Reader for trainers on community based financial institutions and housing finance

Housing Finance Expansion project undertook a series of studies, training activities, and consultations on employing community-based financial institutions (CBFIs) to improve access of the poor to housing finance. This document brings materials from the project together in a single package. These materials are presented in various styles: as abstracts, checklists, tables or illustrations, and case studies. Section 1 introduces basic issues regarding access to housing finance by low-income households in India, with a focus on basic principles and guidelines for linking community-based programs to the formal housing finance sector. Section 2 summarizes two papers on successful lending for micro-enterprises and identifies lessons for similar initiatives in the housing sector. Section 3 examines strategic issues in the design and orientation of CBFIs. Section 4, on issues for NGOs establishing a CBFI, looks at key issues such as the use of small groups as a basic unit of savings and credit organizations, the process of institutionalizing these groups, and the legal options available to CBFIs in India wishing to formally register. Section 5 examines basic issues in the financial management of CBFIs, while Section 6 presents a series of brief profiles and histories of CBFIs. Copies of overhead transparencies summarizing the materials in the preceding sections are appended. (Author abstract, modified)