Microfinance Development: Can Impact on Poverty and Food Insecurity be Improved Upon?

This paper highlights some of the achievements of microfinance programs that occur at household, enterprise, individual as well as community levels. It focuses on ACSI's experience in the Amhara Region, in Ethiopia.

The paper provides evidence from studies within the institution on the impact of ACSI's microfinance service on the living conditions of the poor, in terms of the four poverty dimensions:

• Expansion of opportunities;
• Improvement in capabilities;
• Reduction of vulnerability;
• Empowerment of individuals.

It concludes that:

• Microfinance is not the only instrument for improving the poverty situation of the poor in areas like that of the Amhara region;
• For it to be effective, the marketing situation, the infrastructure, particularly the road net-work, the skill and risk aversion behavior, particularly that of women, and integration of the whole service with other sectors requires immediate attention.