Microfinance
Introduction:
Over the past few decades many different development strategies have emerged concerning the alleviation of poverty and the progress of international development. It is nearly impossible to have an ideal development model that will ensure a positive growth for developing nations. Until recently, whether or not development strategies were actually successfully implementing policies and improving the standard of living of societies was of much debate. Of course, it must be recognized that there are hundreds, probably thousands of various forms of developmental aid and although some have had success, some have not. Among these various methods, microfinance as a new tool for development began getting much attention from international institutions and donors. The microfinance program recognized by Mohammad Yunus, established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and now plays a large role in development. In the past, large institutions such as the IMF and the World Banks would impose strategies and practices like the Washington Consensus on developing nations. The microfinance approach directly provides credit to the hands of the poorest individuals, allowing them the opportunity to better their quality of life. Rather than using the traditional trickledown effect, it claims to start from the bottom and working its way up. As new development tools try to provide democratic system, they always steer towards portraying neoliberal characteristics. Can microfinance be used as a new prominent development model which allows the impoverished people of a developing nation to have active participation within the political, socio-economical and development spectrum of their communities; or it this method creating more oppression and overlooking major social components that generate inequalities within cultures and communities that is constraining growth?
This paper will focus on two country case studies, Bangladesh and Bolivia. In Bangladesh, microfinance was able to
Over the past few decades many different development strategies have emerged concerning the alleviation of poverty and the progress of international development. It is nearly impossible to have an ideal development model that will ensure a positive growth for developing nations. Until recently, whether or not development strategies were actually successfully implementing policies and improving the standard of living of societies was of much debate. Of course, it must be recognized that there are hundreds, probably thousands of various forms of developmental aid and although some have had success, some have not. Among these various methods, microfinance as a new tool for development began getting much attention from international institutions and donors. The microfinance program recognized by Mohammad Yunus, established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and now plays a large role in development. In the past, large institutions such as the IMF and the World Banks would impose strategies and practices like the Washington Consensus on developing nations. The microfinance approach directly provides credit to the hands of the poorest individuals, allowing them the opportunity to better their quality of life. Rather than using the traditional trickledown effect, it claims to start from the bottom and working its way up. As new development tools try to provide democratic system, they always steer towards portraying neoliberal characteristics. Can microfinance be used as a new prominent development model which allows the impoverished people of a developing nation to have active participation within the political, socio-economical and development spectrum of their communities; or it this method creating more oppression and overlooking major social components that generate inequalities within cultures and communities that is constraining growth?
This paper will focus on two country case studies, Bangladesh and Bolivia. In Bangladesh, microfinance was able to