Dr. Wonhyung Lee, Meera Bhat, and Nurul Widyaningrum

October 24, 2016

Microfinance in India, Indonesia, and the United States: Implications for Social Work

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“Global wealth inequality is increasing more and more; people are being pushed to the margins, for various social, economic, and political reasons. They are unable to break out of the cycle of poverty simply by working hard or working smart even, and subsistence becomes harder and harder with each passing day: all the more, when they are unable to access basic services that some of us take for granted, like health or education or banking. This is just as true for the U.S as it is for countries like India or Indonesia, though there might be relative differences. . . [A]t such times, innovative bottom up initiatives like microfinance, when they are bottom up and democratic, have made a significant dent. . .and are capable of producing cumulative impact in a large way.”

Dr. Wonhyung Lee, Meera Bhat, & Nurul Widyaningrum

Scholarly literature and practice experience have shown that low-income people around the world can use credit responsibly, make timely payments, and save to make their lives more manageable. In this episode, Dr. Wonhyung Lee, Meera Bhat, and Nurul Widyaningrum discuss the range of financial services called microfinance, which provides low-income persons access to affordable and quality financial services to promote empowerment and the building of assets.

Wonhyung Lee, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her background is in social work and urban planning, focusing on the process of community development. Her research areas include local business development in low-income areas and developing entrepreneurial opportunities for marginalized populations. She currently has two projects examining immigrants’ access to borrowing opportunities in the U.S. context and rural populations’ access to microloans in the Indonesian context.

Meera Bhat is a doctoral student at the School of Social Welfare at University at Albany, SUNY. Her prior education and experience is in social work, rural development, and social entrepreneurship in India. Her research interest is in studying micro-enterprises, poverty, and marginalization in the global south as well as holistic social work education. Her current research focuses on micro processes in stakeholder owned enterprises in India and Argentina.

Nurul Widyaningrum is a doctoral student at the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her research interest includes micro and small enterprise development, particularly for marginalized populations. Prior to the doctoral program, Nurul was involved in research projects on microfinance, small enterprises, and community development in Indonesia. She is currently working with Dr. Wonhyung Lee on a project examining rural populations’ access to microloans in Indonesia.

Interviewer: Shaanta Murshid, PhD