COMMUNICATION IN MICROFINANCE
An Exploratory Case Study

Irina Gendelman and Giorgia Aiello
University of Washington

Conclusion

PlaNet Finance provides a global vision of microfinancing for its sponsors and local institutions. This vision is based on principles of development such as solidarity, networking, outreach and advancement of poor people. Solidarity is stressed on the organizational level in an effort to promote networking among institutions. Advancement is seen as a way to integrate established lending models into impoverished communities. In turn, local offices serve as a link between the local borrowers and the global institutions. The ITC is seen as a way to reach the offices and the offices in turn reach the local people through flip boards, simple icons, word of mouth and direct presence in the community. The locals have little to no access to ITC, therefore these local organizations serve as a connection between global microlending organizations and their ultimate beneficiaries. This way the global organizations can communicate indirectly with the poor who borrow their money at high interest rates due to lack of optional financing sources.

A local institution, such as Fundachiapas, borrows the international shared vision of microfinancing and translates it into the specific cultural context of its location. The same emphasis that PlaNet Finance places on outreach and Networking through ITC is placed by Fundachiapas on the relationship between the local lender and recipient. This is visible in the institution's location in public space as well as in their construction of an ideal client and their mission. PlaNet Finance offers a technical assistance program that is based on tools from the Impact Knowledge Management (IKM) program, developed by PlaNet Finance. The PlaNet Finance website states that this program "aims to optimize the impact of microfinance on its beneficiaries, by bringing MFIs closer to their clients. IKM is based on the principle that MFIs able to evaluate the impact of their involvement on their clients are better prepared to deliver products that meet demand, and are therefore able to achieve financial and operational sustainability."

Similarly, the PlaNet Finance mission and relationships are constructed through a shared global vision of socially responsible development, in which solidarity among networks gets along well with traditional credit institutions.
Our analysis suggests how discourse patterns and outreach models reflecting a global vision of microfinancing can be translated into specific local contexts without losing their connection to the traditional structure. Both at the global and the local level, these communication patterns and models are what make the difference between microcredit institutions and regular banks. Whereas global institutions such as PlaNet Finance place an emphasis on the poverty-fighting potential of ITC, local institutions like Fundachiapas seem to rely more on their physical presence in the community's consciousness and physical space.

Whether the continuity of this shared vision is actually a crucial and effective factor in the fight against world poverty or whether it reinforces a relationship of dependence remains to be explored in further studies. Hopefully, this study offered some valuable insights on how apparent discontinuities in organizational culture can actually be seen as translations of the same shared vision to fit a specific context. This, we believe, is the contribution that communication scholarship can give to studies of international development.