Suchergebnisse

The Gambia is a 95 percent Muslim that is located in the western part of Africa. The population of the country is just around 2.5 m. The Gambia is largely dependent on Agriculture, tax and foreign aid and is ranked 178, in the Human Development Index 2019, the Gambia is classified as a country with medium human development. Currently there are various microfinance program that has been existing for years, but none of them are having Islamic microfinance loan products, as a result some did not take their loans and even those who take it is hard to change their lives, because it is purely for profit making and also the higher interest rate. Islamic Microfinance would be the best kind of development instrument for the population of Gambia. The microfinance institutions in the Gambia are very well expanded, they are the main source of credit to the Gambian population both rural and urban. Therefore it will be very important if microfinance institutions in the Gambia can introduce Islamic microfinance. The objective of this paper is to suggest ways to Islamize microfinance in The Gambia and the benefits Islamic microfinance. It is anticipated that the outcome of this paper would complement efforts by the government and NGO in the fight to eradicate poverty in the Gambia.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is a government-sponsored microfinance program. The scheme is based on four features: group lending with joint liability, progressive lending, back-ended subsidy, and social capital. We propose a new model of SGSY having these features: group lending with individual liability, progressive lending, back-ended subsidy, and social capital. "Joint liability" clause of the existing model is replaced with individual liability in the new model. The paper shows that problem of adverse selection is removed in both models, i.e. in "SGSY with group lending and joint liability" and "SGSY with group lending and individual liability." The problem of 'moral hazard' is more severe in the existing model of SGSY compared with the proposed model of SGSY. Borrowers are also benefitted from participation in the proposed scheme of SGSY than that in the existing model of SGSY.

Microcredit is a poverty alleviation strategy strongly associated with gender inequality and the feminization of poverty. In Egypt, microcredit operates within two major models. The economic survival model targets a female clientel with very small loan sizes and mainly group lending mechanisms. The business enhancement model primarily targets a not-so-poor clientel. A gap emerges where there are hardly any lending mechanisms addressing poorer men. The author argues that the the lopsided focus on providing microfinance services within the economic survival model to poor women and the exclusion of poor men constitutes a myopic poverty alleviation strategy that can actually oppress women rather than empower them. (DSE/GIGA)

Microfinance programs have become increasingly popular instruments in development policy. Many microfinance programs are supported or subsidized by donors, a fact which calls for detailed analyses of their impacts in order to inform policymakers allocating a limited budget. Fertility reduction is often argued to be important for economic development, and a goal of many governments in developing countries is to reduce fertility. Since microfinance is widespread in Bangladesh, it is an interesting country in which to study the potential for microfinance to assist in achieving a goal of fertility reduction. This study extends the literature on impacts of microfinance by providing panel data estimates of the impacts on fertility resulting from participation in three microfinance programs in Bangladesh. Fixed effects and difference-in-differences estimators used in a quasi experimental setting show no significant effect on fertility from participation in or access to any of the programs. However, some weak evidence that fertility decreases with degree of participation is supported. Results suggest that support to microfinance programs is not the most efficient instrument for governments and organizations working towards a goal of fertility reduction.