Attaining Empowerment: The Potential of Religious Social Capital in Microfinance Programs

• Main Author: Eberhard, John Wesley
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2008
• Subjects: social capital; microfinance; religion in social capital; empowerment; non-governmental organizations; Political Science
• Online Access: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/political_science_theses/21; http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=political_science_theses

Despite the remarkable success of microfinance programs in poverty alleviation, empowering the clients of these programs has proven elusive in many cases. Social capital is a commonly missing, or at least misused, asset within microfinance programs, which often leads to this outcome. Creating and fostering social capital will have a positive influence on empowering microfinance clients. The values espoused by certain Christian theologies can have a considerably positive impact on the creation and fostering of social capital. A Christian-oriented social capital also has the potential to alleviate the ills and correct the failures of a microfinance program’s intent to empower clients. This thesis argues that the values and structure of certain Christian theologies and practices create a type of social capital that increases the likelihood of Christian-based microfinance programs empowering their clients.