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  • 7/30/2019 Impact of Microfinance Program on Poverty in Bangladesh

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    Interim Report

    Submission

    On

    Impact of Microfinance Program on Poverty in Bangladesh

    Submitted To:

    Ms Sadia Afroze

    Associate Professor

    Department of Accounting & Information Systems

    University of Dhaka

    Submitted By:

    Ismail Hosen

    MBA 13

    th

    BatchBBA Roll No. 13037

    MBA Roll No. 275

    Department of Accounting & Information Systems

    University of Dhaka

    Date of Submission: January 03, 2013

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    Outline of the report:

    1. Introduction

    2. Literature review

    3. Materials and Methods

    4. Descriptive analysis

    5. Impact Analysis

    6. Evaluation and findings

    7. Conclusion

    Executive Summary

    This research tests whether microcredit offered by MFIs succeeded, from the perspectives of

    beneficiaries, in reducing the poverty of borrowers in poor areas in Madaripur, Bangladesh using

    the example of different Microfinance Institutions (MFIa) as case study. The data was gathered

    using a tailored questionnaire on sample of 52 beneficiaries. Data collected were analyzed using

    descriptive and inferential statistics. A linear regression model is used with the dependent

    variables as the difference in income and assets indices before and after acquiring the loan and a

    set of independent variables. Microfinance showed a positive effect on poverty reduction and

    life betterment but with a small magnitude. The result revealed that majority of beneficiaries was

    poor and were in the active age group of between 21-42 years representing about 59.62%.

    Microfinance loan increases living standards at significant levels. Though the interest ratescharged by the MFIs are very high (averagely 20.31%). It is highly recommended to have

    government supervisory entity sessions to all beneficiaries prior to approving loans requests. It

    is therefore, also recommended that policy should address issue for inadequate information

    access and high interest rates.

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    Introduction:

    Themicrofinance sector in Bangladesh is one of the oldest and most mature. Some of the largest

    microfinance institutions in the world are Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, provide access to

    finance to nearly 20 million poor people here. On account of its pioneering role in developing a

    low cost model of microcredit delivery is known worldwide as the Grameen model-and in

    demonstrating its sustainability, Bangladesh has been referred to as the birthplace of

    microfinance.

    With a population of 15.16 crores and density of 964 persons per square kilometer, Bangladesh

    is one of the densely populated countries in the world. While it is one of the poorest countries in

    the world, Bangladesh has made significant progress in recent decades; achieving an 81%

    increase in its Human Development Index since 1980. However, it still has a low ranking of 109

    out of 135 countries and a composite score of just 0.497 using the revised 2011 version of the

    index.

    The financial system of Bangladesh is governed and regulated by the Bangladesh Bank and

    consists of state owned commercial, government-owned specialized development banks,

    domestic private commercial banks, and foreign banks. The other formal financial service

    providers are Non- Banking Financial Institutions, Microfinance Institutions and insurance

    companies. In addition, there are a large number of informal financial service providers such as

    moneylenders, pawnbrokers and Rotating Savings and Credit Associations. The internationally

    famous Grameen Bank is a special case, having been created under a customized ordinance. It is

    currently the largest provider of microfinance services in the country. Table 1.1 summarizes the

    financial system of Bangladesh, depicted in more detail in the figure attached to the page no.3.

    Microfinance in Bangladesh is overwhelmingly provided by NGO-MFIs with Grameen Bank

    being the only exception in terms of institutional type. Commercial banks have also initiated

    direct credit programs along with NGO-MFIs linked credit schemes, in order to alleviate

    poverty.

    Microfinance in Bangladesh is overwhelmingly provided by NGO-MFIs with Grameen Bank

    being the only exception in terms of institutional type. Commercial banks have also initiated

    direct credit programs along with NGO-MFI linked credit schemes, in order to alleviate poverty.

    Microfinance has grown tremendously in the past decade and is now practiced in some form inalmost all regions of the world. Bangladeshs per capita Gross National Income (GNI) was $ 640

    in mid-2010, ranked by the international Monetary Fund at 158 out of 182 countries. As per the

    World Development Indicators database of the World Bank, GNI per capita (at purchasing power

    parity) was $ 1620 in 2010.

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    Table1.1 summarizes the financial system of Bangladesh:

    Type ownership Regulated By Number

    Commercial Banks Government Bangladesh Bank 4

    Private 39

    Foreign 9

    Specialized Banks Government Bangladesh Bank 4

    NBFI Government Bangladesh Bank 1

    Private 15

    Foreign 13

    Microfinance Institutions Number

    Grameen Bank Private/Govt. Bangladesh Bank 1

    NGO-MFIs Private Micro-credit Regulatory Authority 553

    NGOs Private Not Under Regulation ~ 500

    For the purpose of determining microfinance coverage, the total number of households in

    Bangladesh has calculated using an estimated household size of 5 persons resulting in 33 million

    households. Bangladesh Microfinance Statistics, 2009 indicates 27.05 million microfinance

    borrower accounts in the country at the end of 2009. Assuming every household below the

    poverty line is a potential microfinance borrower, the extent of microfinance coverage would be

    22.0% of all households below the upper national poverty line.

    For each potential microfinance borrowing household in the country, there is an average of

    around 1.45 loans outstanding. Feedback from some MFIs managers, however, indicates an

    overstating of borrower accounts by around 15-20%, suggesting that loans per eligible clienthousehold are better estimated at 1.20 and the number of borrowers at around 18.5 million.

    The largest 3 organizations service for over 70% of the total microfinance portfolio in

    Bangladesh and 87% of the portfolio of the large 10 microfinance institutions. Figure 1.2 shows

    the largest three microfinance organization loans distributions.

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    The microfinance industry has $2.72 billion of credit outstanding, which amounts to 7.33% of

    the $37.1 billion outstanding in the countrys entire financial system. Figure 1.3 shows the

    microfinance part of the total financial systems

    These overall analyses give us the insight that the Microfinance sector provides us a very

    important phenomenon in access to financial services. The following part of this report will

    provide the study area of this paper on the ground of the previous discussion.

    Grameen

    37%

    BRAC

    29%

    ASA

    21%

    Other

    13%

    Figure1.2 Distrbution of outstnding Portfolio, 2009.

    MF

    Portfolio

    7%

    7%Bank Credit

    93%

    Figure 1.3 Microfinance as part of the financial system

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    Chapter Two 2

    Literature ReviewThe purpose of this chapter is to present the conceptual framework through which microfinance

    is considered as a poverty reduction tool. This chapter will also discuss the condition of

    microfinance in Bangladesh and will display the previous empirical studies in various developingcountries and highlight the effectiveness of microfinance in reducing poverty in each country.

