The Challenges of Microfinance Innovation: Understanding ‘Private Services’

Adeel, Muhammad; Nett, Bernhard; Gurbanova, Turkan F.; Wulf, Volker; Randall, David

doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-5346-7_14

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Common to [1,2], we found the relationship between field agent and client important for successful loan management. However, our setting was rather different.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Of course, this is what ethnography, especially ethnomethodologicallyinformed ethnography, specialises in: revealing the work to make things work [6], which when not taken into account can lead to systems failure or widespread workarounds [6,7,8,40]. Like [1,2], our study points to the importance of human intermediation in financial management and how technology should enable this work rather than automate it. Prayana has been designed to do just that.…”

Section: Augmentation Not Automationmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Organisations providing financial services for low income users, such as the Pigmy Scheme [27], may have mobile apps to aid field agents conducting customer collections. However, these are mainly designed to streamline the workflow of the field agents [46,41,2], rather than supporting agent-customer interaction [1]. One feature these apps all have in common is treating financial management as an individual activity, targeting either customers or field agents.…”

Section: Financial Management Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, human intermediaries continue to play a crucial role in building financial inclusion [25], bridging the gap between mainstream financial services and low-income communities. For example, micro-finance institutions (MFI) [1,2,34] provide financial services adapted for the poorest communities. Beyond MFI, intermediaries may also enable access to mainstream financial services (bank loans, savings, etc.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prayana

Mehra

Muralidhar

Satija

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

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We describe the design of a novel mobile phone-based application for loan management in a resource-constrained setting. In this setting, a social enterprise manages autorickshaw loans for drivers, taking charge of collections. The design was informed by an ethnographic study which revealed how loan management for this financially vulnerable population is a daily struggle, and loan payment is a collaborative achievement between collectors and drivers. However, drivers and collectors have limited resources to-hand for loan management. To address this, we designed Prayana, an intermediated financial management app. Prayana shares the principles of many persuasive technologies, such as education, motivation, nudges, but is designed for users with a range of print, technical, and financial literacies and embodies the core design sensibility of enhancing users' agency. Furthermore, it does not put the onus solely on drivers to better manage their money, instead it aims to enhance the collaborative work of loan management, supporting both the drivers and collectors.

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“…Common to [1,2], we found the relationship between field agent and client important for successful loan management. However, our setting was rather different.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Augmentation Not Automationmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Financial Management Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Prayana

Mehra

Muralidhar

Satija

et al. 2018

Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In recent times, the fields of HCI and ICTD have seen a growing number of studies around microfinance related activities (e.g. [1,3,15,16,51,52,73,74]). However, while there is a collective agreement on the potential of ICT to support microfinance activities, most of the technology interventions have focused on enhancing transactional as well as procedural aspects of microfinance [57,65,71,73].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dhana Labha: A Financial Management Application to Underbanked Communities in Rural Sri Lanka

Halloluwa

Vyas

2019

Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2019

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This paper presents findings from field trial of a mobile application called 'Dhana Labha' in a rural Sri Lankan community. Dhana Labha was designed to be used by the community members to manage their personal finances, oversee their performance in managing multiple microfinance loans and assist in loan collection. We distributed the application among thirty eight microfinance clients and studied their use over a period of six months. Our findings show that the use of Dhana Labha had a positive impact on existing local practices and financial awareness while prompting the participants to develop unexpected new practices around microfinance workflows. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding existing sociocultural practices for designing applications, as they strongly affect and shape the use of technology in a constrained setting.

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Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D): The Southern African Landscape

Biljon

Renaud

2019

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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In this study, research collaboration in the context of South African Information and Communication for Development (ICT4D) researchers was investigated using a mixed methods approach. South Africa, a country with stark development challenges and on the other hand a well-established ICT infrastructure, provides an appropriate context for ICT4D research. Firstly, a quantitative analysis of South African research collaboration between 2003 and 2016 was conducted to determine the existing research collaboration patterns of South African ICT4D researchers. This is based on the publications in three top ICT4D journals namely the Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC), Information Technologies & International Development (ITID), and Information Technology for Development (ITD). The results show that most co-authored papers were intra-institutional collaborations, with limited inter-institutional collaboration between South African authors or between South African and other African authors. Secondly, interviews were conducted with South African researchers who emerged as inter-and intra-institutional collaborators to gain insight into the technology, drivers and barriers affecting South African research collaboration. We report our findings and discuss the implications for employing research collaboration as a mechanism for addressing inequality and supporting inclusion.

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The Challenges of Microfinance Innovation: Understanding ‘Private Services’

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

Prayana

Prayana

Dhana Labha: A Financial Management Application to Underbanked Communities in Rural Sri Lanka

Human-Computer Interaction for Development (HCI4D): The Southern African Landscape

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