Microcredit Identity

International Conference,
University of Bologna
16-17 May 2013

Two days of conferences at the University of Bologna to reflect in depth on Microcredit and its identity. The initial objective of microcredit is to fight poverty of people in need. It is an instrument for those who need greater support, the poorest among the poor. The practice of Microcredit grew in the so-called “developing” countries around the Seventies and spread rapidly also across industrialized environments, representing a revolutionary innovation in the banking sector.

The conference aimed at stimulating participants to reflect on the meaning of the original model and the implications of its declination in other parts of the world, such as Italy, where the application of the Welfare State and its theorization are strongly integrated. Which identity traits should be preserved in the model declination, which ones can be ignored? In this perspective, understanding the process that credit triggers, assessing its best applications, towards which targets and under what circumstances, are some of the key questions to be answered during the conference. “Interdisciplinarity” is the key word of these two days: colleagues from the field of Law, Economics, Anthropology and Psychology will discuss the issue of microcredit identity by sharing personal reflections and conclusions. This will be the opportunity to submit the research from the Grameen Italia Foundation, launched to analyse the results of microcredit interventions in Italy and to assess their potential; analysis of results, process monitoring and training of operators will be key issues and key concepts at the centre of the discussion of these two days of work.