Impact Of Microfinance Programmes Research Articles

Determinants that Contribute Women to Join in SHGs in Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh

The microfinance initiative, particularly the bank-linked Self-Help Group (SHG) program, has played a pivotal role in empowering women in rural areas, notably in India. This study employs an ex-post facto research design to examine the success of the SHG model in enhancing women's financial independence and overall empowerment. The study was conducted in the Rayalaseema region with a focus on Kurnool and Anantapur districts. A total of 6 mandals, 30 villages, and 360 women respondents representing 120 SHG groups were included in this research. By using factor analysis, the study categorized influential factors into sets. The study concluded that the key factors influencing women to join SHGs was enterprise development, improving family income, relationship dynamics, recognition, government support, and inspiration. This research provides valuable insights into the impact of microfinance programs on achieving women's empowerment. The study concludes that the Bank-Linked SHG model has been instrumental in addressing various aspects of women's empowerment, including economic independence, social recognition, and skill development.

Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship Development: An Empirical Study on Impact of Microfinance Program

Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship Development: An Empirical Study on Impact of Microfinance Program

The Impact of Microfinance Programs on Borrowers' Asset Accumulation: An Empirical Study in Bangladesh

The Impact of Microfinance Programs on Borrowers' Asset Accumulation: An Empirical Study in Bangladesh

Impact of microfinance programs in Thailand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of microfinance programs on the income and food expenditure of farm and nonfarm households in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs secondary data from the Thai Socioeconomic Survey (cross-sectional data from 2017 and panel data from 2012 to 2017). The cross-sectional data (2017) include 43,210 households. Panel data from the 2012 and 2017 Socioeconomic surveys (SES surveys) include 4,406 households. The estimation methods include propensity score matching (PSM) and a fixed effect (FE) model.FindingsThe result shows that village funds (VFs) have a significant negative impact on income and food expenditure for both farm and nonfarm households. The empirical results reveal that the saving groups for production (SGPs) effects are positively significant in terms of income and food expenditure, but only for farm households. The FE model result also shows that while VFs have a negative impact on income they have a positive impact on food expenditure for farm households. In contrast, SPGs have no impact on both farm and nonfarm households' income and food expenditure.Practical implicationsFarm and nonfarm households require both welfare and microfinance programs. Microfinance programs can only help these households once they have the necessary education. The government should provide social programs and business skills for these households; completion of these courses should be a pre-requisite for accessing microfinance programs.Originality/valueThis study is unique because it reveals the microfinance impact between VFs and SGPs programs so that most low-income and poor people in Thailand can access basic financial services.

Economic & Social Impact of Microfinance: An Empirical Evidence from Bangladesh

This is an empirical study about the current situation and the economic and social impact of microfinance programs in Bangladesh with their respective significance. The findings reveal that the microfinance programs have important and significant effects on the beneficiaries in alleviation of poverty, generation of income, and savings. Microfinance programs also help to generate employment to a little extent, but it is still not up to the mark. The results show that microfinance service holders’ savings and consumptions increased as well since they now have a better living standard. The conclusion prioritizes that microfinance programs need to be accelerated more for socio-economic development, economic expansion and above all, poverty eradication. Proper implementation of the policies is needed and more training programs have to be initiated for the expansion of activities.

The Impact of Microfinance Programs: A Review of Data and Methodological Dilemma

How robust is the evidence that microcredit works? Theory on microfinance initiatives has moved far ahead of evidence, and success stories remain unsubstantiated. Lack of convergence in findings together with the contexts in which impact studies have been conducted, render the interpretation and generalization of findings intricate. Consequently, thirty years into the growth of microfinance industry there is scant evidence that microfinance improves the lives of clients in measurable ways. This paper reviews methodological and data constraints in microfinance impact assessments. The study builds on earlier work and considers recent research on microfinance initiatives in order to isolate some emerging contestable issues. JEL classification: G21;C52;C81 Keywords: Microfinance; Impact; Methodologies; Evaluation; Data DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-22-09 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

The Role of Borrowers Living Area and Its Moderation Effect of Relationship of Microfinance and Poverty Alleviation in Sri Lanka: Multi –Group CFA

This article highlights the moderating effect of living areas of the borrowers on the impact of microfinance programs on poverty alleviation. The study has utilized the data from 497 borrowers of Samurdhi microfinance in five disaster-affected districts in the country to examines that two different living areas (disaster-affected and non-disaster affected area) of borrowers moderate the relationship between microfinance services and poverty alleviation. The Multi- Group CFA analysis was performed to identify the moderating effect using AMOS 21. Quantitative results were finding revealed that the moderation tests were significant for all the three microfinance services on poverty alleviation. The effect of microfinance services of borrowers in the disaster-affected area higher than the borrowers in non-disaster area.

Impact of Microfinance Programmes on Information and Political Empowerment of Women in Nepal

The study covers the impact of microfinance programmes on information and political empowerment of participants located in Dhulikkhel Municipality. 60 women members were selected for the study using judgmental sampling method. Descriptive and explanatory research design has been adopted to fulfil the objectives of the study. The present study concludes that the MFIs are focusing more on saving and lending practices but they have failed to give serious attention towards effective training and insurance services. Microfinance members perceived political empowerment through microfinance programme. However, they pointed out the impact of microfinance programme on information empowerment to some extent. Further, microfinance services and women information empowerment has significant relationship but there is no significant relationship between microfinance services and women political empowerment. It is visualized that marital status and source of income of respondents show difference on political empowerment only. For political empowerment, MFIs need to operate various information sharing activities, training based on income generation and social mobilization. As being grassroots level institutions, MFIs need to focus on capacity enhancement of women for political lead too.

