CCIC Learning Circle on Micro-Enterprise Development Report on the Second Workshop

This paper reports on the second workshop of the Learning Circle and includes a synthesis paper that brings together lessons from their work during the year. The participants discussed issues like savings and credit, indicators of social transformation, and complementary and supportive polices. They also discussed a framework of social impact indicators.

Participants hoped that the workshop would identify positive alternatives, and not simply present a negative review of the shortcomings of microenterprise development as an approach. Conclusions from the workshop include:

• Credit cannot be thought of as the only, or even the main, development intervention;
• Forms of support other than credit are necessary for poor people who are able to develop entrepreneurial skills;
• Links are necessary between work done at the grassroots level and policy change;
• Too much focus on institutional and financial sustainability has led to the detriment of social impact assessment;
• Policy work is a crucial aspect of support. There is, however, very little literature about policy issues and how to address them.

The workshop also examined case studies in order to compare policy interventions, various actors' roles and the strengths of a sectoral approach.