Where to Microfinance

Abstract: The microfinance industry is characterized by a "schism," or debate, between two camps that represent broadly different approaches to microfinance: the institutionists and the welfarists. How this debate is resolved has crucial implications for the future of microfinance--its guiding principles, its objectives, its clients, and its impact on the poor and poverty in general. The institutionist approach, with its emphasis on financial self-sufficiency and institutional scale, appears to have gained ascendancy over the welfarist approach, with its emphasis on direct poverty alleviation among the very poor. The institutionists, however, base their arguments on a number of debatable assertions and questionable empirical methodologies. This article critically examines some of these with the intent of placing institutionist claims in their proper perspective and tempering the hegemonic aspirations of some institutionist writers. It concludes by proposing a middle ground between the two approaches in the hope that it will lead to more productive dialogue between the two camps in the future. Introduction Like many popular grassroots movements, the microfinance movement is characterized both by widespread agreement on broad objectives and by multiple rifts on key issues. The movement itself is driven by the shared commitment to provide credit for small enterprise formation and growth. It is also bound together by a common rhetoric of concern for the poor. This unity of commitment and rhetoric, however, masks a bewildering variety of philosophical approaches, types of institutions and borrowers, and delivery systems that shelter uneasily together under the big tent called "microfinance." The movement has come to be divided by two broad approaches, or opposing camps, regarding the best way to help the poor through access to financial services: the institutionist approach and the welfarist approach.(1) Jonathan Morduch (1998d) refers to this division as the microfinance schism. The irony is that while the worldviews of each camp are not inherently incompatible, and in fact there are numerous microfinance institutions (MFIs) that appear to embrace them both, there nonetheless exists a large rift between the two camps that makes communication between them difficult. The institutionist approach focuses on creating financial institutions to serve clients who either are not served or are underserved by the formal financial system. Emphasis lies on achieving financial self-sufficiency; breadth of outreach (meaning numbers of clients) takes precedence over depth of outreach (meaning the levels of poverty reached); and positive client impacts are assumed. The center of attention is the institution, and institutional success is generally gauged by the institution's progress toward achieving financial self-sufficiency. The best-known examples of the institutionist approach are Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Banco Solidario (BancoSol) in Bolivia. Institutionists argue that a primary objective of microfinance is financial deepening, the creation of a separate system of "sustainable" financial intermediation for the poor. Theirs is a "financial systems" approach to microfinance, in which the future of microfinance is dominated by numerous large-scale, profit-seeking financial institution that provide high quality financial services to large numbers of poor clients. Because of their insistence on financial self-sufficiency, institutionists eschew subsidies of any kind. The institutionist position is articulated in virtually all the literature coming out of the Ohio State University Rural Finance Program, the World Bank and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) in the World Bank, and USAID. It is also found in the many writings of Maria Otero (ACCION International) and Elisabeth Rhyne (formerly of USAID). Most published literature in the field of microfinance espouses the institutionist view. …