Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to those in poverty designed to spur

entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit

history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to

traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range

of financial services to the very poor. (Source: Wikipedia)

Majority of the people in our Para is poor or very poor. So, the NGOs play a very important role

in changing the socio-economic structure & developing the community.

Member of NGOS

Member of NGO

36%

64%

Yes

No

Figure: Pie Chart of Member of NGO (Raj Para)

We conducted our survey among 25 household chosen randomly. According to their information

64% of household were members of NGOs. In our study, what we found was that most people

from rich class thought taking loan from NGOs will hamper their status. So, they dont like to

take loan from NGOs. Its the poor class that takes the loan form NGOs & become a member.

Involvement in NGO

Involvement of NGO

13%

5%

18%

23%

41%

TMSS

BRACK

Figure: Pie Chart of involvement of NGOs (Raj Para)

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When conducting our PRA and Questionnaire Survey in the Para, we found out that there were a

number of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) in the Para, which provided micro-credit to

the villagers in the Para. These NGOs included:

ASHA

BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee)

JAKS

TMSS (Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha)

KRISHI Bank

Grameen Bank

According to the survey conducted through filling up PRA we found & discussion with the

villagers we found that 41% of the borrowers have taken loan form TMSS, 18% from ASHA,

23% from BRACK, 13% from Grameen Bank, 5% from Krishi Bank.

The reason of most people taking loan from TMSS was told to us that they have many agents,

their calculation process & interest is much easier to calculate. Grameen Bank interest rate

calculation was said to be very tough & in-transparent. On the other hand, Krishi bank was said

to very good but very hard to get the loan. Thats why they have less number of borrow er in our

Para.

Borrowing Period

Borrowing Period

16%

37%

40%

7%

> =1 year

< 1 year

2-4 years

Figure: Pie Chart of Borrowing Period (Raj Para)

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Micro credit loans are mainly short term. From the PRA survey it was verified that majority of

loans are very small in terms of amount & short term. If someone has a good credit history then

he/she can get a larger amount of loan with a longer term. From the survey of the 25 houses we

found as in the pie chart 77% of loan was taken for 1-4 year time period.

Picture 5.7 NGO representative has come

to collect dues from borrowers

Picture 5.8 NGO Booklet which keeps

loan & repayment records

13%

Amount of last Loan:

Ammount of Loan

10%

24%

53%

1,000-5,000

5,00010,000

Figure: Pie Chart of Amount of lastloan (Raj Para)

From the survey of the 25 houses we found as in the pie chart 77% of loan was taken for 1-4 year

time period. From the above chart it can be seen that 53% of the borrowers out of 25 surveys

took loan of 5,000- 10,000 Tk, 24% took 1,000-5,000 Tk loan, 13% took 10,000-30,000 Tk loan

& 10% took over 30,000 Tk loan. Since, any loan taken had to be paid within a total of 45 weeks

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via installments (which included the interest as well); majority of the households preferred this

type of amount to borrow, as it was sufficient to do something useful with the money, as well as

being able to pay it back in time.

Name of NGO

INTEREST RATE

Actual interest

Money recovery

(%)

TMSS

BRAC

GRAMEEN

ASA

JAKS

Krishi Bank

12.5%

15%

10%

15%

12.5%

9%

12.5%

15%

10%

__

__

__

NO. OF

INSTALLMENTS

45 Weeks

45 Weeks

45 Weeks

45 Weeks

45 Weeks

__

100%(jaipurhat)

98%

98%

98%

99.68%

__

Table: Interest Rate and No. of Installments loans have to be paid in

Use of loan

The households which have been taking loans use them for a number of purposes. These

include:

Pay the dowry of her daughter. (Mrs.Pari Bannu, Md Ali )

Buying Rickshaw.( Mrs Pari Bannu)

Buying Land.(Rekha Begum)

Paying back existing loans.(Md. Kaimuddin)

Buying seeds. ( Mrs shapna)

Milk sales. (Mr Sarwar Hosain Raj)

Repairing house. (Mrs Kakia)

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Borrowers for 5 years and more:

10

Improvement of Manage house economic hold without NGO condition

Yes

No

NGO oath

Changeof life style & socila condition

Figure: Bar Chart of public opinion about NGO

The above bar chart shows the opinion of 12 (borrowers for 5 years or more) surveyed household

about five different questions in the questioner. About 9 household said microcredit loan

improved their economic condition & 3 did not said no. About managing household without

NGO 7 people said Yes & 5 said no. NGOs taking oath; about 3 said yes & 9 No. NGOs

changing lifestyle & social condition 7 said Yes 5 said NO.

Action taken if unable to repay weekly payment:

When asked about action taken by NGOs if households are unable to pay their weekly loan

installments, the respondents mentioned that the NGO representative who comes to take the

money from the borrowers, if unable to pay- insults and embarrasses the borrower initially. This

is usually followed by the NGO representative giving the borrower who was unable to pay an

extra few days or tops a week, before he the respondent is called upon again to pay his dues.

If still unable to pay after a one week extension, the NGO representative has people either take

away the households food, house furniture or even sometimes the roofs tin. These actions are

usually resorted until the end. The bottom line is that the borrowers HAVE to pay their dues, one

way or the other. Here are some of the real incidents told by our surveyed households.

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Mrs Pari Banu told us that she was unable to pay her weekly dues for a few weeks. Ata

that time BRACK NGO Members would sit in her house hour after hour. They

sometimes created social pressure by telling other people about her not paying her

weekly payments.

