News stories by Raquel Martinez

Jesús Guerra, a volunteer at this week’s Fifth Global Microcredit Summit in this Spanish town, was nonplussed by the expensive gold watch sported by a banker from a developing country.

Microcredit can help a woman to have an income. It can, for better or worse, also transform gender equations in the public and private spheres.

While microcredit remains the best tool available to address poverty it is no magic wand and can only be a part of the larger development process, say experts gathered in this historic Spanish city.