Power and poverty: the Shapla Neer experience

Abstract

This report to the Poverty, Prosperity and Progress conference examines the village-level development programmes of Shapla Neer, a Japanese NGO which has been operating in Bangladesh since independence in 1971. Shapla Neer's experiences offer hard-won lessons for development practitioners: the need for effective targeting; the desirability of self-employment as a livelihood option for poor households; the necessity of close monitoring; the need to target women; and the need for the poor to gain a political voice. An overarching lesson is that development programmes will be most successful when their design is based on an understanding of the relationship between power and poverty.

Crowdfunding Prospects in New Emerging Markets: The Cases of India and Bangladesh

“…Bangladesh is home to Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, known for initiating the concept of 'microfinance' which involves lending small amounts of money to a large number of people with the purpose of alleviating poverty (Kickul et al 2012). Another example is the so-called Somity concept, which refers to an informal co-operative where a group of people (particularly women) save together a portion of their salary or a household income that is later invested in a business (Scheyvens 2002). Somity is identical to the 'Chit Fund' concept in the Indian context.…”