Event titled Empowering rural poor through financial inclusion held in Dhaka
At a dissemination event titled "Empowering rural poor through financial inclusion" jointly hosted by USAID's Strengthening Household Ability to Respond to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) III Plus Activity of CARE Bangladesh, and North South University (NSU) on their Dhaka campus, speakers stressed on the importance of commercial banks to improve financial inclusion for Bangladesh's rural impoverished. A wide range of people, including executives from CARE Bangladesh, faculty members and graduate students from NSU, representatives from Bangladesh Bank and development groups, and many more attended this event on Nov 11, 2023.
Ramesh Singh, Country Director of CARE Bangladesh, graced the event as the guest of honour and said, "For a smart Bangladesh, it is important to ensure financial justice for women to create income opportunities."
"Financial inclusion has more impact on public health than we think. It is good to see that CARE is thinking about this. NSU faculty and students will initiate more research on this topic.", said Dr Norman K. Swazo, Director, Office of Research, NSU.
During the session, CARE Bangladesh team shared insightful research findings on the loan-taking experiences of the rural poor from both formal and informal financial institutions in Bangladesh.
"Rich people take loans for investment, while the extremely poor people take loans for education and medical emergencies. We must study the purpose of these loans by the poor people. Rural people don't rely on a single source for loans, VSLA is the least costing alternative for borrowing", said Prof. Dr. Ismail Hossain, Chairperson, Department of Economics, NSU, who graced the event as the Guest of Honour.
The panel discussion shed light on the crucial roles that a variety of formal and informal institutions like friends, family, private money lenders, Non-Governmental Organizations-Micro Finance Institutions (NGO-MFIs), and others play in providing loans to severely impoverished and deprived rural communities in Bangladesh. To satisfy the impoverisher's immediate and modest credit needs, the participants emphasized the importance of self-organized savings and loan associations like the Village Savings and credit Association (VSLA). It was noted that although VSLAs have garnered a lot of trust from the rural poor, the Bangladesh government's Financial Inclusion Policy does not officially recognize them yet. The discussion urged commercial banks to increase their presence in distant locations through the advancement of agent and digital banking, offering low-interest microloans, and including these groups in financial policies. Commercial banks show promise as a means of providing lending options and bringing the unbanked populace into the mainstream of finance as they expand their reach and digital capabilities.
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