Group Lending Models As An Alternative Empowerment Model: Assessing Gendered Socio-Economic Impacts in the Global South

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Grameen Banks and other microcredit banks specialised towards collective empowerment in rural Bangladesh. The research reviews case studies alongside open-source data on group lending initiatives and models data on creditworthiness, upward mobility, and financial security of women in Bangladesh to examine the potential for the Grameen Bank’s replication for other marginalised economic groups in countries in the Global South, including India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The study aims to identify successes and failures in building community solidarity, the extent of women’s exclusion from other formal credit institutions, and the psychological well-being of female borrowers. It explores the long-term sustainability of group lending programs in specific Global South economic contexts (with widening income gaps across class and gender divides, and growing polarisation) and assesses their broader economic impacts on community development and growth in the identified countries. The study revealed that high repayment rates and the social dynamics of group lending with female borrowers translate into a sustainable and profitable model for lenders, as well as being an alternative system of empowerment benefiting both borrowers and lenders. The paper will analyse the impact of microfinance in developing economies. How far has this concept enabled women’s empowerment in Bangladesh? Has this resulted in encouraging adequate skills for women in other marginalized sections of these economies? What are the models on which this concept works? How effectively have these been used in other developing economies like Pakistan, Shri Lanka and India? Has the model changed in the country in which this model originated? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system of microfinancing? These and other similar questions will be addressed in the course of this paper.