    2.1 Conceptual Framework in Assessing Microfinance Effect on Poverty:

    Theories developed in the context of development economics highlighted numerous factors

    affecting poverty. Many researchers agree that the major factors correlated with poverty are:

    large family size, low educational attainment, unemployment, underemployment (for example,

    part time workers who want to work full-time), low wages and the prevailing economic

    conditions in the labor market. According to the literature, a number of specific factors affect

    poverty in each country, depending on the conditions of the country. For example, in Uganda, as

    stated in Lawson, McKay and Okidi (2003), alcoholism, polygamy, large families, and illness

    were the leading causes of poverty. In Latin America, other factors proved to be the most

    important determinants of poverty, including rural underdevelopment and demographic

    composition complexity (Benito, 2000). In Bangladesh the main reasons of poverty are full and

    seasonal unemployment, natural disasters like flood, tornado, river erosion, drought etc,

    inflation, high birth date or large families, illness, illiteracy etc.

    2.1.1. Poverty as a Multidimensional Concept:

    Some researchers attempt to define poverty in order to find better approaches to combat it. For

    instance, poverty could be defined as an income level below a socially acceptable minimum.Poverty could be distinctive in terms of the severity. Montgomery and Weiss (2005) made a

    simple distinction between the long-term or chronic poor and those who temporarily fall into

    poverty as a result of adverse shock, known as transitory poor. Studies such as Weiss,

    Montgomery and Kurmanalieva (2003) argue that microfinance can help both types of poor

    come out of poverty since access to microfinance can fund, prolific activities that will increase

    income levels. This is based on the notion that poverty is typically interpreted as a lack of access

    by poor households to the assets required for higher standard of income or welfare (Weiss,

    Montgomery and Kurmanalieva, 2003).

    Poverty has traditionally been defined as onedimensional, where only income and consumption

    count for measuring the intensity of poverty. The study of poverty started with the works of

    Booth (1982) and Rowntree (1901), who were th fjirst to introduce the economic concept of

    poverty, combined with that of the poverty line and the head count ration on the basis of the

    basic needs approach (Fusco, 2003).

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    It was not until the 1970s that poverty started being defined by many researchers as a

    multidimensional concept. In fact, poverty has several dimensions, including insufficient or poor

    quality nutrition, poor health, limited access to education, and low levels of participation in

    decision making. This multivariate direction includes the functioning and capabilities approach

    introduced by Sen (1979), and the UNDP human poverty index. Moreover, Massoumi (1986),

    Case and Deaton (2002), and Deutsch and Silber (2005) argue that poverty is a multi-

    dimensional phenomenon.

    More studies attempted to measure the relative importance of specific dimensions in reducing

    poverty. The reason why a certain dimension might matter is that it has instrumental power. That

    is, the dimension is expected to contribute effectively to the reduction of one or more other

    dimensions of poverty (Alkire, 2008). For example, studies proved the poverty rate has

    decreased among football players, and then football playing skills might be included as a

    multidimensional measure of poverty. An empirical study conducted in rural Brazil concluded

    that poverty has two dimensions; income and educational attainment. The study observed that thedrop in poverty in poverty levels is higher for people with higher education (Bourguignon and

    Chakravarty, 2003). Therefore, educational attainment should be included as a multidimensional

    measure of poverty in Brazil.

    Each country has its own dimensions used in measuring poverty reduction based on its historical,

    cultural, political, economic, and environmental status. Many researchers in all countries came

    up with numerous dimensions, but these papers invariably aggregate the multiple measures of

    well-being into a one- dimensional index, essentially returning to a univariate analysis. The best-

    known example is the Human Development Index (HDI) of the UNDP (1990), which uses a

    weighted average of life expectancy, literacy, and GDP per capita for a population, as well asother dimensions (Duclos, Sahn and Younger (2008).

    In order to avoid the possibility that two equally valid rules for aggregating across deveral

    dimensions of well-being could lead to contradictory conclusions regarding which groups have

    higher poverty, some studies measure poverty reduction through certain dimensions that are not

    aggregated into one-dimension, such researchers include Duclos, Sahn, and Younger (2008), in

    addition to many others who have tackled microfinance as poverty reduction tool.

    There are some standard definitions of poverty. The deficiency of income to satisfy basic needs

    is by far the most widely used definition of poverty status. Income poverty is determined by

    comparison of household income to a poverty line estimated using a normative food items. The

    absolute poverty line is set at the level of the expenditure needed to provide a balanced minimum

    diet of 2110 calories with a 30 percent (of poverty level income) allowance for non-food basic

    needs (Hossain, 2009).

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    The definition of poverty used in this research is that of the World Bank which implies that

    anybody who earns $2 per day or less is considered poor. Before testing the effectiveness of

    microfinance, it is important to highlight the condition and trend of poverty in Bangladesh.

    2.2. Trends in poverty & asset Distribution in rural Bangladesh:

    Past Studies have revealed that, after being inflexible for twenty years since independence of

    Bangladesh in 1971, overall poverty has deteriorated since 1990, and that the rate of

    deterioration has continued for the next five years. An estimate of recent study has revealed that

    within the next five years, the procedure of increasing poverty reduction is nonstop and maybe

    somewhat strengthened.

    After looking at the poverty and its dynamics in Bangladesh we can now turn to the discussion of

    microfinance. In the following subsections the definitions, characteristics and historical overview

    of microfinance are discussed.

    2.3. Overview of microfinance and microcredit:

    Microfinance is referred to as the provision which provides financial services to low- income and

    poor people who are lacking of access to financial services. Microfinance is the opportunity for

    poor and lower income people to get financial services according to Otero (1999, p.8). Financial

    services mainly consists savings and credit (Ledgerwood, 1999). Colombet & Schreiner (2010,

    p.339) described microfinance as a collection of small loans and deposits for the group of person

    who are deprived of financial services. It can be said microfinance is a provision that provides

    services to those poor and lower income group people who are living in rural areas and are

    deprived of formal financial services from financial institutions.

    As said by Maanen (2004), Microfinance is providing banking to the unbankables, taking crucial

    financial services to the millions of people who are not eligible for accessing under the umbrella

    of formal financial institutions. He said banks are not for people having money but for peoplehaving money. Poor people do not have access to financial services because they do not meet the

    minimum standard of creditworthiness due to lack of security, stable job, steady flow of income

    and provable loan history. Microfinance has eliminated the wall of creditworthiness by its credit

    design and ensured the access to financial services by the poor. It has helped poor people to set

    up own venture and generate income from that venture, thus helped them to increase wealth and

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    go out of poverty. Besides financial services it improves the lifestyle of poor by providing

    education and fulfilling other basic needs.

