains Benito Ojeda Juárez. He and his family participate in a program set up
one year ago by the World Council of Credit Unions, MatchSavings.org. It gives
people
in rural Mexico
the opportunity to save for things like home improvements, business investment,
health care, and education.

   

Such programs, which are becoming more
common around the world, also provide a wonderful vehicle for charitably minded
people who want to help the poor help themselves. MatchSavings.org provides a
forum for potential donors to read participants' stories and choose a goal to
support. This makes it possible for new savers, after making six monthly
deposits to their account, to receive a matching donation. Juárez hopes that
building his savings will prevent him from going deeper into debt. Maria Alejo,
another participant of the program, used her matched amount on a long overdue
visit to the dentist.

These people never had access to such
financial services before. There is a credit union in their village, but
neither Juárez nor Alejo could afford its membership fee. Now, with the
MatchSavings program, they can build enough capital to join the credit union,
allowing them to keep their savings accounts and gain access to microloans.

Such programs are also popping up -- and thriving
-- in Africa and Asia . In
  Uganda , Stanbic (a large African banking company) partnered with the
start-up Assets Africa to create a mobile bank for young women in rural areas.
Each week, a van travels from
village to village, taking deposits. Local committees help by selecting
participants and coordinating with Assets Africa to make sure the program runs
smoothly. Similarly, Oxfam's Saving for Change helps members save small amounts
and pool them into a common fund, which disburses loans for various needs and
investments. Initiated only four years ago, the program now reaches 250,000 in
villages across Africa and Asia . Building a
reserve of savings empowers the groups to make investments and have access to
formal credit. Thus, creative microfinance programs clearly have the capacity
to fill in gaps the financial world has not, despite what the Globe op-ed says.

Another issue raised in the op-ed is that of
aggregation. "Forty workers at a textile plant are going to be much more
productive than 40 microentrepreneur weavers each working by themselves,"
the Globe op-ed says. It argues
against microlending because it says that dealing with thousands of microsavers
and microentrepreneurs is time-consuming and costly.

But many microlending institutions can aggregate workers and savers,
beneficially and
efficiently. Take, for instance, the large-scale, grass-roots savings project
in Andhra Pradesh ,
  India , the "Indira
Kranthi Patham." The project aids poor female
farmers who have no access to the formal banking infrastructure and are
geographically dispersed. When distressed and in need of cash, these farmers
sometimes have to sell their produce to middlemen or, worst of all, make
emergency sales at a loss. The project helps them collectivize: Neighbors form
local savings groups, which become part of village groups, which form larger
district
groups. At each level, the program helps participants save money and access
microloans. Further, private players can negotiate at the district or village
level to buy produce from the previously dispersed poor farmers. Thus far, the
program has helped nearly 9 million women, who have seen their incomes rise at
double the regional rate. There's nothing micro about that.

   

Another benefit of savings-led programs is
psychological -- a point unnoted in the Globe.
Savers don't just acquire capital. They experience what Michael Sherraden, a
professor at Washington
  University in St.
   Louis , terms "asset effects." These include
a greater sense of control over their lives and a more positive attitude toward
the future. A participant of the MatchSavings program, Gloria Gomez Lauriano,
points out, "I was saving to fix my house and make a better living. It's
good to save so you can move forward." Many savers in the program felt
that even after the program ended they would continue their habit of saving
every month to help build a more secure future.

Recently, the Gates Foundation announced a
$35 million grant for designing and delivering new savings products for the
poor across Africa, Asia, and Latin America .
This is welcome news. There are many more ideas to choose from, fitted to
different local economic and political conditions. Good old-fashioned thrift,
it turns out, can be married to 21st-century technologies like mobile banking
and Web-based fundraising to provide a powerful engine of self-help to the
world.

So, let's not be so dismissive of micro, and
let's give up the idea of going back to the old days of thinking only at the
macro level. A million people here, and a million there, and pretty soon
thinking small can have a very big impact indeed.

Shweta S. Banerjee is a consultant with the Global Assets Project at the
  New America
  Foundation .


Help Wanted at
the State Department

   

   



***************************************************

Jamie M. Zimmerman

Deputy Director, Global
Assets Project

Asset Building Program,
  New America
  Foundation

 

1899 L ST NW, Suite 400

Washington,
  DC 20036

202.596.3362

zimmerman@...

