Financial sustainability in saving and credit programmes

The paper defines financial sustainability; why financial sustainability is a valid objective; how it can be measured; and what can be done to improve levels of financial sustainability. The discussion is situated within the context of NGOs managed credit schemes, operating in developing countries. The following issues are considered: importance of savings; gender; appropriate loan size; realistic interest rates; repayment periods and intervals; security and collateral; group loans versus group businesses; separation of finance from other support; systems; measurement; incentives; and scale. Abstract supplied by kind permission of CABI.