Microfinance Practice: Re: [MFP] Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Looking to the Future

Kim

It is good to get away from all the confusing stuff through a broad and flexible definition. I like your definition of financial inclusion. The mobile phone revolution in the developing countries did not ask the question of who is providing what and how expensive or affordable it is. The questions were whether it works and whether it is useful. People bought phones, subscribed to services at their discretion.

Access to finance does not necessarily promote development - in most cases of first time access it is just for survival. With some experience and after meeting some basic needs, people look for development. The formal and informal structures do not matter for the customers - they manage money the best way they can with available 'tools'. As Malcolm points out the evaluation industry should have its importance and sometimes scholars pretend that they know better than the users of services!

Best regards

Srinivasan

On 26-Jan-2016, at 7:08 PM, Kim Wilson orientrow@yahoo.com [MicrofinancePractice] wrote:

HI All, with a big regulators certificate program coming up and my regular courses at Fletcher we decided to create our own definition of financial inclusion:
"Financial Inclusion means everyone has the tools they need to optimize their money management."
That's it. We don't distinguish between formal or informal, high-tech or low tech tools. We don't even tell them (everyone) what to do with their money once they have optimized their management of it and in fact we don't even tell them to optimize. As long as they have the tools that's enough. Tools can be tools in the mind (skills, confidence) or tools in the hand (coins, boxes, passbooks cell phones, receipts) we just don't care.
But of course, this is a pretty thin definition and does not really get at "Development." It does not answer the question of whether financial inclusion is an enabler of other kinds of development - e.g. health and education. I think it is but as Malcolm says maybe FI is not the most direct one. Perhaps the most direct enabler of education is building and running a school. A less direct one might be a system of transferring fees. But, it's tangential one.
Here is a video done by OPHI on what is poverty? You won't see much on financial inclusion in it.
Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative - research to reduce multidimensional poverty and advance welfare economics, building on the capability approach of Amartya Sen - Video: Poverty in El Salvador from the perspective of the protagonists

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| Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative - resea...Video: Poverty in El Salvador from the perspective of the protagonists |
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Kim Wilson
Faculty, Fletcher School, Tufts University (617-763-2469)
Kimberley.Wilson@Tufts.Edu

     From: "'Hugh Allen' hugh@vsla.net [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com>
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 7:25 AM
Subject: RE: [MFP] Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Looking to the Future

  I agree Anuj that we should look at finance for the poor from a financial inclusion perspective, but financial inclusion is, like so many things, deemed to be important but rarely defined in a way that makes much sense for the poor. For most of the 'industry' it's come to mean using a smart phone to handle money in some sort of way and to open a bank account (most of which, for the very poor, often remain dormant). I wish we'd start to look at financial inclusion as people making use of services that enable them to manage their financial lives better and with greater safety and flexibility and to do so from a position that is much more respectful of what the informal sector is doing well and can do a lot better. It is not, by definition, engagement with the formal sector, if the formal sector is, as is so often the case, only wants to drill a hole in the box and extract as much service income as they can. And don't tell me that of course, such things never happen, or maybe only in Mexico. From: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: 26 January 2016 09:59
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [MFP] Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Looking to the Future    Thanks Getaneh, (and Leslie), It is 2016, high time we get away from the endless debates of micro-credit, micro-finance, and start looking at it from financial inclusion perspective…. Let's admit, framing the subject and issues just around micro-credit is problematic and digresses us from more relevant debates of current times.. Can access to financial services relevant and be created for people in the margins to take control of their livelihoods, and make this world less unequal? High time we think through macro and micro together, and not be consumed by marginal issues. If the capital-flows and financial services systems keep the majority of people on the economic margins, which is what we all are facing today, our frames of thinking and program design must change. Or so I propose. Anuj  From: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com [mailto:MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 1:41 AM
To: MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MFP] Measuring the Impact of Microfinance: Looking to the Future   Dear Leslie  Thank you for the update on impact. ... True that most microfinance impact studies employ methodologies that can only reflect partial picture of the true story. Their focus is often 'microcredit' and forget savings, insurance, etc. They take samples from diverse countries, different contexts, and assume every thing about the poor is the same. etc, etc. ... But what is still not well discussed in both the Grameen Foundation's study, as well as the six country RCTs is the issue often raised by people like Milford Bateman -- the issue that MICROCREDIR might actually be crowding out real entrepreneurs (distorting the markets, etc) by using 'scarce' financial resources to every poor (even when they don't have ready business). If the evidence tells us that the welfare of only some 5-10% are 'significantly positively impacted', could it be more appropriately targeted to selected few (perhaps employ approaches like BRAC 'graduation' model) as some countries are increasingly using it???.... I think this can be discussed more.... I believe you would find the discussion (by Milford) in the following link useful. http://governancexborders.com/2013/05/29/the-art-of-pointless-and-misleading-microcredit-impact-evaluations/#more-3892 Regards On Monday, January 11, 2016 8:21 PM, "Liselle Yorke lyorke@grameenfoundation.org [MicrofinancePractice]" <MicrofinancePractice@yahoogroups.com> wrote:   Dear All: I'm pleased to share the latest report in the Measuring the Impact of Microfinance series. Written by Kathleen Odell, it examined research published since 2010 (our first paper covered research up until 2005 and the second covered research between 2005 and 2010). The report is published in association with Accion, Dominican University, and the Microfinance CEO Working Group. We encourage you to read the paper and Kathleen's blog on NextBillion, which ran today. Equally important, we'd love to get your feedback on future directions for research on financial inclusion. Sincerely,Liselle Liselle YorkeGroup Lead, MarketingGrameen Foundation1101 15th Street, NW, 3rd Floor│Washington, D.C. 20005202-628-3560, ext 128│Mobile: 202-750-4674lyorke@grameenfoundation.org│Skype: liselle_yorkeFacebook│Twitter│YouTubeConnecting the World's Poor to Their Potential #yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438 -- #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px 0;padding:0 10px;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp hr {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp #yiv5618805438hd {color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px 0;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp #yiv5618805438ads {margin-bottom:10px;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp .yiv5618805438ad {padding:0 0;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp .yiv5618805438ad p {margin:0;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-mkp .yiv5618805438ad a {color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}#yiv5618805438 #yiv5618805438ygrp-sponsor #yiv5618805438ygrp-lc 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