Person:
Ledgerwood, Joanna
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Financial inclusion,
Market development,
Microfinance,
Rural finance
Degrees
Departments
M.B.A., McGill University
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Joanna Ledgerwood is the Director of Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSDZ), part of the FSD Africa network focused on increasing financial inclusion through development of financial markets. Formerly in corporate and then private banking at Canada’s largest bank, in 1994, Joanna became an International Advisor for Calmeadow, a Toronto based NGO working in microfinance. She then joined the Sustainable Banking for the Poor project at the World Bank and in 1998 wrote
The Microfinance Handbook. In 1999, she moved to the Philippines to work with rural banks to deepen their outreach to the poor followed by a number of years in Uganda working with MFIs supporting their transformation to deposit-taking institutions. In 2006 Joanna joined the Aga Khan Foundation and led their Access to Finance activities in Central Asia and Africa from the head office in Switzerland until 2013 when she moved to Zambia to establish FSDZ.
Publication Search Results
1 - 3 of 3
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Publication
Microfinance Handbook: An Institutional and Financial Perspective
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 1998-12)The purpose of this handbook is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions. It provides a comprehensive source for the design, implementation, evaluation, and management of microfinance activities. The book has three parts: part one takes a macroeconomic perspective toward general microfinance issues and is primarily non-technical. Part two narrows its focus to the provision of financial intermediation, taking a more technical approach and moving progressively toward more specific (or micro) issues. Part three, the most technical part of the handbook, focuses primarily on assessing the financial viability of microfinance institutions. -
Publication
The New Microfinance Handbook : A Financial Market System Perspective
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-02)The new microfinance handbook provides a primer on financial services for the poor. It is written for a wide audience, including practitioners, facilitators, policy makers, regulators, investors, and donors working to improve the financial system, but who are relatively new to the sector. It will also be useful for telecommunication companies and other support service providers, students and academics, and consultants and trainers. Although this book is in part an update of the original handbook, the growth of the sector and the complexity of the financial market system have led to a perspective much broader than the previous 'financial and institutional perspective.' As a result, additional chapters have been added to address issues more relevant than when the original handbook was written. To reflect this complexity, the author invited a number of experts to write many of the new chapters. In addition, given that this book does not go into as much detail as the previous book did, a list of key resources at the end of each chapter provides readers additional information on specific topics. Finally, although the title still uses the term microfinance, the book very much addresses the wider financial ecosystem, moving beyond the traditional meaning of microfinance to inclusive financial systems. -
Publication
Transforming Microfinance Institutions : Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2006)In response to a clear need by low-income people to gain access to the full range of financial services including savings, a growing number of microfinance NGOs are seeking guidelines to transform from credit-focused microfinance organizations to regulated deposit-taking financial intermediaries. In response to this trend, this book presents a practical "how-to" manual for microfinance institutions to develop the capacity to become licensed and regulated to mobilize deposits from the public. This book provides guidelines for regulators to license and regulate microfinance providers, and for transforming microfinance institutions to meet the demands of two major new stakeholders -regulators and shareholders. As such, it focuses on developing the capacity of NGO microfinance institutions to mobilize and intermediate voluntary savings. Drawing from worldwide experience, it outlines how to manage the transformation process and address major strategic and operational issues inherent in transformation including competitive positioning, business planning, accessing capital and shareholders, and how to "transform" the microfinance institutions human resources, financial management, management information systems, internal controls, and branch operations. Case studies then provide examples of developing a new regulatory tier for microfinance, and how a Ugandan NGO transformed to become a licensed financial intermediary.