Building inclusive financial sectors for development

Introduction, Dale W. Adams and Delbert A. Fitchert taking a fresh look at informal finance, D.W. Adams the rope and the box - group savings in The Gambia, Parker Shipton informal finance groups in Cameroon, Gertrud R. Schreider and Carlos E. Cuevas rural finance in Somalia, Virginia DeLancey informal finance in Niger - lessons for building form institutions, Douglas H. Graham informal finance in Sri Lanka, Nimal Sanderatne informal rural finance in Thailand, Tongroj Onchan informal finance in Papua New Guinea - an overview, Nimal Fernando informal finance in the Philippines footwear industry, Mario B. Lamberte collateral substituted in rural informal financial markets in the Philippines, Emmanuel F. Esquerra and Richard L. Meyer the Kou in Japan - a precursor of modern finance, Yoichi Izumida pawn-broking and small loans - cases from India and Sri Lanka, F.J.A. Bouman and R. Bastiaanssen strengths of informal financial institutions - examples from India, C.P.S. Nayar informal finance in Indonesia, F.J.A. Bouman and H.A.J. Moll evolving forms of informal finance in an Indonesian town, Otto Hospes linking formal and informal finance - an Indonesian example, Hans Dieter Seibel and Uben Parhusip the financial evolution of small businesses in Indonesia, Ross H. McLeod small-scale enterprise dynamics and the evolving role of informal finance, Carl Leidholm formal credit for informal borrowers - lessons from informal lenders, Robert P. Christen regulatory avoidance in informal financial markets, Robert C. Vogel and Robert Wieland contract lending to small farmers in the Dominican Republic, Jerry R. Ladman, et al rotating savings and credit associations in Bolivia, D.W. Adams and Marie L. Canavesi ROSCAs - state-of-the-art financial intermediation, J.D. Von Pischke what have we learned about informal finance in three decades?, U. Tun Wai where to from here in informal finance?, Dale W. Adams and P.B. Ghate.

Adams, Dale W. and Delbert A. Fitchett, eds. Informal Finance in Low-Income Countries. Boulder: Westview Press, 1992, xii + 393 pp., cloth $42.50

Improving economic resources of impoverished youth may alter intentions to engage in sexual risk behaviors by motivating positive future planning to avoid HIV risk and by altering economic contexts contributing to HIV risk. Yet, few studies have examined the effect of economic-strengthening on economic and sexual behaviors of orphaned youth, despite high poverty and high HIV infection in this population. Hierarchal longitudinal regressions were used to examine the effect of a savings-led economic empowerment intervention, the Suubi-Maka Project, on changes in orphaned adolescents' cash savings and attitudes toward savings and HIV-preventive practices over time. We randomized 346 Ugandan adolescents, aged 10-17 years, to either the control group receiving usual orphan care plus mentoring (n = 167) or the intervention group receiving usual orphan care plus mentoring, financial education, and matched savings accounts (n = 179). Assessments were conducted at baseline, 12, and 24 months. Results indicated that intervention adolescents significantly increased their cash savings over time (b = $US12.32, ±1.12, p < .001) compared to adolescents in the control group. At 24 months post-baseline, 92% of intervention adolescents had accumulated savings compared to 43% in the control group (p < .001). The largest changes in savings goals were the proportion of intervention adolescents valuing saving for money to buy a home (ΔT1-T0 = +14.9, p < .001), pursue vocational training (ΔT1-T0 = +8.8, p < .01), and start a business (T1-T0 = +6.7, p < .01). Intervention adolescents also had a significant relative increase over time in HIV-preventive attitudinal scores (b = +0.19, ±0.09, p < .05), most commonly toward perceived risk of HIV (95.8%, n = 159), sexual abstinence or postponement (91.6%, n = 152), and consistent condom use (93.4%, n = 144). In addition, intervention adolescents had 2.017 significantly greater odds of a maximum HIV-prevention score (OR = 2.017, 95%CI: 1.43-2.84). To minimize HIV risk throughout the adolescent and young adult periods, long-term strategies are needed to integrate youth economic development, including savings and income generation, with age-appropriate combination prevention interventions.

