| Mainstreaming
Microfinance: How Lending To The Poor Began, Grew And Came Of Age In Bolivia Elisabeth Rhyne
|
|
"Author Elisabeth Rhyne not only chronicles the emergence of Bolivia’s microfinance industry, but takes the reader one step further in understanding how microfinance relates to the larger social and economic perspective through which we view development. This is a success story with mass appeal. Development professionals, microfinance practitioners, and those interested the continuing evolution of Latin America will benefit from this non-technical, in-depth analysis." I very much recommend this book to those of you who are seeking to persuade colleagues of the transformative potential of microfinance, or who get asked the question by those outside the industry, ‘so what exactly do you do?’ Tell them to read Beth’s book and find out! Details are on the Kumarian Press website at www.kpbooks.com/forthcoming.html.
Guy Bentham |
|
Paper: 1-56549-126-2 / $25.95 Cloth: 1-56549-127-0 / $60.00 272 pages (est.)
Kumarian Press, Inc. |
Many of you will know Beth through her previous writings, and her regular
contributions to the DevFinance discussion list. Mainstreaming Microfinance looks at
the example of Bolivia, and draws lessons both for those involved in
microfinance work, and those involved in development work more generally.
It’s a very readable and fluent account of a dramatic change in one
country’s approach to banking. To quote from the blurb, “Between 1987 and
1997, an extraordinary transformation happened to the financial system in
Bolivia. At the start of this period the nation’s banks and financial
institutions offered the poor and working class few services, and preferred
to keep them out of their banking halls. By the end of the decade, however,
hundreds of thousands of these same people were the valued customers of more
than 15 banks, financial institutions and credit programs, all vying with
each other for a greater share of this new market. These events are part of a
world phenomenon known as microfinance. Some people tout microfinance as the
most important tool now available for fighting poverty in underdeveloped
countries while still others doubt its contribution to the‘truly’ poor.
Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org
Return to the New Publications Page
Return to the Virtual Library on Microcredit