    Microfinance is based on the ground that poor have unused or underused skills. They are poor

    not for their lack of skills but lack of the opportunity to use their skills (Yunus, 2006). Yunus

    (2003) said that charity leads to a longer poverty and it is not the solution to the poverty. Only

    the measure to unleash the creativity and prospect inheriting in the vein of every person is the

    proper answer to the poverty. Following this inspiring vision of Dr. Muhammad Yunus, now-a-

    days microfinance has become a movement against poverty thats objective is to ensure the

    access to financial services by the people by providing a wide range for services such as savings,

    credit, insurance etc (Christen et.el., 2004).

    2.4. Difference between Microcredit and Microfinance:

    Microcredit and microfinance is almost same in their names which are used interchangeably

    where there is a difference between microcredit and microfinance. According to Sinha (1998,

    p.2), microcredit means to provide loan in small amount but where no formal institutions are

    involved on the other hand microfinance refers to small loan which is provided by NGOs and

    MFIs or any formal financial institutions.

    Okiocredit, (2005) identified microcredit and microfinance that microcredit involves with

    supplying loan to lower income group or poor on the other hand microfinance refers to provide

    loan to the poor additionally other financial services such as to take deposit, provide payment

    services , collect bills, insurance and pension services etc.

    2.5. The History of Microfinance:

    Microcredit has an old and long history. Formal microcredit institutions are known for several

    decades but the history of informal micro lending is old. One of the oldest micro-credit

    institutions that provided small loans to poor without any collateral was established by Irish

    nationalist Joanthan Swift (global vision, 2006). He initiated this idea in 1700s. in the 1800s

    many other small financial institutions were set up which were more likely savings and credit

    unions and cooperative institutions. These types of cooperative credit institutions were spread inrapidly in Germany in 1870s and spread in other European countries in later decades (global

    vision 2006). In the early 1900s this cooperative model was spread through Indonesia and Latin

    America. These new financial institutions were targeted to increase the rural commercialization

    and to mobilize savings in the rural areas. But these cooperative banks and financial institutions

    were owned by the rich and government not by the poor. Thus ultimately many were targeted to

    earn profit and many became inefficient got shut down.

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    In the 1950s to 1970s many agricultural lending institutions were set up in many countries by

    respective governments with the help of donors. These institutions focused mainly on small

    farmers in the expectation of increasing productivity and farmers income. But these supply led

    institutions failed to achieve their objectives due to inefficiency in disbursing and recovering the

    loans. As a result they faced immense attrition in their capital base and became failed

    organizations.

    In the mid 1970s Dr. Muhammad Yunus who was a teacher of University of Chittagong in

    Bangladesh innovated a new village banking model. At first he applied it on the people of a

    village name Jobra near the University of Chittagong. This pilot project got massive success. But

    he failed to attract formal financial institutions to undertake his new village banking scheme due

    to the large operating cost. At last, due to his relentless effort Muhammad Yunus established

    Grameen Bank, the first microfinance institution in Bankgladesh, with the help of government

    and dondor agencies (global vision, 2006). Following the track of Grameen Bank many othergiant MFIs (e.g. BRAC, ASA, Proshika, etc.) have been established in Bangladesh.

    After the development of Grameen Bank, large scale- outreach could be provided by microcredit

    profitably. The 1990s saw accelerated growth in the now days microfinance institutions

    (Robinson, 2001, p.54). Dichter (1999) declared 1990s as the microfinance decade. In now a

    days microfinance become a growing industry said by Robinson (2001). By the development of

    micro finance institutions, microfinance concept is now become wider and a number of formal

    financial institutions are developed which are responsible for providing loan to lower income

    people and also to provide loan and other financial services (MIX, 2005).

    Another successful microfinance Institution is Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI). It was established

    in the mid-1980s. Now it is probably the largest single MFI in the world. It serves more than 30

    million members all over Indonesia (Jakarta post, 2011).

    After the development of Grameen Bank and BRI, large scale-outreach could be provided by

    microcredit profitably. The 1990s saw accelerated growth in the number of microfinance

    institutions (Robinson, 2001, p.54). In this decade MFIs introduced many microproducts to

    serve microenterprises and poor households. After 1990s many commercial banks have also

    started microfinance products in many countries. Dichter (1999) declared 1990s as the

    microfinance decade (Dichter, 1999, p.12). In now days microfinance become a growing

    industry said by Robinson (2001). By the development of microfinance institutions,

    microfinance concept is now become wider and a number of formal financial institutions are

    developed which are responsible for providing loan to lower income people and also provide

    loan and other financial services (MIX, 2005). Microfinance has spread very widely all over the

    world. According to Microcredit summit campaign report 2011, MFIs all over the globe have

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    reached to about 190 million clients of whom about 128 million are the poorest. Today

    developed countries also considering microfinance as the strategy of improving life standard of

    poor.

    2.5. Model of microfinance interventions:

    It has already been mentioned the main problems of formal financial institutions and informal

    credit sources in the previous part. These types of financial institutions are not designed to

    supply financial services to poor. There are many barriers to entry these financial institutions by

    the poor. The Grameen Bank designed a new kind of organization that serves the poor and broke

    the all barriers to the access to the financial institutions by the poor. The Grameen Bank model is

    well known but I am describing it here due to the detailed understanding of the way microfinance

    help poor. In a study on the state of microfinance in Bangladesh Alamgir (2009) has described

    the basic principles of Grameen approach to break the barriers to access to credit by the poor.

    These are given below:1. Poor people, especially poor women are targeted as the member of the MFI. Here, the

    clients having land less than 0.5 acre are accepted as member;

    2. Women clients who repay loans in due time, and use money for generating income anduse generated income to develop the living standard are accepted here;

    3. Clients are clustered as the group which consists of five persons and six to ten groups areorganized to form a centre. A supervisor i.e., bank staff visits each centre minimum once

    a week for making transactions;

    4. There is no collateral is required for the loan, but group members are responsible ofrepayment;

    5. Loans are given in small amount and repayments are also taken in small weeklyinstallments.

    6. Borrowers need not to come to the bank instead bank will reach the banking services atthe door of poor. Banks employees will collect installments, disburse loans and

    supervise the borrowers by going to centers;

    7. All administrative approaches are simplified to match with the poor.8. To eliminate corruption all transactions are completed in public.

    2.6.1. The Grameen group- based solidarity model:

    The most widely used lending technology is the group based system introduced by Grameen

    Bank. Guzman and Berenbach (1994) said that groups are formed for taking loan becomes the

    peer group where each group is formed with four to seven members. The group members meet

    once a week to take loans, deposits, and savings and repay loans. Loans are given for one year,

    where repayments are taken in equal installments. Each installment contains both principal and

    interest. After repayment of one loan the borrower can take another loan in higher amount.

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    Collectively all members of the group are treated as a guarantor, and the successful repayment by

    all group members helps to access the subsequent loans. Generally all payments paid on weekly

    basis (Ledgerwood, 1999).

