Re: Microfinance and System Dynamics View: Old framed views 3 Messages — Rating Filter: Alert me Dec 02, 2005; 10:00pm profitinafrica – Re: Microfinance and System Dynamics Dear Valerio I am not sure that I know what you mean when you ask about a 'system dynamics approach to the study of microfinance.' You say 'I'm really interested to know how a system-based approach can help to better understand the dynamics of microfinance.' I think I am interested in this as well. I have followed the emergence of micro-finance for something like 20 years, and am more than a little disappointed that a 'system based' approach to understanding the value of micro-finance has not become common. The question is 'Why not'. Part of the reason is that most of the analysis originates from the donors who want to be able to show success ... and perhaps the simplest metric for showing success is the number of clients, number of loans disbursed and the loans reimbursed. OK .. but only up to a point. The overall goal is to have success in the relief and development sector. What does this mean, and what metrics are going to work to measure success in the relief and development sector? The answer is that the metrics have to relate to the people, the families and the community ... organizational performance is not a good metric for this, in fact it is often a bad metric. I would like to explain more about the measurement of relief and development performance ... but not right now. Sincerely Peter Burgess _________ Peter Burgess The Transparency and Accountability Network http://tr-ac-net.blogspot.com www.tr-ac-net.org In a message dated 11/8/2005 9:23:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, guinness_fc@... writes: > Subj:[MFP] Microfinance and System Dynamics > Date:11/8/2005 9:23:10 AM Eastern Standard Time > From:guinness_fc@... > Reply-to:MicrofinancePractice@... > To:MicrofinancePractice@... > > Dear All, > > I'm new on this group and I don't know if this is the right place where > I can find the informations I'm searching for. I would like to ask if > somebody can help me to find some informations concerning a system > dynamics approach to the study of microfinance. I'm really interested > to know how a system-based approach can help to better understand the > dynamics of microfinance. > Thank You all. > > Valerio