Poverty Alleviation Objectives Research Articles

Performance of Asian MFIs: The Role of Capital Structure and Macro-Institutional Quality

We draw on the capital structure theory and examine whether Modigliani & Miller’s capital leveraging ideology improves the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) under different macro-institutional quality. We develop and test a framework of the combined effect of capital structure and macro-institutional quality on both financial and social performance, which is a novel contribution. We collect data on 75 MFIs in Asia from 2009 to 2018 and applied Hausman-Taylor test.
 We find that when operating in countries whose institutions are relatively weak, MFIs can better perform both socially and financially by using equity funding instead of debt or donation. As supported by the Market Failure Solution theory of institutions, MFIs perform better socially in weaker institutional quality as they can fill up the gap in the market left by traditional banks. As this gap narrows down with the improvement of institutional factors, MFIs face stronger competition from traditional banks. Such competition transposes MFI’s focus toward financial performance (profit-seeking behaviour) and drifts away from social performance (objective of poverty alleviation). Furthermore, under any institutional condition, MFIs with debt or donation impose less control over capital utilisation compared to equity funding. Thus, despite initiation with a major goal of social performance, MFIs suffer from mission drift even with the support of debts and donations when operating in countries with relatively stronger institutions.

Factors Affecting Repayment Behaviour in Islamic Microfinance Programs

This study is primarily concerned with borrower behaviour in the context of microfinance financing repayment. The high non-performing loans (NPLs) incurred by microfinance institutions are one of the contributing factors to the failure to achieve the objective of poverty alleviation. This study used the quantitative approach, and structured questionnaires were distributed among respondents in Peninsular Malaysia who were selected via multistage random sampling. The results of the analysis showed that borrowers’ repayment behaviour was affected by their characteristics and accountability. Moreover, religiosity and business performance did not have a significant direct relationship with repayment behaviour. This research also found that accountability played a significant positive role as a mediator between borrower characteristics and repayment behaviour. This study makes a significant contribution to the knowledge of microfinance programmes, in which it explains repayment performance plays an important role in order to improve the social economy and alleviate poverty. The result also contributed to the practical aspect by suggesting ways to improve service and screening approaches to identify early warning signs and some factors that are potentially related to borrower behaviour.

Food poverty assessment in Ghana: A closer look at the spatial and temporal dimensions of poverty

The multifaceted nature of poverty in terms of its duration or chronicity, systematic changes, seasonality, variation, and risk or vulnerability makes its measurement and analysis complicated, especially in lower-income countries. In Ghana, data show that absolute poverty remains prevalent, and inequality has been rising. Despite the gradual decline in poverty, spatial income inequality has also become a concern in Ghana. This study develops a Foster-Greer-Thorbecke Poverty Measure based spatiotemporal model to investigate the variation in food poverty in Ghana. Application to population-based surveys fielded in 2012/13 and 2016/17 indicate that considerations of temporal and spatial dimensions of poverty have implications for gaging the level of deprivation among households and the potential allocation of scarce resources via policy to achieve poverty alleviation objectives. A model that jointly considers both the spatial and intra-annual dynamics arguably considered the most accurate and flexible but data-intensive one, resulted in the mean unconditional food poverty rate of 50%, with the lowest rate being the Northern Region in March (45%) and the highest rate being in the Upper West Region in June (54%). Overall, cost-wise, this flexible model also results in the highest potential cost savings.

Integrating poverty alleviation and environmental protection efforts: A socio-ecological perspective on menstrual health management

Apt menstrual health management is crucial to the livelihood of low-income, bottom of the pyramid (BOP) women as well as to environmental conservation. However, knowledge is still scant about the factors underpinning women's preferences towards menstrual products, and whether and how the environmental impact of different solutions matter to women's choices. We address this gap by proposing a socio-ecological perspective to understand whether a product's low environmental impact enhances low-income women's uptake of sanitary napkins, thereby supporting poverty alleviation objectives but also efforts geared towards environmental protection. Results from a discrete-choice experiment involving 164 women (n = 1148) in two Indian slums in Delhi and Ahmedabad show that sanitary products' biodegradability is the most important attribute affecting women's preferences towards menstrual hygiene management solutions, which also significantly interacts with women's socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics. Our findings highlight the potential for business models to find positive synergies between environmental protection and poverty alleviation goals and to situate solutions within the larger socio-ecological context of receiving communities.