    By making each member as the guarantor of each other such solidarity groups decline the rate of

    default of loan repayment for such microfinance institutes like Grameen bank (Guzman and

    Berenbach, 1994). This group based model is so effective that most of the MFIs use this

    approach. At present, almost 33 million members do their transaction in this system (Alamgir,

    2009). Though this system has some criticisms about its rigidity in payment system, it was

    proved to be most effective.

    2.6.2. Self-help group or Village Banking Model:

    Village Banks are formed by NGOs which provide opportunity for access to financial services,

    motivate their members to deposit their savings and form self-help groups which are communitymanaged credit and savings associations (Holt, 1994). Since the mid-1980s we can found their

    existence. They generally have 25-50 members who want to improve their living condition by

    self-employment activities and have very little income. The Bank run by these members, the

    members also elect own officers, set laws by their own, give loan to the people and provide their

    services by making payments (Grameen Bank, 2000). Loan recovery rate is high due to moral

    support that each group promise behind each loan published on a report in 2005 in Global

    Development Research Centre.

    Main source of fund f village banks come from sponsoring MFIs. To make a collective guarantee

    all members sign to a loan agreement with the village bank. Usually Twenty percent of the loan

    amount of every cycle is offered to save by the members (Ledgerwood, 1999). New loans and

    income generating activities are financed by the savings of the members which is tied to the loan

    amounts. Members pay no interest on savings and the village bank share a profit from its

    relending activities to its members. Women are the main target of many village banks, Female

    participation in the village banks will increase social status and household bargaining power is

    expected by the model said by Holt (1994, p.158).

    2.6.3. Individual Lending Systems:

    Another lending methodology used by MFIs is individual lending method. This method aims at

    increasing flexibility and imposing more importance on meeting individual loan needs. Where

    group based systems is a model used for all, individual technique offers loans and saving

    services base on the individual demands of clients. In this model borrowers have flexibility in

    terms of borrowing amount, repayment schedule, frequency of savings, and the duration of loan.

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    ASA and BRAC have introduced this of lending method for microenterprises, but customers

    dont get full flexibility in terms of duration of loan (Alamgir, 2009).

    2.7. Microfinance in Bangladesh:

    After the introduction of Microfinance in Bangladesh in 1970s, microfinance sector grew very

    rapidly in that country. MFIs in Bangladesh have been delivering financial services to the poor

    who had no access to these services earlier. Previously the default rate of small agricultural loan

    was very high in Bangladesh. The introduction of group based system of MFIs has decreased the

    default rate to a very low level. The poor now have the access to a collateral free credit that

    enable income using micro credit and reduce their poverty.

    Microfinance is a comparatively new term in Bangladesh. People are more accustomed with the

    term Microcredit. The basic difference between microcredit and microfinance was discussed

    earlier. In short word, microcredit refers only lending and borrowing in small amount, while

    microfinance is an umbrella term that covers savings, microcredit, micro insurance and evenremittance services in micro level (Alamgir, 2009). Besides focusing on the poor, micro

    financing provides services to non-poor small farmers and micro entrepreneurs.

    2.7.1. Current Features of Microfinance Sector in Bangladesh:

    Microfinance sector in Bangladesh has passed a long way. Over this time the initial features and

    principals followed MFIs have changed by a small degree. Now microfinance programs have

    following common features:

    MFIs target women as the main recipients of their services although they have many male

    members;

    Though commercial banks and many MFIs provide loan to individual clients, group-

    based systems is still the dominating methodology microfinance lending. In the beginning

    of MFI sector in Bangladesh group members have to take liability for any default by any

    group member. But now-a-says MFIs use group-based model as a low cost administrative

    method and liability is borne by individual client not the group;

    Now NGOs dominate the microfinance sector, which provide financial services to poor

    along with their other development services. These NGOs are known as NGO-MFIs

    (Alamgir, 2009);

    Besides the poor MFIs are offering financial services to near-poor people, that ensures

    their long term financial viability through diversification. Through the diversificationstrategy NGO-MFIs are transforming into permanent financial service providers for poor

    and near-poor.

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    2.7.2. Microfinance outreach in Bangladesh:

    At the end of 2008 MFIs have served about 33 million members of which 26.78 million or

    81.1% was borrowers (Microfinance Statistics, 2008). This estimate includes multiple

    memberships or overlapping. Total 14,441 branches of over 700 MFIs serves these clients. The

    six of the overall which the giant three (Grameen, BRAC and ASA) accounted for 79.26%.

    About 700 small MFIs served the rest 20.47%. This statistics indicate that microfinance sector in

    Bangladesh is heavily concentrated around these large three MFIs. The reason behind this

    concentration is the resource and management constraint of these smaller institutions.

    Though economic evaluation of micro-finance policy in Bangladesh is not hopeful as

    predictable, socioeconomic benefits of micro-finance programs reveals micro-finance as a

    promising device for poverty reduction.

    Findings differ from one study to another because of the differences in impact evaluation

    methodologies used but these studies are concluded in the context of providing that micro-finance facilities to the poor, although all clients may not benefited uniformly. One study of

    Grameen Bank revealed that Grameen Bank provide facilities to the poor women in terms of

    income generation, employment and promotion of social indicators (Hossain 1988). Other BIDS

    and non BIDS studies also indicate that micro-finance operation in Bangladesh helps the poor

    people (e.g., Rahman 1996; Riley, Schuler, and Hashemi, 1996; Hashemi and Schuler 1994).

    These studies indicate correlation between micro-finance programs and their provided benefits,

    but do not indicate whether these programs really subjects to creating such benefits to the

    participants.

    2.8 Microfinance and its impact on development:

    Besides providing credit to the poor for fighting with poverty on individual level, microfinance

    has also the responsibility to fight against poverty in institutional level (Otero, 1999),

    microfinance institutions have evolved as the solution to the problem of access to the financial

    services by the poor. But to reduce the poverty in Bangladesh MFIs need to address the financial

    access gap in a sustainable manner. Through this MFIs can become an inseparable part of the

    financial sector of Bangladesh as it has done in some extent.

    Studies show that microfinance plays important role in development of the livelihood and

    economy. Microfinance plays following roles in development (UNCDF, 200):Microfinance helps poor people meet fulfill essential needs

    Provides protection against risks and vulnerability.

    Improves economic condition of households

    Increase women empowerment through program participation, thus encourage gender

    equality.

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    Otero (1999, p .10) referred microfinance as the mechanism that fight against poverty. She stated

    that microfinance makes a big opportunity for the poor to access to productive capital. Such

    capital becomes human capital and social capital. Human capita is created through training and

    education as well as social capital is created through getting the accessibility of formal institution

    that helps to remove poverty. Material capital support to a poor man or women build strong

    sense of dignity and it also give strength to a poor people for involving in the economic and

    social service. (Otero, 1999).

