Essential Reading
As we look to the future of a Model on Microfinance for Africa, we recommend the following essential readings:
1. The New World of Microenterprise Finance: Building Healthy Financial Institutions for the Poor (1994)
Kumarian Press, Inc, Edited by Maria Otero, ACCION International Elisabeth Rhyne, USAID
In this work, contributors argue that one can create sustainable and viable financial institutions that give the poor greater access to financial services. Covering Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the book outline successful programs such as the Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme; the Association of Solidarity Groups in Colombia; BancoSol in Bolivia.
2. Defying the Odds: Banking for the Poor (1999), by Eugene Versluysen
This book focuses on the context of social and economic change in developing countries. It argues that poverty is not created by the poor. The focus on grassroots developmental entrepreneurship and alternative poverty-eradication strategies is of great interest.
3. Mainstreaming Microfinance: How lending to the Poor Began, Grew and Came of Age in Bolivia (2001), by Elisabeth Rhyne, Accion
The focus is on the transformation of NGOs into informal financial institutions
4. Microfinance and Poverty Eradication: Strengthening Africa's Microfinance Institutions (2000), by UN-OSCAL/DESA
This study brings together eighty-six factsheets on microfinance initiatives, to extract, preserve, share, and learn from various examples of microfinance in and for Africa. The majority of the facsheets (63) are from Africa highlighting the potential contribution of microfinance initiatives in African development.