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Microfinance

With the new emphasis now given to microenterprises, self employment activities and household enterprises, now all considered as essential actors for achieving social and economic development in developed and developing countries, microfinance has become very fashionable and is attracting increased attention. This page lists and rates electronic resources related to microfinance in general and microcredit in particular.

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Last updated September 19th 2005

no star: Average ; Fair ; Good ; Very good ; Excellent ; Outstanding

Sites are reviewed individually and rated mostly according to content depth and value added, while also considering design, ease of navigation and speed of loading. For each category best resources are listed first.

The Microfinance Gateway The Microfinance Gateway is a collaboration between CGAP (the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) and ELDIS, a well known development gateway (based at the Institute of Development Studies, U.K.). Its objective is to be a one stop microfinance information hub, providing a forum for practitioners, NGOs, Donors, and others to learn about microfinance topics and to share their knowledge.The site has been completely revamped and now includes three parts: "Industry Services" which links to several resources centers, "Highlights" which provides either new approaches or viewpoints and "The Library" which includes more than 2,000 reviewed documents. Clear and outstanding site, very well designed with an emphasis on interactivity and user friendliness. The Virtual Library on Microcredit Defined as being a repositery of information on alternative, non conventional financial systems and the informal credit markets, the Virtual Library on Microcredit (ex-Informal Credit Homepage) is a "Must" with regards to microcredit and microenterprises. An extremely well designed and organised web site with lots of documents and case studies. Without any doubt one of the best sites on microcredit. CGAP CGAP, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, is a multi donor effort to address poverty through the support and promotion of microfinance programs. This website is part of CGAP's effort to disseminate lessons learned on best practice in the field of microfinance.The site has been recently revamped and redesigned with a much clearer and richer content. A truly excellent site. Do not miss the Microfinance Gateway (reviewed above) and the CGAP annual reports. I particularly liked the Publications section. Appui au Développement Autonome Appui au Développement Autonome (ADA) is a non-profit organisation based in Luxembourg which works with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) by offering them a combination of financial support and customised technical services. Excellent gateway on microfinance. I particularly liked their section on links and resources. Do not miss either the section on publications. ADB's Microfinance Development Strategy The Asian Development Bank has developed a development strategy for institutional microfinance covering the services provided by both formal and semi-formal sources. The strategy focuses on enabling policy environment; development of financial infrastructure; building of viable institutions; and improvement of the Bank's own capacity in microfinance assistance. A key document which reflects the wide experience of the ADB in this sector. The strategy has been finalized after extensive consultations and reflects lessons learned and current thinking . An excellent document and a model to follow. Rural Finance Learning Centre This website developed by FAO and its partners is dedicated to providing access to the best materials for capacity building in the field of rural finance. Capacity building materials can be accessed through the Training Gateway and the Resources Gateway. Excellent site, very well designed, which contains a lot of useful information. USAID Microenterprise Innovation Project The Microenterprise Innovation Project (MIP) is USAID's principal vehicle for microenterprise development activities. It's objective is to provide microentrepreneurs, particularly women and the very poor, with greater and more reliable access to financial and nonfinancial services needed to improve enterprise performance and household income. To achieve this objective, the individual components of MIP are designed to increase the capacity, outreach and scale of the international and indigenous organizations providing services to the microenterprise sector. A great site, already listed in the "Donors" section but very much relevant to microcredit World Bank Rural Microfinance & Small Enterprise Development To have a World Bank webpage specifically devoted to microfinance is a tribute to the growing recognition of the importance of the subject. However the content of the site shows clearly what the new emphasis is going to be ie "the current challenge of small and medium scale enterprise (SME) development is to build on the success of microfinance, establishing good practices for SME financing and for the provision of non-financial services to SMEs". An excellent and very rich site. Do not miss the section on Policies and Guidelines. Microcredit Summit The official homepage of the microcredit summit which took initially place in Washington February 2-4, 1997. Includes the full summit document. The Summit's purpose statement has been expanded and now recognizes the importance of savings, other financial services, and business services for very poor entrepreneurs. The site has been quite improved lately particularly with regards to content and now includes an overview of the Asia and Pacific Region Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils, held February 1-5 in New Delhi, India, as well as various working documents such as "Creating Autonomous National and Sub-regional