Reaching the Poorest Through Microfinance

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger has been a goal for many governmental and non-governmental organizations. Microfinance has emerged as a popular poverty alleviation strategy to meet the goal. However, microfinance has also been challenged especially in reaching the poorest who need the basic financial services such as savings and credit the most. This study analyzes the data from the Saving for Change program of Oxfam American in Mali. Saving for Change uses savings-led educational approach to microfinance. It does not provide any money to the groups or their members. The groups collect saving deposits from their members. To meet the credit needs of the members, the groups make loans to them from their own saving funds. There is no outside money involved. Mali is one of the five poorest countries in the world. Therefore, the contexts of the study are appropriate for exploring to what extent a microfinance program reaches the poorest. The study examines the relationships between the program participants'' socio-economic conditions and their saving and credit activities. The book also provides some recommendations for microfinance programs based on the results of the study.