Download or read book Microfinance In Asia written by Christopher E C Gan and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lack of credit access is severe in low income and poor families that are normally considered to have fewer opportunities to borrow from banks due to insufficient valuable assets for collateral. These low-income households face limited opportunity to acquire new technology and working capital for agricultural production and thus tend to fall behind. As a result, providing access to finance to low-income rural households has been considered an important component of any rural development strategy. Microfinance programmes, in particular, have been gradually embedded in national strategies of many developing countries as they are poverty-focused. They aim to facilitate the access to financial services such as credit for the poor who are usually disadvantaged in terms of access to conventional financial services from formal financial institutions. The objective of this book is to provide an overview of microfinance programmes in Asia focusing in particular on the determinants of the accessibility of rural households to microcredit. The book studies seven Asian countries such as China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh with two specific case studies.
Download or read book World Development Report 2008 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-10-15 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. 'World Development Report 2008' seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the 'World Development Report'.
Download or read book Grameen Bank written by Shahidur R. Khandker and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Bank Technical Paper No. 295. The progress made by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in privatizing state-owned enterprises has created millions of new shareholders. But for the citizenry to buy and sell shares, these countries must develop stock markets and related institutions such as brokerages, clearing and settling organizations, and regulatory agencies. This paper examines the role of capital markets in the new market economies of Central and Eastern Europe and to what extent governments in the region should encourage the development of such markets. The authors address questions of whether the capital markets will serve merely as a forum for trading stocks or become a source of new equity capital to help restructure the enterprises of the region and whether governments should take a hands-off approach by letting the necessary institutions develop as they are needed or should actively create stock exchanges and establish the overall legal and regulatory framework.
Download or read book Promotion of Rural Employment for Poverty Reduction written by and published by International Labour Organization. This book was released on 2008 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report adopts a decent work perspective to approach the challenge of promoting employment and reducing poverty in rural areas by examining issues of employment, social protection, rights and social dialogue in rural areas in an integrated way.
Download or read book Farming Systems and Poverty written by John A. Dixon and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2001 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.
Download or read book Fighting Poverty with Microcredit written by Shahidur R. Khandker and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1998 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With increasing assistance from the World Bank and other donors, microfinance is emerging as an instrument for reducing poverty and improving the poor's access to financial services in low-income countries. Providing the poor with access to financial services is one of many ways to help increase their incomes and productivity. In many countries, however, traditional financial institutions have failed to provide this service. Microcredit and cooperative programs fill this gap. They provide credit through social mechanisms such as group-based lending to reach the poor and other clients, including women, who lack access to formal financial institutions. Their purpose is to help the poor become self-employed and thus escape poverty. This book examines the experiences of the Grameen Bank, the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board's Rural Development Project-12 in order to quantify the potential and limitations of microcredit programs as an instrument for reducing poverty and delivering financial services to the poor. A copublication of the World Bank and Oxford University Press.
Download or read book Finance Against Poverty Volume 1 written by Hulme David and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-12 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In two volumes these books review and expand the theory that poverty in the world's poorest regions could be alleviated by providing small loans to micro-entrepreneurs. Volume 1 provides detailed analysis of this theory and offers policy recommendations for practitioners in this field. Volume 2 presents empirical evidence drawn from comparative experiences in seven developing countries. The work assesses the success of this policy and provides some startling conclusions. This is essential reading for all those interested in development, poverty-reduction, social welfare and finance.
Download or read book The World Bank Legal Review written by Hassane Cissé and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-11-04 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on the legal challenges and opportunities for International Financial Institutions in the post-crisis world. It includes contributions from academics, practitioners and Bank staff. The contributions cover a broad array of issues, included governance reform and constitutional framework of IFIs, privileges and immunities, responsibility of international organizations, issues related to fragile and conflict-affected states, climate finance, and the recent financial crisis. The book is organized in three main areas, namely (i) Law of International Organizations: Issues Confronting IFIs; (ii) Legal Obligations and Institutions of Developing Countries: Rethinking Approaches of IFIs; and (iii) International Finance and the Challenges of Regulatory Governance.
Download or read book Cr dit for Alleviation of Rural Poverty written by Mahabub Hossain and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 1988 with total page 89 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Microcredit and Poverty Alleviation written by Tazul Islam and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-22 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The attempt of the Grameen Bank to alleviate poverty and enhance the skills and productivity of its rural women clients provides the fascinating backdrop to this important study of micro-credit institutions. Tazul Islam examines the real extent to which the Grameen Bank's credit-alone policy has been successful in securing the Bank's financial sustainability; its practical role in alleviating poverty and its actual impact on the productivity of its clients. This book concludes by considering alternative policy options that hold out the possibility of increased poverty alleviation.