An Exploratory Study on Communication, and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges

Poverty is a prevalent global developmental challenge recognised by the United Nations (UN) as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the desire to eradicate it is identified as goal number one (No Poverty). The challenges and setbacks to achieving poverty alleviation in Nigeria are multifaceted, including political, economic, and in some cases communication-related. Communication plays a role in promoting knowledge, social inclusion, and national development programmes. Consequently, where there is a communication gap, it is likely to result in an interruption in the attainment of poverty alleviation objectives. Nigeria is a peculiar reference case with respect to poverty prevalence. The country accounts for one of the highest numbers of poor people worldwide. Nearly half of Nigeria’s 200 million population are living below the international poverty line of $1.9 per day. This study examined the role of communication in poverty alleviation in Nigeria. Development media theory underpinned the study. The study identified media ownership structure, political concern, media bias, or lack of interest as part of the communication constraints acting as limiting poverty alleviation efforts in Nigeria. It recommends leveraging existing and new communication strategies, techniques, and approaches, beyond the traditional media, toward achieving the goal of eradicating extreme poverty by the year 2030.

Will Plans to Ease Energy Poverty Go Up in Smoke? Assessing the Hungarian NECP through the Lens of Solid Fuel Users’ Vulnerabilities

Hungary has one of the highest incidences of energy poverty in the European Union, and a high share of Hungarian low-income households rely on solid fuels. This paper first maps the energy vulnerabilities of Hungarian solid fuel users using six energy vulnerability factors. The mapping underlines that solid fuel users are more exposed to energy vulnerability than average households. This is followed by an analysis of energy-poverty-related objectives and measures outlined in the Hungarian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), a key policy document of the green energy transition. The paper outlines that the NECP fails to comply with the requirement of setting energy poverty alleviation objectives. Furthermore, the outlined energy-poverty-related policies and measures fail to provide systematic solutions to energy-poverty drivers, especially those solid fuel users’ vulnerabilities. Hungary’s general antiegalitarian policy environment and the weak design of energy poverty measures in the NECP suggest severe deficiency regarding a just energy transition guarantee. A just energy transition in Hungary is therefore endangered by the fact that EU energy poverty alleviation requirements fall under soft-law coordination mechanisms that make such requirements hardly enforceable in a member state with an antipoor policy bias that is reluctant to tackle energy poverty.

Absolute Poverty and Sound Public Finance in the Eurozone

The respect of fiscal parameters is supposed to be – according to the official position of the European institutions – the best recipe for granting stability and growth. This optimistic view appears to be in contrast with the recent increase in poverty. The aim of this paper is to individuate the existence of a relation between governments’ decisions about fiscal policy and absolute poverty in 19 Eurozone countries from 2005 to 2017. The attempt is to answer the question as to whether the effect on growth generated by fiscal policy measures can account for the objective of poverty alleviation. The results support the conclusion that absolute poverty increases in the presence of a restrictive fiscal policy, while it decreases in the opposite case. During declining macroeconomic conditions, national governments belonging to the Eurozone appear to be unable to reconcile the objective of sound public finance with that of poverty alleviation.

Interest-Free Microfinance Arrangements and Its Impact on the Livelihood of Women in India

This study is based on the impact of interest-free microfinance arrangements on the livelihood of women in India. Studies revealed the existence of interest-free microfinance, as well as its outcome on the livelihood of weaker sections of society (particularly women), improved their well-being. Moreover, the interest-free microfinance model can also offer an alternative paradigm for millions of poor individuals who are currently not accommodated by conventional microfinancing. However, the association to Interest Free Micro Financing may be due to religious constraints, easy documentation & procedure, and low rates of processing fees, or any other motive. Interest-free microfinance products like Zakat, Sadaqah, and Karze Hasna will successfully meet micro financing core objectives of poverty alleviation, women empowerment, gender equality, prosperity, and employment. Interest-free microfinance agencies are working as unorganized institutions and not availing any support from the State. In this study, data was drawn from interest-free microfinance users in the areas of 20 districts in 5 states in India, namely UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala. The discussions in the study are mainly concerned with the empirical review of the impacts and influences of interest-free microfinance on the lifestyle of microfinance users before a loan and after a taken loan i.e., their income, expenditure, saving, entrepreneurship, consumption, and women's participation in earning income in India. The analysis showed that the performance of interest-free microfinance consumers is better than conventional microfinance consumers. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Livelihood, Education Development, Living Standards, Women Empowerment

