Poverty Alleviation In Bangladesh Research Articles

Impact of Microfinance Initiatives on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of microfinance initiatives on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Microfinance in Bangladesh has boosted incomes, improved housing and food security, and empowered women economically, fostering entrepreneurship and decision-making. It has also enhanced social cohesion and community development through economic participation. Despite challenges, microfinance remains crucial for poverty reduction in Bangladesh. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social capital theory, agency theory & capability approach may be used to anchor future studies on analyze the impact of microfinance initiatives on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Foster community engagement and social cohesion within microfinance groups through participatory decision-making processes, group activities, and capacity-building initiatives. Incorporate social capital building objectives into microfinance program design and evaluation criteria, incentivizing MFIs to prioritize community empowerment and social capital formation.

A Study of Rural Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: Prospects and Problems

A Study of Rural Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: Prospects and Problems

Evaluating the mediating role of energy subsidies on social well-being and energy poverty alleviation in Bangladesh

Energy subsidies are a widespread policy instrument employed by national governments to regulate the mechanism of energy resource allocation in contemporary market economies. The economic impact of these subsidies has been quantitatively evaluated for various nations in the literature using different approaches. However, the impact of energy subsidies on social wellbeing tracked by looking at school drop-out, health status, and earning capacity through mediating effects of energy poverty employing mediation analysis using household-level data is rarely investigated, particularly for energy-poor countries. Thus, by employing mediation analysis with data from three waves of the national Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of Bangladesh for the years 2005, 2010, and 2016, this study intends to reveal the mediating effects of energy subsidies on social wellbeing via energy poverty. The results obtained utilizing a mixed-effect regression approach suggest that energy subsidies and energy poverty are significantly linked, and energy subsidies improve social wellbeing by mediating effects of energy poverty. This finding is robust to alternative ways of addressing endogeneity using Lewbel's two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. Additionally, the richer households realize better social wellbeing and have less energy poverty, gaining more than other households from energy subsidies. The policy relevance of this paper advocates further innovation in energy subsidy reforms in energy-poor countries for combating energy poverty and ensuring clean, sustainable, and affordable energy for all in line with the aims of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 7, affordable and clean energy.

Evaluating the potential of innovations across aquaculture product value chains for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh and India

Evidence is presented that innovation across aquaculture value chains can contribute to poverty reduction through income generation and increased consumption of nutritious aquatic foods. Innovation is defined and contextualized in relation to aquaculture development. Opportunities for aquaculture innovation across value chains for poverty reduction and sustainable production are described. Contemporary trends in aquaculture development in Bangladesh and India, with a focus on 2011-2020, are reviewed, as understanding transformative change to aquatic food systems during this period could benefit millions of poor and marginal consumers. Market-led commercial production, instigated by private sector entrepreneurs for domestic markets, has underpinned the surge in freshwater fish culture in key geographical locations. In contrast booms in shrimp production have been associated with export opportunities and related cycles of boom-and-bust have been described, with busts attributed to falling market prices and disease outbreaks. Innovation could safeguard supplies of affordable fish to poorer groups (especially young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women) and enable better health management of aquatic animals including coordination of surveillance and disease control measures. Innovation to effectively promote better management practices and integrated services provision to large numbers of small- and medium-scale producers could contribute to poverty reduction. Opportunities for future innovation to ensure that aquaculture development is sustainable are critically reviewed. Innovative strategies to add value to by-products and utilize waste resources could avoid negative environmental impacts, recycle nutrients and create income generating opportunities. A new paradigm for development assistance that identifies and supports promising innovation trajectories across jurisdictions, product value chains, institutional regimes and food systems is needed. Government agencies must be responsive to the needs of businesses throughout aquatic food systems and devise policies and regulatory regimes that support transformative and sustained growth of the aquaculture sector. Investment in capacity-building, education, research and training and action to promote an enabling institutional environment must be regarded as essential elements to maximize and share equitably the benefits arising and avoid potential negative impacts of inappropriate innovations.

