Ryan Hahn writes for the World Bank PSD blog on What would a better PR campaign for microfinance look like?:
My modest suggestion is that MFIs need to do a better job at storytelling. In his post, Roodman is quite critical of the MFIs' reliance on a selective set of success stories. Indeed, the statement devotes nearly a full page to six success stories, all of individuals who took out microloans and successfully invested the money in starting or expanding microenterprises. Roodman is correct that these stories are simply anecdotes that never amount to hard evidence. But I seriously doubt the public-at-large will ever be able to appreciate the debates around the merits and pitfalls of randomized control trials. Thus, MFIs are obliged to fall back on storytelling, at least in their dealings with the general public.But instead of rehashing the same stories (all but one of the six stories in the MFIs' statement were about women, and all were about microentrepreneurs), MFIs should tell more stories that are consistent with the wide variety of microfinance initiatives. Surely, there must be more compelling stories about men investing in businesses and sending their kids to school. And it is easy to imagine the beaming faces of individuals who have used microsavings products and saved up for a big purchase like a motorbike. Or farmers who took out microinsurance and benefitted when a streak of bad weather came along. Even consumption smoothing could be a compelling story if a microloan helped someone get through the hungry season. Of course, all of these stories would still not make it over Roodman's quantitative stick, but it just might help make the dialogue a little more honest in the future.
I think this is a nice point. I believe in storytelling. I have found it extremely effective to tell stories when I present my work (see the beginning of chapter 6). For what it is worth, I tell stories not about clients but about my journeys into knowledge, in order to bring the audience along with me.