Interest-Free Microfinance Arrangements and Its Impact on the Livelihood of Women in India

Objective –The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of interest-free microfinance arrangements on the livelihood of women in India. Studies reveal that the existence of interest-free microfinance, as well as its outcome on the livelihood of weaker sections of society (particularly women), overall improved their well-being. Methodology –Exploratory and cross-section analysis is used to understand the satisfaction level among non- conventional microfinance arrangements. Survey of non-conventional microfinance beneficiaries exposes the status of women’s’ earnings, financial literacy, skills development, employment generation, household savings and poverty alleviation. Findings–Interest-free microfinance products like Zakat, Sadaqah, and KarzeHasna will successfully meet micro- financing core objectives of poverty alleviation, women empowerment, gender equality, prosperity, and employment. The analysis showed that the performance of interest-free microfinance consumers is better than conventional microfinance consumers. Novelty –This study is an original which is based on the demographic, sociocultural and regulatory framework of interest-free micro finance systems to identify the acceptability in the Indian financial system. The discussions in the study are mainly concerned with the empirical review of the impact and effect of interest-free microfinance on the lifestyle of female microfinance users after obtaining a loan i.e., their income, expenditure, saving, entrepreneurship, consumption, and women participation in earning income in India. Type of Paper: Empirical JEL Classification: G20, G21. Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Livelihood; Education Development; Living Standards; Women Empowerment

Community-Based Tourism in Protected Areas: Elaborating A Model from A South African Perspective

Community-based ecotourism (CBET) shares many of the values and challenges of community-based tourism (CBT) but must also consider the interaction of local communities and the environment, often in areas of controlled or restricted use. Although CBT and CBET have been part of South Africa’s economic strategy, governance, and social structures and hierarchies may constrain opportunities for entry. This article reviews the relevant literature with specific reference to South African CBT and CBET enterprises and uses the iSimangaliso Wetland Park as a case study to build a general framework for CBT around conservation areas. In particular, the framework describes a pathway for CBET ventures to move from an internal partnership model to an external model and ultimately complete self-sufficiency and independence if desired. We show that despite numerous challenges, CBET can be viable in conservation areas, provided all parties involved in the venture make a concerted effort to ensure that the main objectives of poverty alleviation and improved environmental management are met.

Assessing major drivers of crop shifting from rice to horticultural production: a case of Landono sub-regency in Southeast Sulawesi

Climate change can have adverse impact on rice as it depends much on precipitation and temperature. In recent years, due partly to climate change, rice farming becomes riskier to failure and less competitive than other crops, so many farmers have left rice farming. This study aimed to determine the major drivers responsible for crop shifting from rice to horticultural production. The study was conducted in Abenggi village of South Konawe Regency in Southeast Sulawesi. Interview and Focus Group Discussions (FGC) were used to collect data and information. Data were analyzed using pairwise comparison method. Study results indicated that the pull factors were more dominant than the push factors. Five most important crop shifting drivers were high farm returns, lower risk of failure, high market demand from horticultural production, and high risk of failure and inadequate water supply from rice farming. Horticulture farming provides more benefits than rice farming in income generation and local economic growth, but abandoning rice fields might compromise food security promotion efforts in the long run. The government and all stakeholders should understand all these drivers to adopt integrated policies and programs in pursuing development objectives of food security promotion, poverty alleviation, and rural development to achieve sustainable development

Expanded Public Works Programme Participants: Transitioning to Tourism in South Africa

The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was developed in South Africa as a strategy for job creation amongst poor people. However, this desired outcome of EPWP is often not achieved. This research follows an action research approach to analyse the potential of two organisations to collectively help overcome development gaps and improve living, learning and working conditions for EPWP participants. A new framework is proposed that will support all collaborating organizations to achieve their common objectives of overcoming poverty and unemployment and providing opportunities in rural areas for vulnerable people to earn an income. The research assesses the opportunities for collaboration between the organizations to help create business opportunities in tourism once participants exit the EPWP programme. This study included some primary data collection and adds new insights to the body of knowledge that deals with effectiveness of EPWP programmes in achieving objectives of poverty alleviation and job creation.

