Tackling the down side: Social capital, women's empowerment and micro-finance in Cameroon

Micro-finance programmes are currently dominated by the 'financial self-sus tainability paradigm' where women's participation in groups is promoted as a key means of increasing financial sustainability while at the same time a ssumed to automatically empower them. This article examines the experience of seven micro-finance programmes in Cameroon. The evidence indicates that micro-finance programmes which build social capital can indeed make a signi ficant contribution to women's empowerment. However, serious questions need to be asked about what sorts of norms, networks and associations are to be promoted, in whose interests, and how they can best contribute to empowerm ent, particularly for the poorest women. Where the complexities of power re lations and inequality are ignored, reliance on social capital as a mechani sm for reducing programme costs may undermine programme aims not only of em powerment but also of financial sustainability and poverty targeting.