Microcredit Funds" or the 2000 Microcredit Summit Campaign Report. The site also includes a very interesting section on best practices. Finance and Development Research Programme A British funded research programme to identify effective financial sector policies for promoting poverty-reducing economic growth in low income countries. Extremely interesting site particularly when one looks at Microfinance through the "financial sector development" lens.The site provides details on eleven linked research projects under three research themes ( role of the financial sector in development, regulation policy and supervision, finance for the poor). Do not miss the section on working papers. Development Gateway and Microfinance This section of the Development Gateway portal, an interactive site for information on development and poverty reduction originally set up by the World Bank, focuses on microfinance and related issues and provides on a chronological basis documents, news, articles, sites related to microfinance . Very rich and useful site which unfortunately does not rank information according to quality or importance making it somewhat difficult to quickly identify and retrieve high quality information. Excellent site nevertheless. ILO's Social Finance Unit The Social Finance Unit of the ILO deals with financial sector issues (microfinance) that have implications for poverty alleviation, employment and social integration Do not miss their Publication list. The site has been improved lately particularly with regards to content. New interesting categories have been created (microfinance and gender, microfinance and self-employment, etc). Do not miss the excellent working papers section and the Microfinance project portfolio. International Year of Microcredit 2005 The United Nations International Year of Microcredit 2005 provides an occasion to raise awareness of the importance of microcredit and microfinance in the eradication of poverty, to share good practices and to further enhance financial sector development that supports sustainable pro-poor services in all countries. Very good site. Do not miss the information kit and the section on resources. MicroSave MicroSave is a project financed by CGAP/DID/UNDP that promotes the development of savings and other more client-responsive financial services among microfinance institutions in East Africa. Very good site which provides a different perspective on microfinance with a focus on savings rather than on credit. Do not miss the policy paper on savings and the section on microinsurance. Cerise The Comité d'Échanges et d'Informations sur les Systèmes d'Épargne Crédit (CERISE) was created in 1998 by four french organizations working in support of microfinance institutions: CIDR (Centre International de Développement et de Recherche, Autrêches), CIRAD (Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Montpellier), GRET (Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques, Paris) and IRAM (Institut de Recherches et d'Applications des Méthodes de développement, Paris) in order to offer a common working space and to facilitate contacts between the various actors. The section on themes and publications contains many interesting documents on the social impact of microfinance, the financing of agriculture, governance and the various models of interventions in microfinance. SEEP Network The Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network is an association of more than 48 North American private and voluntary organizations which support micro and small enterprise programs in the developing world. Although focusing mostly on microenterprise development the site includes resources of interest to microfinance practitioners. Do not miss the section on publications which includes very interesting studies which can be downloaded or viewed directly on-line. A very good site. World Bank Sustainable Banking With The Poor Sustainable Banking for the Poor (SBP) is a project that aims at improving the ability of donors, governments, and practitioners to design and implement policies and programs to build sustainable financing institutions that are effective in reaching the poor. It is carrying out a series of case studies of microfinance institutions in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that have pioneered innovative approaches for reducing the costs and risks of providing financial services to a large number of low-income clients. The case studies cover a wide range of types of institutions and programs, including commercial banks, specialized banks, credit unions, non-governmental organizations and nonbank financial institutions. . Planet Finance Planet Finance is the first international institution created directly on the Internet to foster fair development by supporting microfinance. It aims to become a network-institution which will use information technology and the Internet to develop microfinance. Its very ambitious objectives include the creation of an online university, a virtual library and a ratings agency.The site has very much improved lately with increased on-line content. The section on ratings is quite interesting with details on the "GIRAFE" tool. CAPAF The program of capacity building of microfinance institutions in francophone Africa (CAPAF) is a joint initiative of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and the French foreign ministry (MAE). Its mission is to promote a market approach to the provision of viable capability building services to microfinance institutions (MFIs) including training, technical support, and information dissemination. Do not miss the tool box and the resources section which include many essential documents. Développement international Desjardins (DID) Développement international Desjardins is an ONG whose mission is "to empower the citizens of developing and transition countries by encouraging the creation of collectively owned and operated businesses". In concrete