Muslim societies fare far worse than the rest of the world in the matter of addressing the problem of poverty. Except for a handful of countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, there are high and rising poverty levels in both urban and rural parts of most Muslim countries. Poverty levels have also been associated with high inequality alongside low productivity. According to a recent survey, in Indonesia alone with world’s largest Muslim population, over 129 million people are poor or vulnerable to poverty with incomes less than merely US$2 a day. Bangladesh and Pakistan account for 122 million each followed by India at approximately 100 million Muslims below poverty line.
Microfinance is a tool of poverty alleviation. However, microfinance must be offered in a way that is in conformity with the fundamental beliefs and cultures of Muslim societies. This has given rise to a growing number of Islamic microfinance projects across the globe. In parallel to this development, the importance of Islamic microfinance (IsMF) as a discipline has also surged with a view to meeting the human resource development needs of IsMF sector.
The purpose of this joint Education and Research Program in Islamic Microfinance is to pool resources of the International Institute of Islamic Business and Finance, India and Trisakti University Indonesia to develop the discipline of Islamic Microfinance through collaborative research into real-life experiments across the globe guided by a need to delineate and disseminate best practices in this area.
The Program involves:
- Provision of research support systems and facilities both at IIIBF and TRISAKTI
- Encouragement to PhD scholars to opt for research topics in Islamic microfinance
- Continuous interaction between faculty and researchers at IIIBF and TRISAKTI
- Organizing joint seminars, workshops and conferences
- Joint publication of research results in refereed journals
- Commissioning of the Journal of Islamic Microfinance
- Development of case studies, course material in the area
- Launch of Graduate Certificate/ Diploma/ Degree Programs in Islamic Microfinance and Development; both campus-based and online.