The impact of microfinance programmes on access to health care, knowledge to health indicators and health status among women in Moshi, Tanzania

Background: Microfinance Institutions (MFI) award small loans and women are the primary target. Whilst much literature has explored and acknowledged its impact on poverty alleviation and gender equality few studies have examined whether the added income also improves health outcomes to program clients. This study examined the association between participation in MFI programmes and wellbeing of clients and their family members via social determinants of health in Moshi, Tanzania.Methods: Cross-sectional data among non-elderly women were collected between October and December 2011. Multistage random sampling technique was employed to obtain study participants. The primary predictor variable was participation in MFI programs while the outcome measures were: odds of facing exclusion to health care, knowledge to health indicators related to health promotion, and self-assessed health status. A questionnaire was used to collect extensive data on demographic and socioeconomic information of the study participants.Results: A total of 900 women participated in the study. Program participation was found to be associated with increasing age (p<0.001), increasing number of living children (p<0.002) and level of income (p<0.001). We found no association between program participation and access to health care, knowledge to health indicators related to health promotion and self-assessed health status. Only one out of seven indicators (14.2%) was significantly associated with MFI participation and access to health care. Two out of six (33.3%) health indicators showed association to MFI programme participation, while only 3 out of 15 (20%) dimensions measured in self-assessed health status showed significant association to MFI programme participation.Conclusion: These findings indicate that MFI programme participation is not associated with improved health outcomes of clients and their family members in Moshi. Strategies are needed to enhance the health-promoting capacity of MFI programmes in Moshi as shown elsewhere.

Empowerment of women through participation - a case study of microfinance program

Empowerment is a multi-faceted and multi-dimensional concept. Women empowerment is a process in which women gain greater share of control over resources whether it is material, intellectual or financial. Women in general and India in particular lack ownership of productive assets which hinder their independence. Self-help groups intermediated by microcredit have been shown to have positive effects on women, with some of these impacts being ripple effects. They have played valuable roles in reducing the vulnerability of the poor, through asset creation, income and consumption smoothing, provision of emergency assistance, and empowering and emboldening women by giving them control over assets and increased self-esteem and knowledge. The present study is a modest attempt to gain meaningful insights into the impact of microfinance program on women empowerment in two different agro-ecological settings in India by using primary survey data. Three components namely autonomy, economic empowerment and gender empowerment were aggregated to compute the composite index of women empowerment. Thereafter, applying regression technique it is found that microfinance participation has a positive and significant impact on women empowerment.

Overcoming access barriers to health services through membership-based microfinance organizations: a review of evidence from South Asia.

It is a challenge for the poor to overcome the barriers to accessing health services. Membership-based microfinance with associated health programmes can improve health outcomes for the poor. This study reviewed the evidence published between 1993 and 2013 on the role of membership-based microfinance with associated health programmes in improving health outcomes for the poor in South Asia. A total of 661 papers were identified and 26 selected for inclusion, based on the relevance and rigour of the research methods. Of these 26, five were evidence reviews. Of the remaining 21 papers, 12 were from India, seven from Bangladesh, and one each from Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Three papers addressed more than one theme. Five key themes emerged from the review: (i) the impact of microfinance programmes on the social and economic situation of the poor; (ii) the impact of microfinance programmes on community health; (iii) the impact of integrated microfinance health programmes on raising client awareness; (iv) the impact of integrated microfinance health programmes on financing health care; and (v) the impact of integrated microfinance health programmes on affordable health-care products and services. The review provides new evidence on the pathways through which microfinance helps to improve population health and value for money for such programmes. Among countries with large populations in the informal sector, there is a strong case for policy-makers to support these groups in providing access to life-saving health care among the poor.

Microfinance and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from a Village Study in Bangladesh

To evaluate the competing claims on the impact of microfinance programs on multidimensional poverty, a village study in Bangladesh was conducted where three microfinance programs had been operating for more than five years. The study found that microfinance has resulted in a moderate reduction in the poverty of borrowers, as measured by a variety of socio-economic indicators, but has not reached many of the poorest in the village. To make microfinance a more effective means of poverty reduction other services such as skills training, technological support, education and health related strategies should be included with microfinance.

Microfinance and Investment: A Comparison between Group Lending, Bank Lending and Informal Credit

Using data from a World Bank survey carried out in Bangladesh during the period 1991-1992, this paper compares the impact of microfinance programs and other types of credit agreements on households' investment in productive activities. We find that group-lending positively affects variable input expenditure while fixed assets are more likely to be financed through bank credit. These features characterize the non agricultural sector, while farmers seem to rely on informal loans. Results are not a consequence of the differences in the amount borrowed, interest rates, collateral, and borrowers' wealth. This provides evidence that non-measurable determinants of credit agreements, such as for example liability, sanctions, repayment schedules, and non-credit services, play a considerable role in determining households' attitudes towards different investment choices.