Access to financial services and the financial inclusion agenda around the world : a cross-country analysis with a new data set

Recent empirical evidence highlights that access to basic financial services can make a substantial positive difference in improving poor people's lives. Accordingly, financial sector reforms that promote financial inclusion are increasingly at the core of policymakers’ agendas. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor and the World Bank Group, in response, launched the Financial Access project, including a cross-country database on financial inclusion topics and an annual report to inform the policy debate. Using this database, this paper (i) counts the number of unbanked adults around the world at 56 percent, (ii) analyzes the state of access to deposit and loan services as well as the extent of retail networks, and (iii) discusses the state of financial inclusion mandates around the world.Access to Finance,Financial Literacy,Banks&Banking Reform,Debt Markets,Emerging Markets

Assessing the relative poverty level in clients of microfinance institutions

Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) receive public support. In return for this support, governments and donors demand MFIs not only become financially sustainable but also reach the poor, or even the poorest of the poor. Effective evaluation of the achievement of these objectives requires appraising both the MFI's financial sustainability and the relative poverty of its clients. In recent years, several tools have emerged to assist donors in their assessment of the financial sustainability of MFIs. For example, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), which seeks to promote sustainable microfinance institutions for the poor, disseminates a number of tools that allow assessing the financial sustainability and other aspects of institutional performance of MFIs. Currently, no operational tool exists for measuring how well a MFI reaches the poor through its services. In order to gain more transparency on the depth of poverty outreach, CGAP supported research at IFPRI during 1999 and 2000 to design and test a simple, low-cost operational tool to measure the poverty level of MFI clients relative to nonclients. This policy brief summarizes the main features of the tool, how it can be applied, and what type of results can be obtained.Microfinance Evaluation. ,Poverty Research Evaluation. ,Poverty Research Methodology. ,Financial institutions. ,Sustainability. ,Microenterprises Finance. ,

Tackling Ultra-Poverty Through the Graduation Approach: Situating Sustainable Livelihoods in the Landscape of Social Protection and Safety Nets

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 and now works in nine other countries with very impoverished populations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar, Philippines, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia. From its years of experience designing and implementing microfinance and other programs, BRAC gained the insight that a unique set of interventions is required to bring out of extreme poverty those who they, and now others, call the "ultra-poor": people living on half or less of a US $1.25-a-day poverty threshold. BRAC pioneered the approach in 2002 by combining social safety nets with support for income-generating, and named it the Graduation approach, or Targeting the Ultra Poor (TUP) program. Graduation programs complement small cash stipends and in-kind asset transfers with several other sequenced interventions including savings, training, social integration and health care services. Over the last decade the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the Ford Foundation, and other donors have supported ten pilots across different continents which have been carefully analyzed, and in which over 75% of participants have met Graduation requirements. This paper summarizes the landscape and institutional context within which the Targeting the Ultra-poor program sits, in order to help BRAC and other organizations to expand its scale and encourage others to support and adopt this approach, thereby helping an additional one million families graduate from ultra-poverty by 2020

Planning and governance under the LGA: Lessons from the RMA experience.

The purpose of this report is to identify ways in which experiences gained from the RMA as a devolved and co-operative planning mandate can enable local and central government and other stakeholders to more effectively implement the LGA. The report is based on findings from the FRST-funded research programme on Planning under Co-operative Mandates (PUCM). We argue in this report that the experiences gained from the RMA can inform effective implementation of the LGA in three important respects: Preparation and implementation of LTCCPs; The community consultation process for formulating community outcomes; and Māori participation in planning and governance

SEGMENTAÇÃO E POSICIONAMENTO DOS SERVIÇOS MICRO FINANCEIROS NA COLÔMBIA: UM ESTUDO COMPARATIVO NA INDÚSTRIA.

