Tribal Transformation through Microfinance: An In-Depth Study of an Ngo-Microfinance Nexus in Kerala Special References in Wayanad District

Abstract

Microfinance brings together communities of the unorganized poor, building their social capital and networks. In the recent years microfinance became an important intervention as a tool for rural development and poverty alleviation. In India, many a number of microfinance institutions including NGOs, NBFIs and Government agencies had intensively intervened. More than a decade of deepening engagement with microfinance programmes throughout the world has brought home the message that microfinance goes beyond finance and compels attention and action from a larger development perspective This enabling alternative paradigm seeks the engagement of microfinance programmes beyond credit schemes as a judicious blend of finance and development for addressing the many dimensions of poverty and community development. of poverty and social exclusion (Madhurai Symposium, 2009). This type of financial support helps expand their choices and mitigates potential risks look at some of those sincere efforts which brought out the incontrovertible benefits of micro finance in empowerment, poverty reduction and mainstreaming the poor is meaningful in the context of the present study. The study was carried out in Wayanad district of Kerala, which has the highest concentration of tribal folks in the State.