Doctor Educationis / Formal microfinance institutions have been an important tool in the fight against poverty in developing countries, but their reach for rural people and urban slum poor are limited. Following this, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) are established as an alternative, informal mechanism for saving and borrowing that do not require external capital or ongoing financial or administrative support from a founding organization or government bodies. Thus, this study aimed to assess the effects of women participation in VSLA on poverty reduction with a case study in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative research methodology, the study tried to focus on examining the effects of VSLAs contribution to economic and social wellbeing of households, and decision makings, and women participation in community activities. The study used 254 samples (127 VSLA participants, and 127 non-participants) and collected data using questionnaire and focus group discussion. The study used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the impact of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income, and the result indicated the average effect of women participation in VSLA on average monthly household income of participant women is positive and significant at 5% significant level, ranging from 169.63 Birr/month (nearest neighbor matching) to 141.55 Birr/month (Kernel matching), on average. Besides, comparison between participants and non-participants using hypothesis testing shows that women participation in VSLA has a significant positive association with improvements in household diet, health, children’s education, and women’s involvement in household decisions. However, although hypothesized, no significant association is found in relation to women participation in community activities. Findings from the focus group discussions are also consistent with the results from the PSM and hypothesis testing. Following the findings, the study recommends government and nongovernmental organizations to provide regular, timely and need based capacity building trainings for VSLA participants; Link VSLA participants with formal microfinance institutions; conduct regular monitoring and follow ups by either the city or sub-cities Women Children Affairs Department/offices or concerned government body; different concerned stakeholders in the city including government, nongovernmental organizations, microfinance institutions and others need to work in coordinated manner to solve the recurrent challenges of VSLA participants in Hawassa city; and finally government and/or nongovernmental organizations need to take best practices and lessons from existing VSLAs and expand the VSLA initiative to address more impoverished women in the city.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The researcher attempted to assess the effectiveness of Bank of Agriculture (BOA) microloan scheme on job creation among micro and small enterprises. This is in view of the unprecedented rise in the unemployment rate in Nigeria and the widely perceived belief that among other policies, harnessing the financial capacity of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) may possibly dictate the pace of the country’s achievement of job creation. Despite a wide array of studies on MSME growth, only a handful of rigorous studies are available to provide evidence of the effect of finance on labour market outcomes in the sector, as well as on the use of more relevant assessment techniques on the performance of public policies and interventions related to MSME financing. Through the use of mixed methods including questionnaire administration, key informant interviews, focused group discussions and desk research, this research undertook a theory of change-based assessment of Bank of Agriculture microfinance scheme, to assess the extent to which the scheme is effective in contributing to the achievement of the MSME Policy’s fundamental objective of job creation. Descriptive statistics using frequency tables and graphs as well as OECD COTE (Coherence, Objectives, Targets and Evaluation) Framework for policy formulation were applied as methods of analysis. The findings show a fundamental flaw in relation to the lack of strategic alignment of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) operations with the MSME Policy. The Bank is seen to be operating in a silo as the strategic direction the MSME tilt does not seem to derive from the overall MSME Policy. BOA is also not seen to be positioned to engage the practice of performance measurement and reporting generally and in particular of the fundamental objective of job creation, as stipulated in the MSME Financing Policy of government. It was also revealed that a majority of enterprises that took BOA microloans loans were not able to create jobs as many of them were operating as “survivalists”. Although the BOA microloan scheme is potentially capable of supporting targeted growth-oriented microenterprises in specific trades to create jobs, given the attractive concessional terms, the Bank is not achieving this objective in its present state and form neither is it seen to be positioned to do so due to several supply and demand side factors. An ongoing reform process in the Bank during this research period may be able to address part of this concern if more strategic steps are taken to surmount the constraints. Furthermore, BOA does not have a functional performance measurement framework and monitoring and evaluation system that can be used as the basis for measuring goal attainment such as the goal of job creation, especially in relation to the outcomes of the provision of financial services to the MSME sector. For BOA to be successful and truly developmental in focus especially in relation to its contribution to the strategic objective of job creation, the study therefore recommended the key thrust of a new framework for addressing the current unemployment situation