Analysis of micro-finance institutions' activities on facilitating financial inclusion in developing economies, to alleviate poverty. Case study: Ghana, West Africa

Poverty crisis in developing economies is a major impediment to human development. The prevalence of poor quality life especially in these economics is a major element that slows efforts by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to restore better way of life. The impact of poverty subjects the poor to experience constant pain and misery, and the lack of the basic needs of life: access to clean water, medicine, good food, better housing, education, and many more. The plight of the poor continues to receive immense attention from the rest of the world, and from organizations like the World Bank, and other Development Institutions whose prime missions are programmed and greatly inspired to remedy poverty situations. The collaborative efforts of several organizations and governments to alleviate poverty necessitate the application of many strategic approaches to put poverty and its related problems under check, and subsequently eradicate it entirely. As a result of the numerous poverty-reduction strategies being proposed and implemented, the purpose of this thesis examines one poverty alleviation practice involving the use of micro-finance. The application of this poverty-reduction mechanism engages the operatives of micro- finance institutions (MFIs) to coordinate ideas and other productive elements strategically to provide financial services to the poor. Ghana is the case study for this thesis due to its extensive involvement in micro-finance programs. The research for this thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods to analyze micro-finance datasets on Ghana, provided by the Micro-finance Information Exchange (MIX) in Washington DC. The data provided by MIX for this work covers a 10-year period (1999 through 2009) of MFI activities in Ghana.1 Also, other datasets incorporated in this research are tapped from the country's reserves (Bank of Ghana), and the Ghana Statistical Service. The prime interest of this work is to evaluate the breadth and depth of outreach; the extent micro-finance institutions facilitate access to financial services by the poor in Ghana.;1Micro-Finance Exchange http://www.themix.orgg/...