For decades microfinance was touted as a novel solution to poverty. The idea is simple – give poor women tiny loans to jumpstart small businesses and create profit. But when journalist Mara Kardas-Nelson moved to West Africa she met women who were jailed when they couldn’t pay their mounting debt. In her book, “We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance,” Kardas-Nelson explores the complex history that led to microfinance banking empires, the painful reality gripping women who have taken out loans and also the ways that microloans have been a successful tool in lifting people from poverty.

Guests:

Mara Kardas-Nelson, Independent Journalist and Author of We are Not Able To Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance

Laurie Styron, CEO / Executive Director, CharityWatch -www.charitywatch.org

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