Something decidedly new is on the horizon in Africa since the mid-1990s. Many African economies appear to have turned the corner and have moved towards a path of faster and steadier economic growth. Their performance between 1995 and 2005 has reversed the economic collapses that marked the period from 1975 to 1985, and the stagnation that was rife between 1985 and 1995.

Author: Inez Murray, 2006

Beginning in May 2002, Women’s World Banking (WWB) conducted a study of the effects of gender-related household dynamics on the ability of poor women to grow their businesses. The population chosen for the study was drawn from the Santo Domingo-based clients of ADOPEM, the Dominican Association for the Development of Women.

Authors: Inez Murray and Nadira Barkallil, 2005

This survey provides an in-depth case study of how Moroccan women’s roles and responsibilities impact the growth or non-growth of their businesses. Providing credit to poor women can encourage the financial stability and economic progress of low-income households. But in Morocco as in many countries, gender-based constraints, burdens and responsibilities mean that more than credit is necessary if women are to make progress women in lifting their families out of poverty.

Authors: Hans Dallien and Elizabeth Lynch

This paper outlines the steps that microfinance providers must take to expand responsively and sustainably into rural areas. The majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas, and have little or no access to formal financial markets or microfinance services. In 2007, WWB began working with Banco ADOPEM in the Dominican Republic to design a rural lending product to address this financing gap by expanding operations into rural areas.

Author: Inez Murray, 2006

These case studies supplement WWB’s gender study published in 2006, The Capacity of Poor Women to Grow Their Businesses in the Dominican Republic.