RSS feedDevelopment and Microfinance: Some Sources
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| Photo: Adam Rogers/UNCDF |
First and foremost, I recommend NextBillion.net, a blog and information site run by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington D.C. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to these folks a few times, and have always found them very well-informed. For microfinance newbies (like myself), a great start is Tom Easton’s survey published in the Economist last year. And if you’re hungry for some more-detailed insight, I’d also recommend leafing through some of last year’s issues of Microfinance Matters, the newsletter published during the United Nations Year of Microcredit 2005. Even though they are a bit old now (most recent one published in November 2005), you’ll find some of the biggest names in microfinance discussing specific problems, solutions and future of microfinance in a straightforward way.
I should also say that there are a growing number of works out there that take a more critical approach to microfinance, looking at its effectiveness and impacts in the developing world, as well as its role in neoliberal economics and globalization. One of these authors is Heloise Weber, now at the University of Queensland (Australia), but there are others, as well.
Finally, about the wider question of development, don’t forget the answers given at the Table of Free Voices to the question: “How should the development of developing countries take place? Is micro-finance or macro-finance better?”