I'm reminded of Mrs. Jellyby in Bleak House, myself, but yeah. The original idea of Grameen Bank was a circle of poor people (all women, usually) who jointly p

I'm reminded of Mrs. Jellyby in Bleak House, myself, but yeah. The original idea of Grameen Bank was a circle of poor people (all women, usually) who jointly promise to each other to repay the loans. The fact that it's a loan, your friends are monitoring you, and you have to pay it back means that you have to take it seriously. It was hard to argue with that, 20 years ago. Over time, though, it's morphed into "Big Western philanthropic institution sweeps in, spends 24 hours, leaves, and writes a check. Then the locals hire more staff and buy another SUV."