Microcredit as a solution for Poverty?

Thanks to N for bringing this New Yorker article on Microcredit to my attention. The article is particularly timely since we have encountered a few situations here where the approach just might work. Some of the people Euson and Crystal have interviewed believe that they just need a small amount of money to get a bike to get to school, or to build a fence so they can raise some livestock etc. That little step might allow them to climb above basic poverty levels.