    According to Otero (1999) microfinance motto is not only the support of combating poverty in a

    certain level by providing capital but also it is effective in industrial sector. Micro finance can

    provide service to the poor as an informal way instead of formal financial institutions where their

    services are unnoticed to institutional banking format.

    Littlefield and Rosenberg (2004) said that MFIs have formed to address the market failure;

    market fails because the poor are usually ignored in the financial service sector. By searching out

    the gap in the market an MFI can increase the number of poor people in the market and besidesMFIs now turn into formal financial institution and they can fund their lending portfolios by

    involving capital market Otero, 1999).

    Not so ago, critics like Littlefield, Murduch and Hashemi (2003), Simanowitz and Brody (2004)

    and the IMF (2005) have given their comment on the contribution of microfinance in acquiring

    the Millennium Development Goals. Simanowitz ans Brody (2004, p.1) stated that to achieve

    MDGs microfinance can play a vital role and most of the poor people can be benefited if the

    microfinance system can be established as a global financial system. Littlefield et.al. (2003)

    stated Microfinance is a critical contextual factor with strong impact on the achievements of the

    MDGs microfinance has no other competitor among the development interventions: it canprovide social benefits continuously, permanently and on a large scale. Different research and

    observation proved that how microfinance eradicates poverty, accelerate education, well health

    facilities and empower women (2003).

    2.9. The Debate about the Effectiveness of Microfinance:

    Finding strategies to alleviate poverty is of great importance to policy makers. Among these

    strategies, microfinance has taken an advanced rank because it helps to not exclude the poor

    from their right to access loans. Nonetheless, many poor people have great difficulty accessing

    microfinance. Montgomery and Weiss (2005) stated that microfinance may have positive effectson poverty but it is not the magic formula in reaching the poor. Caskey et al, (2006), for instance,

    said that about two thirds of low-income households living the Metropolitan area of Mexico City

    were Unbanked, and among those banked, only a small percentage had access to credit.

    Measuring the effect of microfinance on poverty reduction will have good policy implications in

    terms of facilitating access to microfinance for the poor, should microfinance prove to have a

    positive effect (Nino-Zarazua and Mosley, 2009).

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    There has long been a debate about the effectiveness of microfinance. While some perceive it as

    a good technique to decrease poverty rates, others do not. Microfinance has many advantages. It

    accepts giving loans to the very poor without requiring collateral and being replaced by group

    lending as well as the provision of some non financial services such as business development,

    in order to help borrowers achieve the best use of the loans through teaching them feasibility

    studies techniques, marketing, budgeting, etc. moreover, contrary to regular employment

    opportunities, microfinance offers employment opportunities, with flexible working hours that

    could be considered a big advantage women conversely, according to Islam (2007 and 2009),

    there are some disadvantages to microfinance, including the imperfect information that results in

    borrowers not knowing where to apply for loans and lenders not knowing much about potential

    borrowers; institutional underdevelopment in the sense of literacy or numeracy which results in

    institutions that are too weak to support growth of good services; the ability to reach the extreme

    poor; limited macroeconomic impact propensity to charge high interest rates; and very low

    repayment rates. The existence of family enterprises in most cases is considered by some

    economists to be a disadvantage as well.

    Previous studies show that there are many practices originating from microfinance. For instance,

    there are groups called self-help groups (SHGs) which are small, informal, homogeneous, and

    have about 20 members. Homogeneity ensures that the members do not have conflicting interests

    and can freely participate in the activities. Those members have poor risk-taking ability, no

    collateral to offer, and limited earning opportunities. It is observed that the repayment rates of

    such systems are good in relatively remote communities and even in communities that are likely

    to have higher than average rates of poverty. It was also noticed that womens empowerment

    (Vatta, 2003).

    It is worth mentioning that microcredit programs do not merely offer monetary loans to buy

    physical inputs, but they provide noncredit services and incentives (BDS) as well. These

    noncredit aspects may be an important element in the success of microcredit services programs is

    difficult to measure, they may not be properly valued (McKernan, 2002). Montgomery and

    Weiss (2005) in their paper have discussed the prospect of microfinance eradicating poverty and

    the methodological issues related to assessing its success in poverty alleviation, or at least

    decreasing its percent compared to before obtaining microcredit. They recommended giving

    more attention to poor outreach, since the poor face difficulties accessing microcredit

    represented in the necessity of introducing collaterals or assets covering loan microcredit in

    alleviating poverty is the main objectives of this thesis.

    One of the solutions provided for addressing unemployment was to facilitate microcredit for the

    Poor so they could establish their own micro and small businesses. In sum, the above paragraph

    highlights the importance of adopting a multidimensional definition of poverty that includes

    literacy rates, health conditions, the basic needs indictors such as food, quality of potable water,

    and clothing, in addition to the monetary income and non-monetary assets.

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    2.10. Studies Questioning the Impact of Microfinance:Other studies disagree with these claims and argue that microfinance either has no effect in

    alleviating poverty or only a slight effect. Morduch (1998) used the BIDS World Bank survey

    data with a difference-in-difference method. He concluded that microfinance effects are either

    non-existent or very small. Others have criticized microfinance and accused it of being no use in

    reducing poverty rates. For example, Mallick (2002) claimed that microfinance levels did not

    decrease in Bangladesh, but Hossain (2002) refused this claim and stated that microfinance

    success should not be ignored. Some argue that most MFIs have low repayment rates which

    results in their inability to sustain. Failure to meet a repayment deadline results in an immediate

    loss of privilege of future loans (Modrduch 1999:1582). Roodman and Morduch (2009) revisited

    the studies carried out in Bangladesh and they used Two-Stage Least Squares (2STL) regressions

    and Discovered that lives of the borrowers after 30 years of microfinance did not improve.

    A study by Menon (2006) draws her sample from eight Grameen thanas Grameen is the only

    program that operates in these thanas-and estimates the impacts of consumption smoothing bynonlinear least squares. The results show that although microcredit helps improve the recipients

    ability to smooth seasonal shocks, its effect diminishes over time and it has virtually no impact

    after four years of participation.

    In attempting to solve the problem of MFIs sustainability, Hulme and Arun (2009) argue that

    the concept and practice of microfinance have changed drastically over the last decade and the

    microfinance sector is increasingly implementing a financial systems approach. This is done

    through either operating on commercial lines or by steadily reducing reliance on interest ratesubsidies, as well as aid agency financial support.

