Sophie and Richard,
You make an important point about SG members reaching out to financial institutions as individuals and financial institutions reaching out to them. I would be valuable to sturdy these connections which have occurred spontaneously to see which ones have proved valuable and useful and which have not. Most of these linkages will occur without us having much a say in how they are structured so it would good to know what is out there.
Jeff
Jeffrey Ashe
jaashe@aol.com
jaashe@aol.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Sophie Chitedze sophiechitedze@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice] <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
To: MicrofinancePractice <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>; MFP <microfinancepractice@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: microfinanceheretic <microfinanceheretic@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 3, 2015 7:13 am
Subject: Re: [MFP] Why are microfinance client numbers increasing?
From: Sophie Chitedze sophiechitedze@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice] <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
To: MicrofinancePractice <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>; MFP <microfinancepractice@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: microfinanceheretic <microfinanceheretic@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 3, 2015 7:13 am
Subject: Re: [MFP] Why are microfinance client numbers increasing?
Dear Richard, In my perspective, utilization of formal financial services (microfinance products) by poor clients such as members of Savings Groups is not an either/or option. When you and me have need of a place to securely save our funds or borrow a loan for whatever purposes, etc, banks are very accessible and close to us and are a very convenient daily aspect of our lives. The case is different with poor people located in remote locations and mostly organised in informal Savings Groups. Banks are out of reach, and in most cases do not even understand how they operate. So I guess the questions to be answered are: ●What needs to happen to enable these poor Savings Group clients and financially excluded individuals access and utilise the various financial products conveniently when they decide or need to do so just like you and me? ●Secondly, what needs to happen to ensure Financial Service Providers (FSPs) respond to these needs and serve these clients viably and sustainably? On the client side, what is needed is to ensure adequate client preparation, readiness, protection, empowerment to take own action by demanding the services and making the right choices, voice to advocate for pro poor finacial services policies to their benefit and financial literacy. It requires up to date statistics on numbers, scale and financial achievements to be communicated and issues requiring the need to link to banks....how to do so...etc On the FSP side, the issues to address include; mission commitment to serve poor clients, investment in business-led approaches to developing this client market through innovative products that meet unique client needs, innovating efficient delivery channels to reach these remotely located clients conveniently, respect for client rights, building trust, capacity to scale, etc. Finally, we know that despite these debates, the day to day reality is that the poor seek external financial services with or without our support and our role as development practioners is therefore to ensure they benefit from these actions in an equal manner irrespective of their sex and livelihood status. This becomes even more pertinent when women are brought into the equation. It requires a totally different way in tackling issues ....indeed quite different from the conventional way of doing things, while building on past experience. You are raising very helpful questions and I am learning a lot from the discussions. Best, Sophie
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