terms this means that DID is involved in setting up savings and credit cooperatives in those countries. Do not miss the sections on projects and publications. OSU Rural Finance Program The Ohio State University Rural Finance Program is recognized as a world leader in the analysis of rural financial markets and microfinance in general and their new website is more than a welcome addition in this field. Its provides information on the Devfinance discussion group (definitely the best one of its kind on rural financial issues) and some working papers. The site has quite improved lately mostly in terms of presentation and navigation but also with regards to range of information available Pôle microfinancement This francophone site on microfinance is set up by GRET and CIRAD, two organizations based in France. Its objective is to promote information gathering and exchange on microfinance knowledge and practices. The site has very much improved lately with new sections becoming operational. Do not miss the Microfinance "glossary" which can be downloaded. Special Unit for Microfinance (UNDP/UNCDF) The Special Unit for Microfinance is a collaboration between the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Capital Development Fund to enhance the private sector in developing countries and create mechanisms for the provision of credit to the poor. The main value of the site is the MicroStart Guide which offers a concrete methodology and ready-to-use tools for establishing a microfinance project.The site has quite improved lately with much more information provided. Do not miss the section on reports MicroInsurance Centre The MicroInsurance Centre is the only independent institution that is focused full time on actively promoting the Partner-Agent model of microinsurance. In this model, MFIs are linked with regulated insurance companies to provide professional insurance products to the low-income market, while maintaining the risk where it belongs - with a regulated insurer. This method has proven to provide important risk management tools to low-income people, provide an important addition to the product line of MFIs (as well as profits through commissions), and allow insurers to enter this market efficiently and profitably. Interesting site on a topic of wide interest among microfinance institutions and donors. Do not miss the documents section and particularly the donor guidelines for supporting microinsurance. MIX Market The MIX Market is a global, web-based, microfinance information platform which objectives are to facilitate information exchange and investments flows, promote transparency and improve reporting standards in the microfinance industry. Interesting site particularly for microfinance institutions and funders. MicroRate MicroRate is the first rating agency specializing in the evaluation of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Its objective is to link MFIs with funding sources and in particular with international capital markets. Interesting site although focused mostly on Latin America. Do not miss the document on performance indicators for microfinance institutions. Imp-Act Imp-Act is a three year action-research programme from Ford Foundation implemented by three British universities and designed to improve the quality of microfinance services and their impact on poverty through strengthening the development of impact assessment systems. Interesting site. Do not miss the sections on State of the Art and Publications. MYRADA MYRADA is a non governmental organization assisting in the promotion of sustainable development and micro-credit initiatives in southern India.This beautifully designed and interesting site presents MYRADA's experience with "Alternate Management Systems for Savings and Credit of the Rural Poor". The Official Grameen Bank Website It is difficult to know these days which site is the genuine "Grameen Bank Website" with all the recent hype on microcredit and the Grameen Bank model, but this site appears to be the real one, being located in Bangladesh and hosted by "GrameenCyber" one of the latest creations of the Grameen Group of companies. FINCA International Village Banking FINCA stands for the Foundation for International Community Assistance. A nonprofit agency launched in 1985, FINCA's purpose is to provide small loans of working capital to low-income families to help alleviate poverty. FINCA creates "village banks" peer groups of 20 to 50 members, predominantly women. MicroFinance Network The MicroFinance Network is a global association of leading microfinance practitioners. The members of the MFN are committed to improving the lives of low-income people through the provision of credit, savings and other financial services. ACCION International Since 1961, ACCION International have been a pioneer in microcredit and microenterprise development, particularly in Latin America. Of particular interest is the information on the microfinance network, the list of publications and the US and Latin America statistics. Solidarity Finance Since 2001, the Solidarity Finance workshop of the Workgroup on Solidarity Socio-Economy has focused its interest on the issues of financial tools, used in the North as well as in the South. Its objectives is to make basic financial services accessible to the poorest populations (mainly on saving and credit). The proceedings were focused on an underestimated topic: the relations between solidarity finance and social ties. Very interesting site which covers subjects much broader than just microfinance. Calmeadow Calmeadow is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing access to credit and other financial services to self-employed people in Canada and the developing world. It is also one of the global microfinance pioneers, with investment, research, and advisory work internationally.The site has very much improved lately in terms of content. It now hosts the "Micro Banking Bulletin".Their Knowledge Bank