Conclusions

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Recommendations

As already noted, the field of women and micro-finance is dominated by practice-based literature (as opposed to literature that reports on the effectiveness of practice from an empirical basis). It is also an immature field; there is too little research that is robust and recent from which to draw conclusions about the best way forward for any country concerned about improving access to finance for women. Partly this is because there is little known about "access to finance" in general - despite it being one of the issues that is almost always raised in any discussion over the constraints to economic and/or business growth. One of the reasons for this is that it is a topic where the "real issues" are difficult to tie down; perceptions of barriers, and the barriers themselves are not always the same thing. Another reason for a lack of research that is useful in this context is that women have often been viewed as a minority group in self-employment, or as a group who are disadvantaged. This has led to a focus on micro-finance as a development and/or poverty alleviation strategy, and the majority of literature therefore is set in the context of developing countries.

The situation in New Zealand is even more difficult; while there are a number of agencies that provide micro-finance to women, there is an almost total lack of interest in evaluating whether this is necessary, and whether the particular measures that are being undertaken are effective and/or efficient. While there is little research being undertaken by the delivery agencies themselves, there is also a lack of research being undertaken by the academic community.

The result is that "what is known" about women and micro-finance in New Zealand is dated, anecdotal and totally insufficient to provide an adequate foundation for any policy development. This gap must be addressed if progress is to be made.

Despite the seriousness of this situation, there is an emerging consensus on some issues in the international literature. While these conclusions are still "patchy", and while there is still a long way to go before a seminal piece of research on women and micro-finance can be identified, the following points do provide some sort of guidelines for those attempting to understand the field:

• There are increasing numbers of women entering self-employment worldwide. Women typically run businesses that are small in size so often discrimination can occur as a result of that "small business factor" rather than solely due to gender.
• This increase in numbers presents a market opportunity, and means that there is a need to consider the impact of women in the market for finance - whether it is at the level of micro-credit, micro-finance or corporate finance. A number of countries are already piloting innovative programmes (e.g. Canada, where quasi-formal lending models take a "problem-solving" or "market" approach to "fit" the loan structure to the needs of the micro-enterprise borrower (i.e. instead of scaling down formal, large lending models).
• It is increasingly apparent that women don't use/or are unable to use the same informal/formal financial networks as men. As Verheul and Thurik (2001) conclude; "female and male entrepreneurs differ in the way they finance their businesses".
• There is an emerging body of knowledge on best practice in the context of business and economic development. However there is still much to be learned about the different ways in which new ventures can be financed. More needs to be known about the way in which "business angels", equity or quasi-equity formation (including tax driven mechanisms), guarantee programmes, women's loan funds, micro-business financing programmes, and training and counselling programmes can contribute to social and economic development overall (OECD, c1997, p.40).
• At the same time, more needs to be known about how these instruments can influence the economic behaviour of women and whether they can be designed in such a way as to have a positive impact on the businesses that are operated by them. Particular attention needs to be paid to designing programmes that overcome the social and cultural barriers to female business ownership, for example by including benefits in addition to funding, such as management advice and links to the business community.
• Within the context of business and/or economic development it is clear that the provision of finance is merely one factor. As noted above, the entire "development system" needs to be viewed as a set of component parts (which offer advice, support, mentoring, training, etc) in order for the intending businessperson to maximise their potential.
  

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RECOMMENDATIONS

This list of issues may provide some pointers to the Ministry in terms of future work. However, it should be noted that in the course of this review there was no single view on the most appropriate way forward. This was particularly evident in the course of the telephone survey of key respondents: Those who were consulted ranged from having strong views on the urgency of the situation (i.e. they argued that women in New Zealand clearly lack access to micro-finance), to others who felt that the lack of provision was actually an indication of a low level of need.

This divergence of opinion could possibly be due to the varied roles of those interviewed; given New Zealand's small size, the researchers were only able to speak to a small number of individuals who had real experience in the provision of micro-finance to women. While this presented a difficulty to the researchers in this initial review, it could be a real strength of the project that follows. From the preliminary work that has been presented here, it appears that it would be possible to engage all of those involved in the topic in a single project that focused on improving the situation for women in accessing finance. Whilst it would be inappropriate to define the exact form of the project here, the researchers recommend that the starting point should be a forum that harnesses the commitment and knowledge of those who are already working in this field at different levels. This group could provide advice on the development of a project that should attempt to:

• Gain the views of women who want to go into business (nascent) and those that already are self-employed.
• Gain the views of stakeholders in the field (including some of those identified as key informants).
• Link with current research initiatives being undertaken in government agencies (e.g. the Ministry of Economic Development).
• Link with current delivery initiatives being considered in government agencies (e.g. Te Puni Kōkiri, Community Employment Group).
  

These objectives suggest that the project should have a dual focus. Firstly, there is an urgent need to gather information on the experiences of women in relation to finance in New Zealand. While it may be possible to address this need in conjunction with another government agency, this may prove impractical. A key aspect of this work should be a clear identification of the different groups of women that are potential users of micro-credit and/or micro-finance (e.g. in terms of ethnicity, family context, geographical area) and of their need for the finance (e.g. to support a family and/or to establish a business).

Secondly, the project should identify one or more of the groups identified in the research phase, and develop and deliver a programme that meets the needs of this group (or groups).

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