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New York, 1:50 PM
Tue Nov 10
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12/16/08
....and always dotting every MLK Blvd in the nation!
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Organizations like Fonkoze and Grameen have been doing it for years and have programs and strategies that work. There is a lot of training, management, budgeting and literacy skills that go along with the lending that helps to make the repayment much more likely. Sounds like an idea that might work here, too!
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There are many more ways to judge the success of microfinance than loan repayment, and clearly the loan circles can make things complicated. But microloans, in many parts of the world, empower women and benefit women and children. While its not the be-all, end-all of foreign aid, its an essential tool.
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Pitt, Mark M. and Khandker, Shahidur R., "The Impact of Group-Based Credit Programs on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?", The Journal of Political Economy, The University of Chicago Press Vol. 106, No. 5 (Oct., 1998), pp. 958-996. Accessed on October 3, 2008, from [www.jstor.org]
Paul M Pronyk, James R Hargreaves, Julia C Kim, Linda A Morison, et al. (2006). Effect of a structural intervention for the prevention of intimate-partner violence and HIV in rural South Africa: a cluster randomised trial. The Lancet, 368(9551), 1973-1983. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from Research Library Core database. (Document ID: 1175973801).
My actual, erm, paper is available online, but its got my full name all over the place, and i enjoy the anonymity between Jezebel and real life ...
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And the alcoholism thing is scary, but its not like (for the most part) women are getting these loans and taking the jobs from men. Men should still be working and earning money, they're just no longer the only ones doing so.
Also, in terms of the "social fabric" - I think a bit of unraveling is okay sometimes in the name of equality. Which may make me sound like a condescending western femnazi, but there it is.
12/16/08
So I donated $25 to the local distress centre, and felt much less icky (this is arguably a self-centred move also, but anyway). The loan I have out is 25% repaid and I plan on donating the money to another local charity when I get it back.
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Yes, the poorest women are often kept out of microfinance arrangements, but that it isn't much of an argument against them to say "Well these programs help women who already earn a dollar a day, so we just shouldn't bother." No program is going to help everyone equally.
The surveillance systems, which are a little messed up, do ensure repayment, which keeps the program goings without much new capital. Microfinance is very cost effective and allows more money to go directly to people in need.
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How much of a chance has this initiative been given until the critics started burning it down? I mean, really!
12/16/08
And microgrants started in the late '70's, took off like crazy in the '90's, and Mohammad Yunus, who's idea this all was, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for it.
12/16/08
Additionally, I saw the doc Pray the Devil Back to Hell last week, about how women stood up and forced the government and rebel forces to end the civil war. They simply stated, would not take no for an answer.
This may be off-topic, but I think that in the grand context, women in Africa have a far greater ability to change the continent's course than many of their male counterparts.
12/16/08
This is a good sign for society. :)
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And there are lots of development ideas - they just work slowly, take lots of time, and we make as many mistakes as we get things right.
Look at the Millenium goals and how people are working to achieve them for an idea of the "awesome development ideas" : [www.un.org]
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As to alternatives, off the top of my head, there's been a series of abandoned factories reclaimed in argentina and restructured as coooperatives (there was a great documentary about it titled "The Take" ( "El tomar") a year or so ago). Also, there's a organic/fair trade cocoa producing company in Bolivia called El Ciebo . . . Also in Bolivia there's a good deal of ecological preservation projects being undertaken-Whispering in the Giant's Ear, by William Powell, is an amazing book about the topic, and also has some information about similar efforts in Costa Rica.
Really, there are projects all over the place, but they tend to fly under the radar since most information about Latin america is about immigration, Chavez, or the drug trade.
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Right?
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I think a critical eye at any program--anti-poverty or otherwise--is healthy. But can't we just accept that one program isn't going to be a cure-all, as the author implies that we've done as such with microcredit? Microcredit is but one option among others. Subsidized housing in America doesn't work for everyone, true, but it can provide a good social net and springboard for others. Just because it doesn't cure homelessness doesn't mean the program should be erased.
Critiques with alternative plans, good. Haterade on the otherhand is hazardous to one's health.
12/16/08
Next up, conservatives will claim universal health care doesn't work because people will still die.
12/16/08
I think it often difficult for people to lend a critical eye without pouring a round of Haterade which is sad because as I've always said, the middle ground; that ground which is rarely tread, has many answers.
I'm glad people are taking closer looks at programs but there is no reason to demand a program cease simply because it didn't solve all ills (basically what you said Sophie)