With his latest book David Roodman, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, adds a new contribution to the debate on the effectiveness of microfinance in empowering the poor. Written through Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog, where drafts of chapters, questions and findings were posted online and available to be read and commented by the public, “Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance” is an investigation on the microfinance sector, its most relevant practices, and its structural weaknesses.

Roodman argues that “Sustainably extending the financial system to poor people is development,” he explaines. “Poor people deserve access to financial infrastructure just as they deserve access to clean water, sanitation, and electricity.” However, he also finds that there are serious problems, particularly the speed of growth of the microfinance market, given by the high amount of resources invested in it. A more moderate growth in the sector would help to avoid credit bubbles and encourage microfinance institutions to take savings deposits.

These findings will be discussed by Roodman in an upcoming modified parliamentary-style debate with Milford Bateman from the University of Juraj Dobrila, Pula, author of the provocative “Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work? The Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism“. Both participants will answer one question among the ones submitted from the audience on the Microlinks website, after which a Q&A session will be held. The debate is being held in Washington DC on January 30th from 9-11am EST, and will be broadcast as a live webinar which you can register for here.

The discussion between two of the most conflicting voices from the microfinance debate may not lead to final conclusion on the effectiveness of microfinance for the poor, but it will definitely raise important issues and valuable questions that will help to better understand the mistakes of the sector and find appropriate ways to tackle them.