Financial Inclusion as the Driver of Poverty Alleviation in Developing Economies: Evidence from Bangladesh

This study aims to investigate the role of inclusive financing practices on poverty eradication in the developing countries context like Bangladesh by utilising annual time series data over the period from 1995 to 2020. The empirical evidence from the study indicates that the macroeconomic influences of inclusive financing on reduction of poverty is not statistically well justified, meaning that no significant statistical relationship has been found between inclusive financing and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh over the study period. But the expected sign of the variables that possess in the specified model gives the remarkable indication regarding the presence of true economic relationship. However, the right direction of the variables related to financial inclusion show that to some extent there have been economic implications from which we could remark that poverty alleviation is positively associated with financial inclusion in Bangladesh similar to many other developing countries across the world.

The Impact of Foreign Aid Conditionality on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: A Recipient’s Perspective

Donors provide aid to the recipient government with conditions to implement some policies so that the recipient government can use aid effectively and able to improve its economic, social, and political situation as well as reduce its poverty. However, concerns have been raised that aid conditionality has promoted reforms that could not reduce the poverty situation in some countries such as sub-Saharan Africa, while some countries in East Asia were able to break out of poverty and find themselves better off than before the conditional aid was accepted. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of foreign aid conditionality on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. The paper is qualitative in nature and a case study on Bangladesh. The study has been conducted by using secondary data, like journal articles, research papers, and Bangladesh government and aid donors’ reports. The study finds that Bangladesh has started to show considerable improvement in reducing poverty, though it is still ranking low on the Human Development Index. The findings have important implications for policymakers and captured insights about the foreign aid conditionality in Bangladesh.

SME Development, Inclusive Growth, and Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

The massive involvement of SMEs in economic development is considered one of the important prerequisites for inclusive growth in developing countries. This paper aims to assess the performance of SMEs towards economic development in Bangladesh based on the research question of whether SMEs have a significant influence on economic growth and the alleviation of poverty. Annual time-series data from 1996 to 2017 have been used to carry out the empirical analysis. The econometric analysis has been performed employing OLS and 2SLS techniques to investigate the impact of SMEs on economic growth and poverty alleviation. The results of the empirical analyses show that there is an economic linkage between SME development, economic growth, and the incidence of poverty. Even though such empirical relationships are not found to be statistically well justified, an increase in the percentage share of SMEs expansion has a positive effect on economic growth, which in turn, can alleviate poverty in Bangladesh. The findings of the study suggest that in light of economic theory, SME development is implicitly essential for ensuring inclusive growth and consequent poverty alleviation.

Garment Sector Development Nexus Economic Growth in Bangladesh: A Dynamic Cointegration and Causality Analysis

In Bangladesh the garment sector is one of the major industrial sector which occupied its foremost presence in the economy of the country in terms of foreign exchange earnings, contribution to GDP, and employment generation and as well. The garment sector plays significant roles for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. The export-oriented readymade garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh, started its journey in late 1970s as a small non-traditional sector of export. The industry began its journey from 1978 and formally started its journey in the 1980s, after that RMG sector of Bangladesh started growing, capture the market globally and providing valuable performance. In 1979 the garment sector exported only 0.672 million $ with operating 12 garment factories by 0.39 million workers but in 2020 within a span of two decays export values have gone up to 31456.73 million USD with its 4764 export oriented garment industries including 4.23 million workers. Thus an important question is usually raised by the researchers, is there a long-run cointegration relationship between garment sector development and economic growth in Bangladesh? To give the answer of this question this paper has tried to find out whether the long-run cointegration relationship exists between garment sector development and economic growth in Bangladesh economy. The study is used the times series data from 1976-2020 for garment sector development and economic growth. The existence of long-run cointegration relationship is found between garment sector development and economic growth in Bangladesh economy. From the estimated results of the vector error correction (VEC) model it is found that there exists short run bidirectional causality between garment sector development and economic growth. The significance and negative sign of test statistic of ECM(-1) denotes the existence of long run causality between garment sector development and economic growth. Therefore, it can be presumed that there is a long-run equilibrium connection between garment sector development and economic expansion in Bangladesh economy. From the estimated values of response function it can be said that with respect to one standard deviation the variable garment sector development responds positively for the next fifteen years in the variable economic growth in Bangladesh.

