THERE IS A revolution underway in development approaches, ranging from self-help to self-finance. This edited volume charts the development of micro-finance as part of the solution to inadequate shelter in low- and middle-income countries. It is organized into three sections. The first describes the inability of existing formal financing to reach the poorest of the poor, with position papers by the editors, IIED and the World Bank. These papers chart the growth of informal solutions to housing finance and compare different approaches. The second section covers the experience of public or private sector provision of housing finance in countries as diverse as Jamaica, India and Russia. The final section considers the experience of NGOs and community-based organizations which have built on existing informal systems of housing finance used by the very poor, with particular reference to the experience of women’s access to housing finance. The case studies for this final section include experiences in India, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Zambia, Botswana, El Salvador and South Africa, demonstrating a wide variety of informal systems of credit. The most important parallels between the different experiences that could be drawn are the importance of flexibility and the constant development of innovative approaches, the commitment to a long-term solution (no quick fixes), and women having a central role. There is also consensus that, in order for the informal solutions to housing finance to survive, government should be involved in protecting and promoting these schemes.