Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Khan, Shahrukh Rafi, author

Title A microcredit alternative in South Asia Akhuwat's experiment / Shahrukh Rafi Khan and Natasha Ansari
Published Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2018

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Routledge studies in the growth economies of Asia ; 140
Routledge studies in the growth economies of Asia ; 140.
Contents Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Appendices; Preface; Section 1 Conceptual and institutional issues; 1 Introduction; 2 Altruism and faith-inspired giving; 3 Altruism in Pakistan and Akhuwat's altruistic initiatives; 4 Critiques of conventional microcredit; 5 The Akhuwat interest-free microcredit model; Section 2 Empirical assessment; 6 Akhuwat's microcredit alternative; 7 Promoting self-sufficiency via enterprise; 8 Policy issues; Section 3 Summary and conclusions; Index
Summary "Microcredit took the development world by storm as a tool for poverty alleviation in the 1980s. After being hailed as a panacea, a few decades on it started being forcefully criticised based on its practice. This book explores Akhuwat (literally brotherhood), a rapidly growing Pakistani NGO formed in 2001, which addresses the shortcomings of conventional microfinance. Its vision is of a society built on empathy and social solidarity and its mission is that of creating self-sufficiency among the entrepreneurial poor. This book examines whether Akhuwat fulfils its promises of not pushing loans or encouraging clients to get on a debt treadmill and helping them to avoid high debt burdens by charging no interest and easing repayment terms. Conventional microcredit organizations are criticised for losing sight of the original mission of poverty alleviation by engaging in empire building and Akhuwat's goal is to avoid this by embracing an alternative strategy of scaling up. Finally, this book also analyses Akhuwat's approach as being gender sensitive and embracing all religions, castes and ethnicities. Based on fieldwork designed to assess if Akhuwat is the microcredit alternative it claims to be, this book will be of interest to scholars of poverty and development studies in general and microcredit in particular."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed April 12, 2018)
Subject Akhuwat (Organization : Pakistan)
Akhuwat (Organization : Pakistan)
Microfinance -- Pakistan
Poor -- Pakistan
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Finance.
Microfinance
Poor
Pakistan
Form Electronic book
Author Ansari, Natasha, author
ISBN 9781351174572
1351174576
9781351174589
1351174584
9781351174558
135117455X
9781351174565
1351174568