Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Microfinance Bangladesh Case studies'

Microfinance is not a new development. Its origin can be traced back to 1976, when Muhammad Yunus set up the Grameen Bank, as experiment, on the outskirts of Chittagong University campus in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh. Since then several microfinance institutions came up and have succeeded in reaching the poorest of the poor, and have devised new ground-breaking strategies with time for the fulfillment of their vision. These included the provision of collateral free loans to poor people, especially in rural areas, at full-cost interest rates that are repayable in frequent installments. Borrowers are organized into groups and peer pressure among them, which reduced the risk of default. Microfinance is now being considered as one of the most important and an effective mechanism for poverty alleviation. These are also effective mechanisms through which to disseminate precious information on ways to improve the health, education, legal rights, sanitation and other living standards, which are of relevant concerns for the poor. Above all, many micro-credit programs have targeted one of the most vulnerable groups in society – women, who live in households with little or almost no assets. By providing opportunities for self-employment, many studies have concluded that these programs have significantly improved women's security, autonomy, self-confidence and status within the household.

Our thesis is about microfinance and to investigate the impact of microfinance on the poor people of the society with the main focus on Bangladesh. We mainly concise our thesis through client’s (the poor people, who borrowed loan from microfinance institutions) perspective and build up our research based on it. Therefore, the objective of this study is to show how microfinance works, by using group lending methodology for reducing poverty and how it affects the living standard (income, saving etc.) of the poor people in Bangladesh. So on the light of our research objective; we have developed our research question, which is:

What is the impact of Microfinance on living standards, Empowerment and poverty alleviation of the poor people in Bangladesh?

We consider ourselves between the Positivist and Interpretivist researchers. Because, our main goal is not only to find out the mechanism of microfinance in Bangladesh, but also to find out that how this mechanism helps poor people to improve their living standards as: income, savings etc. By doing so, we believe that it will give us an upper hand, specially when it comes to finding answers to the questions raised in the problem statement.

One of the most important aspects of microfinance is savings mobilization, which is discussed in the theory part. Besides these, microfinance methodology, solidarity, human development and liquidity are also discussed in the theoretical framework.

Several microfinance institutions are working in Bangladesh for the last few decades. Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA and PROSHIKA are some of the prominent MFIs in Bangladesh. These institutions are working tremendously to the empowerment, poverty reduction and improvement of living standards for the poor people in Bangladesh. Now, they are not only working in Bangladesh but also providing help and support, and are the source of motivation to other MFIs around the world.

We have chosen our sample based on the random sampling technique, from one district (Chittagong) in Bangladesh and we interviewed the people who are already involved in microfinance activities. Therefore, the accuracy of the analysis heavily relies on the data provided by the people, we interviewed.

From the analysis of data, we found that microfinance has the positive impact on the standard of living of the poor people and on their life style. It has not only helped the poor people to come over the poverty line, but has also helped them to empower themselves. There is an argument that the interest rate of MFIs is high, but we traced that most of the respondents of our interview, did not agree on this issue and found it to be reasonable. Inspite of the debate about higher interest rate, MFIs are contributing not only in alleviating the poverty and improving the living standards of the poor people, but also in offering extensive human development programs in Bangladesh.

The overall objectives of this thesis were to assess the theory and evaluate the development roles of MFIs in Uganda and Bangladesh. The study in particular focussed on MFIs impact on poverty reduction, empowering women, promoting health, as well as promoting children's education in Uganda and Bangladesh. The study preferred the selected countries because Bangladesh is internationally considered as the best practice for microfinance, whilst Uganda is assumed to be well-positioned in terms of microfinance as compared to other developing countries in Africa. The question that guided this empirical investigation was whether MFIs empower women, reduce poverrty, promote children's education as well as health among its beneficiaries in Uganda and whether Bangladesh has important lessons of experience for Uganda.

Abstract Title: Client Information Needs of MFIs: A Case Study of ASA Bangladesh Author: Juber Ahmed Academic Advisor: Dr. Klaus Solberg Søilen Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology Course: Master Thesis in Business Administration Purpose: To enrich the knowledge base of client’s needs of financial services and assessing the tools MFIs used to collect clients’ information and how they utilized the information for developing new products and services or modifying existing products and services or their terms and conditions to meet the needs of financial services of their clientele. Also how MFIs organized and managed the information and how they categorized their clients using that information. Method: The investigation conducted from both a theoretical and an empirical point of view. The deductive approach used for the study and the case study method deployed. I studied ASA which is an MFI renowned in Bangladesh and beyond. At first, I had gone through a secondary research for collecting a number of successful methods and standard types of information used by successful MFIs from existing literature. In primary research, I interviewed 10 Managers (Assistant Directors) for ASA to determine which of the methods found in the literature were more effective for collecting clients’ information for them and also asked them to add their ideas to the list. At last I asked interviewees to rate the methods and results presented in this paper. Theory: This study was an exploratory one where I discussed the related aspects for the study - Microfinance, Client Assessment, Clients of Microfinance, Information needs and Management Information System. Findings: The study showed that ASA utilized client information for developing their credit products and services and based on number of loans taken by the clients they categorized their clients and modified or developed new products and services for each category of clients. Although ASA executed several tools for collecting client information but the managers think that their staffs’ collection of information from regular meeting with clients was more effective than others for modifying products’ terms and conditions and modifying or developing new products and services to their women and small enterprise clients. The conducted study also revealed that in ASA impact study was necessary to know clients’ overall level of satisfaction but management needed specific information on what aspects of ASA and its credit products and services clients preferred and did not prefer and the reasons of the preferences. Also they needed action plan to address clients’ specific concerns, so they needed the information on a continual basis and they were successful to achieve this continuous flow of information. For ASA, the best way to get this type of information would be through client satisfaction Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), although they utilized several tools but not often as discussed in part 3 in chapter 5. ASA owned an MIS (AMMS) for monitoring and managing clients’ information and they utilized this to categorize their clients based on the collected information about their number of loans. Conclusion: This study revealed that ASA served only women and small enterprise clientele that included the vulnerable non-poor and could contribute to the profitability of ASA. There was no attempt to diversify the products to include all poor that should be the goal of microfinance to alleviate poverty. Moreover client treated as individual client but the loans used to fulfill household or family needs of the clients. There were tools for collecting information on household about impact of credit programs participation but they took seldom effort for collecting information of the household money management or in other words how they utilized the loans for variety of household needs. There is lack of access to a variety of financial services for poor clients, even though MFIs are mostly serving vulnerable non-poor instead of taking consideration of all categories of poor. It revealed from the study that MFIs could gain long term success by serving specific market segment but it should not be only focus of MFIs, their initiative should be to include all poor in their clients profile with a priority to a specific market segment. This could help them to become sustainable and to minimize risks by spreading it in different market segments. The study found that ASA considered FGDs as an effective tool for collecting clients’ information as their staffs and managers were familiar with this tool, moreover it was cost effective for them. It observed that they seldom followed Tool Selection Process and it was the top management that decided over the tools, the decision might influence by internal and external interest groups and the competition. MFIs should organize client information in a way so that they could be able to manipulate the specific client information to serve client better and to take effective decision, although it is imperative to argue that they may like to serve the wealthier clients. This research paper is also presenting some important findings from existing literature of microfinance and a number of recommendations based on the study experience and scholars opinions from existing microfinance study that may help MFIs to prepare themselves to adopt client-oriented approach by utilizing client assessment tools to fulfill the needs of financial services of their clients that may hopefully include all poor irrespective of their categories.

