Bottom-Up, Free Enterprise Solutions for Ending Poverty
This report documents FINCA International's accomplishments over a four year project titled Bottom-Up, Free Enterprise Solutions for Ending Poverty.
This project proposed that free enterprise from the bottom-up, represented by the global microfinance movement, has already created the largest and most ubiquitous enterprise-based solution to poverty in human history. FINCA conducted over 16,000 interviews with poor and very poor clients in 33 countries over the course of the project. The project included four components:
- Strengthening poverty research capacity;
- Data warehousing;
- Annual research symposia;
- Microfinance industry advocacy.
The research allowed FINCA to get a more complete picture of its clients and the impact of microfinance on their lives. The study revealed that FINCA is reaching the poor and very poor. It also indicated that microfinance helps lift clients out of poverty, and impacts the entire community. It helps clients in other positive ways such as education and health.
