In this research we investigated the extent to which Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) use ICT to deliver business services and train staff. We performed literature review on ICT for business service delivery and staff skills development in MFIs. We next investigated the actual ICT usage by MFIs in Uganda with focus on ICT literacy, business applications, and planning. We used questionnaires to ...

The purpose of this article is to present and discuss the values and limits of microfinance within the context of poverty reduction, international development and community empowerment. The main thesis is that microfinance requires a more complex strategy than simply the provision of credits. The development of financial capital depends on the increase in human capacity and social capital. Micr...

This paper describes the microenterprise and microfinance sectors of seven English-speaking Caribbean states, examines main constraints on the development of a well functioning microfinance market in these countries, and highlights the amount, type, and results obtained in microenterprise projects financed by the Inter-American Bank in the last fifteen years. It suggests that English-speaking C...

Microfinance is the array of financial services, including loans, savings and insurance, available to Poor entrepreneurs and small business owners who have no collateral and would not otherwise qualify for a standard bank loan. Recent proliferation of microfinance market has swiftly increased the competition in microfinance Indian market, new technology and new devices are emerging at phenomal ...

ALTHOUGH SOCIAL GRADIENTS IN MORBIDITY AND MORtality fromscrofula, rickets,andscarlet feverwerenoticedinEnglandasearlyas1845,currentunderstandingof therelationshipbetweenpovertyandillhealth is still evolving. A detailed examination of the social determinants of health is the current focus of a World Health OrganizationCommission,andaglobalagendathataddressestheoverlappingvulnerabilitiesofpovert...

Microfinance sector has witnessed a burgeoning outreach under microfinance institutions model which poses a question on the sustainability of the programme. Even if repayment rate for the major MFIs are greater than 95 %, it may neither be an appropriate indicator of institutional sustainability nor on impact. In this paper an examination on the outreach and sustainability of microfinance insti...

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of Islamic microfinance in the light of ongoing erosion of confidence in the viability of current financial system, full of speculatory finance in the prevailing global financial market. For example, the sub-prime crisis of 2007-2008 in the US with its effects all over the world was mainly due to the inadequate market discipline which i...

microfinance, banking to the poor, is a recent global phenomenon introduced as a way for combating the poverty in the 1970’s. before that the poor were not allowed access to credit and loans due to the widespread belief that the poor could not repay loans. but microfinance movement with financial innovations reduced the costs and risks of lending to poor households, and presented as tool for re...

Donors, governments, microfinance networks, and foundations have promoted housing microfinance (“HMF”) for a decade. Considerable operational experience has accrued on this practice over this time. Meanwhile, many emerging economies have grown rapidly, which has changed housing markets and the context for HMF. The moment, then, is auspicious for a re-examination of housing microfinance and its ...

This paper attempts to provide a critical appraisal of the debate on the effectiveness of microfinance as a universal poverty reduction tool. It argues that while microfinance has developed some innovative management and business strategies, its impact on poverty reduction remains in doubt. Microfinance, however, certainly plays an important role in providing safety-net and consumption smoothen...