Think Africa Press review for Why Doesn't Microfinance Work?

Think Africa Press recently posted a review of Milford Bateman's 'Why Doesn't Microfinance Work?'.

2005 was the "International Year of Microcredit", celebrating an industry thought by some to be a panacea for the developing world. In Why Doesn't Microfinance Work? : The Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism , Milford Bateman, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute, attempts to highlight how this much-lauded tool is flawed but has managed to maintain such a central place in development discourse for more than thirty years.

The concept is to extend credit facilities to a range of people who do not have the collateral to gain credit elsewhere. It is built upon the idea that the poor are entrepreneurial, and claims to alleviate poverty and empower women. However, recent events have seen the industry's lustre fade – including a spate of suicides amongst heavily indebted people aggressively pursued by microfinance institutions, allegations of corruption and the high-profile removal of Muhammad Yunus from the microfinance bank he founded.
The main ideas in the book are then discussed and critiqued, with contributions from other experts, such as Salwa Ismail, Professor of Politics at the School or Oriental and African Studies.
'Milford Bateman's book is a well-written account and is an important step in correcting the misconceptions of microfinance. The industry has been accepted with little rigorous analysis of the impact or the way it continues to justify its mission.

Read more at http://thinkafricapress.com/development/why-doesnt-microfinance-work-review
 
'Why Doesn't Microfinance Work?' is out now.

 

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