project is also promising. The site also includes a very interesting report on "the State of microcredit in Canada" Banking With The Poor The BWTP Network regroups some 35 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGOs from nine countries in Asia. Its objective is to link microfinance with the financial system. It pursues this objective through research, advocacy, policy dialogue, information sharing and capacity building.Very good site with extensive summaries in the publications section. Do not miss the implications for microfinance of the Asian financial crisis in the newsletter section. Microfinance and Rural Finance This personal site by Mark Schreiner from Washington University in St Louis presents full text versions of publications and working papers on microfinance. Very interesting. Do not miss the working papers on "self-employment, microenterprise and the poorest of the poor in the United States". European Microfinance Network (EMN) This recently (?) created network regroups 27 members, operators or consultants in microcredit. Its objectives are the promotion of self-employment, microentreprises and microfinance in Europe, the development of best practices, and the improvement of the regulatory framework of microfinance and self-employment in the European Union and its member states. In addition to its section on news, the main value added of the website is its virtual library which includes downloadable handbooks and reports. Year of Microcredit This site of the French coordination committee for the international year of microcredit, which encompasses Coordination SUD, Cerise, Finansol, and which is presided by Maria Nowak, President of the Adie and of the European Microfinance Network, represents their attempt to take up the challenge of the International Year of Microcredit : work together to build a financial system accessible to everybody. Do not miss the media section which contains many interesting documents. Post-conflict Microfinance Project A British (DFID) funded project to enhance the awareness, skills and knowledge available for the implementation of successful, pro-poor post-conflict microfinance projects, which are increasingly seen by emergency relief and development agencies as an appropriate intervention during and after armed conflict. Interesting site although somewhat limited at this stage. Do not miss the report on the four country case studies. Women's World Banking At long last Women's World Banking has now got an official web presence. The site presents a good overview of what WWB is about and includes a publications section (publications have to be purchased in order to contribute to financial sustainability). The best section of the site is the "what works" section which includes excellent documents which can be downloaded.. Overall, a rather good site although I have also noticed that the use of sophisticated java scripting and java applets makes the site much less useful for people with older versions of Netscape and a 28.8 modem (slow loading or even no loading at all). Microfin Microfin is a software which has been designed to assist Micro Finance Institutions in developing detailed financial projections to accompany their business plans. The Microfin technical support website provides support services to users of CGAP's Business Planning and Financial Modeling Handbook, including the Microfin projection model. CIDA's Microfinance & Microenterprise Development This attempt by the Canadian International Development Agency of putting some sectoral content available on line should be warmly applauded even though the information provided is somewhat limited. Do not miss the "CIDA's Microfinance & Microenterprise Development Institutional Action Plan 1998-2000" or the report on CIDA's programming in this area which can be both downloaded. Epargne Sans Frontière Epargne sans Frontière is one of the oldest and best known francophone NGOs with respect to analytical thinking and information dissemination on decentralized financial systems, and the recent opening of their web site was therefore a welcomed event with definite potential despite some design flaws (one third of the screen only for the active window). Do not miss nevertheless their observatory on microfinance and related links, and their section on publications. An English version should be available soon. Microenterprise Online Resource The Microenterprise Online Resource is a new database set up by the National Institute of Social Science Information which claims to include the best academic research, profiles of programs, and voices of practioners, borrowers, and funders on the practices of micro-lending and micro-enterprises in the United States and overseas. Quite interesting although still in development. Microfinance in Nepal The Centre for Micro-Finance (CMF) is a USAID Funded project of the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation (CECI-Nepal). Its goal is to promote awareness of and commitment to micro-finance (MF) best practices in Nepal within the community of donors, government and MF practitioners. Interesting and promising site especially in the way it uses a web presence as a means to disseminate lessons learned and best practices at the project level. The MicroBanking Bulletin Newly created by the Economics Institute in Boulder, Colorado, the MicroBanking Bulletin (MBB) is a semi-annual bulletin of a project which is developing a database on the financial performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs). It will offer a forum for those interested in the financial performance of all types of organizations providing financial services to the world's poor. Initially managed from 1997 to 1998 by the Economics Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and by Calmeadow, a Canadian non-profit organization, from 1999 to 2000, it is now funded and hosted by CGAP. IFAD's Office of Evaluation and Studies IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development) is