Microfinance's Impact on Education, Poverty, and Empowerment: A Case Study from the Bolivian Altiplano

This study explores microcredit's impact on economic, educational and empowerment levels of Bolivian women, by examining data from Pro Mujer Bolivia, an NGO. It uses a poverty scorecard to compare poverty levels of women clients who accessed microcredit for over three years with those of women in a control group who had never taken a loan. The study finds mixed evidence about microcredit's usefulness in development:

• Goods ownership and business investment increased in the loan group;
• Educational attainment improved in both control and loan groups as compared to previous generations;
• Study was unable to find evidence about loan group women becoming empowered at home or in the community.

The study concludes that increased economic resources fail to change traditional household roles and power relations. Groups formed for solely economic purposes, without a specific mission to empower and challenge external power structures, lack desired spillover effects.