Microfinance and micro credits are concepts that are used frequently when talking about poverty reducing actions. This paper is a case study of the poverty alleviation impacts of microfinance institutions and it contrasts the effects of Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) operating in Bangladesh. The case study examines the organisations effects in the 21st century since most of the reports have compared the effects in the past not reflecting on future conditions. The questions at issue are if Grameen Bank and BRAC can affect the poverty status of its members in a positive way and if there is a positive effect, which of the approaches are the best to use? To analyse the non monetary dimension, concepts such as health and education has been used as indicators for poverty reduction and the monetary indicator used is income through employment. Simultaneously economic models and concepts have been considered throughout the paper.

The findings of this case study implied that both organisations have positive effects on reducing poverty among its members, but BRAC has the broadest view seeing to all factors investigated and therefore its approach is the best to use. Nevertheless, as previous studies have implied sustainability and cost-effectiveness within the microfinance programme is important for the long-run poverty reduction. Evaluating the economic performance of the two organisations Grameen Bank is more efficient in using its resources than BRAC, but Grameen Bank show a decreasing rate of efficiency while BRAC is improving significantly. With this in consideration BRAC is still showing the best poverty reducing result for its members today, but if the organisation does not find a way to improve its economical performance its actions will not be sustainable in the long run.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2007.
A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Law and Business, School of Economics and Finance, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies.

Since its beginning in Bangladesh in the 1970s, the spread of microfinance worldwide has been impressive. While proponents argue that microfinance has improved the lives of millions of poor people, critics have raised doubts about its efficacy as a poverty alleviation strategy. Few rigorous studies of impact have been completed. My dissertation is a contribution to the ongoing debate, and focuses on Bangladesh as a case study. It consists of three empirical research essays: (i) Chapter 2 estimates the impact of microfinance on seasonal food security of the ultrapoor in Northwestern Bangladesh; (ii) Chapter 3 assesses its impact on the informal credit market; and (iii) Chapter 4 looks at its impact on women's and men's agricultural wages. We take advantage of a unique dataset of 280,000 ultrapoor households generously shared with us by the Institute of Microfinance (InM) in Bangladesh and we apply novel econometric techniques to address the endogeneity of microfinance.

Chapter 2 uses a subset of 150,000 ultrapoor households in Bangladesh to analyze whether microfinance helps a household cope with aggregate shocks such as seasonal famine, known as Monga in Bengali. To address selection on unobservables, we use the "Minimum-Bias Bias-Corrected" estimator due to Millimet and Tchernis (2012) that corrects for endogeneity bias without exclusion restrictions. The empirical results suggest that microfinance improves food security of poor households by increasing food consumption during the Monga season. Also evidence is strong that microfinance helps households avoid distress sale of labor, and reduces the probability of short-term migration in search of work during the seasonal famine.

The expansion of microfinance programs through the developing world has raised some interesting questions regarding its impact on the existing informal credit market. Chapter 3 analyzes this question by looking at both the impact on the village moneylender interest rate and on informal borrowing by households. We use two data sets from Bangladesh: (i) a large cross-section that includes more than 800 villages (extracted from the above InM data set); and (ii) a nationally representative panel with household-level data from 62 villages from BRAC. Relying on heteroskedasticity and matching to achieve identification (Klein and Vella 2009a, 2010; Millimet and Tchernis 2012), our results suggest that the spread of microfinance has had a positive and statistically significant effect on the moneylender interest rate. Microfinance membership seems to decrease the probability of borrowing from informal lenders but increase the average amount borrowed. We consider three alternative hypotheses to explain these results: increased demand, cream skimming, or fixed costs. The theory of cream skimming is most consistent with our results: as MFIs reach villages, they attract the better borrowers, leaving behind a riskier pool, leading the moneylenders to raise their interest rates accordingly.

Chapter 4 investigates the impact of microfinance coverage on women's agricultural wages, looking into both the impact on the general, "Normal", agricultural daily wage and the wage prevailing during the Monga. To address the endogeneity of microfinance coverage, we employ the Klein and Vella (2009a) instrumental variable and the Minimum Bias estimator of Millimet and Tchernis (2012). The results suggest that microfinance expansion tends to increase the average wage earned by women in agriculture, both during the Monga and Normal seasons, a significant poverty alleviation measure since only ultrapoor women work as agricultural laborers. The wages of men are found to increase as well. As microfinance expands, women tend to substitute their time away from the wage market towards their microenterprise. Consequently, the labor supply curve shifts to the left thus increasing the wage rate for those who continue to work in the labor market. Also by improving the situation during Monga, microfinance has an even greater impact during the non-Monga season, when more laborers—both men and women—now work at the going wage.

