Talk:Microfinance

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WikiProject International development This article is part of WikiProject International development, which is building a comprehensive, detailed, and accessible guide to International development, including such areas as Appropriate technology, Microfinance, and social issues related to development. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can see a list of open tasks and discuss the project.


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[edit] Microfinance entry, NOT microcredit

This article should be separate from Microcredit, those two terms are not synonymous. Microcredit was used in the past, but refers only to credit for the poor. Microfinance is much broader, includes credit, loans, savings, insurance etc. Please do NOT REDIRECT this page again. Thank you. (Comment made by World Bank Microfinance. [1])

Perhaps Microcredit should be moved/merged into Microfinance.Jobarts-Talk 16:05, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV and cleanup

Right now this article reads like an advertisement. I've done a little cleanup and wikification, but it still needs a lot of TLC and a POV review/fix. Ken talk 20:32, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Huge chunks come from here. Scrapped and redirected as before: quicker than going through copyvio procedure. Tearlach 23:38, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
The edit that first introduced content from that page was made by 138.220.42.4 [2], whose IP address is assigned to the World Bank Group [3]. Later edits attempting to keep the content on the page (rather than redirecting to Microcredit) were made by World Bank Microfinance [4].
Obvious POV issue, but I suppose that means they won't mind if we keep some of it.
I say we merge Microcredit into Microfinance, moving all of Microcredit here, then seeing if there's anything worth keeping from the World Bank's edits. (Though we should get an official confirmation from them if we end up using anything.)
World Bank Microfinance, I hope you co-operate in the development in this article, as you're probably familiar with the subject, but please read (at least some of) Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers, Wikipedia:Advertisement#How_not_to_be_a_spammer, and, if that's not too much, Wikipedia:NPOV tutorial before making more edits to this page.
Jobarts-Talk 16:05, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

agreed-this article is horrifying right now. I think editing is a waste in this case-this needs a complete rewrite. sorry dont know how to sign.

I second that, and agree with the idea of moving the microcredit stuff into the microfinance page. I tried editing a bit, then realized this page needs a lot more effort than I'm willing to put in to take away the advertisement-y aspects.

I added a small statement about Fazle Abed, another early microfinance person (maybe the first one?). I heard about this from a talk from Ashoka, but it could use some elaboration from someone more in the know. User:jkuner

I replaced the "advert" tag with a "magazine" tag... it's really more advocacy than anything else but there's no template available for advoacy. The article has info, it just hides under the choice of diction, etc. I don't think it's bad that someone from World Bank Microfinance is editting - remember, WP:Don't bite the newbies, they just might not know the editing rules yet. Janet13 14:27, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

I've had a go at rewording part of the article. I don't have access to sources though so it's hard to actually rewrite. There seems to be a lot of puffery on this article. Several recent additions seem to focus on the work of organizations or people (in generally very glowing terms), rather than the mechanisms that microfinance uses and the impact it has on people's lives. I think (from looking at the edit histories of these contributors) that we have several supporters of particular organizations editing on the page. While I understand the desire of a supporter to want to highlight their org, or someone they have found inspiring, I think it is having a detrimental impact on the article.
Because of this, and the fact that wikipedia is not a directory I'd like to start trimming down on some of the magnets for this type of editing. For a start delete the list of orgs and bring the further reading and external links list to the talk page for discussion on what would make a really good spring board for a reader. Go through and remove the rest of the peacock terms, weasel words, and over reliance on unsourced or uniformative examples. Finally insist that all new edits are verified by reliable sources and eventually source or weed out the current unsourced material. Does that sound reasonable? --Siobhan Hansa 19:29, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

I definitely think this article needs a lot of work and would be willing to try and do something, over the next 3 months or so. One concern is the lack of historical perspective and a stressing of instituional activity. My other concern is a lack of experience of Wikipedia. I will look round the site for advice but would welcome any pointers.Paulwhittaker2 12:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Paul, your input would be very welcome. A greater historical perspective and coverage of noninstitutional microlending would be wonderful. There's already a little on this in the Traditional Microfinance Systems section, but it's unsourced and not very broad. Do you know of good books or journals that cover this? --Siobhan Hansa 21:32, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] See also

Predatory lending

[edit] Let World Bank Microfinance clean up the article

It seems The World Bank has contributed greatly to this article, with its obiuos POV problems. It would be useful if they tried to correct their mistakes. I hope they are serious wiki-users, and realy wish to follow the guidelines, and cleaning up such a long article is a big job. Kjell Ingvaldsen 09:37, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] List of external links

How do we decide which organisations' websites should be linked to and which should not? There are thousands of microfinance institutions which have websites, so the list under "Microfinance in Use" could become very long as everybody adds their own favourite institution.

The list of links under "Online resources" is very good. I suggest retaining this list and deleting "Microfinance in Use" altogether.--Robfuller 09:57, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Microfinance history

I integrated this

Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan - Pioneer of Microfinance/Microcredit
Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan introduced the revolutionary idea of microcredit (microfinance), thereby opening a new door for billions of destitute and underprivileged. As head of the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development (now Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, BARD) in Comilla, Bangladesh, Dr. Khan pioneered microfinance/microcredit through the Comilla Cooperative Pilot Project in 1960.
Sources:
http://www.akhtar-hameed-khan.8m.com/statesman-10-20-06.html
"The Works of Akhter Hameed Khan" Vol: I-III. Published by Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development
"Rural Development in Action : A Comprehensive Experiment at Comilla East Pakistan" by Arthur F Raper. Cornell University Press

recent edit into the lead. It conflicted with the current lead and the sources are not great (I can't find the original of the web article, and the other references don't provide page numbers), but since the original claim isn't sourced at all, and web searches do back up Akhter's use of microfinance it seemed reasonable to keep it. It would be good however to find proper research on the history of Microfinance. All I've found in a brief search are various claims (or repititions of claims) by groups to be first at this or that. No scholarly research. --Siobhan Hansa 13:08, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleting information on Grameen and Grameen Foundation in the "Microfinance in Use" section

Will someone please explain to this neophyte why the information for Grameen and Grameen Foundation was removed but the information on other organizations was not removed?Shakespearesfool 19:53, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry if my edit summary wasn't clear, I can be a little terse in them. And very sorry if you think I was picking on Grameen, that's not my intent.
I reverted your edit because the wording you provided was more detailed and read more like marketing speak. It also included external links which increased the promotional aspect of the text - when we have an article on a subject we should be linking to the article, not directly out to the org because we are here to provide encyclopedic information on subjects, not promotion of them.
I don't disagree that some of the other links could be edited down some, or that briefer, less peacock wording would benefit the Grameen wikilinks. --Siobhan Hansa 21:10, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation of my large removal of text

Per the above complaints, I've removed alot of text for the following reasons:

  • It was written in a rather slanted (sounding to me) direction
    • Certain sections looked like they were potentially copied from a copyrighted source (Note that this happened once before)
  • Alot of it was riddled with {{fact}} and contained many not backed up assertions
  • Some of it was couched in very technical (economic/accounting) wording.
  • At least one person above suggested that this articel would be better off being restarted from scratch.

I agree with the last person completely, the last time I ran across such a confusing uncited articel, my attempt to source the statements that were in it bogged down immediately, while a complete redaction and rewrite succeeded. I will attempt to build this articel back up and welcome anyone else to help ;D! Thanx, 68.39.174.238 01:48, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Done some... 68.39.174.238 03:13, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
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