000			02021cam a2200217 i 4500
999			_c344763 _d344763
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005			20210708100050.0
020			_a9780815386858 (hardback)
082	0	0	_a332.7 _bKHA
100	1		_aKhan, Shahrukh Rafi
245	1	2	_aMicrocredit alternative in South Asia : _bAkhuwat's experiment / _cShahrukh Rafi Khan and Natasha Ansari
260			_aLondon _bRoutledge _c2018
300			_axiii, 167 pages ; _c23 cm.
490	0		_aRoutledge studies in the growth economies of Asia ; _v140
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
520			_aMicrocredit took the development world by storm as a tool for poverty alleviation in the 1980s. After being hailed as a panacea, a few decades on it started being forcefully criticised based on its practice. This book explores Akhuwat (literally brotherhood), a rapidly growing Pakistani NGO formed in 2001, which addresses the shortcomings of conventional microfinance. Its vision is of a society built on empathy and social solidarity and its mission is that of creating self-sufficiency among the entrepreneurial poor. This book examines whether Akhuwat fulfils its promises of not pushing loans or encouraging clients to get on a debt treadmill and helping them to avoid high debt burdens by charging no interest and easing repayment terms. Conventional microcredit organizations are criticised for losing sight of the original mission of poverty alleviation by engaging in empire building and Akhuwat’s goal is to avoid this by embracing an alternative strategy of scaling up. Finally, this book also analyses Akhuwat’s approach as being gender sensitive and embracing all religions, castes and ethnicities. Based on fieldwork designed to assess if Akhuwat is the microcredit alternative it claims to be, this book will be of interest to scholars of poverty and development studies in general and microcredit in particular.
650		0	_aMicrocredit
650		0	_aEconomic development
700	1		_aAnsari, Natasha, _eauthor.
942			_cB