    Ricardo N. Bebczuk (2009) in his paper assessed the access of micro-small medium

    enterprises to credit in Guatemala and Nicaragua using national household surveys conducted in

    2006 and World Bank Investment Climate surveys. Based on the regression conduced, the

    number of MSMEs that have an unmet demand for credit is significantly lower than is usually

    thought. About 63% of micro and small enterprises owners said there is no need for a loan and

    23.9% attributed their refusal to apply for a loan to the high interest rate, while 13% were in

    favor of applying for loans.

    It is worth mentioning the selection bias problems that many studies did not consider. This bias,arising from the non random placement and self selection into the program, may lead to invalid

    impact estimates. Islam (2007) attempted to find a solution for this problem by suggesting

    parametric and non-parametric strategies. He employed the instrumental variable (IV estimator)

    approach where he used eligibility rule for receiving the loan as an instrument for participation

    in microfinance. He interpreted the IV estimator as the local average treatment on those who are

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    inclined to participate only because of the instrument. This approach was firstly introduced by

    Imbens and Angrist (1994).

    Islam (2007) found that the effect of microfinance on household consumption expenditure was

    not strong. He did not find statistically significant effects in most cases. However, he concluded

    that the IV estimates of program impact are larger in the consumption expenditure of the

    relatively poor participating households. None of the estimated coefficients of PSM estimates are

    statistically significant, and they have lower magnitude than the corresponding IV estimates. His

    overall results indicate that the positive effects are found more male than female borrowers.

    This result contradicts Pitt and Khandker (1998), who found stronger positive effects for

    women than men borrowers.

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    Chapter 3

    Methodology

    This study applies the mixed methods approach which involves using a quantitative research

    followed by a qualitative one. The qualitative research is conducted in order to validate results

    found in the quantitative research.

    The main objectives of my study are to find out both the short term and long term effect of

    microfinance on poverty reduction. The short term effect of microfinance will be examined by

    testing any changes in the income and the long term effect will be studied by testing the change

    in the assets of households. This study will compute the difference in the income and assets

    before and after program participation and will find out whether the change in the household

    income and assets is due to microfinance. However, since there was not available data for the

    beneficiaries status before the loan, the data were collected at one point in time depending on the

    Peoples perceptions.

    Most of the studies often try to compare the status before and after microcredit programs to

    estimate their impact on individuals (before-after comparison). However, in most cases, this does

    not provide reliable estimates because other factors like macroeconomic shocks can affect the

    post-treatment outcome. In other words, this approach fails to separate the impact of

    microfinance from the time trend that affects the result (Kono & Takahasal, 2010). Therefore,

    this study measures how clients perceive the change in their income and wealth due to the

    microfinance loan.

    The analysis on the data collected from the designed questionnaire survey will be conducted as

    follows. Firstly, descriptive statistics will be calculated on the demographic characteristics of the

    whole sample. In this part of analysis, the demographic conditions of survey participants will be

    described. Secondly, the income, expenses, assets and loan of participants will be discussed. In

    this part, simple statistical tools like averaging, count and standard deviation are used. Here,whether any change in the economic condition of participants occurred after joining in the

    microfinance program will be analyzed simply. It the third stage the qualitative analysis was

    done based on the answers found in the qualitative part of the questionnaire survey. The data

    found in this part of survey was analyzed by counting the frequencies of each of the answers of

    each of the questions.

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    In the economic analysis part, two linear regression models will be constructed with the

    dependent variables income and assets differentials. The first model measures the impact of

    explanatory variables on the income (i.e. changes in the income). By doing so, this model will

    measure the short term impact of microfinance, that means whether microfinance increase the

    income of borrowers. The second model measures the impact of explanatory variables on the

    assets (i.e. changes in the assets). This model will measure the long term effect of microfinance

    or whether microfinance increases the asset base of borrowers and in what extent.

    Variables

    For both short term and long term impact analysis, same independent variables have been used.

    According to theory, the explanatory variables that are related to making microfinance effective

    in reducing poverty are gender, age, at the time of the loan, level of education, total number

    family members, amount of the loan, productivity of workers, and training given to borrowers.

    In the sample used in this research, no participants have taken any training from the MFIs and no

    data is available on the productivity of workers. So, some new models have been used for the

    variables. The variables used in the model contain variables describing the demographic

    condition of household and the variables of describing the microfinance borrowing condition andthe financial conditions of borrowers. The rationale behind using the demographic variables is to

    find out impact of other variables except microfinance and financial variables. Financial

    condition of a household may change due to some important variables like education, age of the

    borrower or household head, marital status of the participant, number of household members etc.

    The financial and loan variables also have important effect on the households. Thus we have

    used the assets before joining to the microfinance program, cumulative amount of the loan, the

    length of membership and the number of times of borrowing as explanatory variables.

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    Both the explanatory and explained variables used in the analysis are listed in the following

    table:

    Independent Symbol Dependent Symbol

    Variables name

    Income Differentials

    Assets differentials

    Symbol name

    Yi

    Ai

    Variables name

    Age of participant

    Highest education in the household

    Number of family members

    Starting Assets of the respondent

    Starting Income of Borrower

    Amount of loan

    Length of membershipNumber of Times of borrowing

    Symbol name

    APi

    Ehi

    FMi

    Asi

    Sli

    LAi

    MLiBTi

    Table 3.1 List of Regressed Variables

    The model

    Based on the above variables and objectives the equations of the model are constructed as

    follows:

    For measuring the short term effect of microfinance following equation is used:

    Yi=+1APi+2Ehi+3FMi+4ASi+5Lai+6BTi+ei

    Where,

    =constant=coefficients

    ei=Error term

    Other variables are discussed in the above table.

    For measuring the long term effect following equation is used:

    Ai= +1APi+2Ehi+3FMi+4SLi+5Lai+6BTi+ei

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    The equation 1 and 2 are almost alike. Only one independent variable is replaced. Before

    participation assets (ASi) is replaced with before participation income (SLi). The dependent

    variable of changes in income (Yi) is replaced with changes in assets (Ai).

    Data Sets

    In order to run descriptive analysis and impact analysis, data sets are created according to the

    serial of questionnaires. So, here, total 55 variables under 7 data heads. The 7 data heads are:

    1. Introduction Data (10 variables)2. Loan Data (8 variables)3. Income Data (3 variables)4. Expense Data (6 variables)5. Asset Data (14 variables )6. Bank Data (6 variable) &7. Evaluative Data (8 Variables)

    Each and every variable contains total 55 observations.

    The following chapter will provide descriptive and impact analysis based on these data sets.

    Chapter 6 will summarize the findings and give some evaluation information based on evaluative

    data set.

    Full list of data sets and variables are given in Annex I and II.

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    Chapter 4

    Descriptive Analysis

    The data sources for this section were from the panel data of the institute of Microfinance. A

    sample of 55 beneficiaries has been chosen using a simple random sample technique from apopulation of 5000 beneficiaries of Grameen, ASA and Proshika from Madaripur Area.

