Table of Contents

Preface 1

1 Introduction: Beauty and the Beast 3

2 Money: a moral tale 6

3 Community finance 23

4 Microcredit 34

5 Trust 44

6 Bangladesh: 1999 51

7 How its works 57

8 Poverty 73

9 Street Cred: London UK, 1999 and 2009 80

10 An opportunity lost: Pine Ridge Native American Reservation, South Dakota, USA, 2003 92

11 Impact 97

12 Jacaranda, Madagascar: 2004 106

13 Masambe!, Eastern Cape, South Africa: 2005 113

14 Self-belief 128

15 Yen Daakye, Ashanti region, Ghana: 2009 132

16 Microcredit: where we are now? 143

17 Only connect 147

Appendix I The Sixteen Decisions 160

Appendix II Action sheet 162

Appendix III Why microfinance works 164

Further reading 169