IdeaCards:
Inspiring Ideas in Microfinance


The IdeaCard is a collection of good practices and inspiring ideas in microfinance. They are taken from microfinance initiatives in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The IdeaCard is intended to be a 'menu' of options that can be used to design, develop and maintain a microfinance institution. Each IdeaCard is simple and short, enabling its easy adoption. They are listed here randomly, in no particular order.

Hari Srinivas
Case Study Series E-062. June 2015.
    Inspiring Ideas and Good Practices in Microfinance

  1. Microfinance is more than money ...
  2. Proper accounting ...
  3. First start within ...
  4. Economies of scale ...
  5. Without much fanfare ...

  6. Aim for tangible results ...
  7. Involvement of local banks ...
  8. Start at the level of the borrowers ...
  9. Knowledge of borrowers ...
  10. Building a strong base ...

  11. Proper communication ...
  12. Ideal group characteristics ...
  13. Microenterprise design ...
  14. Savings start at home ...
  15. Keeping costs down ...

  16. Keeping the process open ...
  17. Doing things together ...
  18. Little drops of water ...
  19. Building local leaders ...
  20. United we stand ...

  21. One step at a time ...
  22. Starting with small savings ...
  23. Achievable goals ...
  24. Local management of funds ...
  25. Targeting the real customers ...

  26. Targeting funds to those in need ...
  27. Turning around a crisis ...
  28. Realistic capacity building ...
  29. Focus on Transparency ...
  30. Building resource networks ...

  31. Mainstreaming commitment ...
  32. Monitoring and Evaluation ...
  33. Long term programme sustainability ...
  34. Ensuring loan recovery ...
  35. Key human resources ...

  36. Credit utilization ...
  37. Supporting one-person enterprises ...
  38. Doing work together ...
  39. Group membership criteria ...
  40. Credit 'externalities' ...

  41. Building on individual strengths ...
  42. Tailoring loan terms ...
  43. Popular participation and support ...
  44. Processing loan requests ...
  45. Trustworthiness and creditworthiness ...

  46. Help from local banks ...
  47. Understanding the loan system ...
  48. Reducing Expenses ...
  49. Peer review and peer pressure ...
  50. Covering administrative costs ...

  51. Collective guarantees ...
  52. Health Financing ...
  53. Loan Recovery ...
  54. Long-term sustainability ...
  55. Local leadership ...

  56. Understanding borrowers ...
  57. Small steps, big gains ...
  58. Build on local strengths ...
  59. Kinship and well-being ...
  60. Meeting women's needs ...

  61. Setting realistic goals ...
  62. Defining membership criteria ...
  63. Importance of staff capacities ...

    TOP



 The current collection holds 63 IdeaCards. New IdeaCards are welcome! IdeaCard submissions need to be less than 100 words. Additional info, links can also be sent. The key is to submit an idea that is useful and adaptable to a broad range of microfinance initiatives.

 As the above IdeaCards show, they are simple, short and portray a single idea, practice, or option. While individual IdeaCards may be well known, 'tried-and-true' information, taken together, they do offer a menu of options that can be used in different situations. To a certain degree, there is of course, the inevitable overlap and repetition among/between IdeaCards. The IdeaCards were extracted from a number of sources, published and unpublished, including field observations, interviews and brain-storming sessions.

 If you have an idea that can go into an IdeaCard, please send it to the email address at the bottom.

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Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org
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