The Economic and Environmental Outcomes of Microfinance Projects: An Indian Case Study |
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Authors: | S Jha KS Bawa |
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Institution: | (1) Indian Forest Service, New Delhi, India;(2) Department of Biology, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02125, USA;(3) Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore, India |
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Abstract: | Microfinance projects now seek to achieve improvement in environmental quality in addition to poverty alleviation. Achievement
of these goals may depend upon the economic and environmental impact of microfinance businesses. This study is a quantitative
analysis of these outcomes for Ecodevelopment, an Indian microfinance project, which aims to prevent forest degradation by
poverty alleviation. The study divides businesses into perishable goods, non-perishable goods, simple skills, and special
skills and measures their economic outcome by two indicators, repayment percentage and continuity of businesses. The study
examines the effect of loan amount on the economic outcome of businesses. To quantify the environmental outcome, it analyzes
the use of firewood or fodder and release of pollutants by businesses. The results show that loan amount does not affect the
economic outcome, special skills have best performance, and skills cause less pressure on forest resources. These results
suggest the need for development of knowledge-intensive skills, involvement of institutions in the operations of business,
and inclusive policies for protected area management. |
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Keywords: | forest-based enterprise and service India local institutions microfinance projects partnership small businesses special skills |
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