Development of Sustainable Tourism Destinations and Poverty Alleviation of Bangladesh

Tourism sector has been considered as the crucial sectors of many different countries of the world. And sustainable tourism brings enormous scope as a rapid growing economic sector on the basis of foreign exchange earnings and generation of employment opportunity and thereby elevating poverty from the country. The central aim of this study is to investigate the role of sustainable tourism in alleviating poverty from developing countries, especially the northern part of Bangladesh. For this purpose, the different tourism sites have been selected that are situated in Rajshahi region like Padma Garden, Varendra Museum and Shaheed Kamruzzaman Zoo. Rajshahi, the major tourist destination region in Bangladesh which is very beautiful and flourished that has a great chance to contribute country’s infrastructure and economic development. This study conducts a survey on 200 respondents in three different places of Rajshahi through the structured questionnaires, observation, interview and literature review. An exploratory research method was employed because the nature of the study was descriptive due to the fact that most of the respondents were illiterate or semi illiterate. Besides IBM SPSS Statistics 20 is being used to analyze the data. Through the factor analysis and other measurements tools this study expatiates the social, cultural, economic, environmental and other factors which touching the sustainability of Rajshahi and also provide recommendations about the required steps that needs to be taken into account to palliate and to manage the drawbacks of tourism to make Rajshahi as a sustainable tourism destination. Besides it reveals the relationship between tourism development and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. The study also suggested few ways by which existing tourism can be promoted and well developed in Bangladesh thereby ensuring sustainable tourism development (STD) and economic growth. 

The Effect of Conventional and Islamic Microfinance on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Our study evaluated and examined the availability of credit services and outreach as well as propose better effect microfinance services in Bangladesh. The establishment of MFIs in Bangladesh is the result of multiple initiatives by successive government authorities. More recently, microfinance has become a system to address the challenge of poverty, and the past decade has seen a remarkable contribution from MFIs in different parts of the world. Our study used a sample of 400 Islamic and conventional microfinance clients through a simple random sampling technique. In analysing the descriptive data statistics, Pearson Moment correlations, Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) and parametric tests such as independent t-test and ANOVA were used.
 The study concluded that the credit facilities are available and accessible in the microfinance institutions irrespective of gender, type of business engaged by the client and the community he/she belongs.

Poverty alleviation through self-sustaining new entrepreneurs program: a case study in Bangladesh

Purpose- One of the significant challenges facing many countries in the world is poverty. Mass poverty and unemployment can be eliminated through entrepreneur development. This study focuses on introducing how the new entrepreneurs (NE) program can help poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Methodology- The case study was used to capture the NE program process and context. The data collection was done by in-depth interviews with respondents who are business owners of different small business. Findings- The result of this study showed that the NP program has significant effect on poverty reduction in Bangladesh. The NP program is the process that provides trainees with knowledge, skills, and financial support to create a professional businessman for poverty and unemployment reduction. Conclusion- Entrepreneurship is central to the economic growth and development of any nation. The NE program is the resourcefulness of traditional entrepreneurship whose mission is to change the society. The NE program is a sustainable solution for reducing poverty. Adequate attention must be given to the growth of new entrepreneurs.

The Impact of International Remittances on Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

This article mainly explores to what extent international remittances alleviate household poverty in Bangladesh. This study uses primary data collected from 216 households and employs multi-methods. Firstly, I measure the level of household poverty through Foster-Greer-Thorbecke index. The article secondly focuses on the impact of remittances on household poverty using a binary logistic regression model. I found that the level of poverty among remittance recipient households is notably lower than households that are not receiving remittances. Similarly, the probability of a household being poor is alleviated by 28.07 per cent if the household receives remittance. It can be suggested that nursing international remittances can be useful for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh.