The effects of situation analysis practices on implementation of poverty alleviation mariculture projects in the coast of Kenya

Abstract The importance of situation analysis in the project cycle cannot be overstated. This research was carried out in twelve sites where mariculture was practiced in Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale Counties in the coast of Kenya. The general objective of the research was to assess the effects of situation analysis practices on implementation of mariculture projects in Kenya. The specific objectives were to:- examine the effect of stakeholder analysis on implementation of poverty alleviation mariculture projects, establish the effect of problem analysis on implementation of mariculture projects, and determine the effect of needs assessment on implementation of poverty alleviation mariculture projects. The research was based on quantitative research approach with a cross sectional survey design. Simple random sampling was used to select the number of subjects that represent the target population in the survey. Guided questionnaire administration was adopted to capture responses from members of organized mariculture groups. Factor analysis and regression analysis were conducted on the data collected from the questionnaire survey. Results showed that the poverty alleviation mariculture projects in Kenya are dominated by female actors compared to male actors. Factor analysis revealed that degree of success and degree to which the mariculture projects have addressed their objective of poverty alleviation were the most important measures of project implementation and were named effectiveness. Regression analysis showed that there was a significant positive relationship between stakeholder analysis and effectiveness (β = 0.726; t = 12.59; p = 0.000). Being the single most significant factor influencing mariculture project implementation, stakeholder analysis should be undertaken at the situation analysis stage so that it informs project design. It was concluded that improvements in situation analysis practices brought about by improvements in stakeholder analysis would address poverty among coastal fisher communities by improving implementation of poverty alleviation mariculture projects.

Performance of Microfinance Providers in Sindh, Pakistan: A Study of Formal and Informal Microfinance Institutes

This research aims to analyze the performance of microfinance providers of the Sindh province of Pakistan. For this purpose, the formal and informal microfinance institutes were selected. Data was gathered from a sample of 150 managers of microfinance banks and institutions. In this research, the random sampling technique is used to collect the data through questionnaires. The OLS regression model is employed to analyze the data. The results of this study show that the number of branches, and less number of defaulters significantly affect the performance of microfinance institutes in Sindh, Pakistan. Moreover, the total cost also has an important relationship with the performance of microfinance organizations in Sindh. However, the study finds the interest rate, and more diversified financial services to have no significant impact on the performance of microfinance organizations. Due to the lack of financial information of the microfinance institutions in Sindh, there is dearth of the research on the performance of microfinance institutions. Rather than using only the published financial information this study relies on the information provided by the managers of the microfinance providers for the analysis. The results of this study have implications for the well-functioning of microfinance institutes, and for the government to achieve the poverty alleviation objectives in Pakistan

Innovating Rural Tourism Targeting Poverty Alleviation through a Multi-Industries Integration Network: the Case of Zhuanshui Village, Anhui Province, China

For an impoverished area to employ rural tourism (RT) as an avenue of poverty alleviation, there are two main challenges: building competitiveness with a very limited endowed resource base, and targeting the poor who generally lack financial capital or key capabilities as the main beneficiaries. With a case of Zhuanshui in China, an impoverished village without prominent tourism resource endowment, this paper has shown that the two challenges can be met through an innovation to construct a multi-industries integration network. This paper explores the development of the network, examines its characteristics, and analyzes its operation mechanisms. Results indicate that (1) the common objective of poverty alleviation and the same fundamental resource, combine RT and its extension industries tightly into an integration network; (2) sufficient evidence has been found for the embeddedness, endogeneity and empowerment of the network, but for empowerment, the poor’s participation is just the first stage to make appropriate decisions about the development due to their inadequate capabilities; and (3) vision developing, demonstration driving and centralized decentralization governance are three vital operational mechanisms to encourage the participation and collaboration of stakeholders. We also discussed the possible challenges for sustainability, being replicability of established competitive advantages, temporality of the major leader, and potential environmental degradation.

