Research & Analysis

Linking Microfinance and Safety Net Programs to Include the Poorest

Most studies of microfinance programs in Bangladesh indicate that the poor, and especially poor women, have been effectively targeted, and that microfinance programs have been successful in opening up economic opportunities for their clients, increasing access to resources and contributing to their confidence and well-being.

Poverty Assessment Tool: A Poverty Assessment of the Small Enterprise Foundation

This report of the Poverty Assessment of the Small Enterprise Foundation can be viewed as a case study of how the Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) works.

In-Country Donor Coordination

The continuing popularity of microfinance in the donor community has resulted in numbers of agencies in every developing country and transition economy seeking to support the development of the microfinance sector.

Commercialization and Mission Drift: Transformation in Latin America

This Occasional Paper examines the impact of commercialization and increased competition on the strategy and performance of microfinance institutions in Latin America, with particular focus on "mission drift"-- whether or not commercialization drives MFIs to deviate from their original missions.

Exploring Client Preferences in Microfinance

Microfinance products tend to be uniform across large geographic areas. For example, in Bangladesh most microfinance institutions (MFIs) offer some variant of the product pioneered by Grameen Bank—a loan with a term of about a year, repaid in frequent (usually weekly) installments, given in a group context, ostensibly for micro-enterprise use, and with a compulsory savings element.

Assessing the Relative Poverty Level of MFI Clients, Case Studies

The Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT) was developed for CGAP by the International Food Policy Research Institute. The multi-dimensional Poverty Index constructed by the tool is targeted at donors and investors who require a standardized, globally applicable set of poverty indicators to make poverty-focused funding decisions and to compare MFIs across regions and countries.

Raising the Curtain on the "Microfinancial Services Era"

From the ‘agricultural credit era’ (1950s–1970s) through the ‘microenterprise era,’ institutional arrangements and product designs that characterized financial services to the poor were underpinned by a dominant image of the poor.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Don’t Join

Understanding client exit and nonparticipation can shed important light on the financial service preferences of clients and help programs learn about the limitations of their existing products and mechanisms. Such lessons can drive the development of innovative, demand-driven microfinance products and systems, benefiting both the institution and the clients.

Microfinance and Risk Management: A Client Perspective

As the microfinance industry matures, service providers are increasingly concerned with developing new and better products. This focus on new product development is a response to growing competition in the microfinance market, the search for more defined market niches, and some anxiety about dropout rates.

The Rush to Regulate: Legal Frameworks for Microfinance

This Occasional Paper discusses a wide range of issues concerning regulation of microfinance and presents a range of alternative mechanisms for supervision.