Research findings of the process of group formation or screening period reveal that
microfinance schemes start off as fragmented and heterogeneous groups, implying
that information about colleagues’ defaults risks is imperfect. In effect, information
levels vary across group members and according to specific aspects of group
members’ lives. Several sub-groups of people were found within each larger group of
around 20 members; amongst these sub-groups, varying information levels prevailed:
in sub-groups composed by family members, for example, high information levels
about one another were observed, while in sub-groups of neighbours who live very far
from each other, low levels of information were prominent. The extent of information
levels about members’ intrinsic characteristics can be summarised in table 1, which
highlights the main aspects of group participants’ lives that are relevant for assessing
future behaviour and responses during group interactions.