“Social Dispossession” in Microcredit

  Microcredit advisor Kasia Paprocki published this new research article at Geoforum to advance the notion of “social dispossession”, specifically by focusing on her own prior field research in rural Bangladesh. Social dispossession is the author’s original and new framework to interrogate the systemic abuses of microcredit borrowers. As more fully defined from the article’s… Continue reading “Social Dispossession” in Microcredit

Ending Gender-Based Violence in Haiti

The Goldin Institute believes in the power of communities coming together to build their own solutions and determine their own futures. Key to our achieving our mission is ensuring that voices and perspectives that are often excluded from the discussion—often women—are heard and included. From combatting gender-based violence in Haiti to improving microcredit in Bangladesh,… Continue reading Ending Gender-Based Violence in Haiti

Revisiting Microfinance

Marking an important anniversary date on microfinance policy  Today we revisit our appearance on Worldview exploring the policies and ongoing scrutiny put on the effectiveness of microfinance programs in places like India and Bangladesh.   Informed by our project work in Bangladesh, where we set out to improve the way that microcredit was implemented from… Continue reading Revisiting Microfinance

Studies Show Microcredit Shortcomings

Six New Studies Point to the Inflated-Promise of Microcredit in Transforming the Lives of the Poor We just became aware of this report, which compiles comprehensive research critical of the standard microcredit model.   Economist Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a co-founder and co-director of J-PAL, co-author of the India and Morocco… Continue reading Studies Show Microcredit Shortcomings

Goldin Institute’s Travis Rejman Interviewed on Worldview

Interested in learning more about the promise and peril of microcredit? The current debate about the efficacy of microfinance is marked by the absence of those who have most at stake in the controversy: loan recipients. The Goldin Institute is working to lift up these voices—most often marginalized women—and restore their perspectives, insights and aspirations… Continue reading Goldin Institute’s Travis Rejman Interviewed on Worldview

Transcript of Roundtable Dialogue in Bangladesh

Microcredit Summit in Dhaka Groundbreaking meeting between microcredit recipients, lenders and regulators, hosted in June 2010. We are pleased to share the recently compiled transcript from the “Listening to the Experiences of Microcredit Recipients” roundtable discussion that took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh on June 21, 2010.  This groundbreaking summit was the first dialogue between microcredit… Continue reading Transcript of Roundtable Dialogue in Bangladesh

Community Based Oral Testimony

Community Based Oral Testimony Rethinking Research from the Perspective of Community Experience In debates on development, the voices of those it affects the most are often conspicuously absent.  Our strategy for bringing their voices back in was simple: we decided to ask them. We adopted a strategy known as “oral testimony” which relies on extended… Continue reading Community Based Oral Testimony