Case Studies

These case studies highlight examples of donor good practice in microfinance. They focus on the specific decisions and actions of donors that contributed to successful outcomes.

In Success in Rural Savings, Goodwin-Groen discusses how strong staff capacity developed a savings product designed specifically for low-income/small deposit savers that led to increased deposits by clients and to a greater return on investment for donors.

In Building a Microfinance Industry, Duval analyzes USAID’s support to the microfinance sector in Haiti from, 1995 – 2003. It’s the story of a donor that recognized an opportunity, was flexible, took risks, and invested the time and resources needed to build a microfinance industry.
In From Skepticism to Success, Brusky explains how the World Bank’s commitment to Banco do Nordeste, even through trials and errors, paid off in the long run.

In Knowing When to Stop, Brusky shows how using the right instruments to take an honest assessment of an institution’s status can lead to the right decisions, even when it means shutting down the project.

In Building a Reliable MFI Funding Base, DiLeo demonstrates how a knowledgeable, flexible, and multifaceted donor base led to real results for BASIX in India.

In Avoiding Apex Pitfalls, Goodwin-Groen showcases how a rigid adherence to strategic clarity and coherence enabled the successful design of a highly risky apex fund for Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In Donor Collaboration and Transparency, Duval describes how diverse donor agencies focused on accountability and results to develop a joint reporting format in Uganda that created standards that everyone could understand.

In Donors as Silent Partners in MFI Product Development, Craig and Goodwin-Groen relate how EBS went from insolvency to profitability by focusing on the needs of clients in creating the appropriate instruments to meet a range of market needs. 

In Donor Innovation in Financial System Development, Barlow examines how a focus on strong staff capacity developed a well-trained staff able to make on-the-ground decisions to the betterment of FinMark Trust.

In Nurturing Microfinance in a Challenging Environment, Duval and Goodwin-Groen describe how the Ford Foundation supported the emergence of microfinance in China by funding research, conferences, training, and an experimental Grameen project, run by an academic team that developed into a large microfinance program.

In Vision and Consistency, Cohen and Goodwin-Groen discuss how the vision of microfinance in Morocco became reality through strategic clarity and coherence.

In Linking MFIs to Commercial Financing in Latin America, Brusky examines how the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) helped Latin American microfinance institutions (MFIs) tap formal financial markets in the 1990s through ProFund, a pioneering equity fund.

In Collaboration for Post-Conflict Rebuilding and Financial System Development, Duval and Goodwin-Groen describe how European donors’ strategy for post-conflict rebuilding helped develop the financial system in Southeastern Europe, through funds managed by KfW.

In Capacity Leads, Capital Follows, Clark highlights the role of donor staff who enabled a business development project to grow into the largest retail bank network in Cambodia. At each major transition in the development of ACLEDA, key donor staff met the needs of this rapidly growing financial services institution, overcoming internal institutional constraints.

And in Can a Government Loan Work for Microfinance?, Dugan shows how appropriate instruments and a mixture of donor innovation and shared principles led to success for the Agricultural Cooperative Bank of Armenia.

In Decentralization Empowers Local Technical Staff, Damjanov discusses how Sida revolutionized the Nicaraguan microfinance industry by trusting in local control.

In How the Netherlands Government Fostered Successful Public-Private Partnerships for Financing MFIs, Goodwin-Groen shows how knowledge management in a public-private partnership led to a better relationship.

In From Project to Institution, Brusky and Goodwin-Groen tell the twenty year story of how the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) in the Republic of Guinée managed the trade-offs between reaching poor, rural customers with savings and credit and also reaching institutional and financial sustainability.

In Donor Succeed in Making Themselves Obsolete, Dugan and Goodwin-Groen discuss how performance-based funding was a key to meeting and exceeding expectations.

In Experienced Consortium Deepens Bulgarian Financial System by Creating ProCredit Bank, Duval and Godwin-Groen examine how knowledgeable partners lent their individual expertise and contributed to the success of ProCedit Bank.