Box 8.9 Potential investments

• Funding for product design (not just loans but also savings facilities and transfer payments), including funds for market and client research, piloting new products, and staff orientation.
  
  
• Support for replicating proven approaches (for example, PRODEM in Bolivia or Calpiá in El Salvador) with other microfinance institutions (MFIs).
  
  
• Funding for piloting the adoption of technologies (examples include automated teller machines, personal digital assistants, and smart cards) and/or flexible delivery mechanisms (such as post offices, retail stores, and schools).
  
  
• Feasibility studies for helping MFIs in deciding to introduce new technology.
  
  
• Management information systems and equipment for their effective operation.
  
  
• Investment in a positive enabling environment to enhance the viability of rural finance for agriculture, through developing infrastructure, legal systems, and communications.
  
  
• Research and piloting of innovative sources of collateral for the agricultural sector, so that economically active poor people who are landless or lack assets can still qualify for loans.
  
  
• Nonfinancial support to farmers, through business development services, infrastructure improvements, and other means that will help clients become creditworthy.

Source: Authors