ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the process of 'essentialization' of the sustainability agenda by examining its roots in international development discourse and practice. It provides on large body of work investigating the processes through which microfinance affects livelihoods and well-being in Bangladesh and draws on one year of ethnographic fieldwork. The chapter examines the seemingly unproblematic rhetoric of sustainability applied to international development, through the lens of microfinance. It explores the applicability of the concept by asking whose sustainability counts in current practice of microfinance: Institutions' or clients' livelihoods'? It used mainly qualitative data to question the extent to which microfinance in its current form in rural Bangladesh contributes to the agenda of sustainable development through poverty reduction. The chapter unpacks the connections between building sustainable institutions and supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods to reduce poverty. In 2015, the sustainability paradigm was a prominent feature of the global agenda for international development, appearing in 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
