Boulder Institute of Microfinance

Monique Cohen is President of Microfinance Opportunities, a non-profit she founded in 2002. She is a recognized expert on the poor’s use of financial services and client assessment, including market research and impact assessment in microfinance. Dr. Cohen is an authority on market demand for microinsurance and has pioneered the development of financial education for low income households in developing countries. She designed and led a major microfinance impact assessment program at USAID in Washington, where she served as Senior Technical Advisor in the Office of Microenterprise Development, 1994-2002. She is a member of the CGAP Donor Working Group on Microinsurance where she heads the demand sub-group and is on the board on the Microfinance Center in Poland

She is co-author with Jennefer Sebstad of Microfinance, Risk Management and Poverty and Reducing Vulnerability, the Demand for Microinsurance. Dr. Cohen has published extensively on microfinance, microinsurance and the informal sector and has taught at the Boulder Microfinance Training Program and the Microenterprise Development Institute at the University of Southern New Hampshire and other universities. Monique Cohen has a Ph. D. from Clark University, Worcester Mass.