All Myth and Ceremony? Examining the Causes and Logic of the Mission Shift in Microfinance from Microenterprise Credit to Financial Inclusion

This contribution assesses the shift in the mission of microfinance from providing small loans for entrepreneurship to the broader agenda of financial inclusion. Three leading organisations' publications inform a discourse analysis, which allows the strategic shift to be analysed using two theoretical frames from organisational sociology: instrumental rationalism and sociological institutionalism. The proclaimed shift in strategy is found to consist less of rational innovation towards the aim of poverty alleviation than of “myth and ceremony” for the sake of organisational self-preservation.     

Occupational Transitions and Corporate Responsibility in Layoffs: A European Research Project (SOCOSE)

One of the most prominent aspects of the present labour markets is an increase in occupational transitions. Employees experience insecurity to a much larger degree than ever before. Under these circumstances, the questions of blame and responsibility – for job-loss or unemployment –, so far much too readily focused on the individual, have to be re-considered. Transitions will also have to be framed by company based or labour administration interventions.This situation forms the entrance to the scientific evaluation that is central to the SOCOSE project. It aims at the formulation of an integrated European model for outplacement/replacement counselling. Thus, transparency will be added to the process of dismissal from the perspective of the individual employees, and they are assisted in re-entering the labour market at an early stage. This form of guidance will prevent long-term unemployment or might else prevent unemployment completely.The SOCOSE project started with a European comparison of existing outplacement interventions. The main focus, however, is the perspective of the individual that has been dismissed or is facing possible dismissal and his or her evaluation of this process. Crucial to this evaluation is the aspect of justice or fairness.First Results of this comparison across countries are presented, and the ongoing empirical studies are outlined on the basis of an exemplary case.     

IMPACT OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF REVIEWS

Financial inclusion programmes seek to increase access to financial services such as credit, savings, insurance and money transfers. Despite a wealth of systematic review evidence, the impacts of financial inclusion are inconclusive. Hence, the first systematic review of systematic reviews was undertaken to synthesize the impacts of financial inclusion interventions on economic, social, gender and behavioural outcomes. Thirty-two systematic reviews were identified. The headline finding is that impacts are more likely to be positive than negative, but the effects vary, and appear not to be transformative in scope or scale, as they largely occur in the early stages of the causal chain. The effects of financial services on core economic and social poverty indicators are small and inconsistent. There is no evidence for meaningful behaviour-change outcomes. The effects on women's empowerment appear generally positive, but they depend upon programme features that are often peripheral to the financial service, and cultural and geographical context. Accessing savings opportunities has small but more consistently positive effects for poor people, and bears fewer downside risks for clients than credit. The inconsistent quality of the primary evidence base that formed the basis of their syntheses raises concerns about the reliability of the overall findings.     

Latin American Ecotourism: What is it?

Defining – and agreeing upon a definition of – the word 'ecotourism' poses a challenge. This is especially true in Latin America where the buzzword remains a vague term used t o market anything related to nature or environmental tourism. 'Proyectos ecoturisticos' sell everything from community development projects to jet skis. There are pros and cons in using any specific viewpoint – if we insist on high environmental standards and minimal impacts, the costs skyrocket. This places the services and destinations into a 'luxury class' tourism – sometimes without the amenities to which those who pay high-end prices are accustomed. These five-star operations often run into conflict with more humble, grassroots operations. At risk are rural and/or indigenous guides who do not have the financial resources to take part in established guide training programmes – not offered in the field, but usually in the capital city. Good intentions lie behind guide training and accreditation, but if governments or agencies do not empower rural guides and tourism operations, the absence of 'local participation' betrays one of the main components of ecotourism.