Development of Microfinance Service Providers.docVIP

Provision of Financial Services to the Rural Poor: What can be done when services aren’t available? Version #1.6, January 2006 Introduction Access to financial services – savings, credit, insurance and payment services - is important for poor people: savings provide a cushion that enables people to cope with unexpected events, as well as to gather usefully large sums of money for investment in livelihood activities or payment of school fees; credit enables people to acquire income-producing and household assets; insurance enables people to protect their assets against losses, and to cover m