This paper work proposes an analysis of the Microfinance consumer in Colombia from its adaptation to the environment that the industry presents from some basic definitions: the original vision called “poverty relief”, generally represented by the Yunus Microcredit Summit and his Grameen bank; and the second vision called minimalist, represented by actors such as CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) USAID (United States Agency for International Development) ACCION International and the Ohio State University among others. Factor analysis is carried out for behavioral analysis, size and composition. Finally the affective-cognitive system was analyzed through multidimensional scaling to get the microfinance consumer perceptual mapping.Este artículo propone un análisis del consumidor microfinanciero en Colombia a partir de su adaptación al entorno que presenta la industria con base en definiciones básicas: la visión original denominada alivio a la pobreza, representada generalmente por la Cumbre de microcrédito y Yunus con su banco Grameen; y la segunda visión denominada minimalista, representada por actores como el cgap (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), usaid (Agencia de Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional), ACCION International y la Universidad del Estado de Ohio, entre otros.Para el Análisis del Comportamiento se llevó a cabo un Análisis Factorial a fin de determinar segmentos de mercado en función de su tamaño y composición. Finalmente, se analizó el sistema afectivo-cognoscitivo del consumidormicrofinanciero por medio de escalamiento multidimensional con el propósito de obtener el mapa perceptual de los consumidores.Palabras clave: administración de portafolio, estrategia, mercadeo bancario, microfinanzas.Neste artigo propõe-se uma análise do consumidor micro financeiro na Colômbia a partir da sua adaptação ao entorno que apresenta a indústria baseado em definições básicas: a visão original nomeada de alivio à pobreza, representada geralmente pela Cume de microcrédito e Yunus com seu banco Grameen; e a segunda visão nomeada de minimalista, representada por atores como o cgap (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor), usaid (Agência de estados Unidos para o Desenvolvimento Internacional) açao Internacional e a Universidade do estado de Ohio, entre outros. Para a Análise do Comportamento realizou-se uma Análise Fatorial com fim de determinar segmentos de mercado em função do seu tamanho e composição. Ao final analisou-se o sistema afetivo-cognitivo do consumidor micro financeiro por meio de escalamento multidimensional com o propósito de obter o mapa perceptual dos consumidores

Do microfinance institutions reach the poorest?

The question raised in the title is an important one to the microfinance sector, especially since the Microcredit Summit held in Washington, DC, in 1997. In order to gain more transparency on the depth of poverty outreach, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) supported research at IFPRI during 1999 and 2000 to design and test a simple, low-cost operational tool to measure the poverty level of MFI clients relative to nonclients. This policy brief informs about the results from recent case studies on the poverty outreach of four selected microfinance institutions. The case studies were conducted for four MFIs world-wide: MFI A (Central America), MFI B (East Africa), MFI C (Southern Africa), and MFI D (South Asia).Microenterprises Finance. ,Finance Developing countries. ,Financial institutions. ,Finance Southern Africa. ,Finance Central America. ,Finance South Asia. Finance Africa, East. ,

Microfinance

These 14 policy briefs summarize lessons learned from IFPRI´s multicountry program on rural finance and household food security with regard to the poors' demand for financial services. The lessons are derived from detailed household surveys conducted in nine countries of Asia and Africa: Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Nepal, and Pakistan. The 14 summaries cover the results of research undertaken between 1994—2000.Finance Developing countries. ,Rural poor. ,Food security Asia ,Food security Africa ,

Enhanced Accessibility for People with Disabilities Living in Urban Areas

[Excerpt] People with disabilities constitute a significant proportion of the poor in developing countries. If internationally agreed targets on reducing poverty are to be reached, it is critical that specific measures be taken to reduce the societal discrimination and isolation that people with disabilities continue to face. Transport is an important enabler of strategies to fight poverty through enhancing access to education, employment, and social services. This project aims to further the understanding of the mobility and access issues experienced by people with disabilities in developing countries, and to identify specific steps that can be taken to start addressing problems. A major objective of the project is to compile a compendium of guidelines that can be used by government authorities, advocacy groups, and donor/loan agencies to improve the access of people with disabilities to transport and other services in urban areas

Corporate governance – Performance relationship in microfinance institutions (MFIs)

The relationship between governance and the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) is discussed in this paper. MFI performance encompasses both financial performance and outreach. Good governance in terms of strengthening stewardship, achievement of MFIs’ primary objectives and promoting further development of the industry have been asserted as key elements in the literature pertaining to MFI performance. Similarly, several cases concerning poor governance have been analysed. Good corporate governance has become more important due to the demand for transparency and accountability of funds utilised in microfinance activities. Further, MFIs need to have a solid governance framework to minimise the possibilities of management failures which may jeopardise the efficacious application of received funds from governments and donors. In prior studies, the nature of corporate governance practised by MFIs is less understood and no substantive work using multiple MFI outcomes over a number of years has been undertaken. The concerns raised in reviews of individual MFIs and normative discussions of what should constitute best practice do point to the need for better understanding of the nature of corporate governance practised by the MFIs and also, to understand the nature of the relationship that exists between institutional success and corporate governance especially for developing countries. This study therefore identifies and provides a framework for undertaking corporate governance research relating to MFIs