Upcoming Conference: “Microfinance from Below,” Tufts Fletcher

This upcoming March 26th – 28th, 2009, the Tufts Fletcher School will be holding a conference entitled, “Microfinance from Below: The Power of Savings and Savings Groups in Frontier Economies.” Registration is free. More details follow below:

The Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) at The Fletcher School, Tufts University—with support from Oxfam America and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—will host a conference in March 2009 that explores the dual nature of savings groups. As a subject of debate within the microfinance sector, groups constitute both a target of and shield against exploitation, a market for and competitor to commercial alternatives, and a means of both communal unity and division. The “Microfinance from Below: The Power of Savings and Savings Groups in Frontier Economies” conference will examine the potential and limits of financial self-service, the social nature of savings groups, and the best ways for institutions to form, strengthen, and serve them—and then let them go.