Lauren Herman's Consumer Microfinance Index Project
|
While
working and conducting research in the summer of 2010 and January 2011
within a
microcredit program in Kenya, Lauren became aware of the lack of
consumer protection
measures to prevent predatory lending within microfinance institutions
(MFIs). To bring awareness to this issue,
Lauren will lead a project as a Judith Lee Stronach Prize recepient at
U.C. Berkeley to contribute to the legal education initiatives and
resources for
Kenyan microcredit borrowers through the creation of a consumer and
legal education
manual. She will collaborate with
consumer advocacy groups and microcredit borrowers in Nairobi, Kenya to
research
and document the operational and loan requirements of the five largest
Kenyan
MFIs. This educational resource will
assist clients in making informed and educated decisions about their
participation in these financial institutions. Most
importantly,
the
experiences
of
microcredit borrowers
will be
included in the manual to allow potential borrowers the opportunity to
learn
about the microcredit programs through peer review, allowing current
microcredit borrowers to contribute to the content and structure of the
manual. In the future, Lauren hopes that
the dissemination of the manual to organizations serving Kenyan low
income communities will contribute to a national
campaign
to
implement
legal
protection
for
all Kenyan microfinance clients. To
learn more about this project, please visit:
|
