Center of Excellence in Micro Finance Newsletter (Volume 1, Issue 1)

Publication Date: Jul 2005
Published by: Center of Excellence in Micro Finance (CMF)
Document Type: Newsletter (PDF)

View this Document (301 KB)   Email this Document

Can community based innovation, focus on women and financial education improve the microfinance scene in Pakistan?

This newsletter of the Center of Excellence in Microfinance (CMF) states that the organization aims to “Speed up the development of the microfinance sector in Pakistan by grooming the required human resources and facilitating the creation of knowledge”.

It presents the following articles:

• Community Based Innovation in NWFP: SHAMA Village Development Program discusses how an enterprising village community called “SHAMA” has underprivileged residents of the villagers joining hands to save and invest collectively with a clear long-term developmental vision.
• Women, Microfinance and Savings discusses two savings products that have the potential to effectively address women savers’ requirements:
  • “Safe Deposit Boxes” where women savers can deposit their savings in a box/container with a microfinance institute (MFI);
  • “Matched Savings Account” where a woman’s savings are matched by that of a donor/Government.
• Financial Education for the Poor discusses how financial education can facilitate effective interfaces between MFIs and their clients. It states that financial education would involve:
  • Poor people learning skills for calculating actual costs of financial products;
  • Determining financial strategies to achieve the goals of their households and businesses.
• Financial sector strengthening Program discusses the goal, objectives and activities of this program.