/pdf/effect-of-savings-led-economic-empowerment-on-hiv-preventive-p86lp42g6u.pdf

Effect of savings-led economic empowerment on HIV preventive practices among orphaned adolescents in rural Uganda: results from the Suubi-Maka randomized experiment.

The thesis investigates, from a contextual and user perspective, the implementation processes of microfinance interventions and the effect of the implementation processes on households and businesses. The thesis’ central argument is that microfinance discourse has neglected the perspective of microfinance users and this can negatively affect microfinance interventions as development tools. The study examines two microfinance interventions, Nsoatreman Women Empowerment Programme and Sinapi Aba Trust, in Nsoatre, a rural community in Ghana. Data for the study is from secondary sources, 26 interviews and 100 questionnaires. The study was guided by the philosophical ideas underlying the Sustainable Livelihood Approach and the Interpretive Approach. Using qualitative, cross-tabulations and ordinal logistic regression, the analysis found that the microfinance institutions studied essentially employ top-down approaches and that the perception of microfinance as non-paternalistic is not supported by this study. The mode of group formation has significant ramifications on subsequent group activities and peer monitoring played a limited role in mitigating moral hazard. Service users exhibited noticeable lack of knowledge on intervention activities. Microfinance interventions contribute to household consumption more than it does to household asset accumulation. Poorer service users reported more household and business benefits. The findings suggest a reappraisal of the design of microfinance interventions, especially in rural areas.

Microfinance in rural Ghana : a view from below

This paper describes a pilot study testing the feasibility of an innovative savings-led microfinance intervention in increasing the economic empowerment and reducing the sexual risk behavior of women engaging in sex work in Mon- golia. Women's economic vulnerability may increase their risk for HIV by compromising their ability to negotiate safer sex with partners and heightening the likelihood they will exchange sex for survival. Microfinance has been considered a potentially powerful structural HIV prevention strategy with women conducting sex work, as diversification of income sources may increase women's capacity to negotiate safer transactional sex. With 50% of all reported female HIV cases in Mongolia detected among women engaging in sex work, direct prevention intervention with women conducting sex work represents an opportunity to prevent a potentially rapid increase in HIV infection in urban Mongolia. The piloted interven- tion consisted of a matched savings program in which matched savings could be used for business development or voca- tional education, combined with financial literacy and business development training for women engaging in sex work. Results of the pilot demonstrate participants' increased confidence in their ability to manage finances, greater hope for pursuing vocational goals, moderate knowledge gains regarding financial literacy, and an initial transition from sex work to alternative income generation for five out of nine participants. The pilot findings highlight the potential for such an in- tervention and the need for a clinical trial testing the efficacy of savings-led microfinance programs in reducing HIV risk for women engaging in sex work in Mongolia.

/pdf/piloting-a-savings-led-microfinance-intervention-with-women-3rmnki2jm5.pdf

Piloting a Savings-Led Microfinance Intervention with Women Engaging in Sex Work in Mongolia: Further Innovation for HIV Risk Reduction

Savings in the context of microfinance - state of knowledge

Comparative analysis of savings mobilization strategies

Les appellations employees dans cette publication et la presenta-tion des donnees qui y figurent n’impliquent de la part del’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agricul-ture aucune prise de position quant au statut juridique des pays,territoires, villes ou zones, ou de leurs autorites, ni quant au tracede leurs frontieres ou limites Tous droits reserves Aucune partie de cette publication ne peut etrereproduite, mise en memoire dans un systeme de recherche documentai-re ni transmise sous quelque forme ou par quelque procede que ce soit:electronique, mecanique, par photocopie ou autre, sans autorisationprealable du detenteur des droits d’auteur Toute demande d’autorisationdevra etre adressee au Directeur de la Division des publications,Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture, Vialedelle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italie, et comporter des indica-tions precises relatives a l’objet et a l’etendue de la reproduction©FAO 1999

Alfred Hannig

Papers

Savings in the context of microfinance - state of knowledge

Comparative analysis of savings mobilization strategies

Meilleures pratiques de credit agricole