In brief, the results of our research suggest that microfinance does have a significantly positive impact on the welfare of the ultrapoor. Microfinance membership reduces the likelihood that households will be forced to skip meals and practice distress sale of labor during the hungry season, while also reducing the poor's reliance on informal "exploitative" sources of finance, and increasing the agricultural wages earned by both men and women in the villages. At the same time, by capturing the less risky borrowers, MFIs do not bring down the interest rates for those fewer villagers who continue to borrow in the informal market. But higher average interest rates in the informal market do not necessarily worsen the situation of this group since they were risky borrowers in the first place, likely facing higher interest rates regardless. In fact they may even have easier access to informal credit as suggested by the larger average loan size. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Microfinance has become one of the most promising tools for development and poverty alleviation over the past two decades. Millions of borrowers around the globe have utilized microcredit to start or expand their small businesses and raise their household income. One poverty-induced problem microfinance could potentially alleviate is child labor. Despite international legislation prohibiting it, child labor continues to deprive millions of children of their right to education. Without education, there is little hope for a country to increase productivity and wealth in the future. A number of scholars have highlighted a negative correlation between credit rationing and child labor. However, there are no studies that examine whether or not children are less likely to work in households that participate in microfinance programs. In some circumstances, microcredit may increase household income and induce parents to withdraw their children from work while in others, raising the household income level may lead children to work more. In low-income countries with numerous microfinance institutions, many children work despite their parents’ access to credit. In order to examine this paradoxical phenomenon, this thesis presents a number of econometric models which analyze both child labor and credit at the household level. Though these models are vital in explaining the relevant trends, a purely economic analysis fails to capture the political and cultural factors that also engender child labor. To illustrate this complex relationship between economics and mores, this thesis highlights the impact of microfinance on child labor in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is an ideal country for this study because microfinance and child labor are both endemic. Finally, conclusions drawn from this analysis inform policy recommendations to amplify the effectiveness of microfinance on diminishing child labor.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
Little research has yet been undertaken in South Africa about commercial banks that are servicing the microenterprise market. The objective for the current research was to investigate the key factors that should be considered by commercial banks in South Africa servicing the microenterprise market. The focus for the study was on identifying the key factors and on investigating how the key factors were being considered. There are a number of case studies documenting the key factors that international commercial banks have considered. However, in South Africa, there are relatively few documented cases, which rightfully confirms that commercial banks providing microfinance to microentrepreneurs are still in a new line of business that is in its early developmental stages. The first part of the current study aimed to identify the key factors that required consideration, which have been well documented in a number of research reports. The focus was also laid on international commercial banks that offered microfinance services, especially to microenterprises. The intention was to obtain an overview of how international banks have considered the key factors concerned. The second part of the research study aimed to see how South African commercial banks have considered the above-mentioned key factors, using Absa and Capitec banks as case studies. The key factors identified are the following: the operating model; the delivery model; institutional commitment; product development; funding; technical assistance; human resource (recruitment, retention and remuneration); and operations (credit methodology; loan appraisals; lending methodology; collections; branch network; and support services). The international commercial banks whose case studies are reviewed include: Banco do Nordeste; Bank Rakyat Indonesia; the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe; the Cooperative Bank of Kenya; Banque du Caire; the Agricultural Bank of Mongolia; Hatton National Bank; the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India; and Banco de la Empressa. From the case studies it was seen that some of the commercial banks considered certain factors more than others. The other differentiating factor is how the key factors were considered, because the operating context of the different commercial banks differs. In South Africa, Absa and Capitec Bank have also considered the key factors, however, the operating model and the delivery model are the biggest differentiator as to how the other factors are considered.

The right to participate and express a view is an intrinsic right afforded to all human beings, regardless of age (Lundy, 2007). Explicitly, Articles 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) grant participatory rights to children and young people in decision-making. One of the forms of participation academics and practitioners have studied over the past decades, the engagement of children and young people in participatory processes, is moving away from the understanding of children as passive recipients of research to active participants. However, literature has paid scant attention to research led directly by children and young people (Thomas, 2015). Child-led research is understood, as starting definition from literature, as an approach in which children and young people are involved in all stages - from planning, fieldwork and analysis to dissemination. The aim of this research is to critically explore how the process and outcomes of children and young people's participation in their own child-led research contributes, positively or negatively, to decision-making processes in the context of international development programmes. The research questions are: Question 1: What are children and young people's motivations for, expectations of and experiences with engaging in their own child-led research as a way to influence decision-making? Question 2: What are the processes of child-led research that positively or negatively influence decision-making? Question 3: In what ways does child-led research influence decision-making? (And why and how do they do so?) This research project used a case study approach to examine two cases where children and young people claimed they conducted child-led research. The first, Bekaa and Irbid, investigated the research conducted by a group of children and young people on issues relevant to their situations as refugees in the host countries of Lebanon and Jordan. The second, Dhaka, reviewed child-led research focused on the lack of birth certificates issued for Bangladeshi children and the possible effects of not having this legal registration. A group of children and young people who are members of a Children's Parliament in Dhaka led this project. The research participants for this project are defined as (1) the children and young people, aged 12 to 18 (when I interviewed them), who are associated with World Vision programmes and engaged in the child-led research projects within their constituencies in the Irbid and Bekaa and Dhaka case studies and (2) the adult professionals who acted as facilitators of child-led research projects and those who worked in the design of these projects or dissemination of their findings. These participants were those who were best suited to provide the information needed as they were fully involved in the child-led research projects and had in-depth knowledge to contribute answers to the research questions. This project adopted several methods for data collection, including focus groups, semi-structured interviews, observations and documentary review. The study followed ethical research guidelines to ensure the safety, rights, dignity and well-being of both the children and young people and adult participants (Morrow, 2009). The research took into account the special considerations required to gain informed consent, ensure confidentiality and anonymity, acknowledge the cultures of the research sites, and refrain from presenting information that may potentially harm participants (Marshall and Rossman, 2006). The findings of the study show that the child-led research approach is considered an adequate participatory approach that creates spaces for children and young people to engage in their own research and influence change based on their findings. Thus, this approach enabled participants to gather together and pursue collectively a research project in which they were able to explore issues about their lives using research methodologies that were appropriate to their experiences, abilities and expertise. This conversion, however, highlights a variety of tensions around the understanding and legitimacy of child-led research. Findings from this study supports the view that child-led research generates empirically grounded knowledge, which produced through data collection and personal experiences of the young researches and its analysis as a whole. Findings also reveal that the young researchers' motivations and expectations were to make an impact on their own lives, as well as the lives of their peers and change a situation that they perceived as unfair. Findings show that the adult facilitators played an important role in facilitating the young researchers but not managing them. However, this study evidenced some tensions between participation and protection rights. The study found manifestations of power amongst the children and young people during the child-led research projects, which were based on age, gender, religion, language and ethnicity. This confirms children and young people can replicate power relations within their participatory projects, which are deeply embedded in their traditions and cultures. Findings show that child-led research has different levels of impact; on decision-making and in the individual lives of the young researchers. This is connected to the contexts where children and young people conducted their research, which was conducive in one case study and more challenging in the other case. Overall, the findings of this study contribute to the body of literature that challenges the dominant conceptualisation that children and young people are unable to conduct their own research. Instead, the findings of this research project contribute to the study of children and young people's participation by providing different perspectives on the debate around the children and young people's abilities and motivations to engage in their own child-led research projects. The findings contribute to knowledge about the nature of child-led research as an approach that supports children and young people in their struggle to participate in society. These findings contribute to the substantial gap of understanding about what is knowledge and expertise by exploring the ways in which children and young people conduct their own research and create knowledge with the aim of making a change in society. Specifically, the findings provide empirical evidence of the impact that their work has had on policy and practice and their personal lives.

Within the field of microfinance, there has been an ongoing debate about whether microfinance institutions should be commercialized. One side argues that a business that very much can earn profits at the same time as it helps the poor, is not justified to receive charity, but should be run with the risks and benefits of any other profit-seeking business.

The other side argues that the outreach to the ones who most need microfinance, is severely hampered if firms are profit-seeking; arguing that they only target the individuals who allow them to make profits.

