Where We Work: Bangladesh: Microfinance

BRAC’s Economic Development Programme provides the cornerstone for all of our development work in Bangladesh. BRAC provides collateral-free, low-interest small loans to communities in need. We employ a participatory, peer supported and multisectoral strategy to offer the poor skills and opportunities to achieve sustainable improvement in their livelihoods, and attain dignity and self-reliance.

Credit plus approach: Our microfinance programme provides more than just financial assistance. With the help of other facilities, like education and health, the programme sees a growing number of beneficiaries every year benefitting from our multifaceted approach.

Microfinance falls into the following categories:

• Dabi
• Unnoti
• Progoti
  

BRAC programmes that have microfinance as a prime component are: 

• Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction: Targeting the Ultra Poor
• Social and Financial Empowerment of Adolescents
• Char Development Settlement Project
• Northwest Crop Diversification Project
• Kallyan Project
• Monga Mitigation Loans

Dabi

Dabi targets landless groups of women in rural, semi-urban and urban slums who use our financial assistance in a range of agricultural and non-farm activities, ranging from cultivation of rice, maize and vegetables to rearing livestock and poultry. We organise landless rural, semi-urban and urban slum women into self-selected groups of Village Organisations (VOs). The loans that Dabi members access offer them a way to sustain livelihoods through economic improvement. These women invest in diverse ventures: growing rice, maize and vegetables or rearing livestock. Others pursue activities such as running restaurants and grocery stores.

Unnoti

Unnoti targets marginal farmers who own over one acre of land, but are not eligible for mainstream microfinance programmes. Most of the loans are used for agricultural purposes which, to an extent, are the backbone of Bangladesh's economy and the lifeline of its poor. Crop diversification, growth in the non-crop sector and maintaining high productivity are, therefore, critical for food security, pro-poor growth and the livelihoods of the poor.

Progoti

Progoti assists micro-entrepreneurs, who are landless or small farmers in rural and urban areas, to access BRAC loans and financial services. We provide credit to small entrepreneurs looking to expand their commercial entities, helping them meet the needs of working capital to run their businesses. These entrepreneurs have trouble accessing credit facilities from mainstream banks as they fall into a category that does not appeal to commercial banks or typical microfinance programmes.