Developing Financial Institutions for the Poor and Reducing Barriers to Access for Women

摘要

The report provides background on the types of lending programs designed to reach poor people. Second, it discusses poor people's use of and access to savings facilities and credit - and credit's potential and limits as a tool for reducing poverty. Third, it analyzes the largely dismal experience with traditional, subsidized credit programs. Fourth, it describes alternative approaches to expanding financial services to the poor, especially women - and identifies the main characteristics of successful, informal and quasiformal credit and savings programs. The final section presents conclusions and discusses the paper's implications for policy makers.