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Annotated Bibliography

How can Microfinance be Effectively used to Decrease the Number of Orphans in Sub-Saharan
Africa?

Riley Jones
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
October 25, 2016

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Annotated Bibliography
Ndari, Evidence, and Tamuka Mukura. "The Impact of Microfinance on Rural Household
Welfare in Zimbabwe: The Case of Gokwe." Journal of Strategic Studies 3rd ser. 31.1
(2012): 78-95. Print.
This scholarly article objectively studies if microfinance reduces poverty in rural
communities. In this study, the Treatment Effects Model was used to estimate the impact
that access to microfinance has on household per capita consumption. Household per
capita income is used as the basis for determining the level of poverty. Other conditions
that were considered include the age of household head, household size, education level,
and the number of alternate sources of credit. The focus area of study was the Gokwe
District in the Midlands Providence of Zimbabwe. This district is very remote and has
limited infrastructure, poor education, and high unemployment. The results of the study
showed that microfinance credit has a positive effect on household per capita
consumption, which implies an increase in household income, thus a decrease in poverty.
The largest impacts were noted in the agricultural market and amongst women. This is
because farmers could invest in capital and scale their production and women became
empowered to start their own programs. This is an academic research paper conducted
through the University of Zimbabwe. One author is a member of the Zimbabwe
Economic Analysis and Research Unit while the other author is a member of the
Economics Department at the University of Zimbabwe. Thus, both the text and the
authors carry a high level of authority. All the information was presented in an objective
fashion. Therefore, this is a very reliable source to be used in my own research. This
study is an important part of my research to prove that microfinance can benefit a

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community. However, I will also use the results of the research paper to consider how
microfinance could possibly be a negative impact on rural communities.
Sewidan, Nada. "Orphans of Poverty." BORGEN. BORGEN Magazine, 13 June 2016. Web. 19
Oct. 2016.
This article discusses how poverty is directly related to the number of orphans. According
to UNICEF, approximately four out of five orphans have at least one living parent. The
parent/parents simply do not have the means to provide food, shelter, and/or an education
for their children so they are forced to place them into an orphanage. These children are
effectively orphans of poverty. The article continues by elaborating how these orphans
are trapped in a cycle of poverty. They are placed into orphanages, where minimal food,
water, and shelter are provided; however, upon reaching adulthood, the orphans leave the
orphanage uneducated and unprepared to provide for themselves. These children will be
living on the streets and may become more susceptible to a life of crime and poverty.
Without economic opportunities to provide for themselves, they will only continue the
cycle of poverty. Thus, the article concludes that guiding people out of poverty will
directly reduce the number of children who reside in orphanages. This is an article from a
popular news source: The BORGEN Magazine. The BORGEN Magazine was started by
the Borgen Project. The goal of the Borgen Project is to make poverty a more central
focus of U.S. foreign policy. Thus, the magazine specializes in poverty assessment and
holds some authority on the topic of poverty. It may be a biased source because several of
the authors personal opinions on poverty were included in the piece. However, credible
sources were cited throughout. Overall, this piece will be valuable in connecting the
effect poverty has on the number of orphans. I can use it to establish that a reduced

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amount of poverty reduces the number of orphans. This will be essential in connecting
the effect microfinance has to orphans since microfinance can help reduce the amount of
poverty.
T.S. "Why Does Kenya Lead the World in Mobile Money?" The Economist. The Economist
Newspaper, 02 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
This article explains Kenyas leading mobile-money system, M-PESA. M-PESA was
originally launched by Safaricom in 2007 to allow for microfinance-loan repayments to
be made by phone. However, the program has since expanded to a broader money
transfer scheme. M-PESA lets people transfer cash using their phones. A user can deposit
cash by handing it to one of 40,000 agents, who credits the money into the users account.
Then, the money can easily be transferred to another M-PESA user by using a menu on
the phone or can be withdrawn by visiting another agent. This electronic format for
money transfers has been a large success in Kenya for several reasons. First, it is
particularly useful for many workers in cities to send money back home to their families
in rural villages. Additionally, it is viewed as a safer process than going through the banks
since banks are largely involved in ethnic disputes. Finally, the availability of reliable
mobile payments has driven many start-ups, particularly in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
M-PESA makes microloans easily available to entrepreneurs in rural villages and thus has
spurred economic activity. In fact, one study found that income increased by 5-30% in
rural households who adopted M-PESA. This article is from a popular news source: The
Economist. The editors of this magazine target highly educated readers and comment on
the economic conditions of global events. The scholarly format of the article reduces the
level of bias; however, it is an editorial and is subject, by its nature, to a certain level of

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bias. I found this piece useful in assessing how feasible it is to implement a microfinance
program in a rural setting. From this article, it is apparent that both providing microloans
and receiving microloan repayments through a mobile money transfer system may be a
successful approach to implementing a microfinance program.
"Why Invest In Women." USaid.gov. U.S. Aid for International Development. Infographic. 29
Oct. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
In this infographic, many statistics are provided to support why investing in women is the
most effective way to change a community. Aid programs that help women affect not
only a single individual but also the broader community. This is because women are more
likely to expand the impact of an investment by creating a better life for her family and
strengthening the community. It is essential that a mother can care for her children so that
her children can be properly nourished and educated. If the children grow up in such an
environment, they are much more likely to break the cycle of poverty which they were
born into. The effect of investing in women can be exemplified by the fact that when 10%
more girls go to school, a countrys GDP increases by 3%. This is a source from a reliable
website since it was constructed by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID). USAID is the lead U.S. Government agency that works to stop
extreme poverty across the world. The statistics in the infographic should be unbiased
because they were collected by USAID primarily from other departments of the
government and from non-profit websites. However, statistics can be biased in many
ways ranging from how the sample population was selected to how the final figures were
calculated. I plan on using the statistics in this infographic to support why investing in
women is the most efficient use of microfinance funds.