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on Microfinance |
| By: | Ceballos, Francisco; Kannan, Samyuktha; Singh, Vartika; Kramer, Berber |
| Abstract: | Financial instruments such as savings, loans, and insurance are critical tools in managing risk for smallholder farmers across the developing world. Although smallholder farmers are disproportionately affected by adverse events, they are the least likely to have access to formal loans, insurance, or bank accounts, leaving them less prepared to manage weather and disaster risk. As the effects of climate change intensify, building resilience—the ability to mitigate, cope, and recover from shocks and stresses without compromising future welfare—is essential for reducing rural poverty and improving food and nutrition security. |
| Keywords: | INDIA, SOUTH ASIA, ASIA, digital technology, technology, smallholders, farmers, data, mobile phones, insurance, willingness to pay, Picture-Based Insurance (PBI), financial inclusion, |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:mtidpn4&r=all |
| By: | Tom Akana |
| Abstract: | The Consumer Finance Institute hosted a workshop in February 2019 featuring José Quiñonez, chief executive officer, and Elena Fairley, programs director, of Mission Asset Fund (MAF) to discuss MAF’s approach to helping its clients improve access to mainstream financial markets. MAF’s signature program, Lending Circles, adapts a traditional community-based financial tool known as a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) to help establish or expand credit reports for participants who may not be able to do so through traditional means. Lending Circles have served more than 10,000 clients since 2007 and have expanded well beyond MAF’s core constituency in the Mission District of San Francisco. Quiñonez and Fairley discussed MAF’s approach to working with the communities it serves and shared the key successes and challenges that MAF has encountered. This paper provides an overview of the information shared in the workshop and additional research connecting Lending Circles to previous work on ROSCAs. |
| Keywords: | rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA); financial inclusion; credit invisibles; underserved; unbanked; fintech; financial technology |
| JEL: | D14 D71 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedpdp:87614&r=all |