to include an effective alignment of macro, meso (sectoral) and micro policies. At the (micro) institutional level, it is recommended that BOA should: • improve its governance and management system as well as the integration of development impact considerations and measurement; • create innovative financing products for growth-oriented microenterprises especially through cluster financing and cluster-based development; • increase wholesale lending through the provision of on-lending products to performing microfinance institutions (MFIs); • engage the services of BDS organisations to source for credible clients and build clients’ entrepreneurial capacity including assisting them to access markets. In line with the need to integrate development impact considerations and measurement into its entire operations, the researcher designed a monitoring and evaluation framework that can enhance the tracking of the attainment of job creation policy goal in BOA microloan scheme. In this vein, the institution is to adopt formal “lessons learnt” mechanisms to integrate evaluation findings into future activities and “put development back into development banking” (Smallridge, 2017). At the meso level in the study context, horizontal cooperation is recommended where all relevant institutions are aligned and the impact of various policy measures on entrepreneurship and job creation are taken into account. Lastly, an employment – sensitive macro-economic framework must pursue: the relaxation of monetary and credit conditions that are supportive of employment creation in the economy; fiscal prudence in the context of exploiting fiscal space to accommodate investments with high employment potentials; use of legislative mechanisms for ensuring full and effective implementation of annual budgets, program and projects at all levels and development and effective use of computerised Labour Market Information System (LMIS) for Nigeria.

Student Number : 0204752J - MSc research report - School of Construction Economics and Management - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / Most governments in developing countries are unable to assist in the ever-growing housing needs of the informal sector, which constitutes the major part of most economies. The two reasons for this state of affairs are (i) the ever-shrinking resource base of countries, which makes the provision of subsidies impractical; and (ii) the fact that this sector is normally characterized by irregular incomes, which makes provision for loans by financial institutions difficult. This situation is particularly true for the Kingdom of Lesotho. Due to their unfortunate predicament, the informal sector has become innovative in addressing their housing needs. Various informal credit methods are widely employed to finance their houses, which are built progressively. This research therefore investigates the possibilities of linking the progressive housing investment to bank housing finance, using Maseru - Lesotho as the research focus. In order to achieve the above aim, a household survey was conducted coupled with structured interviews. The structured interviews were held with the commercial banks as well as the government housing authorities. These interviews were mainly to elicit their views about the option of Microfinance of housing. It was established that the respondents as well as the government authorities were not aware of this option. The banks were equally unaware of it and in addition to this, the perceived risk led to skepticism. As such these made Microfinance of housing impractical in the short-run. However it would be advisable to mobilize the formation of a revolving fund to which the commercial banks could on-lend, as a solution to the lack of housing finance.

The aim of this study is to present venture creation as an alternative form of alleviating poverty and contributing positively to the economic growth of every African government. This study draws to the attention of policy-makers, the importance of venture creation in emerging economies. The author goes on further to highlights the challenges with the current models used for financing/funding new ventures, in an emerging African economy. The objective of this paper is to also highlight what needs to be done by policy-makers, to create a thriving economic environment for emerging entrepreneurs. This study seeks to highlight some of the prospects, as well as some of the impediments, experienced by the venture capital industry and start-up enterprises. The environment in which the creation of new ventures operates under in emerging African markets is reviewed, and the exit of those enterprises when they mature and graduate from a small, private company, to a publicly held company - through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process, is examined. The benefits of exiting these ventures through an IPO, versus the more aptly applied private placement exit method, are also discussed. The impact that the behaviour and psychology of investing have on the investment trends in African economies is also discussed. The author used the qualitative research methodology to achieve the results presented in this paper. The outcomes of the study are outlined in chapter four of this paper. The respondents to the survey indicated the importance of the venture capital sector and the critical role that policy makers should be playing. There were no clear responses around the human behaviour in determining the suitable exit platform. What came out clearly in this study; was that each region in the African economy will use a different exit platform driven mainly by the economic environment. The author goes on further to conclude on the outcomes of the study and suggest further research on the topic on venture capital and initial public offerings. The participants who responded to the survey agreed with the literature reviewed, in particular around the adequate form of financing for starting up new enterprises.