a specialised agency of the United Nations which provides loans and grants for rural poverty alleviation in developing countries.Do not miss the EKSIT section and the lessons learned on credit and financial services and on microenterprise support and non-farm income generation. Rural Finance in FAO The principal activity of the Rural Finance Group of the Food and Agriculture Organization is that of advice on policies and procedures which facilitate building viable financial institutions serving all sectors of rural populations. Interesting site although somewhat limited with regards to the amount of information provided. Do not miss the FAO microbanking system. Livelihoods, Savings and Debt In May 2001 took place in Wageningen the international conference on "Livelihood, Savings and Debt in a Changing World: Developing Anthropological and Sociological Perspectives". Even though the web site does not contain the conference proceedings, the abstracts of the various papers presented at the conference are well worth reading. Hopefully we will get more soon! Pact's small enterprise and microfinance programs Pact is an independent international nonprofit corporation well known for its publications on international development (see bibliography section of ENTERWeb). Pact sees access to credit and microenterprise development services for the poor as providing the fuel to more sustainable community-based organizations. Their webpage provides interesting examples of their work on small enterprise and microfinance. Finance and Development Research Programme A DFID-funded research programme to identify effective financial sector policies for promoting poverty-reducing economic growth in low income countries. Interesting site although some pages are still under construction. About half of the working papers relate to microfinance. Centre International du Crédit Mutuel The Crédit mutuel, 5th Group in the French banking system, was created at the end of the 19th century. The cooperative and mutual principles introduced by his founder are still applied today. The international involvement of the Crédit Mutuel is based on the promotion of these values as a key component of an effective economic and social development for cooperative institutions in search for sustainability. Interesting site. Do not miss the documents on informal financial systems in Africa in the publications section. CCIC Learning Circle on Micro-Enterprise Development This subpage of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC)'s web site focuses on development policy but also includes a section on microenterprise development and microcredit which leads to very interesting remarks, background papers and reports. Grameen Bank Good informative site ( with a bit too much of marketing) on Grameen Bank. Unfortunately quite slow in loading, possibly due to graphics Horizon Local "Horizon Local" is a data base on local development, social economy and sustainable development, which includes documents on microcredit and alternative financial systems. A surprising and interesting site. UNESCO's MicroFinance Unit (MFU) UNESCO recognizes the need for microfinance and its far reaching capabilities and in 1995 established its own microfinance unit (MFU) in order to promote microfinance as a tool in poverty alleviation. Their objectives are to build information networks and establish partnerships with other microcredit organizations. Interesting but somewhat limited. University of Cologne's AEF The web site of the University of Cologne's Development Research Center leads to interesting publications and links on microfinance. Of particular interest are the working paper series which can be downloaded. They cover extremely relevant issues such as outreach, viability, sustainability, prudential regulation, etc. and even strategies for establishing microfinance institutions. MIMAP-Microfinance Network The MIMAP-Microfinance Network on the regulation and supervision of Community-Oriented Financial Intermediaries (COFI) is a project of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) which aims to establish a cross-country network that will examine the link between COFIs, the regulatory and supervisory environment within which they operate, and poverty outcomes. Interesting site although somewhat limited. Do not miss the document library. Community Oriented Financial Intermediaries (COFI) In the long run this site from Laval University will be used to make available results from the research program Microfinance: a market approach and as a reference site for issues on regulation and supervision of Community Oriented Financial Intermediaries (COFI). Currently it serves principally to facilitate the access to documents, literature and references in electronic format to the members of the research network. The site has a free access section and a limited access section. Gender & Microfinance: Guidelines for Good Practice This personal homepage from Susan Johnson of the Center for Development Studies of the University of Bath is to my knowledge the only place on the web where one can find an analytical document looking at the issue of gender and microfinance. I am looking forward to having more documents available on the website. Intermediate Technology Alternative Finance Set up by Intermediate Technology Publications ( "Small is beautiful" Schumacher's legacy) this site aims to provide articles and information on all aspects of alternative finance, including micro-credit, savings, finance for housing, consumption or insurance services. Interesting articles although the site is somewhat limited at this stage. Microfinance Management Institute The mission of the Microfinance Management Institute (MFMI) is to advance capacity in microfinance management worldwide through its Microfinance in MBA Programs Project. Very limited site at this stage which will eventually include a resource library and a publications section.