Providing Enterprise Development and Financial Services to Women- A Decade of Bank Experience in Asia
The paper offers a statistical analysis of patterns and trends and provides illustrative project examples of the enterprise development and financial services to women (EDFS/W) portfolio. It discusses trade - offs between the integrated services and minimalist EDFS models and looks at the role of financial intermediation in the development of sustainable systems. It also reviews project strategies aimed at increasing productivity and earning capacity of women given their increasing role as clients.
The paper notes that:
- Rapid growth of EDFS/W projects has been tempered by lack of practical guidelines concerning implementation of Operational Directive 8.30;
- Credit has been the main project service but the inclusion of savings mobilization in project design could be increased;
- There is a need for guidance to enable reaching groups that are not adequately served (such as women and small farmers) but it is also important to maintain strict financial discipline;
- Transparency is important in providing subsidies which may initially be required to build mechanisms to "extend the frontier" of EDFS services to women and the poor.
The study concludes that given the Bank's emphasis on poverty alleviation, it would be useful to broaden its experience over time by encouraging the development of EDFS/W projects as one element in a coordinated country-specific strategy for poverty alleviation. Such an approach would require reconstruction of the structure sequence of financial, enterprise development and social intermediation services in Asian projects.
[Adapted from author]