Poverty Alleviation of Rural People through Good Governance in Bangladesh

The governance is a vital issue especially for a developing country like Bangladesh which affects every sector of development. Corruption, inefficient service delivery, weak policy setting, and limited participation of various stakeholders in decision making have a negative impact on the rural poor. However, the main reason of poverty retaining in Bangladesh is seen in bad governance, which comprises widespread corruption, non-transparency and non-accountability of public policy making. Good governance is considered to bring in a powerful change in the condition of the poor. The main objective of this article is to explore the ways of poverty alleviation through good governance in Bangladesh. It also finds out the present situation of poverty in Bangladesh and determines the link between good governance and poverty alleviation. This article used documentary analysis and, in particular, content analysis as a research method in order to disclose appearance of good governance agenda representing ways of addressing poverty alleviation. This study finds out the four indicators of good governance which directly related to poverty alleviation in Bangladesh: accountability, transparency, participation and predictability. This study suggests that publicly available information, access of the poor to basic services of government, budget transparency, expenditure, verdicts of courts and tribunals, responsive local government, grass root democracy, and anti-corruption are effective instruments for every sector development which can alleviate poverty in terms of any dimension. It contributes new lense to the existing literature regarding linkages between good governance and poverty alleviation.

Parliament and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: Role of the MP

This article explores the role of Members of Parliament (MPs) in poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. Under the existing party-dominated parliamentary system, MPs do not have really much to do at the national level; their role is to play second fiddle to their party leaders. What most MPs now do is to try to get involved in different kinds of activities at the local level. The government often remains receptive to demands of the MPs for greater local level involvement for two reasons: first, it can be seen as a strategy to compensate the MPs for their lack of genuine involvement in national policymaking; second, it is used as a strategy to exert centralised political control over the locality, especially to discourage the emergence of any ‘autonomous’ local power. Using MPs for centralised control has negative implications for the development of local level representative institutions and democracy deepening in the country.

An Integrated Approach to Islamic Microfinance for Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

An Integrated Approach to Islamic Microfinance for Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Значение опыта Западной Бенгалии для преодоления бедности в Бангладеш

The article analyzes socio-economic problems and ways of eliminating poverty in Bangladesh. The focal point of the research is poverty among rural population which is the most vulnerable one. The author’s assumption is that the main reason for rural poverty is historical inequality of land property distribution in Bangladesh. The existing measures of poverty alleviation in Bangladesh (micro crediting among others) have made the country a role model for development. However, due to the limited potential of micro crediting a broader program of socio-economic reforms is required for any country striving to provide inclusive development. Using comparative-historical method the article compares the experience of Bangladesh and Indian state of West Bengal in implementing agricultural reforms aimed at improving life of the poor. West Bengal under the CPM rule is considered as a state with strong government whereas Bangladesh is considered as a state with weak government but rather strong non-governmental actors (NGOs). The article makes a conclusion that a weak institutional power of Bangladesh is one of the main reasons why agricultural reforms have not been adopted in this country and that poverty elimination there requires structural reforms to redistribute land property and to guarantee rural population legal and economic equality.

