ABSTRACT

Microfinance is the term broadly used to refer to very small-sized, supervised loans, without any collateral. This chapter assesses how microfinance serves the poor in Bangladesh. In the last several decades, there have been many government and non-governmental efforts to reduce poverty. The Bangladesh Rural Development Board as the major government agency has undertaken a series of rural development programmes that aim to reduce poverty through village-based cooperatives, human resource development, expanded irrigation schemes, improvements in physical infrastructure, increases in agricultural production, and creation of employment opportunities for the rural poor. Some of the poverty alleviation programmes implemented by the government have been the establishment of cluster villages, the institutionalization of the Vulnerable Group Development project, implementation of the Upazila/Thana Resource Development and Employment Project, skill development training, and assistance for self-employment.