Microfinance Innovation Center For Resources and Alternatives

1. Youth and Access to Microfinance in Indonesia: Outreach and Options

In order to determine the level of outreach of MFIs to Indonesian youth, MICRA researchers interviewed nearly 900 citizens under the age of thirty (30) to asses their financial needs and access to micro- credit. Grounded on extensive research across five geographic regions (including urban, peri- urban, and rural locations), this study presents several strategic recommendations for MFIs to improve their capacity to cater to younger clients. - More

Prepared For: The World Bank Indonesia Mission
Themes: Youth access to microcredit
Research Methodology: Interviews (900); on-site MFI appraisals (21); desk review
Geographic Location: Jakarta, Banda Aceh, East Java, Lampung and Tangerang
Status: Completed; June 2006

There were three presentation in the 1st PAC anniversary event. The first presentation with title,"Pro Poor Microfinance and Enhancing Women's Access to Financial Services in Indonesia", was brought by Naheed Islam. The second presentation with title, "HIVOS Microfinance Programme", was brought by Ben Witjes. And the third presentation with title, “Technology as a Business Development Tool", was brought by Debbie Watkins.

Since October 2009, MICRA has been leading Product Development exercise on behalf of Bank Andara. Bank Andara was created with the objective of realizing poverty alleviation goals through the sound and profitable operation of a wholesale banking institution supporting the Indonesian microfinance industry. The bank was designed to provide for and actively promote the wide scale use of mobile financial services for poor populations that lack access to financial institutions. Bank Andara is working to achieve this goal through the creation of scalable, effective, sustainable and replicable mobile banking products and support services.