Microfinance Helps Poverty Reduction and Fisheries Management

This policy brief aims at:

• Analyzing trends in thinking and practices on finance for poverty reduction;
• Examining how small scale fisher folk use financial services, with a focus on West Africa;
• Identifying the main issues and challenges in providing micro-financial services to fishing communities;
• Showing that microfinance can be used to support fisheries management;
• Outlining recommendations to improve the availability of sustainable financial services in small-scale fisheries.

The publication also presents case studies on how microfinance initiatives in fisheries management have performed:

• Even though there are some notable successes, there are a number of constraints to be overcome before microfinance can significantly contribute to poverty reduction and fisheries management.

The brief concludes by stating how each of the following actors involved in development and fisheries sector can together surmount the constraints:

• Ministries in charge of fisheries;
• Microfinance Institutions;
• Formal financial institutions;
• Development agencies, NGOs and community-based organizations.