Posted on November 11, 2008 - by James

Live Blogging: Poor, Poorest, Ultra-Poor….

The second plenary session at the Microfinance India Summit was entitled “Graduating the Poor in to Microfinance”. The session focused on the progress MFI’s have made in reaching the poorest of the poor, beginning with a presentation by Syed Hashemi of the World Bank. 

Much was said about the inability of MFI’s to reach the most vulnerable households, with participants ultimately resorting to semantic considerations on the definition of the poorest (David Gibbons at Cashpor) as well as outlining the need for targeted ‘Ultra-poor’ programs, such as those sponsored by SKS and Bandhan, with short presentations made by Vikram Akula, CEO SKS, and CS Ghosh, CEO Bandhan (the Bandhan program, as it happens, is currently being evaluated by CMF RA, Jyoti Mukhopadhyay.
While one might be tempted to go in to the details of the Ultra-poor programs described, perhaps the highlight of the session – and possibly the day – was a candid back and forth between Gibbons and Akula… [click here to read the rest of this article...]