Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Combating Elite Capture: F.W. Raiffeisen

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, The village, tagged , , , , on March 25, 2012| 2 Comments »

If elite capture is such a serious threat, how was it dealt with during the microfinance revolution in Europe? F.W. Raiffeisen addressed this risk directly: he asked village elites to play leadership roles in the cooperatives – but to derive no material benefit from them.

In speeches he emphasized religious duties of charity and responsibility to community, and encouraged the villagers to elect leading individuals to the board, conditional on their character. Board positions received no compensation. Raiffeisen (more…)

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

Elite Capture (2)

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, tagged , , , , , on March 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

By 1979 only 61 of the 400 Comilla cooperatives were still functioning.  One observer attributes this result to four factors:  fraud/lack of internal controls, stagnation, diversion of funds, and ineffective external supervision. The central problem of fraud and weak controls “was possible not only because of individual dishonesty, but because the people were not made aware of their rights, and were not in a position to voice their rights (Aditee Nag Chowdhury, Let Grassroots Speak, p. 54).

Partly as a result of Dr. Khan’s experience, later Bangladeshi practitioners in microfinance, such as Dr. Muhammad Yunus and Fazle Hasan Abed, (more…)

Read Full Post »

Elite Capture: Comilla

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The ‘cooperative wave’ of microfinance gave way to the ‘microcredit’ wave in the 1970s. ‘Elite capture’ severely damaged the cooperative wave in the South. The story of the transition from the Comilla model to Grameen Bank, at the inflection point between the movements, is exemplary.

The ‘Comilla Model’ was initiated in East Pakistan by Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan in 1959. Khan drew inspiration from the Raiffeisen credit unions of rural Germany. He envisioned ‘vigorous local institutions’ that could provide credit and access to markets for the farmers of Comilla district. The cooperatives (more…)

Read Full Post »

It Takes Two Hands to Clap

Posted in History, Microfinance, Village institutions, tagged , , , on February 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Flower mandala, Ahmadabad. Many great traditions need right and left to clap.

The founders of early financial cooperatives believed in ‘cooperation’. This was not a sentimental idea. It was seen as a practical tool for pooling financial and human resources where poverty was too great for individuals to escape by themselves. It required an almost obsessive focus on both prudent financial management and disciplined adherence to operational rules.

Democracy in private enterprise, and practical concern for poorer neighbours, are left-wing ideas. Prudent financial management (more…)

Read Full Post »

The First Wave of Microfinance

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, tagged , , , on February 13, 2012| 4 Comments »

Two rallying cries propelled the second wave of microfinance. First, in the 1970s it was ‘proved’ that poor people repay their loans; and second, we ‘learned’ that you can lend money to poor people and make money doing it. These statements may motivate people, but they are impoverished reflections of history.

The first wave of microfinance began in 1864, and rapidly spread over much of Europe, delivering both credit and savings in villages the banks would not touch. Reflecting on nearly 50 years of village finance practice, the journalist Henry W. Wolff wrote in 1910 that “… there has been found to be no more regular and more scrupulous repayer than the small man.” (People’s Banks, p. 27)

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Rural Market Failure — Interest Rates

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, tagged , , , , , on January 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Krong Pailin, Cambodia. In the rainy season a 1-2 km trip can take much of the day.

Rural microcredit rates have risen sharply since the dawn of the microfinance revolution. Most modern rates range from 12-60% annually, with unsubsidized rates below 12% being extremely rare. The alternative for most poor borrowers is either no credit at all, or much higher informal rates.

At the dawn of the microfinance revolution, during the 1860s-90s, the Raiffeisen banks of rural Germany charged 5½% (per annum, declining balance) on small farmers’ loans, (more…)

Read Full Post »

The Road ‘Less Traveled’

Posted in Financial cooperatives, History, Microfinance, tagged , , , , , , , on May 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I, I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
— Robert Frost

Some three decades ago the experts announced that only one source of funds could deliver microfinance services sustainably to billions of the world’s poorest people. That source was Western capital markets and the profit-maximizing investors participating in them.

When F.W. Raiffeisen launched the first microfinance revolution (1864-1945) he used a different source of funds: (more…)

Read Full Post »

Orality and Trust

Posted in History, Microfinance, Orality, The village, tagged , , , , on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

As observed by communications theorist Walter Ong, villagers in oral communities often don’t trust written text.

Ong cites a study of community decision-making from 12th century England. (Orality and Literacy, p. 95). Writing already had a long history in England, (more…)

Read Full Post »

Denise Schmandt-Besserat

Posted in History, Orality, Village institutions, tagged , , , , , on April 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The work of Denise Schmandt-Besserat is reshaping our concept of the origins of writing and counting, shedding new light on both the challenges and opportunities in village finance practice.

A scholar of ancient Near Eastern studies at the University of Texas, her books provide strong evidence of her thesis that writing in Mesopotamia came long after strong institutions. It evolved from “a system of tokens – (more…)

Read Full Post »