Is the Microfinance Debate Missing the Point?
Webinar
Microfinance is once again at the center of public debate, with recent critiques questioning whether it works at all. But this debate is not new. Microfinance has long generated both hope and criticism, and the more useful question is not whether it "works" or "does not work," but when does credit work, for whom, and under what conditions?
Drawing on a broad body of research, CGAP's new Focus Note, Opening the Black Box on the Impact of Inclusive Credit, shows that inclusive credit is not a panacea, but it can have meaningful impact when it is well designed, responsibly delivered, suited to client needs, and supported by the right market and policy conditions. In this webinar, CGAP CEO Sophie Sirtaine will share key findings from the paper, followed by a conversation with Alex Counts and Jemimah Njuki, and Sophie.
Join us for a timely discussion on what the evidence shows, what decades of practice have taught us, and how to move beyond the simplified debate of whether microfinance "works" or "does not work" and toward a clearer understanding of what it takes for credit to benefit borrowers and have meaningful development impact.
Speakers
Alex Counts is the author of Small Loans, Big Dreams (2022 edition). In 1997, he established Grameen Foundation with the support of Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus and became its first President and CEO. He did so after having worked in microfinance and poverty reduction for 10 years, mostly spent living in rural Bangladesh. He led Grameen Foundation for its first 18 years. He is currently the Executive Director of the India Philanthropy Alliance, an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations, an adjunct professor at the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior adviser and ambassador at large for a)plan coaching.
Dr. Jemimah Njuki is Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB). Before joining AfDB, Dr. Njuki served as the Chief of the Economic Empowerment section at UN Women. She is a recognized leader on gender equality and women’s empowerment, having directed global initiatives promoting women’s economic empowerment. Jemimah previously worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) as the Director for Africa, where she worked with African governments and key stakeholders to develop evidence for transformative policy change.
She has spent the last two years leading the UN Food Systems Summit’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Lever of Change and was instrumental in establishing the Coalition to Make Food Systems Work for Women and Girls. Additionally, she led the design and deployment of the Global Food 5050, an indicator and mechanism for gender responsibility for organizations engaged in global food systems.
She has led the gender equality work with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) including the design of the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GRoW), the Women in Agriculture programme at CARE USA, and the Poverty, Gender and Impact programme at the International Livestock Research Institute.
Sophie is the World Bank Group Global Director for Financial Services where she is responsible for financial resilience and integrity, capital market development, financial inclusion, and disaster risk finance.
Sophie is also the CEO of CGAP, an international partnership, housed in the World Bank Group, dedicated to promoting inclusive financial ecosystems that enable a green, resilient, and equitable world for all.
Sophie has dedicated her professional career to the development of inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystems around the world, with more than twenty years of experience at the World Bank, where she has held different positions, including Director of Strategy and Operations at the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank and Director for the Caribbean region. Previously, Sophie worked as an expert in financial sector development and stability in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Among others, she led various Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs) in various countries in Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, and she was the Manager who led the World Bank's response to banking crises in various countries of the European Union during the global financial crisis of 2008-2011.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Sophie worked in JP Morgan's Financial Institutions (FIG) team on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in Europe, and for Halcrow Fox and Associates' Infrastructure team. Sophie holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE).
Moderator
As a communications advisor to CGAP’s Climate Adaptation & Resilience and Carbon Markets teams, Katie advises on messaging, stakeholder engagement, multi-channel communication strategies and international media relations to promote the teams’ work and advocate for financing grassroots adaptation.
Prior to joining CGAP, Katie worked for 16 years at world-leading public relations agencies in Europe and Asia Pacific, where she advised a wide range of public and private sector organizations on all aspects of their communications, from profile raising to digital strategy, internal communication and crisis management.
Katie holds a Master’s degree in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge (UK), and speaks French.