 

www.newamerica.net

www.globalassetsproject.org

 

   

Dear Lindy

I'm sorry if you consider this spam. I did not intend to.
As regards the relevance, for one thing, Loan Performer has its roots at Uganda
Women Finance Trust and is born out of the needs of this organization almost 12
years ago. For another, Loan Performer is being used by many other microfinance
organizations where women are the mayor beneficiaries. And yes, of course, Loan
Performer has many reports where management can report according to gender and
make policy decisions accordingly.

Kind regards
Hans Verkoijen, CCS

-----Original Message-----
From: l.mayoux@... [mailto:l.mayoux@...]
Sent: 30 October 2009 15:28
To: genfinance@yahoogroups.com
Cc: Hans Verkoijen
Subject: Re: [genfinance] Crystal Clear Software Ltd in Uganda's Top 100

Dear Hans,

We do not encourage adverts such as the below on genfinance. And people posting
such messages will be removed from the membership.

Unless you can let us know clearly why this is relevant for gender
mainstreaming. eg does your software permit impact monitoring, social
performance management etc. If so please explain very clearly the relevance for
genfinance,

Linda


---- Hans Verkoijen <verkoyen@...> wrote:
> PRESS RELEASE
> 28 October 2009
>
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd in Uganda's Top 100
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd has been selected as one of the Top 100 Mid-Sized
> companies in Uganda by the Steadman Group on behalf of KPMG and the Private
> Sector Foundation. Mid-Sized companies are companies that have an annual
> turnover of between 360 million and 25 billion Uganda Shillings and which
> have a three year audited track record. The finalists have been announced
> during a gala dinner at Serena Hotel in Kampala on 28 October 2009.
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd. specializes in the development, marketing,
> sales, training and support of a micro-finance software product called "Loan
> Performer". The company started in 1998 as a one-man business with a single
> client and now employs 20 high-tech staff serving 260 clients. Last year the
> organization registered a growth of 22% in terms of clients and 32% in terms
> of sold Loan Performer licenses. The annual turnover of Crystal Clear
> Software Ltd has increased with an average of 16 % over the last 4 years and
> the return on equity is an average of 30% per year in the same period.
>
>
>
>
>
> Loan Performer has become a brand name and is probably the biggest in Africa
> in this sector. It has been rated as "Best Value for Money" by CGAP, an
> agency of the World Bank. Some 260 micro-finance organizations use Loan
> Performer in about 600 branch offices in 50 different countries all over the
> world. Every month people from abroad come to Uganda for training in Loan
> Performer and nowadays Crystal Clear Software Ltd also offers e-training via
> the internet. The company has several people standby for instant support via
> a chat room. The support is given in 4 international languages: English,
> French, Spanish and Russian.
>
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd has previously won the following awards:
>
>
> -          Two out of the 20 winners of the CGAP (World Bank) Financial
> Transparency Award for micro-finance institutions use "Loan Performer", a
> software product developed in Uganda. These organizations are Findev and
> Viator, both in Azerbaijan. Findev is using Loan Performer for 9 years while
> Viator uses Loan Performer for 8 years.
>
>
>
> -          Winner of the African SMME Awards 2005 in the Information and
> Communication Technology sector, issued by the Centre for Investment
> Analysis (ACIA) of the University of Stellenbosch Business School in
> Capetown, South Africa.
>
>
>
> -          Silver in the 5th President's Export Awards 2003 for being the
> Number 1 Exporter in the category ICT Exports (received Jan 2005).
>
>
>
> -          Investor of the Year Award 2003 for the "Best Software
> Development for the year 2002-2003" from Uganda Investment Authority for
> producing the best Uganda software (received Nov 2003).
>
>
>
>
>
> CRYSTAL CLEAR SOFTWARE LTD
>
> Contact persons: Hans Verkoijen (dir.) and Simon Ngari (marketing)
>
> PO Box 7463 Kampala, Uganda,  3rd Floor King Fahd Plaza, Kampala
>
> Tel: 0414-231739, 0752-694074, 0752-659338 Fax: 0414-233644
>
> Email: info@..., Web: www.loanperformer.com
>
>
>
>
>

Again, unless you can make such adverts very clearly relevant to gender issues,
eg their ability to track impact/SPM indicators, please do not post adverts.
Anyone doing so more than once will be removed from the group.


