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Seeing through the eyes of clients: The link between microfinance and well-being in rural Ghanaian households
Abstract
Income-generating work for women is one of many attempts of the international community and national governments of developing countries to improve well-being of rural households, and empower women. While people draw their interpretation and indicators of well-being from their subjective cultural contexts, many development interventions lack reference to the perceptions of beneficiaries on what advances their well-being. This article presents an investigation of how rural women and men in the Bogoso area of Ghana perceived well-being and the impact of women's microfinance work on their perceived well-being indicators. Findings show that living within a peaceful household environment is the most important well-being indicator to the people, and that microfinance contributed significantly to reducing household conflicts, as household's and children's needs were frequently met. Thus, this article recommends attention to interventions that enhance the ability of rural households to be more engaged in economic activities to promote peace within their households. It also encourages efforts to conscientize and build capacities of household members to be affected by women's work in mitigating potential conflict triggers.
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This article examines the complexity and diversity of women's informal financial practices using data from surveys conducted in Senegal. It suggests that these practices are at the centre of a constant dialectic between short-term and long-term horizons, between the requirements of daily survival and the demands of community solidarity, and between personal aspirations and collective constraints. These practices also clearly illustrate a desire among the women in Senegal to impose a form of financial self-discipline, and to create situations that will oblige them to earn income. The socio-economic diversity among these entrepreneurs is also underscored. Informal financial arrangements are both a product and producer of gender inequalities and inequalities among women, as reflected in the research. This has direct policy implications, especially for microfinance products. If they are to be effective, microfinance services must develop beyond a standard, one-size fits all model and become more innovative and adaptable to the diverse demands of women. They must be combined with complementary measures that challenge the systemic causes of inequality. Microfinance programmes should draw on informal financial arrangements while challenging their tendency to perpetuate inequality.
Quality-of-life in nations can be measured by how long and happy people live. This is assessed by combining data on life expectancy
drawn from civil registration with survey data on subjective enjoyment of life as a whole. This measure of ‘apparent’ quality-of-life
is a good alternative to current indexes of ‘assumed’ quality-of-life such as the Human Development Index. Data are available
for 67 nations in the 1990s. The number of Happy-Life-Years varies considerably across nations. Switzerland is at the top
with 63.0 years and Moldavia at the bottom with 20.5 years. China is in the middle with an average of 46.7. Happy lifetime
has risen considerably in advanced nations over the last decade. People live longer and happier in nations characterised by
economic affluence, freedom and justice. Together these three societal qualities explain 66% of the cross-national variance
in Happy-Life-Years. Income equality and generous social security do not appear to be required for a long and happy life.
The paper indicates using community development and sustainable livelihood theories as lenses that well-being indicators vary
among societies, especially in developing countries due cultural differences. The study which was carried in three rural communities
in Ho Municipality in the Ghana was to show the extent to which men’s and women’s sense of well-being were determined by their
local economic, religious, social, and education indicators; all of which were driven by their cultural values. Since men
and women placed different values on religious, social, economic, education indicators, the paper discusses that their importance
to overall well-being also differs between men and women.
This paper explores three frontiers in the field of international development (ID): none of them new, all of them neglected. First is the fiontier of the North: should the ID field broaden beyond its traditional focus on countries of the South to also encompass development in the countries of the North and the links between the two? Second is the frontier of well-being, happiness, and spirituality: should the ID field extend the objectives of development from physical and economic material growth to include well-being, happiness, and spirituality? Third is the frontier of contemplation: should the field deepen its ways of knowing—deeper than the empiricism of the senses and the reasoning of the mind—to contemplation as the timeless way to wisdom?
Incl. abstract, bib. -Microfinance programmes are increasingly popular in Bangladesh, and are especially renowned for the excellent repayment performance of women borrowers. This article examines the loan use pattern of women involved in wage employment and the benefits they gain from such loans. It also explores the effects of wage employment on gender relations. Women wage earners are found to value paid work more than they value credit. It is thus argued that more employment opportunities should be created for women as these would help to promote economic and social empowerment.
What does talk of wellbeing offer international development? Four possible answers are explored. First, it offers discursive space for analysing conflicting policy priorities to the extent that they are based on different assumptions about what it means for a person to 'be well' and about how this can be changed. Second, it draws on positive psychology to offer new ways of measuring what matters most to individuals. Third, it enriches analysis of opportunities and obstacles to policy reform. Fourth, it strengthens the case for decentralisation in the way development is managed. The arguments are illustrated with particular reference to research on wellbeing in Peru. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.