Britiske OXFAM holdt brainstorming om små lån og små opsparingsordninger for u-landenes fattige og skepsisen var stor, når fordele og begrænsninger skulle vurderes i dybden.
LONDON, 13 March 2012 (IRIN): The scope of microfinance to lift poor people out of poverty and provide mechanisms of empowerment is being challenged as questions are raised about the supporting evidence.
In a discussion hosted by the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the academic evidence was concluded to be unclear, unreliable and inconclusive.
“There is no clear evidence that microfinance has any positive or negative impacts,” said Maren Duvendack, ODI fellow and author of a recent systematic review of microfinance, while David Roodman, of the Centre for Global Development, added:
“I would not say microfinance does not work, I would say it does not systematically reduce poverty. We do not have credible academic evidence that microcredit on average lifts people out of poverty… We also do not have evidence that microfinance is systematically making people worse off.”
Range of services
“I think a lot of people think that microfinance equals microcredit (providing small loans),” Duvendack told IRIN, adding:
“Microfinance is not just credit and savings (opsparing), but also insurance, business skills, training, financial literacy (forstand på økonomiske sammenhænge).”
Most studies consider the impact of microcredit, but Roodman suggested another of the microfinance portfolio products – microsavings – could have positive impacts on poverty reduction.
Duvendack, however, who is completing a study on the impact of microsavings, said it showed no significant benefits over microcredit.
Microfinance risks
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95067/Development-Microfinance-possibilities-and-limitations