---- Lachmayya Siddanmane <lachmayya@...> wrote:
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>  
> We are glad to inform you that Finance Solutions has been made FREE of charge
for a small micro-finance institutions to support the growth of small MFI's and
SACCOs.
>  
> All small SACCOs, Village Banks, Self-Help-Groups and MFI's are encouraged to
utilize this opportunity.
>  Finance Solutions® - software has been reviewed by the Consultative Group
to Assist the Poorest (CGAP).
> In 2009 Review (latest), received a rating of “Best� in Functionalities
> In 2005 Review, rated as “User Friendly Software�
>  
> Limitations are;
>  
> The number of total Clients (Individual, Groups, Members) : 700
> The number of Loans
transactions                                  \
        : Unlimited
> The number of Shares
transactions                                  \
       : Unlimited
> The number of Savings
transactions                                  \
     : Unlimited
> The number of Fixed Deposits
transactions                           : Unlimited
> The number of General Ledger
Transactions                          : Unlimited
> The number of Bank Placements
transactions                        : Unlimited
> The number of Discount Instruments
transactions                 : Unlimited
> The number of Credit Officers                      
                        : Unlimited
> The number of Concurrent
Users                                     Â\
 Â Â Â Â Â  : Unlimited
>  
> License details are;
>  1. Name of the Organization:……………………………………
>  2. Branch Name:…………………………………………………
>  3. Address:……………………………………………………….
>  4.
Tel.:…………………………………………………………….
>  5. Email:………………………………………………………….
>  6. Contact Person:……………………………………………….
> Finance Solutions®is a fully integrated software which provides an
integration factor of 100% in Client Information, Savings, Shares, Loans
> and General Ledger Accounting modules and minimizes many “islands of data
capture points�  for improved data reliability, consistency and accuracy.
> A Finance Solutions focused and customizable MIS for Microfinance, Village
Banking and SACCOS methodologies
>  
> Finance Solutions®comes with the following features:
>  * It is a Client/Server Application. It supports Microsoft SQL Server
Database
>  * It is a multi-lingual user interface (English, French, Spanish, Russian,
KiSwahili [Africa], Luganda [Uganda] and User-Defined)
>  * It tracks Accounts, Loans, Shares, Savings, Fixed Deposit, Fixed Assets,
Forex, Bank Placements and Client Information.
>  * On-line Authorization (Savings Deposit/Savings Withdrawal/Expenses etc.)
>  * You can handle unlimited number of Savings, Shares and Loans Products.
>  * Can be used for Front-office and Back-office operations at Branches/Cost
Units.
>  * All reports can be printed according to Head Office, Region, Branch, Credit
Officer, Loan Cycle, Sex, Client Category, Product, Area Code, and Business
Sectors etc.
>  * You can design your own Savings, Income, Expense and General Journal
Transaction menus (i.e. Compulsory Saving Deposit, Guarantee Savings Withdrawal,
Sale of Passbooks, Telephone Bills etc.)
>  * Finance Solutions® produces Cash Flow review, Balance sheets, Profit &
Loss (P&L) statement, Trial Balance and Budget Variance report among other
reports.
>  * It comes with an excellent HTML help file. Pressing F1 in any Finance
Solutions® window shows you the context-sensitive help.
>  * It is a multi-user system with 12 user defined system user groups.
>  * You can restrict menu items according to system user groups.
> You can download evaluation (demo) copy from our website www.sigmadc.comor you
can send us an e-mail (info@...) for a demo CD or give us a telephone
call for demonstration.
>  
> We are looking forward to hearing from you.
>  
> Best Regards, 
> Lachmayya Siddanmane
> Director/CEO
> Sigma Data & Computers
> 5th Floor, Greenland Towers , Kampala Road
> P. O. Box 30348
> Kampala - Uganda ( East Africa )
> Tel: +256-414-256581, +256-772-496460
> Email: info@...,  lachmayya@..., lach@... 
> Website: http://www.sigmadc.com
> Skype: sigmadc or lachmayya
>
> Finance Solutions - Software for Microfinance, SACCOs and Village Banking 
>
> If you wish, not to receive future emails from us, reply us a blank mail with
"REMOVE" in the subject line
>
>
>       From cricket scores to your friends. Try the Yahoo! India Homepage!
http://in.yahoo.com/trynew

Thought people might be interested in this critical debate.

