Global Perspectives on Financial Inclusion

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) place a strong emphasis on empowering women and reducing poverty. To achieve these goals effectively, it is essential to implement strategic initiatives that connect policy planning with practical solutions. Microfinance has played a significant role in enabling the financial inclusion of women through collective and joint liability models. While these collective initiatives have existed worldwide in various forms, there remains a noticeable lack of literature on collectives and joint liability initiatives supporting semi-formal finance, especially in emerging economies.

In this much needed work, Nishi Malhotra offers valuable insights into microfinance initiatives through in-depth case studies across Africa, Europe, and Asia. She examines the shift in emerging economies towards achieving the SDGs, focusing on poverty reduction and women’s empowerment. Her work highlights the transition from traditional donor-driven models to sustainable finance frameworks, emphasizing the importance of microfinance and social finance. By exploring financial intermediation and bottom-up strategies like collective endeavours and savings groups, Malhotra demonstrates how these approaches can advance the SDGs. Combining expert interviews with grounded theory analysis, her research provides a nuanced understanding of the intersection between sustainable finance and poverty alleviation, offering insights into policy initiatives and the operational dynamics of microfinance mechanisms.

By presenting a comprehensive analysis of microfinance initiatives and their impact on poverty reduction, especially concerning women's financial inclusion, Global Perspectives on Financial Inclusion: Case Studies in Microfinance and Women’s Empowerment serves as a valuable resource for policymakers, researchers, and development practitioners committed to advancing financial inclusion and achieving the UN SDGs.

Nishi Malhotra is Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur, India.