In the studio to debate these issues will be Ha-Joon Chang, Cambridge economist, co-author of a recent paper on microfinance, The microfinance illusion, and a member of our advisory panel, and Ajaz Khan, microfinance adviser at the NGO Care International, which recently launched the new microfinance initiative Lendwithcare.org.org
They recently commissioned a high-powered group, the Malegam Committee, to study current problems in microfinance and create a new set of rules for the industry.
Someone in the community could buy the solar panel (perhaps using microfinance) and start a business charging the lamps and mobile phones — the phone charging might subsidize the lamps.
Commercialization has been a terrible wrong turn for microfinance, and it indicates a worrying "mission drift" in the motivation of those lending to the poor.
It led to the creation of the village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) model, which I see as a great example of sustainable microfinance and something that makes a big difference for a relatively modest investment.
But the true Bangladesh is also the birthplace of microfinance and home to a robust civil society.
Its portfolio of investments, all of which focus on the Boston area, includes a recycling cooperative, a non-profit lender to small businesses, a microfinance agency and a neighbourhood deli.
Eventually, in the late 1980s, Novogratz lands on her feet in Rwanda and works with the female residents of Kigali, one of the country's main cities, to build a new microfinance institution and a bakery.
In other environments, when there's already a vibrant microfinance sector and a good banking system, we will sometimes look to create a loan guarantee system, where we'll provide loan guarantees for a bank to lower their loan windows so that there's lower collateral needs, lower amounts that they'll give to people.
Barrett worked for World Literacy Canada in Varanasi, India, where he assisted literacy initiatives, researched microfinance and taught in an afterschool program.
