Increasing the Outreach And Sustainability of Microfinance

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Increasing the Outreach And Sustainability of Microfinance through ICT Innovation

Stuart Mathison
Program Manager
The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC)


Making financial services available to the poorest people, especially investment loans for
micro-business development, is recognized as an important part of poverty reduction
strategies. However, in spite of its successes, microfinance has barely scratched the surface of
need. While “increasing outreach” has been the catch-cry for at least the last five years, the
present delivery models are not quite meeting the challenge, especially when it comes to
serving communities in remote locations characterized by low population density.
Technological innovation is the great hope, although it brings with it fundamental changes to
the microfinance delivery mechanisms that have become almost sacred for the microfinance
sector.

read full article:
http://www.fdc.org.au/Electronic%20Banking%20with%20the%20Poor/1%20Mathison.pdf