Without non-governmental organizations to pioneer its concept and methods, the micro-finance industry as we know it today might not have emerged.   Most proponents claim that micro-finance helps to alleviate poverty and/or that micro-financial services help to empower clients (notably, women).   The AIMs project of USAID's Office of Micro-Enterprise Development set out to test these claims in three countries: India, Peru, and Zimbabwe.  Marty and Don Snodgrass (formerly of the Hauser Center) were chosen as the principal investigators of the India study.  This study was designed to measure the impact of micro-financial services of a women's bank, the SEWA Bank, on a group of low-income women in Ahmedabad in Western India.  

This multi-year research project had several components: two rounds of a sample survey of 786 women; three rounds of in-depth case study interviews of 12 borrowers and their families; and background research–through a review of the secondary literature and interviews with key individuals from the local research, non-governmental, business, and government communities—of the economic, social, and political setting in which the SEWA Bank operates and its member-clients live and work.  Both principal investigators wrote background papers during the design phase of the research.  Their joint research monograph, "Managing Resources, Activities, and Risk in Urban India: The Impact of SEWA Bank," was published in December 2001.  Don Snodgrass co-authored the synthesis report that summarizes the findings from the Inda, Peru, and Zimbabwe studies.  All of these research monographs are available from the USAID's office of Micro-Enterprise Development.  Hard copies of the documents may be ordered from aims@msi-inc.com