Research Reports (1997): Economic Studies, Vol - XII

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/12974

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Women's control over productive assets: role of credit based development interventions
(BRAC, 1998) Huda, Samiha; Mahmud, Simeen
This paper examines the degree to which participation in BRAC's development intereventions has any impact on women's ownership and control over assets. Information was collected under BRAGICDDR,B joint research project at Matlab during April-August 1995 through structured interview. In addition to socio-economic and demographic characteristics, information regarding ownership and control over assets was elicited from 2295 currently married women between 15-55 years of age of whom 22% were BRAC members. Bivariate distribution comparing members and non-members in terms of asset ownership and control were assessed through use of indices. Women's assets were categorized into big and small according to their relative value. findings reveal that women's ownership and control over big assets increased with age. Currently married women tend to own more big assets and have greater control over those, but levels of schooling did not appear to effect either ownership or control. Women's ownership and control over small assets were not found to have any assocaition with women's age or household head's occopational status. When compared with eligible non-members, BRAC members appeared to have greater ownership · and control over assets, (both big and small). However, no difference was seen amongst members in terms of ownership and control over assets when BRAC membership was categorized according to duration, intensity and type.
Report of the baseline survey of potential erosion and flood affected areas of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Project
(BRAC, 1997-04) Chowdhury, Pijush Kanti; Rafi, Mohammad; Jakariya, Md.; Islam, Shahidul
This is a reoort on the baseline survey of the households within the area demarcated by the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority (JMBA). This area spreads over 12 km to the north and 10 km to the south of the bridge. This area covers both charland and mainland. In the mainland. The survey area covers half a kilometer inland from the riverbankline on both sides of the river. The survey covers households in 44 chars and 132 villages which spread over 13 unions and 5 than as under the two districts. namely Tangail and Sirajganj. JMBA issued identity cards to those households whose lands were acquired in 1992 and 1993 for the bridge. About 7% of the households covered by this survey are holders of these identity cards. The percentage of households with ID cards is 9.3% for Tang ail and 4.25% for Sirajganj. The total number of households under this survey is 24,035. These households have a population of 129,031 and the average size of these households is 5.4. Of these households 6.9% are female headed. The survey covered 44 chars of different age and size. The age (habitation period) of these chars varies from 4 to 65 years. These chars have a number of community facilities such as mosque, madrasah, primary schools etc. ln certain unions of Sirajganj and Tangail districts, there is a concentration of handloom weaving factories. The survey area has a total of 416 factories with a total of 3875 workers under them. The value of land per decimal in these chars as reported by the local people varies from Tk.30 to 1300 in the case of agricultural land and from Tk. 30 to 1200 in the case of homestead land. The average size of households under the survey is 5.4 for Tangail. 5.3 for Sirajganj and 5.1 for erosion affected areas. The percentage of household members within the age group of 15-59 is 50.3 in the survey area while this percentage is 49.24 at the national level (1991 census). The population pyramid of the survey area as a whole is almost symmetrical with that of the national level. The unmarried population of the households under the survey constitutes 55.7 and the married 39.9. The difference between these percentages for the charland and that for the mainland is small.
