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Increasing forcibly displaced populations worldwide are adversely affecting the poorest host communities' livelihoods. Livelihood programmes can reduce this tension by addressing host communities' skills and capital constraints. In this paper, we examine the effect of a customised version of BRAC's Ultra‐Poor Graduation (UPG) programme on the livelihoods of the host communities of Rohingya refugees. We find that the programme increases labour supply in self‐employment of working‐age men and women, household income, food expenditure and productive asset. Further, we find some weak evidence that the programme decreases the tension between hosts and Rohingya refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overlapping borrowing – i.e., the practice of taking new loans before old loans have been fully repaid – has become an important phenomenon in the microcredit sector in many developing countries, including Bangladesh. This paper examines the rationale for overlapping and investigates its short‐term and long‐term consequences by using a panel data set that is representative of Bangladesh as a whole. The study finds that it is useful to distinguish between two broad groups of overlapping borrowers who differ in terms of both the rationale of overlapping and its consequences. The first group – consisting of more than half of all overlapping borrowers – uses it as a promotional strategy, to improve their economic conditions without incurring a sharp discrete jump in debt burden. The other group uses it as a coping strategy, to deal with contingencies that compel them to take loans of a non‐productive nature, again by avoiding a sharp discrete jump in the debt burden. Econometric analysis, allowing for the possibility of endogeneity bias, shows that the first group is able to achieve stronger financial viability in the long run in comparison with non‐overlapping microcredit borrowers. The second group, in contrast, does not enjoy any significant improvement in their living conditions, but they are able to stave off any decline that otherwise might have befallen them in the face of shocks. Thus, both groups succeed in their respective goals, which are promotion for the first group and protection for the second. Microcredit has always had this duality of promotion and protection; overlapping borrowing serves to strengthen these functions of microcredit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In developing countries, often a major segment of the population is characterized as poor. Thus, social protection programs play a crucial role in facilitating the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda across these nations. Among the several socioeconomic benefits associated with the social safety net programs, the impacts on female labor force participation are vital from the perspectives of enhancing women empowerment and welfare. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to evaluate the impacts of social transfers under the "allowances for the widow, deserted, and destitute women" social protection program on the rural female labor force participation responses in Bangladesh. The overall results from the probit, IV‐probit, and propensity score matching techniques provide statistical evidence regarding the cash transfers acting as a "mini‐push" to nudge greater participation of the beneficiary women in the labor force. Moreover, the cash transfers are also found to positively influence the labor force participation decisions of the other female members within the households of the program beneficiaries. Besides, the female labor force participation decisions are evidenced to be heterogeneous across the age cohorts, marital statuses, and the gender of the household head. In line with the major findings from the analyses, some key policy interventions are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, Bangladesh reached 97% nation‐wide electricity access. With over 4.1 million solar home systems (SHS) installed by 60 Partner Organisations (POs) providing renewable electricity to more than 22 million rural people, SHS and microfinance have been instrumental in bridging and achieving the country's universal access goal. However, a huge gap remains in achieving the country's 100% use of renewable energy by 2050, with only 3.1% of current electricity generation accounted for by renewables. While at centralised level, governmental institutions are struggling to move past the legacy mandate of grid extension to an energy transformation paradigm at decentralised levels, rural Bangladeshi villages are already leading this transformation. Today, 100 solar peer‐to‐peer microgrids, built following the swarm electrification pathway, allow end‐users to run appliances, charge vehicles, and to trade renewable electricity for income. In this paper, we describe the organisational model of the partnership between Grameen Shakti, Bangladesh's largest PO, and climate‐tech start‐up ME SOLshare, the swarm electrification implementer. We assess, using data from the peer‐to‐peer grids, their socio‐economic and environmental impact, and their contribution to the SDG 2030 Agenda. Finally, we give an outlook towards the potential of achieving sustainable energy development through a scale‐up of the swarm electrification approach, including under a scenario of 100% national grid electrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing evidence shows that programs that provide grants to productive assets along with training to very poor women increase labor supply, earnings, and consumption. In contrast, evidence on the effect of microcredit on these outcomes is mixed. In this paper, we examine the effect of a hybrid of the two approaches—credit and grant—on the livelihoods of the ultra‐poor in Bangladesh. A randomized evaluation of the hybrid intervention shows that it increases labor supply of working‐age women, household income, productive assets, savings, and consumption expenditures. The benefit–cost ratio of the intervention is estimated to be 8.47. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interlinkage between microcredit and temporary seasonal migration, an issue which has been given little attention in the standard rural-urban migration literature. Seasonal migration due to agricultural downturns is a common phenomenon in developing countries. Using primary data from a cross-sectional household survey of the northwest part of Bangladesh, this paper quantifies the factors that influence such migration decisions. Our results suggest that people with prior access to microcredit are more likely to migrate during an agricultural lean season. Furthermore, we find evidence of a negative selection effect between microcredit and seasonal migration, conditional on an individual's village of residence and observed characteristics. Our results have numerous potential policy implications, including the design of typical microcredit schemes for developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence that participation in microfinance programs may increase the likelihood of female group action against domestic violence and spousal abandonment. Although female empowerment has been an explicit target of many microfinance programs, the literature remains conflicted regarding the magnitude and direction of impact. Using multiple estimation methods with data from Bangladesh, I find that women from villages with microfinance programs are substantially more likely than women from non-program villages to have taken group action by publicly protesting when they observed a woman being beaten, abandoned or divorced. Taking advantage of eligibility requirements for program participation, I further show that women from program villages who are eligible to participate are substantially more likely than non-eligible women from the same village to have taken group action, which suggests that these effects are in fact related to the microfinance programs themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines microfinance conditionalities of the Bangladesh Rural Development Board in Bangladesh from clients' and providers' perspectives based on a qualitative case study. The study reveals that the credit is less poor focus in terms of amount and disbursement procedure. Additionally, group liability and cooperatives are used as tactics for surveillance and punishment instead of invigorating collective effort. Saving and share work as disciplinary instruments instead of capital accumulation. Besides, service is regarded as a conditional commodity, and skill development becomes individual responsibility. The study implies listening to the voice of the poor and redesigning antipoverty programmes based on the need felt by them. