1.1 It is now acknowledged that women are central to the development process. Women produce up to 50% of the food in many countries - up to 80% in some African states, work long hours for little or no money and are frequently the sole support of countless households. Yet despite the fact that women bear the heaviest burden, their access to land, capital and credit is limited. Women's access to credit is therefore one of the most pressing problems of the developing world today. The development community is increasingly focusing its efforts on devising credit schemes for the poor, and especially poor women, whether they are rural subsistence farmers, workers in the urban informal sector or micro-entrepreneurs producing and selling goods and services out of their homes.

1. 2 Credit programmes targeted at low income women borrowers are intended above all to make their economic activity more productive thereby contributing to the development of impoverished communities. Credit can be used to generate income from household activities such as basket making as well as to acquire time-saving technologies such as milling machines, wells and reforestation which will free women from the hours spent grinding millet, or fetching water and fuel. By freeing women of these time consuming tasks they will be able to seek outside employment, financial independence and better family welfare. That women are a surprisingly good credit risk is backed up by research which shows that female borrowers consistently achieve higher loan repayment rates than do male borrowers: they also tend to use their personal income for family welfare, health and education more than men do. The end result is that women-oriented credit programmes, by creating viable employment opportunities and generating additional income, benefit all aspects of society and make a significant contribution to national development.

2.3 The Grameen's objectives include creating self-employment opportunities for its clients by providing them with income-generating assets. Its loans have increased the employment of female borrowers by an average of 128 hours each month in such as activities as paddy husking, the purchase of milk cows and cow fattening. This in turn has provided approximately 80 hours of monthly employment to members of the borrower's immediate families. Thus the credit programme has a "multiplier effect" that contributes to national development goals of creating economic self-sufficiency and improving the standard of living. In order to safeguard women's financial independence, their shares cannot be transferred to men, although men's shares can be transferred to women.

2.4 Despite the undoubted success of the Grameen bank system there is still room for further development. The Grameen system would be strengthened if the 'caps' put on the amount borrowed by the poor was raised. At the moment the potential of borrowers who desire larger loans than the Grameen system can provide is inhibited as they are unable to obtain the loans elsewhere. The system would also be strengthened if the bank could come up with a way to overcome the cultural and social restraints which have resulted in the percentage of female extension workers within the programme remaining low.

2.5 Inspired by the success of the Grameen many other countries have replicated the bank's methods. Developing countries where it has been replicated include Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Guinea, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Sri-Lanka and Zambia. The Malaysian version of the Grameen bank is operated by a trust called Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) which now operates in 9 out of 13 Malaysian states covering 612 villages. As of February 1996, AIM had disbursed a total of $640,000 to 3,986 borrowers of whom 98% are women. An initial loan can be up to $180 and second loan up to $360, all subsequent loans are a maximum of $720. The Grameen bank's methods have also been adopted in Canada, France and the United States where it is being used to help people on welfare to become income generators.