Women’s empowerment and gender equality contribute to the achievement of a sustainable world according to United Nations and Agenda 2030. Previous research highlights the impact of microfinance program on women’s empowerment. Through a lack in previous research, the aim of this report emerged. The aim is to describe and analyse women’s experience of how a microfinance program focused on women’s economic empowerment in the Philippines affect their financial literacy and in what ways financial literacy can be related to their empowerment. The study consists of a qualitative methodology and elements of a deductive approach. The collected empirical data consist of documents, observations and interviews. The results show that, through seminars and participation, the women got increased their knowledge in economics. Women’s participation in the microfinance program also lead to empowerment. The result shows that the women bring the knowledge from the program home to their personal finances and affects the individual’s environment. The impact of the microfinance program has larger effects for many women, not only the one participating in the program. Therefore, to understand the phenomena in this study, it is necessary to include experiences from outside the microfinance program. Because on the result in this report, the suggestions for future research is to investigate the correlation between the microfinance program and women’s personal finances. / Enligt FN:s mål Agenda 2030 är jämställdhet och att alla kvinnor har makt att bestämma över sina liv en förutsättning för en hållbar utveckling i världen. Tidigare forskning lyfter fram vad mikrofinans program har för inverkan på kvinnors egenmakt (empowerment). På grund av brist i tidigare forskning har syftet med denna studie tagits fram. Syftet är att beskriva och analysera kvinnors egna uppfattningar om hur ett mikrofinans program, vars syfte är att öka kvinnors egenmakt i Filippinerna påverkar finansiell läskunnighet (financial literacy). Vidare studeras hur ekonomisk läskunnighet kan relateras till kvinnors egenmakt. Studien utgår från en kvalitativ metod och inslag av deduktiv ansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in genom dokument, observationer samt intervjuer. Resultatet av kvinnornas uppfattning är att de ökat sin ekonomiska läskunnighet genom seminarier och deltagande i programmet. Kvinnors deltagande resulterar också i att de ökat sin egenmakt. Resultatet visar också på att kvinnorna tar med sig den nya kunskapen från programmet hem till den privata ekonomin och påverkar individens miljö. Uppfattningen är att mikrofinans programmet har större effekter än bara för de som deltar i programmet. Därmed, för att förstå fenomenet i denna studie är det nödvändigt att ta in effekter och erfarenheter utifrån mikrofinans programmet. För vidare forskning föreslår vi att djupare analysera sambandet mellan mikrofinans program och kvinnors privata ekonomi. Med tanke på resultatet i denna rapport, föreslår vi att fortsatt forskning djupare analysera sambandet mellan mikrofinans program och kvinnors privata ekonomi.