Mr Kaimuddin told us that some NGOs even take away assets like cow, hen, tin etc. His

two cows were taken one for not paying in time

Miss Nahid our coordinator who is also a TMSS agent told us that if she cannot retrieve

money from her allotted household then she has to pay the dues.

NGOS activities

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Yes

No

Figure: Bar Chart of activities of NGO

When the respondents receiving micro-loans where asked about the activities/services given to

them because of being part of a NGO, with respect to:

TMSS: All the respondents mentioned that this particular NGO talked about proper sanitation to

its clients, as well as about womens empowerment. At the same time, TMSS taught its clients

how to vote in the general elections.

However, regarding other areas of activities- such as Childrens education, family health and

planning, skill development and suggesting any particular party to vote for- TMSS had not

brought these topics to their clients attention, i.e.: hadnt talked about these topics to the majority

of its clients.

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BRAC: All the respondents mentioned that this particular NGO talked to its clients about proper

sanitation, childrens education- and the need for the children to have proper education, family

health and planning, skill development- this included teaching the women how to use stitching

machines to make clothes, talking about womens empowerment and their rights, as well as

finally teaching them how to vote. However, it was distressing to know as mentioned by some of

the NGOs clients that- this particular NGO had suggested to its clients to vote for a particular

party.

JAKS: With respect to this NGO, its clients mentioned to us that this NGO had done very little

related to the activities mention in the Table 5.8- specifically telling its clients about how to

properly milk cows and using different fertilizers (skill development) and womens

empowerment. However, with respect to the rest of the activities, JAKS failed to do them, as told

to us by its clients.

Case study

In the following part we have gathered some NGO loan success & failure incidents. The case

studies are given below,

Case study 1:

Mrs Pari Banu is one of the poorest people in our Para. She has lending money from different

NGOs for a number of years. She has almost taken loan from every NGOs working in the Para.

Recently, she took 5,000/= from TMSS on 1 January 2000 and paid it back within 45 weeks. She

again took loan on 2009, 10,000/= from TMSS to pay her daughters dowry.

Borrowed amount = 5000/=

Installment per week= 125 /=

Number of installment= 45

Actual interest rate = (125*145 - 5,000/ 5,000) * 100

= 625/500 * 100

= 12.5%

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Case study 2:

Mr. Muzibur Rahman is a solvent farmer. He f=has about 20- 30 Bigh of land. He said that

NGOs interest rate is very high & is too complex. He only once took loan from the Grameen

NGO. At the moment he is borrowing money from the KRISHI Bank.

Borrowed amount = 36000/=

Actual interest rate = (35,000 - 36,000) * 100

= 9.72%

Positive & Negative Activities of NGOs:

In this sub-topic we look at the advantages and disadvantages of NGOs.

Positives:

Very helpfully for poor income class.

Some NGOs have flexible weekly payments.

Micro-credit helps to empower women.

Getting loan from a NGO is very easy.

NGOs do not apply political pressure on its clients.

Negatives:

Interest rate is very high.

Sometimes NGOs put too much pleasure to recover money.

NGOs are doing business manipulating the poor class of the society.

Unmarried women cannot get loans.

Over all view of Para about NGOs:

Happy with the improved economic condition.

Always under pressure to pay back the borrowed money in time.

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5.21 CONCLUSION

All society practiced change in the course of time. Social change is always a time consuming

natural and also historical ongoing process for human society. From our surveyed in Dostapur

village in Raj Para we have found some major social in the village which brings some significant

changes in our village. Education, technology, changing role of women are the forces behind

these changes. Women empowerment is increasing day by day. They are now more outgoing,

contributing to family income, involving in education and in various types of NGOS activity.

Technology brings enormous change in the agriculture and productivity. Also change in the

cropping pattern is also noticeable. Farmers involvement towards crops has also observed in the

recent years. Improvement of literacy rate and crops diversity is directly facilitate the country.

Criminal activities have decreased which causes the mental peace of the villagers. Role of

NGOs in the development of the village is a good sign. Health condition is improved a lot. Most

of the children have all of their vaccination. NGOs working hard to improve the literacy rate as

well also play a vital role in the environment activities such as tree plantation programs.

Villagers are very helpful and friendly as well, usually truthful, simple and very much fond of

conversing with people. So with all the positive changes and few problems must acknowledge

that village is a wonderful place that is developing in its own speed. The most important thing

according to many villagers the social changes have brought happiness and prosperity in their

life. Social change is now a common phenomenon. At earlier period, the changing process was

very slow. Now the process is so fast that it may be called revolutionary change. The gender role

is the main factor of this so-called revolutionary change. Role discrimination among our women

is in the offing. It is clearly apparent among the middle class and the lower class. Generally,

women were restricted to the kitchen and housekeeping. They are increasingly going out to work

while taking up the responsibility of accompanying their children to and from school with the

added responsibility of shopping in village market and the hat as well. At earlier time all these

activities used to be exclusively men domain. The village girls until a decade ago or so were

limited to their household responsibilities including helping mothers with baby-sitting. Now they

are rushing out to the city to work in garment factories. Thus, the role and functions of our

women are changing and this change is taking place slowly but considerably. Analyzing the

Timeline Diagram on the collected information, we found several real facts regarding the socio

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economic culture of our village. This analysis revealed the detail excess of the historical

development progression. By this analysis we have tried to find some reasons of those changes

so that we can go to near to the actual reason. We have also analyzed the positive and negative

social changes after liberation according to our field survey to see how the changes have taken

place in rural life. Our village had been never treated as a remote village in the villagers

conscience. Today, approximately most of the villagers are solvent in a sense that they never

have to go hungry. Most amazingly, there is no beggar in this village.

Therefore, we can say that the social condition of the village is changing.