Contextual issues in social finance

1. Introduction to rural development:
2. Past and new approaches to rural financing
3. Mainstream microfinance versus social rural finance

1. Understanding ‘MF for rural development’ in local institutional context
2. The ‘Finance Plus’ approach
3. The management of an MFI with a rural development mission in an evolving context: case-study Fondo de Desarrollo Local in Nicaragua

The objective of this course is to introduce, discuss and frame aspects rural livelihoods and to relate these with socio-economic inequalities and the local institutional embeddedness of financial services’ providers.

We start with presenting rural development in the theoretical debate on economic development. Then we discuss issues of rural livelihoods with regards to local socio-economic inequalities. Next we present the specificity of past and new models to rural and agricultural financing. We finally highlight several experiences from Latin America and North Africa in providing financial services to rural poor (S. Morvant) and to small-scale farmers (Bastiaensen and Marchetti).

Four sets of key questions will be debated: (1) Why are rural areas different from urban areas in terms of potential clientele for a microfinance institution? (2) How does poverty and inequalities relate to risk and finance? (3) Why are farmers a difficult group to reach for a microfinance institution? 4) Why is it instrumental to take into account the local social and political framing of financial services?

Lectures, exercises

Références, bibliographie et lectures recommandées

References Prof. S. Morvant-Roux:

• Chapters 1 & 2 from Rural Poverty Report (2011) IFAD, Rome.
• Chapter 3 from the World Development Report (2008) Agriculture for Development, 2007, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
• Bieri, S. and A. Sancar (2009), “Power and poverty. Reducing gender inequality by ways of rural employment?”, FAO-IFAD-ILO Workshop, http://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/42806451.pdf
• Kay, C. (2009), “Development Strategies and Rural Development: Exploring Synergies. Eradicating Poverty,” Journal of Peasant Studies 36 (1): 103-137, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150902820339
• Morvant-Roux S., I. Guérin, M. Roesch and J-Y. Moisseron (2014), “Adding value to randomization with qualitative analysis: the case of microcredit in rural Morocco,” World Development 56: 302–312. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.03.002
• Bouquet, E., S. Morvant-Roux and G. Rodríguez-Solís (2015), “Agricultural workers, credit rationing and family networks in rural Mexico”, Journal of Development Studies.
• Kay, C. (2009), “Development Strategies and Rural Development: Exploring Synergies. Eradicating Poverty,” Journal of Peasant Studies 36 (1): 103-137, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03066150902820339
• Morvant-Roux S., I. Guérin, M. Roesch and J-Y. Moisseron (2014), “Adding value to randomization with qualitative analysis: the case of microcredit in rural Morocco,” World Development 56: 302–312. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.03.002

• Bastiaensen, J., P. Marchetti, R. Mendoza, F. Pérez (2013), “After the Nicaraguan Non-Payment Crisis: Alternatives to Microfinance Narcissism,” Development and Change 44(4): 861-885.
• Bastiaensen, J. and P. Marchetti (2011), “Rural microfinance and agricultural value chains: strategies and perspectives of the Fondo de desarollo local in Nicaragua,” in Armendariz, B. and M. Labie (eds.) The Handbook of microfinance, London- Singapore: World Scientific Publishers, 461-500.
• Bastiaensen, J. and P. Marchetti (2007), “A critical review of CGAP-IADB policies inspired by the Fondo de Desarrollo Local, Nicaragua,” Enterprise Development and Microfinance 18(2/3): 143-157.
• Bastiaensen, J. and B. D'Exelle (2002), “To Pay or Not to Pay? Local Institutional Differences and the Viability of Rural Credit in Nicaragua,” Journal of Microfinance 4(2): 31-56.

Contacts

Email Johan Bastiaensen : johan.bastiaensen@ua.ac.be

Email Solène Morvant-Roux : Solene.Morvant@unige.ch

Campus

Solbosch

Méthode(s) d'évaluation

• Autre

Autre

Written assignments :

• One for Prof. S. Morvant-Roux’s part
• One for Prof. J. Bastiaensen’s part

Construction de la note (en ce compris, la pondération des notes partielles)

Two marks A (Prof. Morvant-Roux) and B (Prof. Bastiaensen) must set the final mark C.

• if A and B are greater than or equal to 8/20, then C = (A + B)/2
• if A < 8/20 or B < 8/20, then C = min (A,B).

Langue(s) d'évaluation

• anglais