 

This study is a case study based on India, one of the world’s largest nations, and home to millions of people living below the poverty line[1]. Microfinance is widespread in India, and with one of the researchers speaking Hindi, India became our choice of case study. A grounded theory methodology is applied in order for us to learn as much as possible about the context of microfinance in India. Within the context, we look for the mission and the impact of the various institutions. Analysis is done through the constant comparison method; with comparisons within and between different organizations. Each organization is individually analyzed to find recurring themes, always being open to the emergence of new themes. Then, the organizations are compared with others of the same legal form, and finally with all other forms of organizations.

 

Several different kinds of institutions are identified, working directly or indirectly with providing small loans to low-income individuals. These institutions include banks, local area banks, section 25 companies, NGOs, and cooperative societies. Each one of the institutions has, by law, different areas of restriction and the study finds that the missions of the various organizations can be linked to their legal form; the mission indicating which form they currently operate under or which legal form they are striving to achieve. The major difference between the various legal forms is their methods of accumulating finances, and how they manage their revenue. Although banks actually earn profits, they have not yet been fully commercialized, as they are restricted from attracting mainstream international capital.

 

The conclusions indicate that in India, microfinance has not reached the point where it has been fully commercialized, but rather the passion for their work and visions of the founders very much guide the work of the various organizations. This can be seen in the missions that guide the organizations and the services provided to fulfill the mission. Commercialization is however, far from a non-issue. If legislation regarding IPOs is changed, the level of commercialization and competitive scene for microfinance in India could change dramatically.

[1] Can be measured in different ways, but used here symbolically, indicating a very low amount; discussed in more detail in the paper.

The political economy of forest use in Bangladesh provides the context for an analysis of social forestry (hereafter, SF) programmes of the government. SF is viewed in this thesis within the wider history of forest use and not as an isolated technical strategy for afforestation. The history is marked by a progressive emphasis on commercial interests. The consequences have been: the monetization of forest use; downgrading of the scope for community management of forests; the curtailment of local rights; and the systematic alienation of local people from forest management. These particular attributes of commercialization have added fuel to conflict between the state and local communities. Public antipathy to the state's role in forest commercialization undermined the state's attempt to continue public sector forestry management singlehandedly. Some form of public participation was required. SF was launched with the stated goal of empowering local communities in forest management and as an answer to alienation problem. But SF's achievements have been insignificant. Its marginal performance can be attributed to an unfavourable political-economic environment (referred to in the thesis as 'the frame'). The 'frame' includes the rural power structures; public policies and government offices; local government institutions; land ownership and tenurial arrangements; market (for forests products) and commercial agents; and international donor agencies. SF's performance is regulated by these variables, which are generally not conductive to achieving its lofty goals. Although the stated goals remain largely unrealised, SF does, however, further certain strategic but nonetheless tacit interests of the national government and international donors.

In the 1990s, the topics of development and poverty, once dominated by development economists, appeared on the radar of management, organizational studies and innovation scholars. A huge variety of terms, some historical like ‘appropriate technology’ and some others totally new like ‘frugal innovation’, ‘Jugaad innovation’ and ‘inclusive innovation’ began to populate the business and management literature. Concurrently, the field of development studies became progressively hybridised with elements from business and innovation studies. This thesis contributes to the analysis of this ‘cross-pollination’ between the discourses of development and the discourses of Innovation. The research discusses how the meaning of innovation, an interpretively flexible and contested ‘buzzword’ with the capacity to shelter multiple political agendas, is constructed within the discourses and practices of development to support and further the values and interests of those actors who employ it. By telling the stories of four different communities of practitioners in Bangladesh and India, this thesis validates, on one hand, some of the conclusions of the extant literature concerning innovation in resource-constrained environments. On the other hand, it provides original insights about the construction of the discourse of innovation and technical change in situated practices. The cases confirm that innovation can and does spring from resource-constrained conditions, where it is often driven and shaped not only by malfunctioning formal and informal institutions, market mechanisms and a weak private sector, but also by traditional knowledge, empathy and cultural motives. At the same time, the findings reveal that technological innovation is neither necessary nor sufficient to reverse the causes of poverty and exclusion, historically major targets for development. In certain circumstances, innovation can even reinforce unequal power relationships by favouring those who already enjoy privileged positions in the community. In three of the four cases analysed, the discourse of innovation attempt to transform the social practices of ‘the beneficiaries’, promoting all the features typical of neoliberal agenda such as competitiveness, ownership, productivity, efficiency and market-oriented production, while at the same time dismissing pre-existing or alternative subsistence patterns of life and nonmarketable solutions. These dynamics present within an emergent, hegemonic discourse of ‘Inclusive business’, which is inspired by the desire to include people within the framework of the market economy, fighting the informal economy and, ultimately, erasing subsistence. What emerges from the research is that discourses of social justice and political transformation have been marginalised, if not completely neglected, in discourses of innovation and development. The thesis, however, describes that the meaning of innovation in the context of development remains contested. There exist countervailing voices that, despite being a minority, have and continue to open up the debate about the value of innovation and technological change as an instrument for social transformation.

Purpose: Our main purpose is to carry out a research on combining microfinance with entrepreneurship for poverty alleviation, empowerment of poor and sustainable development.

Target group: Students, researchers in Microfinance field, MFI’s, NGO’s and Governmental structures.

Research Question: How do micro entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and microfinance serve as a combined tool to reduce poverty, empower people, and contribute to sustainable development in Pakistan?

Approach: We used qualitative approach for research. The data have been collected through interviews which held as structured and unstructured, and as secondary sources web page of the organization, statistics of Pakistan and Book of organization have also been consulted.

Delimitations: Due to distance problem between Pakistan and Sweden and, it was difficult to organize interviews at large scale from borrowers and this can reflect limited information about micro entrepreneurship. It is worthy to say here that Islamic microfinance is quite new practice and very limited data was available. With this, we mainly emphasized on microfinance and entrepreneurship as a combined tool, therefore, there is not enough discussion on Islamic microfinance. But we try to elaborate a complete picture of Islamic microfinance. Originality/value: This paper emphasizes on both Microfinance and Entrepreneurship, as case study we choose Akhuwat organization which started to give loans to poor people without interest. Also we focused on Social Entrepreneurship side of organization which challenges to other MFI’s with innovative type of loaning. Research will give a vision to Akhuwat and other micro financing organization that how they can develop activities more successfully.

Future implications: During our research we investigate that there is need to carry out more research on lending methods other than solidarity group. The other area is micro entrepreneurship that needs to be more investigated by researcher because in developing countries micro business with only traditional ways will not be so successful. There will be need of more innovation in production system or in business processes. Islamic microfinance is quite new way for lending loan. It is needed that researcher of western world also do research on this method. So that clear result should come and method becomes more mature.

