| ongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly perceived as effective agents of rural development globally, as is evidenced by the increasing levels of funding they are receiving from official donor agencies. This dissertation focuses on NGO income-generating activities (IGAs) in Bangladesh, to evaluate their impact on the lives of the rural poor and the overall rural economy. IGAs are broadly categorized into credit-based activities--those that simply extend credit, and sector-based activities which involve the provision of credit, with some combination of inputs, market access, technology, and training. IGAs have had a significant impact on the income levels of the NGO participants: on average incomes rose by 44 percent during the intervention period. The impact was the greatest on the credit participants. The average NGO operating costs were Taka 1256 (approximately... |
