The Scaling-up of Microfinance in Bangladesh

The Scaling-up of Microfinance in Bangladesh PDF

Author: Hassan Zaman

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13:

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"The microfinance industry in Bangladesh currently provides access to credit to around 13 million poor households. Zaman describes the factors that led to the scaling-up of micro-credit in Bangladesh, the impact this has had on the poor, future challenges in Bangladesh, and possible lessons for other countries. The consensus in the literature is that micro-credit plays a significant role in reducing household vulnerability to a number of risks and that it contributes to improving social indicators. The author argues that strategic donor investments in a handful of well-managed institutions that offer a simple, easily replicable financial product could lead to large gains in access to finance for the poor. However, this approach could sacrifice other objectives of financial sector development, such as product and institutional diversity, which could be promoted after the initial expansion has taken place. Governments can also have a crucial role in promoting access to microfinance by ensuring macroeconomic stability, enforcing a simple regulatory structure, and developing communications networks that reduce transaction costs. Another lesson is that while visionary leadership cannot simply be franchised, the internal management systems that led to the scaling-up can be replicated in other settings"--Abstract.

The Scaling-Up of Microfinance in Bangladesh

The Scaling-Up of Microfinance in Bangladesh PDF

Author: Hassan Zaman

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13:

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The microfinance industry in Bangladesh currently provides access to credit to around 13 million poor households. Zaman describes the factors that led to the scaling-up of micro-credit in Bangladesh, the impact this has had on the poor, future challenges in Bangladesh, and possible lessons for other countries. The consensus in the literature is that micro-credit plays a significant role in reducing household vulnerability to a number of risks and that it contributes to improving social indicators. The author argues that strategic donor investments in a handful of well-managed institutions that offer a simple, easily replicable financial product could lead to large gains in access to finance for the poor. However, this approach could sacrifice other objectives of financial sector development, such as product and institutional diversity, which could be promoted after the initial expansion has taken place. Governments can also have a crucial role in promoting access to microfinance by ensuring macroeconomic stability, enforcing a simple regulatory structure, and developing communications networks that reduce transaction costs. Another lesson is that while visionary leadership cannot simply be franchised, the internal management systems that led to the scaling-up can be replicated in other settings.This paper - a product of the Finance and Private Sector Development Unit, South Asia Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to understand how successful anti-poverty interventions can be scaled-up.

Scaling-up Microfinance for India's Rural Poor

Scaling-up Microfinance for India's Rural Poor PDF

Author: Priya Basu

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

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The paper recommends that, if SHG Bank Linkage is to be scaled-up to offer mass access to finance for the rural poor, then more attention will need to be paid toward the promotion of high quality SHGs that are sustainable, clear targeting of clients, and ensuring that banks linked to SHGs price loans at cost-covering levels. At the same time, the paper argues that, in an economy as vast and varied as India's, there is scope for diverse microfinance approaches to coexist. Private sector microfinanciers need to acquire greater professionalism, and the government can help by creating a flexible architecture for microfinance innovations, including through a more enabling policy, legal, and regulatory framework. Finally, the paper argues that, while microfinance can, at minimum, serve as a quick way to deliver finance to reform these institutions with an eye to improving access for the poor."

Microleasing - A means for scaling up microfinance?

Microleasing - A means for scaling up microfinance? PDF

Author: Steffen Kuhl

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-07-09

Total Pages: 84

ISBN-13: 3638744515

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Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 1,5, University of Applied Sciences Bremen (School of International Business), language: English, abstract: Leasing as a means for scaling up microfinance is a relatively new and untapped topic. A lot of information about regular leasing in developed countries is available. In addition, some projects on leasing in developing countries have been successfully carried out. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), for example, successfully pioneered in entering the South Korean market and from there India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Russia. Surprisingly, information on leasing at the very micro-level of such economies is rare. In times of commercialization and product diversification among microfinance institutions, insurance and remittance services as well as savings products have gained much attention. Leasing still is underdeveloped in that respect. This paper aims at the analysis of leasing in microfinance institutions and its potential to increase and upgrade the institution itself as well as its customers. As there clearly is a shortage of research and data in that field, the author will present the most recent literature available, including the state of microfinance and leasing in developing countries. Due to the lack of academic and practical information, this paper can not contain a complete analysis of all aspects of microleasing. It rather discusses the main features of microleasing with respect to the success factors of microinsurance, microcredit, microsaving and other products already introduced in microfinance institutions. The author will highlight the major opportunities and threats to the microleasing business that are likely to be faced by its stakeholders. The distinctive features of more advanced countries on the one hand and less developed and informal economies on the other hand will be part of the paper, as well.

The Aid Lab

The Aid Lab PDF

Author: Naomi Hossain

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-02-16

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0191088315

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From an unpromising start as 'the basket-case' to present day plaudits for its human development achievements, Bangladesh plays an ideological role in the contemporary world order, offering proof that the neo-liberal development model works under the most testing conditions. How were such rapid gains possible in a context of chronically weak governance? The Aid Lab subjects this so-called 'Bangladesh paradox' to close scrutiny, evaluating public policies and their outcomes for poverty and development since Bangladesh's independence in 1971. Countering received wisdom that its gains owe to an early shift to market-oriented economic reform, it argues that a binding political settlement, a social contract to protect against the crises of subsistence and survival, united the elite, the masses, and their aid donors in the wake of the devastating famine of 1974. This laid resilient foundations for human development, fostering a focus on the poorest and most precarious, and in particular on the concerns of women. In chapters examining the environmental, political and socioeconomic crisis of the 1970s, the book shows how the lessons of the famine led to a robustly pro-poor growth and social policy agenda, empowering the Bangladeshi state and its non-governmental organizations to protect and enable its population to thrive in its engagements in the global economy. Now a middle-income country, Bangladesh's role as the world's laboratory for aided development has generated lessons well beyond its borders, and Bangladesh continues to carve a pioneering pathway through the risks of global economic integration and climate change.

Voices to Choices

Voices to Choices PDF

Author: Jennifer L. Solotaroff

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2019-06-06

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1464813744

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Women have experienced significant changes in various spheres of their lives during the last decades as Bangladesh made economic progress. Yet women’s economic engagement and empowerment are subdued, as they cannot make sufficient choices for themselves. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic developments in gender equality in Bangladesh. Through examining women’s participation in the labour force, ownership and control of household assets, use and control of financial assets, and opportunities for entrepreneurship, the authors have made concrete recommendations to overcome challenges that lie ahead for women’s economic empowerment. This book is an important contribution to the knowledge on interventions required by the policy makers and broader stakeholders towards narrowing gender gaps. --Fahmida Khatun, PhD, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Bangladesh The women’s story is central to Bangladesh’s economic and social transformation. There is an urgent need to deepen researched understanding of the multidimensional pathways of women’s economic empowerment and extent of real progress made. Voices to Choices is an important contribution to this story. Surely, the journey of women’s economic empowerment remains a long and challenging one. Realizing the full benefits of new opportunities is often hampered by both new and entrenched insecurities. The task is as much one of empowering women’s agency as of dismantling barriers. The responsibility is as much women’s as society’s. --Hossain Zillur Rahman, PhD, Executive Chairman, Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) This book provides critical insights and is timely, as it outlines how girls and women in Bangladesh have gained more opportunities in labor force participation, control over household and financial assets, as well as greater prospects for entrepreneurship. The findings will greatly contribute to future policy and planning for government and key stakeholders working to advance women’s economic empowerment in the country. --Sabina Faiz Rashid, PhD, Dean and Professor, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health BRAC University