As this report will describe, CARE, a leader in international development, long ago recognized the power of microfinance as a development tool. Not only does microfinance enable the poor to build their assets and invest in income-generating activities, but it has also proved to be remarkably effective as a vehicle for human empowerment, especially for women who have been found to benefit most from microfinance services and to make the best use of them in lifting their families out of poverty. The last frontier in the provision of microfinance to the world’s poorest people has been the.
