Case Study
Placement and Outreach of Group-Based Credit Organizations: The Cases of ASA, BRAC, and Proshika in Bangladesh
Do NGOs target their services in underdeveloped regions or do they locate in better endowed areas?
40 pages
This paper investigates financial services to the poor through innovative group-based credit programs of several non-governmental organisations. It looks at the implicit but widespread assumption that the non-governmental organisations are indeed placed in special poverty-stricken areas, and the factors that actually affect programs' placement across communities. Specifically, the paper uses thana-level data sets to analyse the placement of three group-based credit programs in Bangladesh. Analysis of branch placement indicates that:
- Unlike commercial banks, non-governmental institutions do respond to general conditions of poverty;
- NGO services are located more in poor pockets of relatively well-developed areas than in remoter, less-developed regions;
- Client density of the established branches tended to be better in less advantageous locations.
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