Reasons for RDP VO dissolution: a case study on five selected VOs
(BRAC, 1997-12) Banu, Dilruba; Amin, Md. Nurul
During preparatory work for the Second Impact Assessment Study (lAS -ll) in 1996, it was found that 18 VOs (8 women and 10 men) were not functioning out of 150 which were studied for the lAS -I. As BRAC wanted the VOs to sustain and eventually develop as institutions, it was felt that the reasons for their non-functioning should be investigated. The present study was undertaken with that aim in view. In consultation with RDP, five dissolved VOs (B, C and D for women, and A and E for men) which had been dissolved during the previous year, from five area offices, were selected purposively. The study used data which were derived both from primary and secondary sources. To obtain primary information, the study relied mainly on selected RRAC exercises including Time line, Problem tree, Mini-swvey, Social mapping and Kinship relation. VO members and local BRAC staff were interviewed through a semi-structured checklist Secondary information, relevant for the study, were collected from both Head Office and Area Offices. The following gives the summary results: The main reason for the dissolution of VO A was the withdrawal of the power tiller which the VO had purchased with BRAC loan. This was done to adjust the loans which had become overdue. BRAC's strategy to concentrate on female membership provided justification for it Strong kinship netwod played a vital role in dissolving VO B. More than two-third members of this VO were from one kin group. When some of the members of this group became defaulter VO management committee did not extend its cooperation to BRAC to take necessary disciplinary action. Finding no other way local BRAC management had to dissolve the VO. Faction regarding VGD cards made VO C inactive. A dispute arose about selection of VGD card holders when the president of the VO and the respective BRAC staff made the selection ignoring the opinion of other members. Some cut down several hundreds of mulbeny trees in the locality. The caretaker of the mulberry trees called police with the help of BRAC and threatened some of the members. Members were divided into two groups and the VO became non-functioning. VO D was poorly organized since its inception. Members of this VO were scattered at different comers of the village. Some members had become defaulters and left the village. New loan was not disbursed as there were overdue loans in the VO. Members became inactive and the VO dissolved VO E was formed with migrating people who frequently go to o1.1:side of the village for their livelihoods. During 1988 flood most of the: members became defaulter as they failed to ~ their business and migrated to other district towns. BRAC tried to follow their overdue loans with the help of other VO members but could not manage to coilect. Thus the VO became non-functioning and finally dissolved. The strength of the dissolved VOs was that these were formed with mostly homogeneous people (80% of <50 decimals land group) which might help members to make the VO cohesive and to develop a sense of ownership of the VO among them. In each of the VOs there were a group of dedicated members who wanted to keep the VOs functioning. The weakness of the VOs was that except credit, other activities of the VO which increase awareness of the members, group cohesiveness, and V 0 discipline were overlooked. There were some loan defaulters from whom BRAC could not collect money and consequently stopped disbursing new loan. As a result, the regular members of the VOs also became inactive. It seems that most of the members tried to use V 0 as an instrument for getting credit There were some VO members who made regular loan repayments but BRAC was unable to use them to keep the VO operational. It is interesting to mention that 27% of member households of the study VOs are now involved with other NGOs and they are reportedly performing wen. Members complained against the management system of BRAC for dissolution of their VOs. According to them BRAC did not try to solve the problem of overdue loan rather stopped disbursing new loans to the members who were not defaulters. Thus most of the members lost their interest to be involved with BRAC. It seems BRAC accepted dissolution of some of the VOs. Two of the study VOs were dissolved perhaps due to the policy change of RDP about exclusion of male VOs. The study suggests that BRAC should review the overdue loan collection and record keeping system where there will be no opportunity for members to complain against improper. record keeping on instalment payment. Frequent transfer of P A, which reportedly made ways for defalcation of members' money, created dissatisfaction of members to BRAC rules. In case of transfer of P A enough time should be given so that the P A can hand over the accounts and other responsibilities to the new staff properly. The main conclusion the study has drawn from the above analysis is BRAC can continue the inactive VOs excluding the defaulters and if necessary, some new members can join the VO to fill up the gaps.
Participation in BRAC's Rural Development Programme and the impact of group dynamics on individual outcomes
(BRAC, 1998) Mahmud, Simeen; Huda, Samiha
This study explored women's participation in Brae's rural development programme to identify some unobserved selecting factors that are believed to influence women's decision to participate or not and, the effect of group dynamics on individual outcomes of women programme participants. The data used for the study originates from Brac-ICDDR, B Joint research project in Matlab (April-Aug. '95). Ever married women aged between 15-50 years in 2,241 households of 14 villages with Brae interventions were included in the study. The results show that women's decision to participate was determined significantly by reported health status, perceived contribution to household income, household land ownership, relation with husband and unwanted pregnancy. The individual factors like age, literacy, marital status, etc. had no effect on the decision to participate. Group dynamics was captured by three indexes e.g., VO (village organization) homogeneity, VO activity and VO social awareness. Of these, VO homogeneity appeared to have the most consistent and positive effects on mobility, · income-earning and modern family planning use. There were cross-cutting effects of the other two indexes on outcomes. From the findings, it is desirable to pay greater attention to group mobilisation and group formation processes in programme implementation.
