Hello! My name is Lucy Montgomery, and I am one of the new intern additions to Truelift’s team. I am currently a senior at Washington University in St. Louis majoring in Accounting and Marketing and minoring in Women and Gender Studies, and I hail from the great state of Iowa. I’m excited to spend the next few … Continue reading
Truelift Steering Committee member, Alex Counts (President and CEO, Grameen Foundation) talks about behavioral economics as a lens to view poverty alleviation efforts. In particular, Alex discusses how the brain functions when it perceives scarcity. The findings he recounts are quite illuminating. Take a look at both parts in this two part series – they … Continue reading
In this final post in our series on SEF, we are taking a look at how Truelift Assessment and the Pro-Poor Principles have guided SEF’s priorities moving forward. Speaking again with John de Wit and Esido Mushwana, we will learn how the Truelift Assessment helped SEF make changes in their operations that further encourage positive … Continue reading
In this second post in our series on Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), a recognized Truelift Achiever, we will be speaking with John de Wit, Founder and Managing Director of SEF, and Esido Mushwana, Research & Development Manager, on their experience with poverty-focused microfinance and Truelift Assessment. Hear firsthand why Truelift Assessment was important to SEF, … Continue reading
In Manila, Philippines this October the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) was honored as a one of the first seven Milestone MFIs recognized by Truelift. Recognized at the Truelift Achiever milestone, SEF received the highest total score of all those assessed by Truelift for their strong model of poverty-focused microfinance in South Africa. Over the next … Continue reading
CGAP representative Xavier Faz has worked with low-income clients in Mexico for over 20 years. Take a look at the video below to see some of the examples he found when looking at the financial needs of people living in poverty near Mexico City. You can learn more about Faz’ approach in his paper A Structured Approach … Continue reading
Check out these short and easy video guides to selecting a poverty assessment tool and using the USAID’s Poverty Assessment Tools (PATs). Also visit our resource pages on poverty measurement, available in English, Spanish, and French.
Last week, Lisa Kuhn Fraioli’s post on Outreach to the Poorest began our conversation on staff perceptions of people living in poverty, and how these perceptions can affect Purposeful Outreach to poor people. Russia Trust Fund for Financial Literacy and Education has just released a study done in Mexico on perceptions of consumer knowledge. This … Continue reading
In the article below, Lisa Kuhn Fraioli recounts some experiences in the field and her reflections on pro-poor outreach: Sometimes seeing is the first obstacle to better outreach to the poorest. In my work with microfinance organizations around the world, I have noticed that efforts to serve more poor people can stumble on the very first step: seeing … Continue reading
Pro-Poor Principles series On 15 May 2013 we announced our Pro-Poor Principles in a blog post, found here. In this continuing series of blog posts, we will elaborate on the path that brought us to these Pro-Poor Principles of microfinance. The principles will inform both the learning environment in our community of practice, as well as … Continue reading
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