> To: "Development Finance" <devfinance@...>
> From: "Malcolm Harper" <malcolm.harper@...>
> Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:05:06 -0000
> Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
  backlash
>
> Sorry Milford, but you've got it wrong, on Bangladesh anyway. Figures that
really tell you something about well-being, such as children's malnutrition,
tell us that Bangladesh is better off than India, in spite of the hype and
Bollywood and Jaguar Land Rover and all that.
>
> Maybe it's nothing to do with MF, but Bangladesh is not doing too badly in
things that really matter, in spite of pretty useless government and pretty
desperate geography.
>
> Malcolm
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: milford bateman
>   To: Development Finance
>   Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:08 AM
>   Subject: Devfinance: Re: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance
backlash
>
>
>   Dear Jamie
>
>
>
>   As one of those really pleased that microfinance is now, finally, being
seriously challenged, on the basis that there is almost no evidence whatsoever
to support the notion that it is linked to genuine poverty reduction, I simply
must respond to your posting. To my mind, your argument for some minor
modifications to microfinance, and some asset building financial services too,
and then all will be OK, is quite egregiously wrong. I think it is really doing
further serious damage to the poor. The fact is that the microfinance industry
has had the floor to itself for nearly thirty years or so, and it should surely
worry us all that nothing concrete has been found to support the idea that
microfinance is associated with genuine poverty reduction impact. Importantly,
remember, financial self-sustainability and outreach are NOT impacts, but
modalities of operation. If microfinance doesn't work, then having lots more of
it (and less of something else) will only further entrap the poor in their own
poverty.
>
>
>
>   Since the 1990s many economists have challenged the almost total lack of
real evidence supporting microfinance. Most of us were pointed to the work of
Pitt and Khandker, the 'keystone' work that gave rise to Muhammad Yunus's famous
(now revealed as quite incorrect) statement that '5% of Grameen Bank clients
exit poverty every year'. Now we find that even this famed body of work was
seriously dodgy, as excellently shown by David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch in
their recent paper. This paper now effectively strips away the most important
piece of evidence used to support the rise of microfinance. So the rise of
microfinance came about because of almost no concrete evidence of poverty
reduction - it was all largely hype! Meanwhile, there IS a huge amount of
concrete evidence from East Asia that, among other things, Bangladesh has been
left behind by neighbouring countries, countries that have all invested more of
their scarce resources (i.e., savings) in sustainable businesses (especially
SMEs), new technologies, inter-enterprise connections and scaled up businesses.
As I've said before, this is why Vietnam has scooted way ahead of Bangladesh, as
did China, Taiwan and others in the region before it, after rejecting both the
Grameen Bank AND the later commercialized microfinance model, in favour of its
own unorthodox local financial model based on principles quite anathema to the
microfinance industry (i.e., subsidies, policy-based lending, public ownership
of MFIs, etc). Yet the Vietnamese local financial model has worked wonders in
supporting scaled-up businesses and agriculture, and Vietnam is now the
international development community's 'poster child' for successful poverty
reduction. But instead of welcoming the lessons of the Vietnamese microfinance
model, almost all in the microfinance industry (particularly USAID and CGAP)
simply refuse to accept its lessons, and continue to dump on the Vietnamese
local financial model as they have done right from the start. This is a huge
tragedy for the global poor - yes we support poverty reduction, but it simply
MUST be achieved using the correct (neoliberal) ideological model. This makes me
really sad.
>
>
>
>   I am also very disturbed that, rather than face up to the growing evidence
that microfinance is clearly undermining the functions of the local economy,
microfinance advocates like yourself have quietly fallen back into arguing in
favour of 'financial inclusion', especially savings, as though this was all
along the real driving force behind the donor community's love affair with
microfinance. This was NOT the original aim of the microfinance industry - it
was all supposed to be about creating jobs and raising incomes and ensuring
empowerment. Have a look at Muhammad Yunus's early works and those of Hernando
De Soto. When you start shifting the goalposts in this way, it is a clear sign
that the game is up. Savings and back accounts and so on are useful, I admit,
but they simply cannot form the core of the argument today in favour of the huge
emphasis upon, and investment in, microfinance. It's the equivalent of
justifying US government spending on NASA on the basis that it eventually (so
they say) led to the discovery of the Teflon-coated frying pan..
>
>
>
>   And, finally, let me reiterate once again that the issue of 'individual
asset building' is certainly not meant to offer anything for the poor; the