Investment Climate in Bangladesh: Performance and Possibilities

Bangladesh achieved lower-middle income country’s status from the World Bank in July 2015. It’s GNI per capita raised into USD 1314 in 2014-15 FY from USD 1184 and USD 1054 in 2012-13 and 2013-14 Fiscal Years respectively. The government of Bangladesh declared Vision 2021 to be a higher middle income country by the year 2021. Therefor it has only 6 years in hand to raise GNI per capita from existing USD 1314 into USD 4126 to become a higher middle income country. There are many other challenges in front of it like; about 31.5% population is living below poverty line, there are 56.7 million workable populations in Bangladesh with 2 million unemployed populations. About 1.8 million educated workforces are entering into the job market in each year. GDP Growth rate is rotating around 6% to 6.6% during last decades, but it has to be increased into 8% to 10% to facilitate employment generation and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. A huge amount of new investment is required to increase GDP growth and employment rate up to the desired level. There are options to increase local investment as well as go for foreign direct investment but preparations shall be taken in time. Otherwise Vision 2021 may not be achieved even by the year 2031. This is the time to compare Bangladesh’s performance in local and foreign investment attraction with its competitor countries. Current investment attraction tools using by the government of Bangladesh could be rechecked and initiate effective corrective measures as, when and where required.

Impacts of Rice-Prawn Farming System on Farm Productivity, Food Security and Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh: A Case Study in Khulna District

The present study was undertaken to assess the impacts of rice-prawn gher (RPG) system on farm productivity, food security and poverty reduction in Bangladesh. In this study, farm survey data, extracted from a comprehensive questionnaire from two study villages viz. Bilpabla (RPG farming) and Chanchra (year-round modern variety–YRMV) located in Khulna and Jessore district, respectively were analyzed deliberately. This study consists of a random selection of ninety farmers from Bilpabla Village and one-hundred farmers from Chanchra. The study indicates that RPG farming system has significant impacts on farm productivity. On an average, yield of modern variety (MV) was reasonably higher in RPG farming system than that of YRMV farming system. In addition, the households engaged in RPG farming system (Bilpabla Village) have simultaneously generated more household income and per capita income (more than twice), relative to YRMV farming system (Chanchra Village). Moreover, the households of Bilpabla are superior to those households residing in Chanchra in terms of physical, social and economic access (purchasing power) which permits them to acquire and consume well-balanced food as well as sufficient calorie intake. Therefore, the RPG farming system had significant impacts on food security and poverty reduction.The Agriculturists 2014; 12(2) 126-136

Investment Climate in Bangladesh: Performance and Possibilities

Bangladesh achieved lower-middle income country’s status from the World Bank in July 2015. It’s GNI per capita raised into USD 1314 in 2014-15 FY from USD 1184 and USD 1054 in 2012-13 and 2013-14 Fiscal Years respectively. The government of Bangladesh declared Vision 2021 to be a higher middle income country by the year 2021. Therefor it has only 6 years in hand to raise GNI per capita from existing USD 1314 into USD 4126 to become a higher middle income country. There are many other challenges in front of it like; about 31.5% population is living below poverty line, there are 56.7 million workable populations in Bangladesh with 2 million unemployed populations. About 1.8 million educated workforces are entering into the job market in each year. GDP Growth rate is rotating around 6% to 6.6% during last decades, but it has to be increased into 8% to 10% to facilitate employment generation and poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. A huge amount of new investment is required to increase GDP growth and employment rate up to the desired level. There are options to increase local investment as well as go for foreign direct investment but preparations shall be taken in time. Otherwise Vision 2021 may not be achieved even by the year 2031. This is the time to compare Bangladesh’s performance in local and foreign investment attraction with its competitor countries. Current investment attraction tools using by the government of Bangladesh could be rechecked and initiate effective corrective measures as, when and where required.

An Investigation of Social Safety Net Programs as Means of Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing and poorer country in the world. The 2010 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) indicates around 31.6 percent of its population lives under the national poverty line. This has led to the implementation of many social safety net (SSN) programs to address the issue of poverty. In the fiscal year 2009/10, the Bangladesh government allocated 15.22 percent of total budget for SSN program that accounts to 2.52 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the SSNs programs on level of poverty reduction in Bangladesh. The study employs time series analysis on the 1996 – 2010 spending on SSN and poverty rate data. Statistical analysis indicates negative relationship between SSN expenditure and poverty rates. This implies that SSNs programs have reached the struggling poor as well as have helped the deprived part of the country’s people to pick them up of poverty situation.