The Centre for Micro Finance (CMF) in partnership with the College of Agricultural Banking – Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Pune, India hosted its fourth annual conference on microfinance on January 12, 13th 2011. Titled, "Microfinance: Translating Research into Practice," the event brought together researchers, practitioners and bankers to share results from various experiments conducted in the area of financial services for the poor. The conference provided a platform for microfinance practitioners, bankers and policy makers working iin the sector to learn from field experiments and discuss policy implications of recent research. The conference also helped to identify areas for further research and experimentation of relevance to both practitioners and policy makers. This year the discussions focused on how microfinance could evolve to better serve the needs of low-income households.

In this year's conference, original research findings were presented on topics related to the microfinance sector in five separate sessions held over two days. Download notes, powerpoints, and other materials from the conference below. To see photos from this year's event, visit CMF's Flickr Photostream.

Conference Packet

Session I: Andhra Pradesh and the Identity Crisis in Indian Microfinance

a) Access to Finance in Andhra Pradesh - Doug Johnson (CMF and World Bank)P[Presentation]

Session II: Sending Money Home: Making Finance Work for Mobile Populations

a)Putting Money in Motion: How much do Migrants Pay for Domestic Transfers - Dr. Ajay Tannirkulam (CMF)[Presentation]

Session III: Targeting the Ultra Poor
a) Targeting the Hardcore Poor: An Impact Assessment- Jeremy Shapiro (Yale University) [Presentation]

Session IV : Safety Nets for the Poor - Microinsurance and Pensions
a) Barriers to Household Risk Management: Evidence from India - Shahid Vaziralli (CMF) [Presentation]

b) Savings and Self-Control: Conceptual Considerations with Experimental Applications - Dr. Karna Basu (City University of New York)[Presentation]

Session V: The Future of Financial Services for the Poor
a) The Future of Financial Services for the Poor- Graham Wright (MicroSave) [Presentation]