opposite is the case. The entire individual asset building agenda is a political
project associated with the Reagan 'workfare' reforms, a set of reforms that
centrally aimed to disengage the state from any active role in the economy, thus
allowing business elites to have the floor to themselves. We are all now sadly
aware of the end macro-result of this Reaganite (and Thatcherite) agenda - the
Wall Street-driven global economic meltdown. At the micro-level, individual
asset-building programs, including via microfinance, are intended to persuade
the poor that they themselves should individually seek out the solution to their
own poverty. A few will succeed, and we will use them as our role models. But
most remain poor, and the core idea is to persuade them that it is their own
fault - they were simply not managing their own asset portfolios correctly. But
the really crucial thing is that at no point should the poor be given any
encouragement to seek out the state or collective solutions (e.g., trade unions,
social movements) or wealth or income redistribution to address poverty - these
real solutions are now invalidated and off the agenda, as intended. The core
truth always forgotten by those involved in the asset building movement,
moreover, is that accumulation of assets by the poor is most often the RESULT of
an active poverty reduction program (e.g., New Deal style job creation measures,
government spending, progressive taxation, the application of technologies,
etc), and NOT the cause.
>
>
>
>   So let's encourage lots of criticism. If something clearly doesn't work to
reduce poverty around the globe - for example, microfinance - lets figure out
what needs to take its place. Let's look at those countries that really HAVE
substantially reduced poverty through local level financial sector innovation,
like in Vietnam and China, and lets argue and try to agree on what they did
right and what they did wrong, and try to build other local financial systems
around their practical and successful methodologies, rather than around the
ideologically-driven methodologies that lie at the core of the modern
microfinance industry today.
>
>
>
>   Milford
>
>
>
>
>
>   From: Development Finance [mailto:devfinance@...] On Behalf Of
Jamie Zimmerman
>   Sent: 27 October 2009 21:19
>   To: Development Finance
>   Subject: Devfinance: Applying counter pressure to the microfinance backlash
>
>
>
>   Dear colleagues,
>
>
>
>   I've been arguing for awhile now that microcredit has been overly hyped,
even dangerously so (i.e., credit will end poverty). But now media (see The
Times, The Boston Globe, etc) are beginning a backlash against microcredit
(likely caused in large part by failed expectations caused by said hype) that I
nonetheless find equally, if not more, disturbing (i.e., microfinance isn't
working). I've never thought of credit as a panacea, but I do believe financial
inclusion and access to an array of asset building financial services are
essential if the poor are ever to move out of poverty.
>
>
>
>   So, I'm please that my colleague, Shweta Banerjee, just published an piece
in Foreign Policy magazine that applies some much need counter pressure to the
new naysayers of microfinance, by focusing on what is working, what might work,
and why we should continue our efforts to innovate before falling back into old
(and bad) development policies and practices. Here is a link to the article (and
pasted below):
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/26/how_microfinance_changes_the_li\
ves_of_millions?page=0,0.
>
>
>
>   We welcome your thoughts.
>
>
>
>   Warm regards,
>
>
>
>   Jamie
>
>
>
>
>
>   How Microfinance Changes the Lives of Millions
>   One person at a time.
>
>   BY SHWETA S. BANERJEE | OCTOBER 26, 2009
>
>   A recent op-ed in the Boston Globe argues that microlending "doesn't
actually do much to fight poverty" and that it may be time to "think macro
rather than micro." Maybe the hype surrounding microcredit as a panacea for
everything from poverty to discrimination is undeserved. But debunking the whole
bottom-up, micro approach on the basis of two unpublished papers is not just
premature, but dangerous. Macro, trickle-down development policies have rather
effectively kept billions of people poor for decades. In comparison, the
microfinance field is young, evolving, and ripe with innovation. Lending to the
poor is just one facet of microfinance. And helping the poor save, before or
along with providing credit, might be the missing piece to help solve the
poverty puzzle.
>
>
>
>   Some argue that it is naive or even cruel to suggest that the poor should
save. How can people living in destitution be asked to set money aside? It turns
out that even very poor people can and do save if provided with the right
opportunities. After two decades of providing microloans to the poor,
Bangladesh's Nobel-winning Grameen Bank, for instance, started offering savings
products to its clients in 1998. Just seven years later, Grameen's clients
started saving more than they borrowed -- around $460 million.
>
>   Although most banks aren't interested in handling small nest eggs, poor
people desperately need a safe way to save. Small-scale farmers, for example,
often need to stretch out three months of income over an entire year. "During
the time between harvests, my family still has needs, and we utilize everything
we have in order to survive until the next harvest," explains Benito Ojeda
