Impact of ASA NGO's Microcredit Program on Livelihood of Rural People in Mymensingh District, Bangladesh

The present study was conducted to see the effect of microcredit provided by the ASA NGO on the rural poor clients in Sadar upazila of Boira Union in Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. The study identified the extent of income generating activities, the adequacy, utilization pattern, repayment performance and cost of credit of the beneficiaries’ especially rural poor. A total of 50 rural ASA beneficiaries were collected where 30 from Boira and 20 from Chalk-chatrapur. In the study area, average amount of credit received by the respondents was Tk. 9614.60 and on an average 86.59 percent of the loaned money was utilized for the reported IGAs. Overall loan recovery percentage was found to be quite satisfactory. They repaid their loan on time with the hope of getting more credit in future and because of regular supervision by the association’s field level workers and pressure of the group leaders. Six explanatory variables i.e. age, education, family size, occupation, income and expenditure were considered for repayment of loan in empirical model. Age, family size, income and expenditure had significant impact on repayment of loan. Overall income and savings change by taking loan from ASA were 36.04 and 68.69%, respectively. The findings show that ASA loan brought about positive impact on livelihood improvement of the borrowers. The present study suggests for conducting further study of similar type in other parts of the country to make the findings representative one.