Social Entrepreneurship also need to be discovered from many points, especially relation with profit and non for profit, public, private and nongovernmental models.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Microfinance, Social Entrepreneurship

Paper type: Master Thesis

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the overview of sustainability in apparel manufacturing industry and why environmentally and socially sustainable practices are being adopted by developing country suppliers and how the implementation process is both hindered and enabled. Currently the worldwide survival of the apparel industry is the main significant question. The most spoken about issue is for the sustainability of fashion in the world. Many organizations and fashion-conscious personalities have come forward to uphold the further extension of tomorrow 's good environment campaign, but the garments and textile industries in Bangladesh are far beyond this awareness, posing a risk of losing the world market. On the other hand, one of the key concepts for humanity and sustainability point of view is fashion for the moral or ethical issues. It is high time specific sustainability strategies and approaches were implemented. Improvements in social and environmental support migrant employees, help manufacturers establish longer-term partnerships with transnational companies and lead to production. The Bangladeshi garments industries are currently facing great challenges in terms of the working environment. Fire injuries are frequent in garments factories and the recent collapse of buildings poses a significant danger to their future.  In addition, the workers earn the world's lowest salaries which make them unsatisfied, sometimes causing clashes and violence during low-wage protests. This paper has looked at the work environment, fire and health problems facing Bangladesh's garments industry and proposes major steps to strengthen the environment and sustainability.

Abstract Title: Emerging Markets – A Case Study in Foreign Market Entry toBangladesh Keywords: emerging market, entry strategy, market entry, factors behind entry choice, entry mode, entry node, entry timing Background: Internationalism and international marketing are hot topics among the strategy discussions of the companies and as a result companies continuously look for new, unreached sales potential to their products and services as well as better use of their resources. Purpose: To find the most efficient international market entry strategy for companies moving from developed/transition economy to an emerging market. Theoretical framework: The base for the start of internationalisation process is company’s inner motives and resources. Motives and resources combined with the cultural distance, competition and general external environment of host country form potential company-specific risks for the entry to foreign market. Potential customers in combination with company resources shows how big is the match between market demand and what company can offer and therefore determines the potential reward. Risks and reward are both input to the decision making process where the potential benefits and drawbacks are analysed against each other. The output of this decision making is the entry strategy. Methodology: Internet was mainly used to collect secondary data about company resources, cultural distance and external environment. Interviews with 150 retailers inBangladesh were conducted to collect primary data about the competition and consumer behaviours in the hosiery market ofBangladesh. Then comparative analysis was made based on the model developed by the authors to reach to the decision. Conclusion: The most effective entry strategy for the entry to emerging markets is indirect exporting through an agent in case there is high location risk, moderately high competition risk, medium country risk and moderately low demand risk, the company has no surplus finances for big investments and no prior experience in doing business in an emerging market.

Most of the research concerned with the economics of health systems has focussed on allocative efficiency. Specifically, much effort has been devoted to the development and application of techniques of economic evaluation. The consideration of technical efficiency has figured less prominently in the search for 'solutions' to the problems of health systems. Those working on the economic evaluation of health care interventions have adopted the assumption that interventions are being, or will be, produced in a technically efficient manner. The aim of this thesis is to challenge this assumption and illustrate the potential implications of assuming technical efficiency when allocating scarce resources. Two case studies from Bangladesh are presented: vaccination services in Dhaka City and primary health care in rural Bangladesh. The specific objectives of this thesis are to: estimate the cost of these services using standard costing methods; and analyse the same data sets using parametric (stochastic frontier analysis) and non-parametric (data envelopment analysis) techniques in order to identify whether, and to what degree, the services were being delivered efficiently. Applying efficiency measurement techniques illustrated that standard costing methods disguise a high degree of inefficiency. By investigating production practices, costs related to inefficiencies can be identified and addressed. The thesis illustrates that if something is deemed worth doing then it should be carried out in a way which ensures the optimum use of scarce resources. An exclusive focus on switching resources from less cost-effective to more cost-effective activities will not realise the full benefits in terms of improved allocative efficiency if providers on the ground are not producing services at lowest cost. Recommendations are made for policy-makers on how technical efficiency can be improved. Recommendations for future research are also made.

In a world where almost half of the population lives in poverty, the alleviation of poverty is a serious developmental challenge for many states. Microfinance has grown in popularity as a means for achieving poverty reduction all over the world. Due to the success of microfinance institutions, such as the Grameen Bank, in achieving self-sufficiency and improving the lives of its clients, the expectations for similar institutions are high. MFIs attempt to find a balance between business and development goals. It is not necessarily a contradiction to be a business seeking profit as well as being an institution committed to development. However, the values coupled with these two objectives are sometimes conflicting. Thus it is important to see how equilibrium can be achieved and to note what sacrifices must be made in order to reach a balance. This thesis will focus on examining and assessing the challenges faced by South African MFIs in balancing development goals while at the same time having to be self-sufficient. The Small Enterprise Foundation will be used as a case study to consider the particular experiences of a South African MFI. The evaluation of the unique challenges that the South African landscape presents will provide a context in which to understand microfinance operations and a clearer understanding of the particular problems and challenges faced by the South African micro-finance industry in balancing the achievement of development goals against the imperative to be self sustainable in providing services to the poor. Through that understanding the common conception of what makes a “successful” MFI will also be challenged.

This dissertation explored sustainable microfinance (SMF) practices in South Africa through an investigation of the microfinance sector nationally. Since recipients of microfinance largely depend on local ecosystems and natural resource bases for sustaining livelihoods and improving quality of life (QOL), microfinance has been identified as an important development strategy for reducing the vulnerabilities associated with changing environmental conditions for impoverished people. A framework for SMF consisting of four principles was assembled based on the sustainable development theory and microfinance literature. The qualitative methodology encompassed two main approaches: (1) a literature review that located examples of SMF practices found internationally, which contributed to understanding the concept and provided insights for South Africa and; (2) a case study where a sample of organisations across the country and an in-depth look at one housing microfinance institution (MFI) offered insight into SMF practices. Data was collected from the sample by way of interviews and personal correspondence with key players from eight organisations from four provinces. Data gathered from the housing MFI was through 20 interviews with management, staff, partnering organisations and loan recipients; as well as through direct observation of the loan collections process and by reviewing organisation documents. The main finding was that SMF does not yet exist in practice but that it is emerging although it is not yet recognized by the industry at large. Four organisations were beginning to consider the environment in practice through exposure, awareness, environmental initiatives, renewable energy (RE) and by promoting SMF. The evidence was analysed against the SMF framework, which found that two-thirds (2/3) of the criteria supported the framework while the other one-third (1/3) did not. This suggests that more research is needed; since finding relevant organisations was challenging, the housing MFI was a ‘loose’ fit for the framework where not all aspects of SMF were integrated and the sample organisations were not investigated with enough depth. If sustainability continues to be sacrificed in microfinance practice, it is apparent that loan recipient’s lives and the industry will face many challenges and microfinance runs the risk of becoming another development failure.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze different forms of North-South development assistance with regard to its widespread critique and to examine whether the field of international research capacity building holds alternative development cooperation strategies that have the potential to reconcile some of the criticisms. The focus is on the International Science Programme (ISP) and the empirical research carried out in Bangladesh and Sweden on the ISP-Bangladesh collaboration in the form of semi-structured interviews constitutes the core case study evidence. Three theoretical perspectives – realism, interdependence liberalism and constructivism – provide the framework of the case study and serve as guiding tools to understand the ISP’s role and motivations as an actor in international relations. The main goal is to investigate whether the ISP can be best perceived as an instance of self-interest, interconnectedness or social empowerment.

Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, September, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 31-34).
A qualitative study was conducted from September 2019 to December 2019 to understand how an agricultural microfinance intervention targeting women in southwest Uganda impacted social support networks. We interviewed 30 women after their participation in an intervention that supplied them with materials to begin a poultry business with no interest loans. Specifically, this study sought to describe how relationships between project implementers and participants in the intervention developed into both formal and informal networks of social support. Social support emerged in the form of friendship, counseling, access to markets, financial support and through relationships based in trust. These findings help describe the care work that is produced outside of international development projects that may have implications for scale up.
by Bridget Burns.
M.C.P.
M.C.P. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(工学)
甲第14266号
工博第3017号
新制||工||1448(附属図書館)
26593
UT51-2008-T26
京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻
(主査)教授 岡田 憲夫, 教授 小尻 利治, 教授 多々納 裕一
学位規則第4条第1項該当

This case study explored the lived experiences of 8 participants in a microfinance sewing program in El Salvador. Numerous studies focused on empowering women by employing microfinance projects or programs in many countries; however, a lack of empirical data exists regarding Salvadoran women's perceptions about how a sewing program with teamwork affects women's empowerment. The purpose of this case study was to understand the women's personal stories, their obstacles as well as any factors they saw as empowering them. Guided by a constructionist framework, a sample of 8 participants: 5 who were sewing students and 3 who were employees, who shared their administrative perspectives about participants' skills, data collection and data analysis methods gained. Five themes emerged from the women's interviews about their sewing program experience: (a) program effect on women's well-being; (b) gained a means of income; (c) increased self-efficacy, confidence, and security; (d) worked in groups or teams; and (e) the teacher's positive influence. The 5 sewing student participants reported they developed self-efficacy and self-fulfillment in the sewing program. The women attributed their success to the teacher, who taught them sewing skills and provided guidance and encouragement. This study contributes to social change by providing insight for additional women's studies on women's empowerment, social work with families and children, and for MSW social work students.

This thesis is a collection of three independent essays that applies microeconometrics techniques to empirically study topics in development and labour economics. The first chapter uses evidence from a natural experiment in Bangladesh, where households were treated to different types of transfer, food grains and cash, at different periods in time, to test the effect of these transfers on household consumption behaviour. Using the fixed effect instrumental variable model, the estimation results show that though in-kind transfers did cause households to consume more grain than they would have chosen under equal-value cash transfers, the impact on calorie consumption and children health status is minimal. Households that received cash were able to reallocate their funds more effectively, and chose to spend their extra income on clothing and children's non-food consumption, while at the same time spending no more on vices. The second chapter investigates the dynamics of living standards in Thailand. Income and earnings processes are first modelled after the statistical Galton-Markov process before being extended to follow a more structural permanent earnings model. Empirical estimations of income and earnings persistence in Thailand employ both constructed pseudo-panel data from Thailand's Labour Force Surveys and the Townsend Thai panel data. Galton-Markov estimates found conditional persistence to be low in Thailand. However, quantile regression estimates find that persistence is low at the bottom of the distribution but high at the top, indicating a divergence in earnings as time passes. A study of the covariance structure of earnings finds that total variation in the earnings process is predominantly driven by moderately persistent transitory components following the AR(1) process. The third chapter attempts to empirically fit the power-law distribution and study the dynamics of inequality, especially at the upper end, of the income and consumption distribution in Thailand. We find that using the popular but incorrect method based on the linear regression approach will lead to researchers drawing a wrong conclusion. Regression estimates of the power-law exponent, a, provide strong evidence of power-law fit in Thailand. However, from the implementation of the superior Clauset et al. method, the evidence in support of the power-law fit is much weaker. Estimates of a for both income and consumption suggest that there is low inequality at the top in Thailand but further inspection finds that there is a high level of persistent between-group inequality between the top and bottom ends of the distribution. In addition, following Battistin et al. (2009), we find weak support for Gibrat's law of proportional random growth as the income-generating process in Thailand.

International Development Programmes (IDPs) are United Nations‘ (UN) and developedcountries‘ initiatives to develop world‘s least developed countries. IDPs significantly vary fromother mainstream project management topics, as most often they do not have eye for commercialsuccess or are not of simple charity nature of humanitarian perspective aid. Projects under IDPstry to deliver United Nations‘ and rich countries commitment to provide sustainable developmentto developing world in terms of reducing poverty and hunger, improving health and educationsystem, building capacity to face disasters, eliminating gender discrimination, among others.This significant difference and lack of research in this field has left a gap in established projectmanagement methodologies that could be generalised as specifically suitable for IDPs.The knowledge of project selection methodologies has reached to its extreme variety, as itspreads from the simplest model of a checklist to the highest degree mathematical model.Leading researchers in the field have come to conclusion that project selection methods have tomatch the needs of a specific programme or portfolio to serve its purpose. The uniqueness ofIDPs intensified the necessity of choosing projects by understanding the financial and strategicbenefit they can deliver matching their resource requirement. In absence of straight direction inthe research and real life case observations, the practice in project selection in IDPs has not stillbeen an established procedure.To explore this need the authors of this report examined the theoretical framework of projectselection and their compliance with IDPs unique characteristics. Project selection methodsshowed that due to organisations‘ varied need of delivering financial or strategic objectives, theselection models significantly vary. The use of different financial or strategic criteria withdifferent emphasis on them is highlighted in project selection articles. Further analysis wasfocused on project selection stages and possible challenges evolving in the selection process.The researchers tried to explore project selection methods used in IDPs in Bangladesh byanalyzing four different cases. The examination of the project selection process showed that itmainly follows the multi-stage assessment procedure, with project evaluation conducted by theassessment panel, comprised from the functional experts and in some cases stakeholders‘representatives. Further, from the findings it was evident that the primary theoretical suggestionsfor IDPs project selection methods being strategy driven rather than being commercial in natureis true. In all four cases, the researchers have seen the selectors using scoring and ranking modelthat are specifically designed with higher emphasis on the strategic factors, and that try to deliverdevelopment objective rather than contributing to commercial success. In addition, thechallenges in IDP project selection practice are also discussed. Challenges like deliveringdevelopment needs while trying to make the project sustainable in the long run, managing thepowerful influence of different stakeholders in selecting projects, avoiding country politics,among others are making the project selection more difficult. The main contribution of thisresearch has been establishing a primary selection framework from case evidence withsuggestions on appropriate model, set of criteria which can be used and a set of challenges to beaware of. The study is presented as a basis for further research in this field.

