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Market Survey of Microfinance for Grameen Replication in the Dominican Republic
Information and insights from the field to help in developing a Grameen replication project
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53 pages
This document summarizes a research study of Grameen Foundation USA, which undertook a market survey to:
- Gain an understanding of the microfinance arena in the Dominican Republic;
- Discover the location and concentration of poverty in the country;
- Find a list of potential partner organizations for the implementation of Grameen replication project.
The document derives various conclusions in respect of the poverty spread, microfinance sector and NGOs delivering microfinance:
- Poverty in the Dominican Republic is far reaching, quite varied and not easily generalized;
- Rural poverty is most severe - more than 60% of the critically poor live in these areas;
- Microfinance in the Dominican Republic is fairly developed and on the rise, in terms of lending to established microbusiness, but quite limited for poverty lending;
- There are variety of existing microfinance sources;
- NGOs delivering microfinance services in the Dominican Republic are community development organizations with a credit program, and NGOs specialized in providing microfinance.
The document finally concludes with the findings of the survey:
- Need for microfinance is great throughout the Dominican Republic - it is widespread and largely unmet;
- Few institutions are concentrating on the poorest of the poor;
The prospect of a well-financed, geographically broad program initiated through a 'fast track' approach presents exciting opportunities for making real impacts on the circumstances of poor Dominican families; - Challenges for Grameen are:
- Finding capable partners who have the administrative capacity and institutional openness necessary to handle such an ambitious project;
- Familiarizing itself with the specific culture, attitudes and circumstances of the Dominican Republic.
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