Essays on microfinance: financial and social impacts in rural Bangladesh (original) (raw)
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Microfinance and Women Empowerment: A Panel Data Analysis Using Evidence from Rural Bangladesh
International Journal of Economics and Finance, 2011
Microfinance has long been associated with generating empowerment of women. Over 90% of their clients in Bangladesh are women. The rising demand for credit may seem to indicate the popularity of the program. However, analysing why demand for credit is rising among women may offer a way to analyse empowerment of women. Therefore, this paper utilises this fact and uses a panel data survey to measure individual level outcomes such as labour supply, asset accumulation and family planning and household level outcomes such as children education and household expenditure per annum from participating in a credit program. These outcomes would then be compared to outcomes that can be achieved from borrowing loans from a non-program source. By comparing these outcomes, the benefit of micro finance is extracted, which in turn, is further analysed in terms of whether they indicate empowerment of women.
Bangladesh is one of the high density countries of the world. 40% of its population lives below the poverty level of which rural women are poorer. The rise of the Micro Credit Institution in the global context is identified as an important phenomenon which has implication for the development prospects of the poor. The paper was designed to identify the role of Grameen Bank (GB) and to analyze rural women’s economic empowerment as the outcome of micro-credit interventions. In this regard, an exploratory research has been made to focus on the activities and impacts after receiving micro-credit from GB. A sample size of 100 respondents has been interviewed through a structured questionnaire, in-depth interview and observation from Jhenaidah and Kushtia districts. The result shows that the women are more independent and can engage in decision making process after receiving and using micro credit.
International Development Planning Review, 2008
Can micro-credit improve the livelihoods of the poor and disadvantaged? * Empirical observations from Bangladesh Over the last three decades, micro-credit has gained prominence worldwide in reducing poverty on a global scale. As an efficient socioeconomic financial mechanism, micro-credit enables various actors, both governmental and non-governmental, to realise their targets, among them the Millennium Development Goals. Based on research on micro-finance in central Bangladesh, this article examines and analyses the role of micro-finance institutions in promoting rural livelihoods in the country. The study reflects on recent arguments against micro-credit and shows that, despite some criticisms, micro-finance is making significant contributions to improving the livelihoods of disadvantaged rural communities. By adopting micro-finance as a central element in their development programmes, several development organisations, among them governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), aim to decrease global poverty while simultaneously enhancing the profile of women and other underprivileged communities (Hossain, 2002). Current literature has underscored the growing importance of micro-finance as an essential poverty alleviation mechanism (
Micro Credit is a well-discussed phenomenon worldwide. Since its independence, micro-credit has been introduced in Bangladesh. In this country, women are the major recipients of microfinance. There is a debate on the impact of microcredit. Proponents say that microcredit has been playing a groundbreaking role in poverty reduction through generating employment and income for the mass population. On the other hand, critics say that microcredit does not play any influential role in income generation; rather borrowers gradually get entangled in a web of debt. As a result, the main objective of borrowing, which is to eliminate poverty, turns futile. In this article, the impact of microcredit on the overall lives of rural
Assessing the Impact of Micro-credit on Poverty and Vulnerability in Bangladesh
Policy Research Working Papers, 1999
Zaman examines the extent to which micro-credit contributing to female empowerment. The reduction in reduces poverty and vulnerability through a case study of female vulnerability in a patriarchal society is illustrated BRAC, one of the largest providers of micro-credit to the using 16 female empowerment indicators developed poor in Bangladesh. Household consumption data from data on 1,568 women. The results suggest that collected from 1,072 households is used to show that the micro-credit's greatest impact is on the set of indicators largest effect on poverty arises when a moderate-poor relating to female control over assets and knowledge of BRAC loanee borrows more that 10,000 taka (US$200) social issues. in cumulative loans. Different control groups and The author also argues that micro-credit's impact on estimation techniques are used to illustrate this point. poverty and vulnerability can be strengthened if credit is Zaman discusses several ways by which membership in provided jointly with other financial (savings and micro-credit programs reduces vulnerabilityby insurance) and nonfinancial (legal education, food relief) smoothing consumption, building assets, providing interventions.
