Eliminating Poverty? ‘Financial Inclusion’, Access to Land, and Gender Equality in International Development
| Published date | 01 November 2010 |
| Author | Ambreena Manji |
| Date | 01 November 2010 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00827.x |
LEGISLATION AND REPORTS
Eliminating Poverty? ‘Financial Inclusion’, Access to Land,
andGenderEqualityinInternationalDevelopment
Ambreena Manji
n
The UK White Paperon International Development published in 2009 explicitly links access to
¢nancial services with poverty reduction. In doing so, it echoes the policies the World Bank set
out in its 2008 Policy Research Report on Finance. This paper o¡ers a detailed analysis of these
developmentpol icies and connects the current plans for the expansion of ¢nancial sectors in the
developing world with policies that promote the acquisition of formal land title. The paper
argues that as asset-backedle ndingexpands, commercial banks will come to play an increasingly
important rolei n third worldeconomies. In light of th is, it reviews important¢rst-hand accounts
of the di⁄culties of drafting legislation to protect women’s access to land i n the face of opposition
from commercial lenders, using Tanzaniaa nd Ugandaas il lustrative examples. The paper assesses
the implications of expandingaccess to credit for gender equality and concludes that iti s di⁄cult
to reconcile the promotion of ¢nancial inclusion with the aim of international development to
end poverty.
INTRODUCTION
In Britain, thecommitment to use international development aid for the purpose
of poverty reduction has its legal basis in the International Development Act
2002.
1
In September 2009, the Department for International Development
(DfID) published aWhite Paper on the futureof international development assis-
tance entitled Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future.
2
In it the
United Kingdom renewed its commitment to ‘the moral imperative to end
poverty’
3
and undertook‘to work with others who also crave a prosperous and
secure future’.
4
The White Paper reserves an especially important role for law in
n
Director,British Institute in Easter n Africa,Nairobi, Kenya.My thanks to RayCocks, John Harring-
ton, Faustin Kalabamu,Tsachi Keren-Paz, Peter Lawrence,Patrick McAuslan, Zoe Pearson,Shiri n Rai
and DaniaThomas for commentingon earlier drafts and to the editor and two anonymousreviewers at
the MLR for their helpful suggestions. Any errors remain my own.
1Fora cr iticalexamination of the legislation, see P.McAuslan,‘The International DevelopmentAct
2002:Benign Imperialism or Missed Opportunity?’(20 03)66 MLR 563.
2Cm.7656.
3ibid,16.
4ibid 19. See also the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to which Britain is com-
mitted. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ (last visited June 2010).
r2010The Author.The Modern Law Review r2010The Modern Law Review Limited.
Published by BlackwellPublishing, 9600 Garsington Road,Oxford OX4 2DQ,UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
(2010)73(6) 985^1025
development.
5
It commits to triple bilateral aid for security a nd justice
projects, including civil justice systems that deal with family, commercial,
land and other matters.
6
In order to ‘creat[e] economic opportunities for the
poor’
7
Britain will s upport attempts to increase access to ¢na ncial services
including credit. The International Development White Paper points out that
two billion people still have no access to banking, saving, credit and insurance
and undertakes to ‘support stronger ¢nancial sectors, with access to ¢nancial
services’.
8
In 2008, the World Bank published a Policy Research Report on Finance
in which it too addressed access to ¢nancial services. It argued that whilst it
has long been recognised that ‘well-functioning ¢nancial services are
essential for economic development . . . the access dimension of ¢nancial
development has often been overlooked . . . .’
9
According to the report, ¢nancial
sector reforms are needed to promote broader access to ¢nancial services.
These e¡orts need to be at the core of the development agenda. The ¢nance report
links access to ¢nancial services with poverty alleviation and economic
development. It refers throughout to the need for ‘¢nancial inclusion’, broadening
access to credit for ‘the poor’ as well as the ‘non-poor’ in order to reduce income
inequalities.
10
This emphasis on encouraging ¢nancial sector development was also a feature
of earlier policy statements from the World Bank. The most signi¢cant previous
discussion ofthis topic appearedi n itsPolicy Research Reporton Land published
in 2003.
11
The report strongly advocated formalisation of tenure relations as a
desirable objective of land policy. According to the Bank, land does more than
simply provide a shelter and a means of livelihood. Access to land a¡ects incen-
tives to make investments and the ability of the poor to access ¢nancial markets.
The Bank argued that policiesthat make it possible to use land as a meansto access
credit will transform such property from a‘dead asset’into an ‘economically viable
resource’.
12
As commentators have pointed out, secure formal property rights are
today widely presented by international ¢nancial institutions as a pre-condition
5The recent revival of interest in law in development is explored i n J. Faundez, ‘Rule of Law or
Washington Consensus: The Evolution of the World Bank’s Approach to Legal and Judicial
Reform’ in A. Parry-Kessaris (ed),Law in the Pursuitof Development: Principlesinto Practice? (London:
Routledge,2009) ch 11; B.Tamanaha,‘ThePrimacy of Society and the Failures of Law and Devel-
opment’, Keynote Address,Conference on the Rule of Law, NagoyaUniversity,Japan 2009; and
D.Trubek and A. Santos (eds),The New Law a nd Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cam-
bridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2006).
6The precise ¢gure given is atripl ingof bi lateralproject aid to d120million by 2014.According to
the White Paper, the Justice Assistance Network established in 2007 aims to improve access to
expertise on justice issues on which Britain’s advice is regularly sought. n 2 above, 75^76.
7n2above,8.
8n2above,28.
9Wor l d B a n k , Policy ResearchReport:FinanceForAll?Policiesand Pitfallsin ExpandingAccess (Washing-
ton:WorldBank, 2008), ix.
10 This distinction is explored below,992.
11 Wor l d Ba n k , PolicyResearchReport: Land Policies forGrowth and Poverty Reduction (Oxford:Oxford
University Press,2003).
12 ibid 3.
Eliminating Poverty?
986 r2010The Author.The Modern Law Review r2010The Modern Law Review Limited.
(2010) 73(6) 985^1025
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