Juárez. He and his family participate in a program set up one year ago by the
World Council of Credit Unions, MatchSavings.org. It gives people in rural
Mexico the opportunity to save for things like home improvements, business
investment, health care, and education.
>
>
>
>   Such programs, which are becoming more common around the world, also provide
a wonderful vehicle for charitably minded people who want to help the poor help
themselves. MatchSavings.org provides a forum for potential donors to read
participants' stories and choose a goal to support. This makes it possible for
new savers, after making six monthly deposits to their account, to receive a
matching donation. Juárez hopes that building his savings will prevent him from
going deeper into debt. Maria Alejo, another participant of the program, used
her matched amount on a long overdue visit to the dentist.
>
>   These people never had access to such financial services before. There is a
credit union in their village, but neither Juárez nor Alejo could afford its
membership fee. Now, with the MatchSavings program, they can build enough
capital to join the credit union, allowing them to keep their savings accounts
and gain access to microloans.
>
>   Such programs are also popping up -- and thriving -- in Africa and Asia. In
Uganda, Stanbic (a large African banking company) partnered with the start-up
Assets Africa to create a mobile bank for young women in rural areas. Each week,
a van travels from village to village, taking deposits. Local committees help by
selecting participants and coordinating with Assets Africa to make sure the
program runs smoothly. Similarly, Oxfam's Saving for Change helps members save
small amounts and pool them into a common fund, which disburses loans for
various needs and investments. Initiated only four years ago, the program now
reaches 250,000 in villages across Africa and Asia. Building a reserve of
savings empowers the groups to make investments and have access to formal
credit. Thus, creative microfinance programs clearly have the capacity to fill
in gaps the financial world has not, despite what the Globe op-ed says.
>
>   Another issue raised in the op-ed is that of aggregation. "Forty workers at
a textile plant are going to be much more productive than 40 microentrepreneur
weavers each working by themselves," the Globe op-ed says. It argues against
microlending because it says that dealing with thousands of microsavers and
microentrepreneurs is time-consuming and costly.
>
>   But many microlending institutions can aggregate workers and savers,
beneficially and efficiently. Take, for instance, the large-scale, grass-roots
savings project in Andhra Pradesh, India, the "Indira Kranthi Patham." The
project aids poor female farmers who have no access to the formal banking
infrastructure and are geographically dispersed. When distressed and in need of
cash, these farmers sometimes have to sell their produce to middlemen or, worst
of all, make emergency sales at a loss. The project helps them collectivize:
Neighbors form local savings groups, which become part of village groups, which
form larger district groups. At each level, the program helps participants save
money and access microloans. Further, private players can negotiate at the
district or village level to buy produce from the previously dispersed poor
farmers. Thus far, the program has helped nearly 9 million women, who have seen
their incomes rise at double the regional rate. There's nothing micro about
that.
>
>
>
>   Another benefit of savings-led programs is psychological -- a point unnoted
in the Globe. Savers don't just acquire capital. They experience what Michael
Sherraden, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, terms "asset
effects." These include a greater sense of control over their lives and a more
positive attitude toward the future. A participant of the MatchSavings program,
Gloria Gomez Lauriano, points out, "I was saving to fix my house and make a
better living. It's good to save so you can move forward." Many savers in the
program felt that even after the program ended they would continue their habit
of saving every month to help build a more secure future.
>
>   Recently, the Gates Foundation announced a $35 million grant for designing
and delivering new savings products for the poor across Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. This is welcome news. There are many more ideas to choose from, fitted
to different local economic and political conditions. Good old-fashioned thrift,
it turns out, can be married to 21st-century technologies like mobile banking
and Web-based fundraising to provide a powerful engine of self-help to the
world.
>
>   So, let's not be so dismissive of micro, and let's give up the idea of going
back to the old days of thinking only at the macro level. A million people here,
and a million there, and pretty soon thinking small can have a very big impact
indeed.
>
>   Shweta S. Banerjee is a consultant with the Global Assets Project at the New
America Foundation.
>
>   Help Wanted at the State Department
>
>
>
>
>
>   ***************************************************
>
>   Jamie M. Zimmerman
>
>   Deputy Director, Global Assets Project
>
>   Asset Building Program, New America Foundation
>
>
>
>   1899 L ST NW, Suite 400
>
>   Washington, DC 20036
>
>   202.596.3362
>
>   zimmerman@...
>
>
>
>   www.newamerica.net
>
>   www.globalassetsproject.org
>
>
>
>