Poverty alleviation of the hard core poor in Bangladesh
(BRAC, 1997-11) Ahmed, Dilruba
BRAC launched IGVGD Programme to improve the condition of the poorest women covered by Vulnerable Groups Development (VGO) Programme. In this context high yielding variety (HYV) poultry birds rearing was introduced as an income generating activity for increasing the economic and nutritional well-being of the IGVGD participants. To sustain the process of development of the participants, BRAC merged IGVGD with Rural Development Programme (RDP). It is found that RDP could not include many of the very poor and disadvantaged women. The objectives of the study were to : 1. investigate the changes brought about by the Programme in its participant households; 2. assess the extent to which the Programme represented the 'poorest of the poor' ; and 3. know the reasons for drop out of the participants from the IGVGD. The study locations were selected from both IGVGD and RDP areas, viz., Kishorgonj, Karimgonj, Tangail and Bhuapur. Both IGVGO and RDP had the IGVGO Poultry Porgramme (IGVGDPP). Data were collected from the participants in four of the HYV poultry rearing activities of IGVGDPP, viz., chick rearers, key rearers, feed sellers and egg collectors. The study subjects were the ex-VGD, drop out and inactive members. Ex-VGOs were those who were no more entitled to wheat ration as their ration cycle had already completed. Dropout members were those who were no more functionally related with the poultry rearing Programme and had · completed the repayment of loan installments. At present they were not the members of BRAC Programme at all. Inactive members were those who were no more functionally related with the poultry rearing Programme but had not yet completed the repayment of loan installments. The study focused mainly on the 1994-96 cycle. The current VGO members of 1 996-98 cycle were included as control group. Current-VGOs were those who enjoyed the wheat ration at present. Five percent of the key rearers were randomly selected while the others were purposively selected since they were few in number from the study area. The study interviewed 493 respondents including 360 current and ex VGDs and 133 drop out and inactive members. The study presents its main findings in three chapters.
Impact of Oxbow Lakes Project II on participant households
(BRAC, 1997-04) Ahmed, Dilruba; Hossain, Altaf; Mustafa, Shams
The Oxbow Lakes Small Scale Fishermen Development Project Phase II (OLP-11) is being financed jointly by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IF AD), Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA), World Food Programme (WFP), Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and implemented jointly by Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of GoB, Directorate of Fisheries (DoF), DANIDA and BRAC since June 1991. BRAC is entrusted with organizing the fishermen at the grassroots level, capacity development of the fishermen through management and skill training, credit support, and raising of productivity through extension of technical services to improve the condition of the rural poor fishermen in particular, and to eradicate rural poverty, in general This study focuses on the impact of the Second Oxbow Lake Project (OLP II) on participant fishermen households. The objective of the study is to provide the analysis of the changes in the material well-being of the participant households and to discuss the changes in the lives of the non-participants of the oxbow lake catchment areas as a result of OLP II intervention The study gathered data through survey in 1993 and resurvey in 1995 from 1189 participant and non-participant households of 21 oxbow lake catchment areas. The households were randomly selected for conducting survey. Both participants and non-participants are the members of BRAC's Rural Development Programme (RDP). To find out the displaced fishermen household due to the OLP II intervention and to know their economic condition the study also included case study in 3 oxbow lake catchment areas. Positive changes have taken place in the oxbow lake catchment areas as a result of the fishermen's participation in the OLP !i. These changes have been categorized into two broad areas, i.e., material well-being of the participant households as well as the indirect impact of the OLP on the inhabitants of the oxbow lake catchment areas and displacement caused by the project. According to the findings the shelter environment in terms of electricity facility and sanitation of the participant households has improved compared to that of the non-participant households.
