The Microfinance Forum
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Ron Severson
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- Eugene, OR
- United States
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Ron Severson's Groups
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Microfinance: A Self-Gui…
33 members
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Nairobi 2010
50 members
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Rice University OWL Micr…
2 members
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Claremont Consortium Mic…
13 members
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La Ceiba
10 members
Ron Severson's Page
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Latest Activity
I appreciate everyone’s views and if mine seem to be skewed one way or another, please understand that my personality is to present provocative questions or make comments while realizing more times than not they are based upon my ignorance, and I de…
Hey Rick,
RE: Bias against men
Not that I can assume what Yunus' feelings are on this, but it is my sense that it is not so much an attempt to discriminate against men, but a recognition that they already have other employment opportunities given…
Hi Everyone
Im not sure what chapter we are on in the book but in response to
How can the variations caused by sudden hardships be smoothed?
Grameen offers the affected individuals a new loan BUT they do not wipe out the old loans. Instead the old…
I teach a graduate course in microfinance and am a strong believer in continuous, self-education. One member of this site asked if I could put together a tutorial. I thought I'd invite others who wish to follow the same path and learn together.
:)
the three-share farming idea
The intention was to:
- fully utilize agricultural land during the dry season,
- improve crop yield by planting high-yield seeds
- make us of existing an existing irrigation technology that lay idle(the well and tubew…
Thanks, Fehmeen!
The bold formatting can be done by highlighting the relevant words then clicking 'B' in the formatting bar in the 'compose tab'
Hi,
Great to keep this thread going on interest rates, too. Perhaps we can keep relating it to Banker to the Poor and to other contexts at the same time within this thread. Yunus' first loans (to 42 women) were at 0%. That's not financially sustaina…
Thanks for adding this thread, Marty. In Uganda, we work with groups that loan only to women and with groups that are getting good results from loaning to women and men, too. I'm convinced by working with many Ugandans that it is important to find w…
Thanks for keeping the discussion of Yunus' Banker to the Poor going.
Rick, the info below may help answer your question about how initial bank financing worked.
Fehmeen, thanks so much for the answers you provided -- and for the easy reading form…
HI. Just finished 4 chapters of the book. here are my thoughts to some ideas you all have talked about
Cultural insider vs. outsider
Local knowledge is imperative because any microfinance model needs to be customized for different socio-economic co…
I need to get back to reading and answer the questions Ron posed, but there are a couple issues that are nagging me:
1) There seems to be a bias against the men because they do not have jobs. Can't the husbands contribute to the family by helping th…
Hi all!
We have a core of 8 people who have participated, so far, in this important conversation to try to learn from while also raising questions about the approach to microfinance as presented in Banker to the Poor. We will take about 2 more weeks…
I teach a graduate course in microfinance and am a strong believer in continuous, self-education. One member of this site asked if I could put together a tutorial. I thought I'd invite others who wish to follow the same path and learn together.
Thanks for adding this thread, Marty. I haven't tried posting a thread before on this site, so we'll see how it works.
Do you think (and do you think Yunus would support) a mixed version of an MFI where interest rates would cover transactions costs…
Profile Information
- What is the name of your company, organization, or school?
- University of Oregon, Copenhagen Business School, and MAPLE Microdevelopment
- What is your job function?
- Professor and Executive Director
- How did you find out about the Microfinance Network?
- from a member
- What is your alma mater?
- Willamette University, University of Oregon, University of Utah
- What is your website?
- http://www.maplemicrodevelopment.org
- Why are you here?
- I teach microfinance and help manage a microdevelopment organization in East Africa
- What are you currently working on?
- Building capacity, articulating partnerships, building culturally specific models for community development
Comment Wall (5 comments)
- At 11:48pm on February 7, 2010,
Lyrana Hughes said… - Interesting...I just left a comment on your other page... Well if by chance it didn't reach you I'll post it again:
This is very true, rating agencies are going to be reporting on portfolio ratios etc. rather than outreach and other socially-oriented performance benchmarks. The only studies I've seen so far that have quantified outreach have been in papers looking at "mission-drift" of MFIs that have commercialized, and outreach was defined as not only average loan size but also percentage of female borrowers and presence in rural ares. I've also heard of the “Progress out of Poverty Index," which is presented in this paper on social performance: http://www.microcreditsummit.org/papers/Workshops/29_HashemiFooseBadawi.pdf
Its nice to finally meet some actual practitioners, as I've been keeping my nose in the books for far too long!
My trips to Senegal were before I discovered microfinance, but hopefully I will be back in Africa soon to actually witness the work itself!
Thanks,
L.H.
- At 8:04pm on February 8, 2010,
Alex Simon said… - Hey Ron,
Do you think any of the people you work with in Uganda are interested in attending the Microcredit Summit in Kenya this April? Let me know if you need more information, but also refer to the front page of MFIConnect.
Alex Simon
- At 8:08pm on February 8, 2010,
Ron Severson said…
- Yes, I think two of our Ugandan field team members, Rachel Breaux and Joel Hedges, will attend. We are trying to work out the expenses. They are former students and have graduated, so are not eligible for travel scholarships through MFIConnect, unfortunately. Good to hear from you, Alex.
Ron
- At 2:43am on February 11, 2010,
Lizah Nyemba said… - Thanks Ron, for welcoming me. I am delighted to be connected to people of like mind and like passion with me. I have a huge passion for microfinance especially for rural folk and more especially rural women. What do you do in microfinance in Uganda?
- At 3:18pm on February 17, 2010,
Fehmeen Khan said…
- Thanks for adding me as a friend Ron. I actually run a website about microfinance. Perhaps you could share your interest in this field too.
Latest Activity
Hi MFI Connectors,
I'll be going to Nairobi, Kenya for 3 months starting in May to work with Juhudi Kilimo (http://www.kiva.org/partners/156), a local enterprise focused on rural economic development. I'll likely get a chance to meet 2-3 loan reci…
Groups
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Microfinance: A Self-Gui…
33 members
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Microfinance Club (CU Bo…
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Students for Social Entr…
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