Microfinance Position and Indebtedness: Empirical Evidence from Microfinance Institutions in Nepa

The paper has been built up with the aim of analyzing the microfinance institutions status and indebtedness in Nepal. Initially, the paper starts with the thematic review based on etymological, ontological, epistemological dimensions then the status of microfinance institutions and indebtedness in Nepal have been presented in the second part. The descriptive analytical research design has been adopted to analyze and interpret the population data. The fifty three microfinance institutions' data have been reviewed, tabulated and analyzed using MSExcel. The microfinance institutions have been found efficient in saving and credit services. The microfinance credit service has not been utilized as per the need of the people and capacity of the institutions. The loan recovery, interest recovery, clients awareness/activeness have been found effective. Overall, microfinance institutions status has been found sound. Only few institutions are below the satisfaction level. The microfinance services in terms of micro loan are not uniform among microfinance institutions. The indebtedness challenge have found at bottom level in the microfinance industry. It is recommended to all the microfinance institutions to come up with policies, strategies and regulatory framework to benchmark the level of tolerance to indebtedness, so that the microfinance institutions may sustain by achieving the objectives of poverty alleviation through microfinance services. Pravaha Vol. 24, No. 1, 2018, Page: 120-136

Linkage between labor migration, remittance and self employed business activities in Nepal

This paper investigates the linkage between international labor migration, remittance and ownershipof self employed business activities in Nepal using a nationally representative cross sectional data. Thepurpose of the paper is to test the hypothesis propounded by New Economics of Labor Economics. Atwo stage instrumental variable Probit model is used to assess the relationship between the variables.The findings suggest that household with migrant members is seven percent more likely to own anenterprise while impact of remittance is negligible and insignificant. This paper concludes that theskills and knowledge about technology acquired abroad by migrant labor could be instrumental forexpanding the self employed business activities in Nepal contributing to overreaching objectives ofpoverty alleviation and creating jobs in the domestic market in the long run.
 Keywords: International labor migration; Remittance; Self-employment; Business activities;Entrepreneurship

The lack of alternative income sources: The case of ornamental fishing in the Inirida fluvial confluence, Colombian Amazon

<p>In this paper we present a case study of the impoverished ornamental fishing situation in the Inirida Fluvial Confluence (IFC) in Colombia. For this purpose fieldwork was conducted to obtain primary data from fishermen in the zone. The results indicate that effort applied to create different economic activities have no significant impact on the income of fishermen. Community Agreements for Responsible Fishing (CARF) could be an effective policy for management of the resource; nevertheless, their establishment can bring a loss of livelihoods when there are no clear alternative income sources, and may be incompatible with poverty alleviation objectives. Due to this, alternative sources of income should also be promoted in policy-making.</p>

Marketization as political technology: unintended consequences of climate finance in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Climate finance involves the transfer of money from advanced economies into developing countries in order to contribute to carbon mitigation or climate adaptation efforts while simultaneously advancing poverty alleviation and sustainable development objectives. Dominant carbon mitigation efforts resemble what Michel Callon calls ‘civilizing markets’, a deliberate harnessing of formal markets to achieve social goals by engaging with multiple political constituencies in market design. This paper looks at carbon marketization in the Democratic Republic of Congo and finds that, despite inclusive planning, climate finance experts produce unintended consequences by assigning social and environmental goals separate strategies within a national portfolio of climate finance interventions. Resulting from the challenges of finding commensurate criteria for measuring market impacts in both social and environmental domains, this programmatic segregation obscures the interconnections between poverty, forest use and climate change in the Congo. Findings suggest a need to reconcile the design of environmental-focused markets with the difficult-to-measure embedded social benefits of informal natural resource economies.

Tax Regulation and Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions in Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe

<div><p><em>The study seeks to evaluate the effect of the current tax regulatory regime on the sustainability of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Masvingo urban. Many governments raise public finance through the taxation of individuals and the business community. Undertaking of this study was mainly motivated by the increase in the number of microfinance institutions after the introduction of the multicurrency system in 2009, but the government is failing to meet its revenue targets. The study was done on 24 loan officers and 8 managers of MFIs. Data was collected using a Likert scale questionnaire. Quantitative data was presented using SPSS. This study found that a tax regulation can enhance the sustainability of MFIs if properly simplified to promote investment in microfinance business through provision of tax exemptions, tax incentives, free registration, simplified record keeping procedures, and reduced tax rates. The study recommends that MFIs should not be heavily taxed if they are to meet a major objective of poverty alleviation. </em></p></div>