    However, the randomness was implemented within investment purposes. Beneficiaries who have

    used the funds in buying consumption goods also included in the sample. This is to ensure that

    the impact is tested on those who took the funds in their own betterment. Statistically, this is

    considered a selection bias but it is essential in order to exclude irrelevant observations.

    Socio-economic characteristics:

    This section collects general information about the borrowers such as gender, his/her age and

    level of education, following table shows the composition of the sample and the population

    according the introduction data:

    Variable Observations Mean Std.Dev. Min Max

    Fm_mem 55 6.461538 2.796788 2 15

    Fm_boy 55 3.134615 1.657175 1 8

    Fm_girl 55 3.326923 1.779195 1 8

    Age_r 55 43.63462 13.94531 22 78

    Age_hh 54 48.43137 14.64548 25 80

    Table4.1 Summary of Socio-economic Statistics

    Our analysis shows that, of the 55 observations minimum numbers of family members is 2 and

    maximum number is 15 with a mean of 6.46 though our data revealed that 30.77% of the family

    consists of 3 members. On the other hand, of the 55 observations minimum number male

    members is 1 and maximum number is 8 with a mean of 3.13 in the observed families, though

    our data revealed that 25% of the family consists of 4 male members.

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    Besides, of the 55 observations minimum numbers of female members is 1 and maximum

    number is 8 with a mean of 3.32 in the observed families, though our data revealed that 32.69%

    of the family consists of 2 female members.

    Data in table 4.1 showed that majority of the respondents (59.62%) aged between 21 and 42

    years, while those of 27 to 42 years was represented by 50%. The age group of 25 to 45 year was

    corresponded to the active/working population (80.68%). Of the 55 observations minimum age

    of the respondents is 22 and maximum age of the respondents is 78 with a mean of 43.63 in the

    observed families.

    On the other hand, of the 55 observations minimum age of the head of the respondents

    household is 25 and maximum age of the head of the respondent household is 80 with a mean of

    48.43 in the observed families.

    The following table shows the marital status of the respondents according to the introduction

    data:

    Marital Status

    Frequency Percent Cumulative

    1 45 86.54 86.542 3 5.77 92.31

    3 4 7.69 100.00

    Total 52 100.00

    Table 4.2: Marital Status of the Respondents

    Here 1 represents married, 2 represents unmarried and 3 represents widowed. So it is seen that

    86.54% of the beneficiaries are married.

    Educational level is another important yardstick to assess the poverty status (Salvia, 2007).

    Distribution of respondents by level of education also revealed that all are not educated and had

    one form of formal or informal education (adult/ Islamic). On the basis of education, the table

    (4.3) showed that majority of the respondents are either illiterate 53.85%, or have passed up to

    class 5, 23.08%.

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    Education of the Respondents:

    Frequencies Percent Cum.

    0 28 53.85 53.85

    1 12 23.08 76.92

    2 4 7.69 84.62

    3 5 9.62 94.23

    4 3 5.77 100.00

    Total 55 100.00

    Table 4.3 Educational level of the Respondents

    Here 0 represents illiterate, 1 represents upto class 5, 2 represents upto class 8, 3 represents upto

    S.S.C and 4 represents upto H.S.C. So, it is seen that 53.85% of the beneficiaries are illiterate.

    Loan and Interest:

    This section collects loan information about the borrower such as interests, borrowed amounts

    frequency etc; following table shows the composition of the sample and the population according

    to the loan data:

    Variable Observations Mean Min Max

    Mem_tim 55 79.15385 16 185

    Intr 55 20.30827 18.75 27

    Time 55 7.288462 2 16

    Amount 55 68567.31 12000 400000

    Oth_amount 25 47440 0 200000

    Table: Loan status of the Respondents

    Of the 52 observations minimum duration of the respondent in any MFIs is 16 months andmaximum duration of the respondents in any MFIs is 185 months with a mean of 79.15 months

    within the observed respondents.

    I found very high interest rates charged by the MFIs. Of the 52 observations minimum Interest

    rate charged by the MFIs is 18.75% and maximum interest charged by the MFIs is 27.00% with

    a mean of 20.31% within the observed respondents.

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    Interest Rate Frequencies Percent Cum.

    18.75 29 55.77 55.77

    19 8 15.38 71.15

    23.56 13 25.00 96.15

    27 2 3.85 100.00

    Total 55 100.00

    Table4.5 Loan status of the respondents

    The following table shows that 55.77% (most) charges 18.75% interest rate to the respondents.

    Of the 55 observations minimum frequency of the respondents to take loan from any MFIs is 2

    times and maximum frequency of the respondents to take loan from any MFIs is 16 times with a

    mean of 7.29 times within observed respondents.

    On the other hand, of the 55 observations minimum amount of money the respondents take as

    loan from any MFIs is total 12000 taka and maximum amount of money the respondents take as

    loan from any MFIs is total 400000 taka with a mean of 68567 taka within the observed

    respondents.

    Income Information

    This section includes questions about the income standards status of borrowers before and after

    getting the loans. Questions collecting data about monthly income of borrowers before and after

    getting the loans will provide good indicators about the standards of living.

    Variable Obs Mean Std.Dev. Min Max

    Inc_avg_b 55 60204.4 22198.26 27880 132400

    Inc_avg_a 55 89267.54 42605.54 34200 240000

    Table 4.6 summary of income Statistics

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    The table (4.6) shows that, of the 55 observations minimum yearly income of borrowers before

    getting the loans was 27880 taka and maximum yearly income of borrowers before getting the

    loans was 132400 taka with a mean of 60204 taka yearly within the respondents.

    Besides, the table 4.6 shows that, of the 55 observations minimum yearly income of borrowers

    after getting the loans was 34200 taka and maximum yearly income of borrowers after getting

    the loans was 240000 taka with a mean of 89268 taka yearly within the observed respondents.

    This research also reveals that, maximum borrowers are rickshaw puller (17.21%), and some of

    them are farmers (11.54%) and some of them are doing jobs (11.54%).

    Impact Analysis

    In the 1970s, three out of four Bangladeshis lived in poverty and the country was considered a

    test case for development. Rapid population growth, frequent natural disasters, and low

    economic growth throughout the 1980s suggested that a large number of households would

    remain trapped in chronic poverty.

    Defying this outlook, Bangladesh began experiencing more sustained economic growth since the

    1990s, which was accompanied by impressive poverty reduction. For example, in 1991-92, about

    60% of the population was below the poverty line and around 50% was below the extreme

    poverty line. By 2005, those figures had gone down to 40% and 25% respectively.

