27th Annual Student Research Conference
It Takes a Woman to Raise a Village: Observations and Analysis of the Munshir Hat Parshuram Branch of the Grameen Bank
Elizabeth K. Salley
Dr. Anton Daughters, Faculty Mentor
The Grameen Bank, a microfinance institution in Bangladesh, provides loans to poor, rural women. When the bank first began operating in 1976, the institution experienced challenges as husbands refused to allow wives to take loans. Villagers faced desperate living conditions, often lacking a bed, adequate housing, and sanitary water. However, the Grameen Bank has succeeded in eliminating poverty cycles in villages across the nation. The Munshir Hat Parshuram Branch in Chagalnaiya, Bangladesh, was established in 1988 and has grown to include 41 centers, with 2,400 borrowers. Munshir Hat Parshuram, like most of the other branches of Grameen Bank, currently boasts a repayment rate of 100 percent from their borrowers. This paper will analyze interviews and observations gathered by the author from three center meetings and borrower and staff member interviews of this branch and the impact the Grameen Bank has had on rural women and communities.
Keywords: poverty alleviation, women's empowerment, revolving loans, South Asian studies
Topic(s):Anthropology
Women's and Gender Studies
Economics
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 104-2
Location: MG 2090
Time: 8:15