Poverty Reduction Strategies: Evidence From U-Microfinance Bank

Abstract

Purpose: This Study intends the assessment of microloan by U Microfinance Bank from females of upper Sindh. The core objective was to assess the impact of U-Microfinance on the poverty level of female for improving their living standards by providing them micro-loans to be used for their small-scale business which could enable them to be empowered politically, socially, economically, and assessing its impacts on the health and education of their families.
 Methodology: This study was conducted on the assessment of microloan interventions of U Microfinance Bank in the rural areas of upper Sindh. A quantitative approach was used to measure the impact of microloan on the poverty status of the female along with a qualitative study to further confirm the findings. In this study, a quasi-experimental design was used in which two groups of data from the same respondents assuming the data ‘Before-loan and After-Loan Situation’ from the female borrowers of Khairpur, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Larkana, and Dadu Districts of Upper Sindh. Poverty Score Card was used as a survey instrument originally developed by the World Bank for each region separately. The collected data were analyzed by applying the descriptive statistics and logistic regression technique by using SPSS latest version.
 Results: Results of the logistic regression analysis demonstrate that the microloan program does empower females of targeted cities, but the empowerment process does not necessarily occur simultaneously across all dimensions. Whereas microfinance does effect individually on each dimension of empowerment. For microfinance ventures, the results suggest that occupation types have a positive impact on women's empowerment.
 Applications of this study: This study can be very effective in improving the strategies for poverty reduction among the female borrowers of the upper Sindh.
 The Novelty of the study: The novelty of this study investigating the effect of poverty reduction strategies on female empowerment.