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Women And Microcredit In Rural Bangladesh: An Anthropological Study Of Grameen Bank Lending book cover

1st Edition

Women And Microcredit In Rural Bangladesh An Anthropological Study Of Grameen Bank Lending

By Aminur Rahman Copyright 2000
    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    204 Pages
    by Routledge

    202 Pages
    by Routledge
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    The Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has been extending small loans to poor borrowers (primarily women) to promote self-employment and income generation since 1976. The apparent success of the Grameen Bank (that is, recruitment of clients, investment of loans, recovery rates on invested loans and profit margins) has made microcredit a new model for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Anthropological research results on Grameen Bank lending to women presented in this book, however, illuminates the link between the success of the bank and debt-cycling of borrowers. The priority of earning profits to insure institutional economic viability caused Bank employees at the grassroots level to emphasize increasing the number of loans disbursed and loan recovery. By using the joint liability model of lending, the Bank workers and borrowing peers impose intense pressure on clients for timely repayment. Many borrowers maintain their regular payment schedules, but do so through a process of loan recycling (that is, pay off previous loans with new ones) that considerably increases borrower debt liability. The debt burdens on individual households in turn increase tension and anxiety among household members and produce unintended consequences for many clients.This book examines women borrowers' involvement with the microcredit program of the Grameen Bank, and the grassroots lending structure of the bank; it illustrates the implications of Grameen lending for the borrowers, their household members and bank workers. The focus of the study is on the processes of village-level microcredit operation; it addresses the realities of the day-to-day lives of women borrowers and bank workers and explains informant strategies for involving themselves in this microcredit scheme. The study is on the power dynamics of everyday lives of informants as they affect women borrowers' relationships within the household and the loan centers, and bank worker relationships within the loan center and the bank.

    * List of Figures * Preface * Acknowledgments * 1. Introduction * Statement of the Problem * The Grameen Bank * The Lending Structure of the Grameen Bank * Studies of the Grameen Bank * Microcredit in Development Projects * Women in Development and Incorporation of Microcredit * Women in Development: A Bangladesh Context * The Significance of This Study * The Structure of the Book * 2. Field Research Methodology * Pre-Fieldwork Research Plan * Initiation of Field Research * The Native as Researcher, and Rapport Building * Data Collection * Research Ethics * Limitations of the Research * 3. Theoretical Framework * Entitlement, Enfranchisement, and Empowerment * Public and Hidden Transcripts * Practice Theory * The Concept of Hegemony * 4. The Study Village and Its Socioeconomic Organization * The Location * Social Organization * The Village Population and Its Literacy and Education Level * Economic Organization * Grameen Households in the Local Economy * Migration in the Village Economy * Women and the Village Economy * 5. Microlending and Equitable Development * The Public and Hidden Transcripts for Recruiting Women * Patriarchal Hegemony in the Recruitment of Women Borrowers * Organization of the Women and Social Collateral * Networks of Borrowers and Bank Workers * The Social Development Initiatives of the Bank * 6. Disbursement and Recovery of Loans: Bases for Escalation of Violence? * Loans in the Study Village * Processing of Loan Applications * Loan Disbursement * Loan Use and Loan Supervision * Loan Repayment Schedule * Escalation of Aggression and Violence * 7. Microlending and Sustainable Development * Sustainability and Profitability * The Grameen Bank and Capitalism * Transaction Costs, Outreach, and Sustainability * Consequences of High Loan Disbursement and Loan Recovery * Spiraling Debt Cycle * The Donor Perspective * Conclusion * Review of the Study * Theoretical Implications * Policy Recommendations * Appendix A: Glossary of Non-English Words * Appendix B: The Sixteen Decisions * Appendix C: Grameen Bank Bidhimala (Bye-laws/Constitution) * References

    Biography

    Aminur Rahman was born and raised in Bangladesh. He has a Master's Degree in Sociology (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), M.Phil in Social Anthropology (University of Oslo, Norway), and Ph.D. in Anthropology (University of Manitoba, Canada). Before going abroad for higher studies, Rahman worked for several years with national and international NGOs in Bangladesh in community development projects. He also taught at the University of Manitoba and has published in many international journals, including World Development. Rahman is currently working with the Small Enterprise Program of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada.

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