Thesis advisor: Richard McGowan / The author focuses on property formalization, microfinance and their effects on empowering the poor in Peru. For this purpose, the author will first analyze the economic and social conditions in which the microfinance initiative has taken place in Peru as well as its informal economy. Then, the author will explain the advantages and disadvantages that microfinance and property formalization have had as economic tools used to confront the problem of collateral. The author argues that both economic tools, if used together, may have a greater impact in the poor’s economic empowerment. The poor’s economic empowerment will be understood as the decrease in interest rates in the microfinance sector. Hence, Peruvian Microfinance Institutions – represented by Peru’s leading MFI “Microfinanzas Prisma – will be analyzed through regression analyses with intervention variables to simulate the correlations between collateral and interest rates in the microfinance sector. The results demonstrate that formal property, although correlated with interest rates up to a certain point, may not have a significant correlation with interest rates beyond that point. The author will finally interpret the results of the empirical analyses and will make some recommendations that could be implemented as development policies. A proposal would be based on the joint use of microfinance and formal property to further decrease interest rates and therefore empower the individuals borrowing below the point at which collateral has no significance correlation with interest rates. Concepts such as social capital and community organization will be addressed to further enhance the impact of collateral on interest rates. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre o desempenho financeiro e o desempenho social de instituições de microfinanças que atuam na América Latina. Dessa forma, o trabalho propõe, por meio da aplicação de métodos quantitativos como testes de correlação e de regressão, uma investigação acerca da relação entre variáveis representativas do desempenho social e do desempenho financeiro dessas organizações. Além disso, as variáveis de controle forma legal da organização (com ou sem fins lucrativos) e tamanho (ativo total) foram incluídas no modelo. A amostra foi constituída por instituições de microfinanças da América Latina que publicaram seus resultados financeiros e seus dados sociais na plataforma MIX Market entre os anos de 2008 e 2009. A necessidade de publicação dessas informações revelou-se a principal limitação do tamanho amostral da pesquisa. Os resultados alcançados revelam a importância da variável tamanho da instituição para que a organização alcance resultados financeiros e sociais superiores, o que indicaria a provável presença de economias de escala. Também se evidencia a preponderância da não rejeição da hipótese nula, ou seja, de que não é possível estabelecer uma relação entre desempenho financeiro e desempenho social das instituições de microfinanças. Para pesquisas futuras, aconselha-se a utilização de uma maior série temporal de dados e o aprimoramento do indicador social, a fim de que se torne mais abrangente e preciso. / The present thesis aims to analyze the relationship between financial and social performances of microfinance institutions that operate in Latin America. Thus, the paper proposes, through the application of quantitative methods as tests of correlation and regression, an investigation about the relationship between variables related to social performance and financial performance of these organizations. Furthermore, control variables as legal form of the organization (for profit or nonprofit) and size (total assets) were included in the model. The sample consisted of microfinance institutions in Latin America that published their financial results and their social data on the platform MIX Market between the years 2008 and 2009. The necessity of publication of this information proved to be the main limitation of the survey sample size. The results reveal the importance of the variable size of the institution for the organization to achieve higher social and financial results, which indicate the probable presence of economies of scale. The results also reveal the preponderance of evidence that does not reject the null hypothesis, i.e. that it is not possible to establish a relationship between financial and social performances of microfinance institutions. For future research, we recommend the use of a larger series of data and improvement of social indicator, so that it becomes more comprehensive and accurate.

Cette étude porte sur l’évaluation de la performance du système bancaire de la zone CEMAC sur la période 1993-2008. La performance interne est captée par l’efficacité technique des firmes bancaires. Celle-ci est mesurée par les approches non paramétriques des modèles de frontière de production, en considérant les crédits comme output de l’industrie bancaire. La décomposition de l’indice de MALMQUIST permet de constater que les banques de la zone présentent des scores contrastés, même si globalement elles affichent une meilleure efficacité d’échelle. L’analyse des externalités des services financiers est limitée au seul cadre du Cameroun et elle est évaluée par l’impact du microcrédit sur le niveau de vie des ménages bénéficiaires, dans une logique de réduction de la pauvreté monétaire et de la pauvreté multidimensionnelle. Les résultats indiquent que la variation du revenu des ménages est conditionnée par l’usage fait du crédit et par les facteurs environnementaux. / The objective of this work is to evaluate the performance of the banking system of CEMAC countries from 1993 to 2008. We capture the internal performance of the bank through the technical efficiency of banking firms. We measure this, using non-parametric approaches of production frontier models, while considering credit as the output of the banking industry. Using the MALMQUIST decomposition index, we observe that banks in the zone have quite different scores, even if globally they have a better scale efficiency. The analysis of the externalities of financial services is limited to Cameroon only. We evaluate this through the impact of micro-credits on the standard of living of the beneficiary households within the framework of monetary poverty and multi-dimensional poverty reduction. The results show that the change in households’ incomes is determined by what the loans are used for and by environmental factors.