    The Bangladesh economy began experiencing structural changes in the 1990s following trade

    liberalization and domestic market reforms. In urban areas, private sector growth and

    employment were spurred by rapid growth in garments exports while rural areas benefited from

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    the deregulation of agriculture markets, boosting agricultural production. At the same time,

    relatively higher paying rural non-farm opportunities increased and the labor force slowly began

    to shift away from agriculture.

    Two well known studies assess short and medium-term microfinance impacts from the

    borrowers' point of view, using repeated household surveys carried out in rural Bangladesh.

    Using nationally representative data, their findings suggest that poverty reduction among the

    borrowers due to microfinance is 1.6 percentage points per year. Moreover, microfinance

    programs have spillover effects on the non-borrowers -- their poverty level goes down by 0.3

    percentage point a year.

    Economic Impacts of Microfinance:

    (a) Income

    The 1998 survey found the average annual income of participant households to be higher than

    that of the non-participants. Self-employment activities had more than 50% contribution to total

    income for the participants as against 43 percent in case of non-participants. The second BIDS

    survey suggests that nominal household income increased by 19 percent in program villages and

    by only 13.5 percent in control villages. Compared to non-participants the participant households

    were better able to cope with flood, sustain their income, achieve higher purchasing power and

    consumption level.

    (b) Food Security

    The BIDS study finds the program participants, due to greater access to sharecropping, had better

    food security and about 26 percent of rice consumption out of own production (after sale), which

    was also marginally higher than the non-participants.

    (c) Wage

    Wage earning contributed about 23 percent of total annual income for the land-poor households.

    Microcredit helped participant households to earn about 8 percent higher income than that of the

    non-participants.

    (d) Employment

    The participant households are better able to ensure more employment on own farms due to their

    better access to the land rental market. Wage and self-employment in non-agricultural sector is

    also higher for the participant households due to their access to microcredit program.

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    (e) Assets: land and non-land

    Average size of land owned by participant households is lower than the non-participants; 91

    decimals compared to 149 decimals. The BIDS study however suggests that the eligible

    participants mortgage or rent-in more land than the non-participants, and therefore, have larger

    operational holding. Higher percentage of program participants own poultry, goat/sheep and

    cows compared to non-participants. A higher percentage of the participants own bicycles (12.5%

    compared to 8%), boat (3.7% compared to 1.6%), irrigation equipment (1.23% compared to

    0.23%), radio (17.9% compared to 12.6%) and rickshaw/van (8% compared to 2%) thus showing

    higher asset ownership of the participants.

    Social and Other Development Impacts

    (a) Health and Nutrition

    There is positive program placement effect on nutrition status.

    (b) Sanitation and Drinking Water

    The BIDS study finds small positive influence of participation on waste disposal and use of

    sanitary toilets among the land-poor households with no clear evidence of program impact on

    hand-washing. The use of pure drinking water from hand tube well was found universal.

    (c) Literacy and School Enrollment of Children

    Adult literacy rate is significantly higher among the eligible participants. The BIDS study also

    found that program participation increases the chance of both boys and girls to be enrolled in

    schools.

    (d) Empowering Women

    Microcredit programs' main target is women. There are strong evidences that, microcredit

    programs contribute to women's empowerment. One consistent finding is the increased self

    confidence and increased self-esteem. Another is women's increased in decision making in the

    areas of family planning, children's marriage, buying and selling of properties and sendingdaughters to school. There have been some evidences that members of microfinance institutions

    are able to stop domestic violence due to personal empowerment and through group action.

    In Bangladesh, microcredit programs have also increased women's participation in the activities

    of local government. Some women microcredit clients have been elected as Chairpersons and

    Members of various Union Parishads, the lowest and most vibrant tier of local government. Now

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    women microcredit clients take greater roles in community activities and organizing for social

    change.

    Evaluation and Findings

    This section includes questions about the evaluation of borrowers before and after getting the

    loans. Normally, the MFIs have been successful in expanding their outreach by providing

    microcredit to increasing numbers of borrowers who are near the poverty line, not well below

    that. The MFIs adopt this approach to reach financial viability within a reasonable time frame. If

    the MFIs are to borrow (from PKSF and other sources) at a rate close to market rate of interest,

    the effort to reach financial viability may become difficult and delayed. The partner

    organizations (POs) of PKSF have achieved financial viability at the present (subsidized) rate of

    service charge of PKSF. Therefore, in the context of Bangladesh there seems to be a trade -off

    between outreach and sustainability of MFIs and they should strike a judicious balance between

    the two which may enable them to achieve financial sustainability. The main objectives of

    microcredit programs are to increase employment opportunities and to enhance income adequate

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    to lift the poor above the poverty line on a sustainable basis. A summary of the findings of some

    impact assessment studies is presented in table below.

    Table: Evaluation of the Microfinance Facility

    Source Economic Indicators Type of

    Change

    Social Indicators Type of

    Change

    Hossain

    1985

    Return on investment

    Household income

    Employment

    +

    +

    +

    Hossain

    1988

    Working Capital

    Non-agricultural

    investment

    Agricultural investment

    Labour force participation

    rate

    Income

    +

    +

    ?

    +

    +

    Social Investment +

    BIDS 1990 Income

    Expenditure

    Emplo yment

    Land Purchase

    +

    ?

    +

    +

    Child woman ratio

    School enrollment

    ?

    +

    IMEC 1995 Economic empowerment + Social empowerment +

    Pitt &

    Khandker

    1995

    Various labour supply

    Mens labor supply

    Household Expenditure

    +

    -

    +

    Girls schooling

    Contraceptive use

    Womens non land asset

    +

    ?

    +

    Rahman

    1996

    Household expenditure on

    consumption

    Human Capital and fixed

    investment

    Employment

    +

    +

    +

    Number of meals taken

    by men

    Number of meals taken

    by woman

    School enrolment rate

    Attitude to education

    ?

    ?

    +

    ?

    +

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    Pure drinking water

    Findings

    This study aims to measure the improvement of microcredit beneficiaries quality of life. More

    precisely, the goal is to measure the effectiveness of microfinance in reducing poverty from the

    beneficiarys perspective. This section attempts to take stock of all major efforts at poverty

    alleviation through microfinance in Bangladesh.

    After the overall analysis we can find out the following key points out of this research:

    From the perspectives of beneficiaries, in reducing the poverty of borrowers in poor areasin Madaripur.

    Microfinance showed a positive effective on poverty reduction and life betterment butwith a small magnitude.

    The results show that the lack of training provided to beneficiaries and the haphazardtypes of micro-projects are the main reasons for these limited effects.

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    The result revealed that majority of beneficiaries was poor and were in the active agegroup of between 21-42 years representing about 59.62%

    Microfinance loan increase living standards as significant levels. Microfinance loan increase both income and assets of the borrowers through its services. The interest rates charged by the MFIs are very high (averagely 20.31)