AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

9 Tailoring Credit Programs along the Logic of the Poor 101
Figure 2
Respondents’ selection of preferred program characteristics
Source: Hickson (Figure 2, 2001: 57)
WHAT THE POOR PREFER
Hickson (2001: 56) reports the findings of a Bangladesh study on microfinance
programs being offered in slum areas. The survey reached out to
41 slum households in Dhaka, and aimed to find out how attitudes towards
financial services varied between very poor households and less
poor households.
While both clusters used the services of MFIs, the less poor made use
of them more, with an average of three programs while poorer households
were clients of 1.8. Most MFIs in the study provided the standard
Grameen Bank model, allowing clients to take out one loan at a time,
comprised of a single disbursement followed by repayments made every
week over the next 12 months. If a client experienced shortage of money
more than once within the same year, he or she would have to find another
MFI to address the second need.
Figure 2 shows how both clusters disliked collective loan responsibility
and mandatory group meetings. They preferred flexible loan and savings
products on frequency of transaction opportunities, size of deposits
to be made, withdrawals, loan repayments, and maturity. Hickson adds
that ‘neither the richer nor poorer households were interested in pro-