| dc.description.abstract | Microfinance has been recognized globally as a strategy in alleviating poverty and empowering women. However, developing countries government cannot solve these issues alone due to financial implications, and global development aid is decreasing. This has in turn necessitated the private sector and non-governmental organizations to intervene in the market, and find innovative ways in tackling poverty in Kenya. Microfinance programs have been introduced to provide financial services to the remote, low-income earners, focusing on women, which has been found to be effective in reducing poverty, creating employment and empowering women. This dissertation will assess to what extent microfinance has an impact on women’s livelihood in Kenya. In order to answer this, it employs human- and social capital theory to evaluate the Kenyan microfinance bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust Limited’s (KWFT), impact on clients’ livelihood. Further, the microfinance institution has for the past decade gone through a transformation from a non-profit to a full-fledged commercial microfinance bank. Primary data was collected from 49 informants in Kenya and Norway, and tabular and graphical methods have been supplemented to analyze data. The study, based on the results on livelihood, assess the theoretical critique on commercialization, and demonstrate how commercialization affects outreach in for-profit microfinance institutions. Further, it analyses the relationship between the Norwegian public/private initiative Nordic Microfinance Initiative (NMI) who invests in KWFT, and determine how the investment affect outreach in Kenya, and whether NMI follow their stated mission in prioritizing the social mission over financial profits. Based on this result I conclude that the investments have a positive impact on poverty alleviation, employment and empowerment among poor women in Kenya, with certain limitations and opportunity for increased supervision. | eng |