The BRAC Microfinance Approach and its Impact at Individual, Household, and Beyond Household Levels: A Synthesis

This paper discusses the impact of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee's (BRAC) sustainable development and empowerment programs. It discusses:

The impact assessment and monitoring system of BRAC, which includes:

• Internal monitoring and information system;
• Internal routine monitoring;
• Impact assessment studies;
• External impact assessment and monitoring.

The list of indicators that measure the impact of microfinance at the individual, household and beyond household levels:

• Individual and household indicators are:
  • Income and expenditure;
  • Poverty outreach;
  • Material and social well-being;
  • Crisis coping mechanisms;
  • Vulnerability and seasonality;
  • Women's empowerment.
• Beyond household level indicators are:
  • Contribution to GDP;
  • Contribution in financial, labor and product markets;
  • Health;
  • Changes in women's lives at the community level;
  • Voluntary organization (VO) institution building and sustainability.

The impact assessment studies of BRAC examine:

• The movements in and out of poverty;
• Trends in poverty perception of the respondents;
• Changes in human and physical asset base;
• Changes in continuing education;
• Impact of microfinance on nutritional status of children;
• Vulnerability and crisis management;
• Empowerment of women;
• Credit-empowerment-health linkages;
• Impact on child survival;
• Determinants of member performance and dropouts.

Assessing the impact beyond household levels assesses:

• Changes in women's lives at the community level;
• Contribution of BRAC to GDP;
• Generation of employment and BRAC intervention.