Multiple Meanings of Money: How Women See Microfinance

PrefaceInterpreting Multiple Meanings of Money Poverty in India and Role of Microfinance Livelihoods Context Use of Money by Individuals and Groups Use of Money by Groups and Group DynamicsConclusions and ReflectionsAppendicesReferencesIndex

Smita Premchander is the founder and secretary of Sampark and has 25 years of experience in development work. She has been a trainer and consultant for gender, microfi nance and microenterprise-both in India and internationally. Her expertise relates to evaluation and design of effective and pro-poor development projects, spanning grassroots development, organisational and programme issues and policy change. She completed a short term assignment with the International Labor Offi ce (ILO), Geneva, as a specialist in Impact Evaluation for Job Creation and Enterprise Development. She has completed about 19 impact and evaluation studies combining both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, for different agencies such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Delhi; Enterplan, UK; ILO, Delhi and Geneva; Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Berne, Switzerland; FAO of the United Nations, Bangkok; United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Bangkok; United Nations Offi ce for Project Services (UNOPS), Malaysia, Traidcraft, UK; Department for International Development (DFID), Bangladesh and Delhi; Swiss Development Corporation, Delhi; CARE India, New Delhi; Novib, Netherlands; National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Bangalore and Anand; World Bank, Washington and Universities of Sterling, Durham and Swansea, UK. She has worked in most states in India, including Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

In this book, Smita Premchander, with her sustained grassroots understanding, has done a commendable job of delving into women`s life experiences and elaborating the meanings of money from their perspectives.The book takes a feminist approach, as it questions the benefits and costs of development programmes for women…Money is a social relationship. It is a continued relationship of mutual trust. This book succinctly elaborates how relationships of trust are built, based on mutual respect. On the contrary, when women are seen merely as beneficiaries or clients, no relationships are formed and there is no possibility of empowerment.