Structural adjustment and financial sector reform do not automatically trickle down to the working poor.  How do financial sector reform and liberalisation affect the poor? How can policies be adjusted to ensure that the poor gain access to stable and affordable loan and deposit facilities? In Benin, Ghana, Senegal and Zimbabwe the Social Finance Programme helped to set up national steering groups to review these questions and make recommendations to central banks and Ministries of Finance. These steering groups embrace social partners, business organisations, banks, microfinance institutions and others. They commission policy-relevant research by national research institutions.

Over 40 research studies have been carried out on subjects like rural finance, gender-based access to loans, financial innovation, competition in small enterprise finance supply, the impact of interest rate ceilings etc.

This initiative (IFLIP), launched in 1997 with support by the Netherlands Government, has:

• influenced policy design in the aftermath of financial sector liberalization with regard to the impact on the poor;

• helped launch new initiatives to facilitate access of the poor to financial services (for example, a fund for SMEs in Zimbabwe);

• facilitated the emergence of a new breed of researchers, enhanced exposure of individuals and institutions doing research, and strengthened research cooperation among countries;

• spread knowledge about the social costs and benefits of financial sector liberalization in Africa.

See the Publications of the IFLIP programme.

For more information, please contact Bernd Balkenhol.