A presente pesquisa busca analisar os efeitos da regulação financeira sobre diferentes aspectos do setor de microfinanças. Para tanto identifica, a partir da literatura especializada, hipóteses que apontam para quatro variáveis como as mais sensíveis aos efeitos da regulação e supervisão. São elas a sustentabilidade financeira das instituições, seu alcance em relação ao número de clientes e do nível de renda deste, a adimplência observada em seus portfólios e a estrutura do setor de microfinanças em termos da quantidade e dos tipos de instituições existentes. Argumenta-se que cada elemento da regulação possui um efeito distinto sobre um ou mais desses aspectos, que são colocados à prova em dois estudos de caso. O primeiro é o caso brasileiro, no qual a evolução da regulamentação parece ter favorecido, até certo ponto, o predomínio de instituições públicas e no setor de microcrédito. Por sua vez, a regulamentação mexicana teria atuado no sentido oposto, favorecendo a formação de um grande número de instituições privadas, muitas das quais de pequeno porte. / This research aims at analyzing the effects of financial regulation over different aspects of the microfinance sector. Therefore, at first it identifies on the specialized literature hypothesis that point to four variables considered more sensible to the effects of financial regulation and supervision. Those are the financial sustainability of institutions, their outreach in terms of breadth as well as depth, the levels of loan losses in their portfolios and the very own structure of the microfinance sector regarding the quantity and the types of existing institutions. We argue that each aspect of financial regulation presents distinct effects over the variables above, and we put them to test by employing two case studies. The first focuses on Brazil, where the regulatory evolution appears to have benefited, up to a certain point, the dominance of public institutions on the microfinance sector. On the other hand, we look at the Mexican case, where we can find a great number of small sized private institutions. Therefore, financial regulation seems to have had so far the opposite effect it had in Brazil.

The idea of microfinance has burst into the area of global poverty reduction. Many comments have been made about its benefits such as; it is an alternative tool for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Many studies have attempted to assess different facets of the impact of microfinance, especially trying to show its potential for greater financial inclusion and economic benefits using advanced rigorous quantitative approaches. Although some studies have evaluated this topic in the past there remains some significant gaps in the literature, including the impact of microfinance on other dimensions such as the social impact, education or environmental impact, the impact on happiness and subjective wellbeing of its clients has been hardly examined. This study aims to fill this gap by using rigorous quantitative methods with a rich qualitative dataset to assess the impact of microfinance on both economic and non-economic aspects, especially the happiness and psychological dimension. I Use primary data from a household survey and an ethnographic approach combining quantitative methods such as matching estimators, propensity score matching with nonparametric regression. The mixed methods were employed in order to evaluate the impact of the microfinance schemes on the improvement of borrowers’ wellbeing, household condition and local economic and environmental development. The most notable findings were that the borrowers from the savings group using group lending schemes utilised the loan for mainly entrepreneurial purposes and household spending, performed better than other groups of borrowers. This could be seen from the increase in household income and a high repayment rate. In addition, by observing the social impacts, it indicated that the group lending together with the ecotourism project generated and strengthened the social ties in the community. The group members also produced high positive psychological indicators compared to the non-member households. Easterlin’s paradox was revisited and found that not only was it income that affected happiness and wellbeing, but other factors seemed to have an influence on self-reported happiness. Those factors included health or health condition of family members which significantly influenced self-reported happiness in all models. Considering the impact of microfinance on happiness and wellbeing, it was found that clients of the group lending scheme can repay better and led to a higher level of self-reported happiness and subjective wellbeing. The ability to repay also affected a low level of stress or negative moods.