La présente thèse porte sur l'analyse des impacts du crédit dans le cadre d'une problématique générale de la microfinance et en particulier sur un terrain empirique de la ville de Ouagadougou, au Burkina Faso. Notre thèse démontre d'abord les mécanismes par lesquels les crédits sont octroyés et gérés en mettant en perspective certains aspects de la théorie de l'agence. Du côté de l'offre, nous étudions trois Systèmes Financiers Décentralisés (SFD) et leurs politiques de crédit. Nous analysons comment les trois SFD s’efforcent de servir les exclus aux financements des banques classiques et d'encadrer toute recherche de profit dans cette même vision. De l'autre côté, il est question de la demande et de la gestion du crédit par les PME. Là, nous découvrons les facteurs déterminants de la demande de crédit ainsi que les modes de fonctionnement des PME. Cette thèse procède aussi à l'analyse de la performance socio-économique des SFD. Cette analyse nous révèle des signaux importants sur leurs performances et des questions pertinentes en ce qui concerne leur gestion. Nous saisissons également la dynamisation du milieu rural par le transfert de l'épargne de la ville vers la campagne comme une perspective de solidarité qui mérite un approfondissement et des appuis. La thèse expose la ramification des impacts notamment sur le revenu, l’emploi et l'exclusion sociale à l'instar du concept de la chaîne d'impacts tel que prôné par David Hulme. Par ailleurs, notre thèse révèle la nécessité d'évaluer les actions à partir des objectifs des acteurs en proposant une théorie dans ce sens. Enfin, la thèse fait une analyse critique des options possibles pour l'avenir de la microfinance. Dans tout cela, notre thèse démontre que les acteurs continuent d'afficher des positions souvent contradictoires en fonction de leurs logiques et stratégies. C'est en effet, dans ces conditions et particulièrement dans l'observation et l'analyse de ces logiques et stratégies que nous suggérons des recommandations par type d'acteurs avant de tirer des conclusions. / The present thesis relates on the analysis of the impact of the credit within the framework of general problems of microfinance and in particular to an empirical ground of the town of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso. This thesis shows initially the mechanisms by which the credits are given and managed by putting into perspective certain aspects of the agency theory. On the offer side, we study three Decentralized Financial Systems (DFS) and their credit policies. We analyse how the three DFS endeavour to finance people excluded from the financings of the traditional banks and to frame any search for profit in this same vision. On the demand side, it is a question of the demand and the management of the credit by SME. There, we discover the determining factors of the application for credit as well as the operating modes of SME. This thesis also carries out the analysis of the socio-economic performance of the DFS. This analysis reveals to us important signals on their performances and relevant issues with regard to their management. We also seize the dynamisation of the rural area by the transfer of the savings of the city towards the countryside as a prospect for solidarity which deserves a deepening and supports. The thesis exposes the ramification of the impact in particular in terms of income, employment and social exclusion following the concept of the chain of impacts as preached by David Hulme. In addition, this thesis reveals the need for evaluating the actions starting from the objectives of the actors by proposing a theory in this direction. Lastly, the thesis makes a critical analysis of the possible options for the future of microfinance. All in all, our thesis shows that the actors continue to post often contradictory positions according to their logics and strategies. It is indeed, under these conditions and particularly in the observation and the analysis of these logics and strategies, that we suggest recommendations by type of actors before drawing the conclusions.

The microcredit program in Bangladesh is a unique innovation of credit delivery designed to enhance the income generating activities of the poor. Its uniqueness is reflected in its collateral-free group-based lending strategy. The program extends small loans to poor people, mainly women, for self-employment activities thus allowing clients to achieve a better quality of life. This program is regarded as a very exciting anti-poverty tool for the poorest, especially for women. This study investigates the impact of microcredit on economic indicators as well as consumption behaviour of the borrowers. It further analyses the impact of microcredit on women’s empowerment. Primary data has been collected from the borrowers of two major microcredit institutions in Bangladesh. Alongside the borrowers, data have also been collected from non-borrowers of the same village to compare the impact between borrowers and control group. The empirical work has used sophisticated econometric techniques. Five different econometric methods - OLS, 2SLS, Probit, Tobit and SURE estimators - have been applied to the sample data of this study. The most important finding indicates that microcredit programs are effective in increasing borrowers’ income, assets and consumption but it is more pronounced towards high income borrowers than low income borrowers. It further finds that microcredit programs are empowering for women.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The thesis is about environmental values that we encounter in our everyday life. The thesis also talks about environmental justice dialogues and tensions that play in Bangladesh. The thesis, in the first place, explores how an environmental planning and resource management approach causes a particular type of environmental injustice; i.e., non-recognition of access to the decision making process of local ethnic communities, which identifies them as adivasi meaning indigenous, poses a threat to their livelihood and culture, and obstructs the process of environmental protection in Bangladesh.
The existing theories of environmental justice and four case studies conducted in Bangladesh have been used to interrogate the research findings. I argue, along with Low and Gleeson (1998) that for environmental justice, recognition of environmental needs for every entity as an ingredient of human dignity should be basis of the planning process. The research findings also suggest that , at all levels of decisions, fair access to decision, information and justice for all entities should be an integral part of environmental planning and resource management.
The thesis explores avenues for fair access to justice, meaning redress and remedy of environmental injustice, in the context of Bangladesh. I argue that capillaries of justice such as Salish, a process and institution for public interest negotiation (PIN) embedded in Bangladesh culture, can be reinvented. In addition, access to information should be a prerequisite for meaningful deliberation at all levels of decision making and dispute resolving processes.