Dear Hans,

We do not encourage adverts such as the below on genfinance. And people posting
such messages will be removed from the membership.

Unless you can let us know clearly why this is relevant for gender
mainstreaming. eg does your software permit impact monitoring, social
performance management etc. If so please explain very clearly the relevance for
genfinance,

Linda


---- Hans Verkoijen <verkoyen@...> wrote:
> PRESS RELEASE
> 28 October 2009
>
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd in Uganda's Top 100
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd has been selected as one of the Top 100 Mid-Sized
> companies in Uganda by the Steadman Group on behalf of KPMG and the Private
> Sector Foundation. Mid-Sized companies are companies that have an annual
> turnover of between 360 million and 25 billion Uganda Shillings and which
> have a three year audited track record. The finalists have been announced
> during a gala dinner at Serena Hotel in Kampala on 28 October 2009.
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd. specializes in the development, marketing,
> sales, training and support of a micro-finance software product called "Loan
> Performer". The company started in 1998 as a one-man business with a single
> client and now employs 20 high-tech staff serving 260 clients. Last year the
> organization registered a growth of 22% in terms of clients and 32% in terms
> of sold Loan Performer licenses. The annual turnover of Crystal Clear
> Software Ltd has increased with an average of 16 % over the last 4 years and
> the return on equity is an average of 30% per year in the same period.
>
>
>
>
>
> Loan Performer has become a brand name and is probably the biggest in Africa
> in this sector. It has been rated as "Best Value for Money" by CGAP, an
> agency of the World Bank. Some 260 micro-finance organizations use Loan
> Performer in about 600 branch offices in 50 different countries all over the
> world. Every month people from abroad come to Uganda for training in Loan
> Performer and nowadays Crystal Clear Software Ltd also offers e-training via
> the internet. The company has several people standby for instant support via
> a chat room. The support is given in 4 international languages: English,
> French, Spanish and Russian.
>
>
>
>
>
> Crystal Clear Software Ltd has previously won the following awards:
>
>
> -          Two out of the 20 winners of the CGAP (World Bank) Financial
> Transparency Award for micro-finance institutions use "Loan Performer", a
> software product developed in Uganda. These organizations are Findev and
> Viator, both in Azerbaijan. Findev is using Loan Performer for 9 years while
> Viator uses Loan Performer for 8 years.
>
>
>
> -          Winner of the African SMME Awards 2005 in the Information and
> Communication Technology sector, issued by the Centre for Investment
> Analysis (ACIA) of the University of Stellenbosch Business School in
> Capetown, South Africa.
>
>
>
> -          Silver in the 5th President's Export Awards 2003 for being the
> Number 1 Exporter in the category ICT Exports (received Jan 2005).
>
>
>
> -          Investor of the Year Award 2003 for the "Best Software
> Development for the year 2002-2003" from Uganda Investment Authority for
> producing the best Uganda software (received Nov 2003).
>
>
>
>
>
> CRYSTAL CLEAR SOFTWARE LTD
>
> Contact persons: Hans Verkoijen (dir.) and Simon Ngari (marketing)
>
> PO Box 7463 Kampala, Uganda,  3rd Floor King Fahd Plaza, Kampala
>
> Tel: 0414-231739, 0752-694074, 0752-659338 Fax: 0414-233644
>
> Email: info@..., Web: www.loanperformer.com
>
>
>
>
>

