In Bihar, India, for people who are too poor or isolated to be served by other financial service providers, the community-based savings groups supported by AKDN provide the possibility of increasing household financial assets and decreasing household vulnerability to financial and other shocks.

“Often when we speak of microfinance, we think of small loans. But microfinance is moving beyond microcredit and now includes a range of new products and services to meet the needs of the poor. Simply put, the poor in the developing world require access to just about every kind of financial product and social service that individuals or small-enterprise owners require in the developed world... We must be prepared to bank good character, good ideas and the willingness to work hard. If we do bank those attributes, microfinance can be a formidable tool for poverty alleviation in large parts of the developing world.” His Highness the Aga Khan speaking at the launch of the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance, 22 February 2005, Palais des Nations Geneva, Switzerland.