Socioeconomic development and human well-being: BRAC-ICDDR,B joint research project, Matlab (phase II)
(BRAC, 1996-03) Husain, Shahed; Husain, Gazi Mahmud; Ahmed, Syed Masud; Chowdhury, Mushtaque; Bhuiya, Abbas; Khan, Monirul Islam
This report documents the first round of the seasonal survey with respect to household economy covering land holdings, savings and loans, employment and expenditure. For collecting household information, the household heads were interviewed. In most cases, the heads were male members. In the absence of male household head, other responsible member who can provide reliable information about the household was interviewed. In the study area, a preponderance of female headed HHs (19.30%) was observed compared to the national figure of 7 .63%. Female headship was most prevalent among TO non-member. Literacy rate of HH heads was highest among NTO HHs followed by BRAC member HHs and TO nonmember HHs, and these differences are significant. Agriculture and labor selling were the most common occupation for the HH heads. NTO HHs were more likely to be involved in agriculture, while BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs were most likely to be engaged in labour selling. Contribution to HH's income was most likely in case of BRAC members who were also HH's head as well.NTO HHs possessed the largest amount of land followed by BRAC member HHs and TO nonmember HHs. BRAC member HHs possessed almost twice as much land as TO non-member HHs. The percentage of landless is the highest among TG non-member HHs followed by BRAC member HHs and NTO HHs. BRAC member HHs possess twice the amount of cultivable land compared to TG non-member HHs. NTO HHs have the highest value of total non-land assets followed by BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs. NTO HHs have the highest amount of mean total savings followed by BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs. BRAC member HHs possess nearly twice as much savings as TO nonmember HHs . Most of the savings take place under the heading of crop savings for all HHs. NTO HHs borrowed the highest amount followed by BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs. BRAC member HHs borrowed mostly from BRAC, where TG non-member HHs and NTG HHs borrowed mostly from relatives. Second most common source of loan was money lender for BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs, but mortgages for NTG HHs. It was observed that BRAC member HHs utilized the highest percentage of the loan for income generation followed by NTO HHs and TO non- member HHs. Type of employment is divided into two categories: self employment and wage employment. Self and wage employment are further disaggregated by gender. Men from all HHs spent more time in self employment than in wage employment. Overall, men spent 43 .6 hours in employment whereas women spent only 6.3 hours or only 14.4% of the time spent by men in employment for previous seven days in the srudy area. Men from NTO HHs spent greater time in self employment whereas BRAC member HHs spent greater time in wage employment. The two major components of total expenditure are food items and non-food items. NTO HHs expenditure on both food and non-food was the highest followed by BRAC member HHs and TO non-member HHs. The differences among BRAC member HHs, TO non-member HHs and NTG HHs on food expenditure were less compared to non-food expenditures. NTO HH's income from cultivation was thrice as much as BRAC member HHs and BRAC member HHs earned nearly double compared to TG non-member HHs.
Credit programme, women's empowerment and contraception: the role of context
(BRAC, 1997) Hadi, Abdullahel
BRAC's pilot savings project: status reports
(BRAC, 1997-11) Amin, Md. Nurul; Nathoo, Shireen
BRAC's pilot savings project of RDP: monitoring and evaluation
(BRAC, 1997-04) Moore, Karen J.; Choudhury, M. Sadiqunnabi
During July and August of 1996, the BRAC Rural Development Programme (RDP) initiated a Pilot Savings Project (PSP), whereby three experimental savings systems were implemented in various areas of Bangladesh, with a proposed lifespan of two to three years. The BRAC Research and Evaluation Di-vision (RED) undertook to develop a monitoring and evaluation process for the PSP. This paper documents the first stages of this process and presents current research and experience on the topic. It is in particular aimed at BRAC-RED staff who are interested in continuing work on PSP monitoring, and BRAC-RDP staff involved with the management of the programme. This paper is in general concerned with BRAC's transition from an NGO involved in microcredit, to one at the forefront of the movement to provide flexible, appropriate, transparent, and clear financial services to the poor.
An investigation into sources of weekly installment payments in RDP
(BRAC, 1997-12) Matin, Rukhsana; Rab, Habib N.

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