A call for papers that may be of interest to list members:

GENDERED PERSPECTIVES ON INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
WORKING PAPERS

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY


CALL FOR PAPERS


Gendered Perspectives on International Development (GPID) publishes scholarly
work on global social, political, and economic change and its gendered effects
in the Global South. GPID cross-cuts disciplines, bringing together research,
critical analyses, and proposals for change.

Gendered Perspectives on International Development recognizes diverse processes
of international development and globalization, and new directions in
scholarship on gender relations. The goals of GPID are: (1) to promote research
that contributes to gendered analysis of social change; (2) to highlight the
effects of international development policy and globalization on gender roles
and gender relations; and (3) to encourage new approaches to international
development policy and programming.

Gendered Perspectives on International Development Working Papers are
article-length manuscripts by scholars from a broad range of disciplines. They
disseminate materials that are at a late stage of formulation and that
contribute new understandings of women and men's roles and gender relations
amidst economic, social, and political change.

Individual papers in the series address a range of topics including gender,
violence, and human rights; gender and agriculture; reproductive health and
healthcare; gender and social movements; masculinities and development; and the
gendered division of labor. We particularly encourage manuscripts that bridge
the gap between research, policy, and practice. Published GPID and WID Working
Papers (1981-2008) papers can be viewed at:
http://www.wid.msu.edu/resources/publications.htm

If you are interested in submitting a manuscript to the Working Papers series,
please send a 150 word abstract summarizing the paper's essential points and
findings to Dr. Anne Ferguson, Editor, or Anna Jefferson, Managing Editor, at
papers@.... If the abstract suggests your paper is suitable for the Working
Papers, the full paper will be invited for peer review and publication
consideration.

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the genfinance
group.

   File        : /Gender concepts and practice/UNSurveyWS2009- ODS.pdf
   Uploaded by : lindamayoux <l.mayoux@...>
   Description : UN Survey on Women 2009

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/genfinance/files/Gender%20concepts%20and%20practic\
e/UNSurveyWS2009-%20ODS.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/general.htmlfiles

Regards,

lindamayoux <l.mayoux@...>

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the genfinance
group.

   File        : /Gender concepts and practice/IFADgender09web.pdf
   Uploaded by : lindamayoux <l.mayoux@...>
   Description : IFAD Guide on Gender and Microfinance

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/genfinance/files/Gender%20concepts%20and%20practic\
e/IFADgender09web.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/general.htmlfiles

Regards,

lindamayoux <l.mayoux@...>

Microfinance Focus has launched a liveblog (www.microfinancefocus.com/liveblog)
on its website to provide news and discussions from the Microfinance India
Summit to be held in New Delhi from Oct. 26 to 28, 2009.
As official media partner of the summit, Microfinance Focus will disseminate
information including instant news updates, highlights, comments and discussions
and video clippings from the venue of the conference.
The liveblog will provide real time updates of the conference to those who could
not participate in the conference. The liveblog will also highlight a host of
exclusive interviews and opinions from the conference venue. It will provide
multi-touch interface, specially enabled for I-phones/smart phones. All visitors
to the liveblog can share write-ups with their friends and social networks.
Visitors can log on to it from Oct. 26 to 28, 2009 between 09:30 hrs to 20:00
hrs to get live updates of the proceedings and related discussions of the
conference. Similarly, all can read the articles written by experts on
conference topics and respond to them anytime.
Link: www.microfinancefocus.com/liveblog

Dear Ms Mayoux,

  I am a final year Social Policy student at the University of Bristol and am
specialising in the area of microfinance and gender empowerment. I was wondering
if there would be any way of getting hold of the literature that will be
produced alongside the conference on the 26th at UN as this would be hugely
useful for my dissertation.

  I would also like to say your website has been very helpful and interesting.

Yours faithfully,

Olivia Barnett