Book Review: Women and Microcredit in Rural Bangladesh by Aminur Rahman
2001
The success of Grameen Bank, a flagship organization providing collateral-free credit mostly to women in rural Bangladesh, has led to a burgeoning literature spanning many disciplines. One strand of the literature deals with theoretical issues in economics, such as the use of joint-liability contract and social collateral by the bank to circumvent the problem of asymmetrical information inherent in all financial transactions. Another track of the literature examines the economic impact of the bank on the borrowers and their communities. Yet another group of papers examine the social impact of the bank, especially its effect on the empowerment of women in Bangladesh. The book, Women and Microcredit in Rural Bangladesh: Anthropological Study of the Rhetoric and Realities of Grameen Bank Lending by Aminur Rahman belongs to this latter group. The major thesis of the book is that the public reason for Grameen Bank’s targeting of women—empowerment and betterment of their lives—is at varia...
We Were In Fire, Now We Are In Water: Micro-Credit and Gender Relations in Rural Bangladesh
changes in terms of changes in gender relations, in particular the articulation of new gender norms. Based on analysis of rural women's voices, the study c oncludes that development partners have to evolve gender strategies for achieving women's social dignity and equality through their economic development / poverty reduction programmes. Admittedly, there is no straightforward translation of micro-credit schemes into social action or gender relations. There is, however, a continuous creation of new norms and social contexts in favour of women as income earners and their access to resources, which amount to a change in their status of dependants in traditional culture and polity. Method Govind Kelkar and Rownok Jahan conducted group discussions and interviews with 261 women and 49 men mostly in collective sittings in 16 Mahila Samitis and 4 Purush Samitis in the 4 districts of Gazipur, Tangail, Narsinghdi and Kishoreganj (see Annex). Dev Nathan conducted fieldwork in Oxbow Lakes Project in the Jessore area in 1992-97 and from 2001 onwards, while engaged in supervision of the IFAD aquaculture project in Faridpur and nearby districts. The field investigations of ADIP SCGs, were carried out over three weeks in March 2003. In the text, reference is made in brackets to the Upazilla (sub-district) and District of the group from which the discussion is being reported. At times, we have used the names of women making the statements.
Impact of Micro-Financing on Women Empowerment in Bangladesh
Micro financing is a very popular form of financing for rural poor people, especially for women. Through micro financing many rural women changed their life. They change their living standard, children health, children education and so on. The aim of this research work is to examine the role of microcredit in income generating activities of women and its impact on their socioeconomic empowerment. The target population of the research was those sample both men and women who had availed microcredit facilities from some microcredit providing institutions or organizations in district Noakhali, Bangladesh. During this research, we also include some male sample to compare percentage of self-employment. Survey method was used as techniques of data collection. The majority of population was illiterate or semi-literate, so interview schedule was used as a tool of data collection. We have collected information of 109 sample including both male and female. But majority are female. Descriptive as well as non parametric test was used for data analysis. The results showed that most of the females who availed the facility of microcredit finally got socioeconomic empowerment through acquiring the self esteem, business skills, confidence level, decision making power, etc. The findings of the research showed that microcredit has significant impact on the up lift of socioeconomic empowerment of the borrowers in district Noakhali and at the end of the research, some recommendations is given in this regards.
Micro-Credit as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh
Journal of Economics and Sustainable Development, 2014
Poverty has remained a global phenomenon and has defied various endeavors at curbing it especially in developing countries. The high and unacceptable number of people within its grip around the world gave it a pride of place as one of the major goals of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000. Poverty alleviation was a prime target of the MDGs and micro-credit was recognized as a veritable tool for tackling it. Since the 1970s, especially during the new wave of microfinance in the 1990s, micro-credit has come to be seen as an important development policy and a poverty reduction tool. In this paper, we examined empirically the effect of micro-credit on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh using secondary data. The results of the study show that poverty level is still high among the rural populace; but those that have access to micro-credit seems to have managed better than those who have no access to micro-credit. In other words, access to micro-credit has positive but not significant impact on poverty alleviation among the rural populace. The study recommends that government should intensify effort in its recent financial inclusion strategy to ensure that the rural populace has greater access to micro credits. Government should also ensure that interest rate on micro credits are affordable, the terms of the credits flexible and the conditions attached to the credit well liberalized.