Download or read book Rural Finance for Growth and Poverty Alleviation written by Saeed Ahmad Qureshi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1996 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To promote agricultural -- and hence economic -- growth, Pakistan must make more credit available to agricultural smallholders, the rural nonfarm sector, and women. Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Pakistan's rural sector accounts for more than 70 percent of employment, and roughly two-thirds of rural employment is in agriculture. Less than a third of rural households get loans, only 10 percent of which are from institutional sources. Pakistan's credit institutions are not helping the country accelerate agricultural growth and reduce poverty. To improve performance in the rural economy and efficiency in financial institutions, rural credit markets must be liberalized. The government needs to initiate the following reforms: * Produce and price controls must be replaced by prudent regulation and supervision, combined with policies to stabilize the economy. * Commercial banks must operate in a competitive environment. They must be allowed to set interest rates for rural lending that cover their transaction costs. * Credit must be made available to support productivity growth for agricultural smallholders and small producers of the rural nonfarm sector, where Pakistan's growth potential lies. * Credit must be made available to women and to the rural poor for consumption-smoothing and for sustainable income-generating activities. Policy should be directed at developing a market-based financial system for rural finance, but because of market failures to support disadvantaged groups, a special-priority program may be needed to get credit to women, smallholders (with 10 acres or less), and the rural nonfarm sector (small-scale nonfarm activities such as livestock, fishery, forestry, and rangelands, and industrial microenterprises). Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help, keeping in mind such NGO success stories as the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and Badan Kredit Kecaratan (BKK) in Indonesia. Commercial banks should be encouraged to lend on other bases than the mortgage and passbook system. They could experiment with wholesaling credit through input suppliers, marketing agents, and NGOs. They should consider lending for such downstream agricultural activities as agroprocessing. The biggest challenge facing rural finance is the restructuring of cooperatives. The next important step for the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan would be a portfolio audit -- the results of which will determine next steps, such as major restructuring of its portfolio and changing its ownership. To improve rural financing, the system of property rights, title, and default enforcement must also be strengthened, among other reforms. This paper -- a product of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Division, South Asia, Country Department I -- is part of a larger effort in the region to analyze major issues of agricultural growth and rural development in Pakistan and working with the government in developing a strategy to address those issues.
Download or read book Microfinance and Poverty Reduction written by Susan Johnson and published by Oxfam. This book was released on 1997 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book emphasizes the importance of studying the local context, and then considering the macroeconomic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK are examined with reference to further aspects of sustainability and impact assessment.
Download or read book Poverty Alleviation Strategies of NGOs written by D. Rajasekhar and published by Concept Publishing Company. This book was released on 2003 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the efforts made by the NGOs in alleviating poverty, with special reference to India.
Download or read book Improving Access to Finance for India s Rural Poor written by Priya Basu and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation This book examines the current level and pattern of access to finance for India's rural households, evaluates various approaches for delivering financial services, analyzes what lies behind the lack of adequate financial access, and identifies what it would take to improve access to finance.
Download or read book A History of Farming Systems Research written by Michael P. Collinson and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2000 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a detailed history of farming systems research (FSR). While it includes the application of FSR to developed country agriculture, its main focus is on FSR in its original role, with small scale, resource-poor farmers in less developed countries. There are some 40 contributions from nearly 50 contributors from 20 countries, illustrating both the diversity and yet the coherence of FSR. The five parts of the book cover: (1) FSR - understanding farmers and their farming (FSR origins and perspectives; understanding farming systems); (2) the applications of farming systems research (FSR in technology choice and development; FSR in extension and policy formulation); (3) institutional commitment to FSR (FSR: some institutional experiences in national agricultural research; dimensions of the organization of FSR; training for FSR); (4) FSR: the professional dimension (regional and international associations; FSR and the professional disciplines); and (5) cutting edge methods, abiding issues and the future for FSR.
Download or read book Safety Net Programs and Poverty Reduction written by K. Subbarao and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1997 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The need for social safety nets has become a key component of poverty reduction strategies. Over the past three decades several developing countries have launched a variety of programs, including cash transfers, subsidies in-kind, public works, and income-generation programs. However, there is little guidance on appropriate program design, and few studies have synthesized the lessons from widely differing country experiences. This report fills that gap. It reviews the conceptual issues in the choice of programs, synthesizes cross-country experience, and analyzes how country- and region-specific constraints can explain why different approaches are successful in different countries.
Download or read book Poverty Reduction Policies and Practices in Developing Asia written by Almas Heshmati and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-03-31 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the major policy challenges facing developing Asia and how the region sustains rapid economic growth to reduce multidimensional poverty through socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable measures. Asia is facing many challenges arising from population growth, rapid urbanization, provision of services, climate change and the need to redress declining growth after the global financial crisis. This book examines poverty and related issues and aims to advance the development of new tools and measurement of multidimensional poverty and poverty reduction policy analysis. The book covers a wide range of issues, including determinants and causes of poverty and its changes; consequences and impacts of poverty on human capital formation, growth and consumption; assessment of poverty strategies and policies; the role of government, NGOs and other institutions in poverty reduction; rural-urban migration and poverty; vulnerability to poverty; breakdown of poverty into chronic and transitory components; and a comparative study on poverty issues in Asia and other regions. The book will appeal to all those interested in economic development, resources, policies and economic welfare and growth.
