Microfinance Challenges : Empowerment or Disempowerment of the Poor

Contents Editors and scientific advisory committee. List of authors. Acknowledgments. General introduction/Isabelle Guerin and Jane Palier. I. Questions as to definition what is understood by empowerment Introduction Definition the concept of empowerment through experiences in India/Jane Palier. 1. Engendering microfinance/Meera Sundararajan. 2. Relevance of microfinance and empowerment in tribal areas a case study of the Konda Reddis/M. Thanuja. 3. Structural issues in empowerment under microfinance/Sreejata Banerjee and S.J.S. Swamidoss. 4. Empowerment and microfinance an analysis of theoretical concepts and practices Reflections from a microfinance project in Indonesia/Wayan Suadnya Shankariah Chamala Muktasam Abdurahman and Rosiady Sayuti. 5. Historical analysis of empowerment and its present understanding in the context of microfinance/Sunita Rabindranathan. 6. Micro enterprises of self help groups and state policies under a neo liberal regime evidences from a village in Kerala/S. Mohanakumar and Suja Susan George. 7. Can microfinance empower women/Joy Deshmukh Ranadive. Reference. Part I II. Microfinance in its environment Introduction Analysing microfinance as a process of endogenous development/Isabelle Guerin. 8. Situating microcredit in India some reflections/K. Kalpana. 9. Women's survival strategies and experiences with support services as home based micro entrepreneurs in Metro Manila/Christine Bonnin. 10. Microfinance informal finance and empowerment of the poor lessons from a case study of the SHG bank linkage programme in a backward district in India/R. Sunil. 11. Emerging women micro entrepreneurs in Bangladesh the missing middle/Parveen Mahmud. 12. Microfinance technology and linkages with non financial services/Arun Raste. Reference. Part II III. Assessing microfinance Introduction Assessing the impact of microfinance in terms of empowerment issues and challenges/Cyril Fouillet and Jane Palier. 13. Microfinance rural livelihoods and women's empowerment a participatory learning system to assess and enhance impact/Helzi Noponen. 14. Microfinance and women's empowerment research approach and findings from an impact assessment of MFIs in India/Meenal Patole and Frances Sinha. 15. Self help groups and the empowerment of women a study on Community Development Society in Alleppey Kerala/Binita V. Thampi. 16. Microfinance and self help groups the way ahead (with special reference to Kanyakumari district)/Usha Oommen and A. Meenakshisundararajan. 17. Findings from the mid term impact assessment study of the CASHE programme in Orissa carried out by SAMPARK Bangalore/Prabhat Labh. 18. Microfinance and empowerment concepts and tools some preliminary insights from the SHG model in Andhra Pradesh/P.A. Lakshmi Prasanna. 19. SHGs and their place and role in civil society/Prakash Louis. 20. Social externalities of women's empowerment through microfinance a comparative study of two interventions/M. Indira. 21. Empowerment of SHG/DWCRA women through microfinance a study in Andhra Pradesh/D. Vasudeva Rao. 22. Microcredit programmes poverty alleviation and empowerment of women some empirical evidence from Kerala/K.R. Lakshmi Devi. 23. From passive participation to effective leadership a study on empowerment of women in Dakshina Kannada India/Uday Kumar. Reference. Part III By way of conclusion microfinance empowerment and solidarity based economy/Isabelle Guerin and Jane Palier. Microfinance is often presented not only as an efficient tool to fight against poverty but also as a means of promoting the empowerment of the most marginalized sections of the population especially women. However reality has shown that the causal relation between microfinance and empowerment is neither linear nor unequivocal and that it is even less systematic. This book is an attempt to nourish the debate on the one hand by combining theoretical reflections and case studies and on the other hand by engaging practitioners and researchers from various ba. …