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to understand and operationalize the notion of spatial accessibility (SA) in the context of microfinance. Using geographic information system (GIS) data from northern Bangladesh, we have generated a kernel-smoothed map and found remarkable spatial variation in access to microcredit. Results suggest that areas isolated from physical infrastructure, administrative establishments, and prone to ecological shocks, exhibit lower degree of SA. Moreover, using an instrumental variable framework, we found that SA has a significant positive impact on household's decision to borrow and on the number of loans: one standard deviation higher SA is associated with a rise in participation probability and average number of microloans by, at least, 3.5 percentage points and 16 percent, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the unaddressed question of how the large, complex paddy-rice market in Bangladesh is able to transform itself and evolve, in the face of changing risks and incentives, into a better-functioning market system. It notes significant but opposing trends over two decades in different areas, particularly in terms of market structure, trade circuits and exchange relations. Evidence of a sharp decline in tied transactions points to the growing importance of impersonal exchange. The underlying causes of these changes are explored, with particular reference to microfinance, remittances, rural roads and mobile telephony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the causes and consequences of multiple borrowing in rural Bangladesh using long‐term household and village panel data covering the years 2000–2014. We find that the sharply growing number of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in a wider set of villages over time coincides with a corresponding increase in household borrowing from multiple MFIs and households accessing loans generally as well as significant rises in the total values of household assets, especially in the form of agricultural equipment. Although the increasing number of MFIs resulted in some households borrowing to repay previous loans, the fraction of such households is relatively small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the role of microfinance staff and procedures in enabling microfinance's social mission. It does so primarily through studying institutional ruling relations and practices in rural Bangladesh. Attempting to move away from the linear and deterministic approaches of impact studies, it ethnographically scrutinizes the everyday practices of implementers. Findings point to the emergence of systemic practices that jeopardize microfinance institutions' potential to perform their social mission. These include low client‐selection standards, hard selling of loans and forceful loan renewal, little follow‐up on loan use, and abusive and violent client‐retention and repayment‐collection strategies. This is conceptualized as a 'practice drift' as distinct from the commonly reported 'mission drift'. Rather than stemming from planned, top‐down changes in institutional mission and strategy, practice drift emerges from a displacement of decision‐making processes to the branches. The article argues that observed changes in microfinance practice are enabled by decentralized structures and management systems that leave the choice of tactics used to achieve targets to the discretion of field staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is multidimensional in nature and exists in every part of the world. Microfinance is considered one of the most important programs to achieve poverty reduction, particularly in Bangladesh. It has been estimated that nearly 45% of Bangladesh's population lives below the poverty line. This qualitative research study was conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of microfinance programs and the contributing factors to the high-level of poverty among microfinance beneficiaries in the district of Bogra, Bangladesh. Study findings indicated that microfinance programs were ineffective as a result of high interest rates; insufficient loans; unproductive use of loans; corruption and poor skills of microfinance institution staff; weekly repayment schedules; and physical and mental harassment of poor women. Additionally, the lack of employment opportunities, education, healthcare facilities and social safety nets; natural disasters; the dowry system; and the rising cost of basic daily needs have also contributed to chronic poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of access to credit prevents poor households in developing countries from diversifying into income-generating activities that could safeguard them against unforeseen shocks and seasonality, leaving them susceptible to food deprivation, even when aggregate food supplies are adequate. Microcredit programmes help these households to access financial capital that could help improve their food security situation. We examine how microcredit affects different measures of food security; namely, household calorie availability, dietary diversity indicators and anthropometric status of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) and children under the age of 5 years. We find that microcredit programme participation increases calorie availability both at the intensive and extensive margins, but does not improve dietary diversity and only has mixed effects on the anthropometric measures. We also find that the effect of microcredit participation on food security may be non-linear in which participation initially has either no effect on food security or may actually worsen it, before improving it in the longer run. Our results help to explain why existing short-term evaluations of microcredit sometimes do not show any positive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the impact of microfinance providers on economic, family and social, and political empowerment. Data were collected in two phases from 300 microfinance beneficiaries and 200 controls. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, multiple regression, propensity score matching and the Rosenbaum bound method were used for analysis. In the majority of areas, microfinance increased recipients' empowerment. Both econometric estimations showed the largest effects for family and social and political empowerment in recipients of governmental microfinance, while non-governmental microfinance recipients saw greater improvements in economic empowerment. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although microcredit is considered the main vehicle for increasing the income of the poor and alleviating poverty in Bangladesh, it is now well recognised that more than this is needed to reach the ultra poor in rural areas. Consequently, almost half of the Bangladesh population is in some way linked to non-governmental organizations' development programmes, at the centre of which is poverty alleviation. The study reported here developed a comprehensive cross-sectional intervention to examine whether the income of those who participated in the training programmes of non-governmental organizations was related to that participation. The study was carried out in three leading organizations in three districts of Bangladesh using a quantitative associational research design. Three hundred responses were analysed using multiple regression analysis to elicit information from ultra poor clients who had received training. The results suggest that the post-training income level of the trainees was negatively rather than positively related to the fact of their participation in training, the opposite of what human capital theory would lead us to expect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]