Rural microfinance : a strategy for reducing aid dependence for poverty alleviation in rural sub-Saharan Africa

Africa, for four decades, has received billions of dollars in foreign aid, but has failed to develop. Aid is mottled with the 'dependency syndrome', which causes people to remain underpowered to escape poverty. Access to financial services by the poor is one strategy for increasing their incomes and productivity for poverty alleviation. This paper focuses on rural microfinance. It relies on a literature review to show that microfinance can reduce aid dependency. The findings reveal that many poor people lack access to basic financial services. Microfinance is one way of fighting poverty in rural areas. Traditional financiers require physical collateral that poor people do not have. Microfinance is viewed as a useful intervention that can help to economically empower rural people.