Financial services

Financial services typically include savings, credit, grants, insurance and money transfers. Access to financial services can assist generally with life management, as well as starting and developing businesses. People with disabilities have the same needs for financial services as people without disabilities, but are often excluded from these initiatives.

Inclusive financial services enable people with disabilities to identify and participate in financial service programmes. The three main types of financial services in inclusive development initiatives include microcredit, microfinance, and savings and credit self-help groups. Through these initiatives, people with disabilities are empowered financially, which often results in enhanced self-confidence and self-esteem. Inclusive financial services are supported by article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

This keylist features resources that support inclusive financial services for people with disabilities. We welcome your feedback: please send comments or suggested additions to sourceassistant@hi-uk.org [1].

Selected resources

Books, reports, etc

Ensuring access to microfinance services for people with disabilities [2]

GIORDANO, Alexandra

LEYMAT, Anne

DOUCET, Grégory

December 2010

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This facilitator’s workshop guide is addressed to microfinance institutions and Disabled People´s Organizations to assist in the provision of access to microfinance services for persons with disabilities. This training tool is useful for operational managers, decision-makers, community leaders and NGO managers to build the capacity of participants during workshops to provide access to microfinance services for persons with disabilities

Graduating the poorest into microfinance : linking safety nets and financial services [3]

HASHEMI, Syed

ROSENBERG, Richard

February 2006

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This note presents general microfinance information and explores issues surrounding the debate about whether or not microfinance actually reaches the poorest at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale. Links between safety net programmes and microfinance programmes are highlighted through case studies. This note is useful for people interested in microfinance issues in developing countries

Key principles of microfinance [4]

CONSULTATIVE GROUP TO ASSIST THE POOR (CGAP)

2004

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This factsheet describes eleven key principles of micro finance. It is a user-friendly document that would be helpful for people interested in general information about micro finance

Microcredit for self-employed disabled persons in developing countries [5]

MERSLAND, Roy

October 2005

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This paper aims to close the gap in knowledge and culture between the disability and the micro finance communities. Resource-based theory is applied to analyse when microcredit for disabled persons is an appropriate tool and when it is not. General recommendations are provided for the inclusion of disabled entrepreneurs, as well as lists of recommendations that are both easy to understand and to apply for micro fiance institutions, disabled people's organisations and donors. This paper is useful for academics, professionals and organisations interested in micro finance for people with disabilities in developing countries

Microfinance, grants, and non-financial responses to poverty reduction : where does microcredit fit? [6]

PARKER, Joan

PEARCE, Doug

December 2002

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This note provides information about microfinance and examines when it is most effective, compared to other complementary and alternative interventions. Specifically, microcredit is discussed as an intervention to generate income, employment and alleviate poverty. This note would be useful for people interested in microfinance

Journal articles

Access to mainstream microfinance services for persons with disabilities : lessons learned from Uganda [7]

BWIRE, Flavia Nakabuye

MUKASA, George

MERSLAND, Roy

2009

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This article reports on a pilot project in Uganda which aims to enable persons with disabilities to have access to mainstream microfinance services. The project is described and lessons learned are highlighted, including the finding that all micro finance institutions (MFIs) report an increase in the number of clients with disabilities served. The article is useful for people interested in mainstreaming microfinance services for people with disabilities

Inclusive microfinance : reaching disabled people through partnership development [8]

LEYMAT, Anne

March 2012

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"This study examines projects that support access to financial services for disabled people, highlighting good practices that guarantee efficiency and sustainability of initiatives with a particular focus on the use of microcredit. The study is based on the findings of: a global survey and interviews with disabled people's organizations and microfinance providers; a literature review; field studies in seven countries; and the outcome of two regional workshops (in Kenya and Bangladesh) and a practitioner workshop in Geneva. It is estimated that 10 to 12 per cent of the world's population has some kind of impairment and of those around 82 per cent live below the poverty line. Most people with impairments who work are self-employed. However, access to financial services for disabled people remains sporadic. The central part of the study explores the potential for successful, responsible, and complementary partnership development between microfinance actors and disabled people's organizations. Our findings demonstrate that if disabled people are given the opportunity to access financial services, many are capable of successfully managing loans and businesses - thereby becoming agents of their own development"
Enterprise Development and Microfinance Vol. 23 No. 1