Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/VI-Module-III-National-Regional-and-International-Support.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/VI-Module-III-National-Regional-and-International-Support.html Microfinance initiatives are more likely to succeed in a supportive national, regional, and international environment. Applying a systems’ perceptive, poverty eradication is recognized as a multi-scale endeavor with different partners participating at the local, national, regional, and international levels. Whereas the foregoing discussion has focused on microfinance lessons for the local level, this section will broaden the scope with lessons that scale up through the state to the global community. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/V-NonMaterial-Benefits-of-Microfinancing.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/V-NonMaterial-Benefits-of-Microfinancing.html Microfinance initiatives offer more than just material benefits; they can also address issues associated with "non-material" poverty, which includes social and psychological effects that prevent people from realizing their potential. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/V-Material-Benefits-of-Microfinancing.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/V-Material-Benefits-of-Microfinancing.html Microfinance initiatives can play an effective role in addressing material poverty, the physical deprivation of goods, services, and the income to attain them. MFIs can help people become more economically secure. This, in turn, has a multiplier effect on people's standard of living, enhancing basic household welfare, such as food security, nutrition, shelter, sanitation, health and education services. MFIs can help prevent and extricate people from debt. Oftentimes, they liberate low-income households from moneylenders with outrageous interest rates that often reach 100% annually. Savings and credit services help people start or improve their own small businesses, providing income generation and employment for themselves and their families. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Module-II-Linking-Microfinance-to-Poverty-Eradication.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Module-II-Linking-Microfinance-to-Poverty-Eradication.html There is a fundamental linkage between microfinance and poverty eradication in that the latter depends on the poor gaining access to, and control over, economically productive resources, which includes financial resources. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/Principle-IV-Prioritize-Operational-Efficiency.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/Principle-IV-Prioritize-Operational-Efficiency.html Key Principles for an African Model of Microfinance http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-III-Reinforce-Microfinance-to-Advance-the-African-Private-Sector.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-III-Reinforce-Microfinance-to-Advance-the-African-Private-Sector.html Key Principles for an African Model of Microfinance http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-II-Prioritize-Local-Knowledge-and-Participatory-Planning.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-II-Prioritize-Local-Knowledge-and-Participatory-Planning.html Key Principles for an African Model of Microfinance http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-I-Prioritize-Group-Formation-and-Networking.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Principle-I-Prioritize-Group-Formation-and-Networking.html Key Principles for an African Model of Microfinance http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Module-I-Key-Principles-for-an-African-Model-of-Microfinance.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Module-I-Key-Principles-for-an-African-Model-of-Microfinance.html African microfinance is as diverse as the continent itself. An array of approaches have been used, ranging from traditional kinship networks and Revolving Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs) to NGOs and development projects, and funded by both the informal and formal financial sectors, as well as domestic and international and donors. Consequently, examples of African microfinance offer an array of lessons of what works and doesn't work. http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Introduction--MICROFINANCE-IN-AFRICA-THE-MODEL.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/African-Accounts/1655/IV-Introduction--MICROFINANCE-IN-AFRICA-THE-MODEL.html The last twenty years have seen significant advances in understanding and providing financial services to better advance development and eradicate poverty. This includes providing the financial means to save, access credit, and start small businesses, with the potential to enhance community development, as well as local and national policy making. When properly harnessed and supported, microfinance can scale-up beyond the micro-level as a sustainable part of the process of economic empowerment by which the poor can lift themselves from poverty.