The ‘Seductive Promise’ and Peril of Microfinance

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2024

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For decades microfinance was touted as a novel solution to poverty. The idea is simple – give poor women tiny loans to jumpstart small businesses and create profit. But when journalist Mara Kardas-Nelson moved to West Africa she met women who were jailed when they couldn’t pay their mounting debt. In her book, “We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance,” Kardas-Nelson explores the complex history that led to microfinance banking empires, the painful reality gripping women who have taken out loans and also the ways that microloans have been a successful tool in lifting people from poverty. Guests: Mara Kardas-Nelson, Independent Journalist and Author of We are Not Able To Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance Laurie Styron, CEO / Executive Director, CharityWatch -www.charitywatch.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:09.0	From KQED.
1:29.5	Music From KQED. From KQED. From KQED, I'm Leslie McClurg in for Alexis Madrigal. Microfinance has been touted as the answer to poverty. The idea is simple. Give poor women tiny loans to jumpstart small
1:36.0	businesses and create profit. But when journalists Mara Cardus Nelson moved to West Africa,
1:41.9	she didn't witness a simple solution. Instead, she met women who were jailed when they couldn't pay their mounting debt.
1:48.0	Her new book explores the complex history that led to microfinance banking empires,
1:53.0	and the painful reality gripping women who have taken out loans.
1:57.0	It's titled, We're not able to live in the sky.
1:59.0	We'll explore microfinance with Cardis Nelson.
2:02.1	That's all coming up next, right after this news.
2:12.0	Welcome to Forum.
2:13.4	I'm Leslie McClurg in today for Alexis Madrigal.
	...

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