Text in English
Sustainable development empowers poverty-affected people and communities by strengthening their capabilities. HRDP, a Bangladeshi development agency aims to achieve this goal by offering literacy classes and primary school edu-cation. In recent years, they have encountered obstacles to their empowerment strategy. Socio-cultural mediated expectations and moral obligations impeded the capability approach. This case study seeks to research the effects of entitlement and patronage on the empowerment of people in one of their projects. To be able to understand these structures and to determine possible implications for the asset-based ap-proach, 14 interviews and two focus-group discussions with local stakeholders have been conducted in the village of Gabtali, Bangladesh. Findings revealed that people desire to invest their own assets to increase their well-being, but expect assistance for this to happen. The study suggests align-ing expectations and obligations with the capability approach and also suggests a few ideas how this could be accomplished.
Development Studies
M.A. (Development studies)

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Values education is a pedagogical approach that centres on the whole-person development of children. It stresses creating a school environment supported by respectful relationships, where students feel safe to express their thoughts, emotions and values and learn about others, where children are given choice and power over what and how they learn and where they can participate in active and cooperative learning experiences. Over the past ten years, educational and psychological research has confirmed that children not only thrive socially and emotionally in such environments, but this is where they also learn best. Values Education has been implemented in both developed and developing countries including the USA, Australia, England, Scotland, and the Philippines. Research emanating from values initiatives in these countries has identified a number of common core features that characterise effective values pedagogy. Bangladesh is a small but densely populated country in South-East Asia. In recent years, substantial advancement towards access and equity in primary education has been made in Bangladesh. The government is now focusing on quality improvement issues, ranging from the teacher and teaching qualities to the curriculum and textbook reform. Given that values education provides a wider platform for young learners to grow as moral human beings and as responsible members of the wider community, the present study seeks to examine the extent to which primary education in Bangladesh supports the key implementation aspects of values education, namely : i) awareness of values among the key educational authorities and school leaders; ii) the cognitive, affective, and behavioural domain of values learning; iii) explicit/implicit provisions for the articulation of values; and, iv) support from the learning environment. The data collection and analysis included: i) document analysis of the educational policies and relevant documents, and the curriculum, textbooks, and teachers’ manuals developed for primary-level Social Studies and Religious Studies; and, ii) case studies of six government primary schools (two for each of the metropolitan, urban and rural schools) comprised of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with the teachers, and observations of classrooms and school-wide activities. The findings suggested that the government is increasingly urging schools to establish a student centred, participatory learning environment, and to engage students in meaningful learning experiences, goals which evidence suggests could well be facilitated by values education implementation. However, most of the teachers included in this study had a limited understanding of values education and restricted opportunities to implement the kind of student centred, cooperative learning activities that assist children to reflect on and enact values. In addition, the curriculum and the textbooks for Social Studies and Religious Studies showed little to no awareness of values education perspectives and rarely included activities to promote critical thinking skills, emotional and social skills, or problem solving and decision making abilities. As well, most of the observed lessons were over-reliant on textbook content with the lesson delivery being teacher-directed and prescriptive, and activities focused on the rote learning of the textbook content. This study suggests the need for the Bangladeshi education authorities to revisit and reform the aims and objectives set for primary education, and to revise the primary curriculum, textbooks and evaluation methods, to ensure that all of the educational initiatives undertaken are aimed at creating a safe, supportive and child-friendly learning environment. The thesis suggests that much of this reform could be achieved by greater attention being given to values education research and practice.

This dissertation analyses the role of financial services in an attempt to understand how they might reduce the vulnerability to income risk for women street traders in Durban, South Africa. The street traders are exposed to income risks such as unpredictable markets, high levels of crime and lack of possibilities for business development. The stated hypothesis for this dissertation is that 'good' financial services may help poor individuals and households to better handle income risks and thereby lower the vulnerability to risks and reduce poverty. The access to financial services for the street traders in South Africa is rather limited and commercial banks are only willing to facilitate clients that have collaterals with an economic value. There are thus alternative financial institutions, such as microfinance organisations, that use social collateral like, for example, group-lending and frequent repayment schemes. This dissertation will discuss the use and impact of fmancial services on poverty reduction with a particular focus on a microfinance organisation and savings. The dissertation will consist of a literature review, a theoretical framework and an analysis of the findings from a case study. The literature review discusses the relation between risks, vulnerability, poverty and financial services in order to provide an introduction to the problem behind the stated hypothesis. The theoretical framework describes the cost of an imperfect market, why formal financial institutions fail the poor, solutions to the problem used by informal and microfinance institutions and the impact financial services have on poverty. The case study is based on a qualitative method through focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews with clients in a microfinance organisation. To analyse the differences in saving behaviour and business related issues, the clients are divided into two groups with regards to how long they have been using financial services. One group consists of 'old' clients that have access and use the credit and deposit facilities accessible, and one group of 'new' clients that have just started and still have no access to the services. The findings show that 'old' clients have a higher level of income and more advanced businesses according to skill/capital intensity. Risk related to income and expenditures that the street traders mentioned are sensitive to the state of the economy, unbeneficial stock, weather conditions, seasonal trends, business agreements, crime and trade permits. Regarding savings, the street traders used a wide range of saving alternatives such as insurance schemes, bank accounts, money collectors, rotating credit and saving clubs and cash savings. There were thus a lack of 'good' saving opportunities and even the deposit schemes offered by the microfinance organisation was not used due to lack oftrust and accessibility. Both the 'old' and the 'new' clients were thus aware ofthe need of savings in order to protect themselves for future income and expenditure risks. The main conclusion is that the use of financial services through the microfinance organisation and other institutions may have helped the 'old' clients to develop their businesses and reach a higher income level. There is thus a lack of 'good' financial options for the street traders and their position is still very vulnerable.
Thesis (M.Dev. Studies)-University of Natal,Durban, 2003.

In a traditional business environment, companies set up their organisation’s IT data infrastructure, install their applications and carry out the maintenance and management of their infrastructures. Whereas Cloud computing removes the need for companies to set up own data centers and run enterprise applications. Cloud computing technology provides businesses with the advantage of on-demand access, agility, scalability, flexibility and reduced cost of computing. An appreciable increase is being observed in the acceptance and migration to this new IT model in developing economies. In Nigeria, it has been observed that there is a somewhat unimpressive rate of adoption of Cloud computing by the microfinance operators. This research investigates the reason for the slow adoption of Cloud computing by SMEs in Nigeria with special consideration to the Microfinance subsector and to develop a model for improving the adoption of cloud computing by microfinance organisations. The research was conducted using a qualitative research design method. Interview was the main data collection instrument and data collected was analysed using thematic content analysis method. The analysis of the study revealed that SMEs in Nigeria, with particular reference to microfinance subsector in Akwa Ibom State are yet fully to embrace cloud technology. It was discovered that most of the SMEs studied, has some level of reservation about cloud computing arising from not having appropriate education and enlightenment about the cloud economic offerings and potentials. From the outcome of the research, the researcher identified that most people’s concerns are as a result of lack of knowledge about cloud computing and so the researcher concluded that appropriate enlightenment by industry stakeholders, cloud service providers, cloud enthusiasts and even the government on the risks and overwhelming economic incentives of cloud computing as well as the provision of a monitored free trial services will encourage the adoption of cloud computing by SMEs.
College of Engineering, Science and Technology
M.Tech. (Information Technology)