Assessing the Effectiveness of the Microcredit and Integrated Asset Building as a Social Approach to Poverty Reduction in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

In recent years, the concept of poverty has shifted away from a narrow definition—caloric intake based poverty—to a much broader one that places emphasis on a variety of factors, such as health, education, income, and powerlessness. Most researchers agree that eliminating poverty requires a holistic approach that is attentive to promoting pro-poor growth, creating opportunities for employment, ensuring that the fruits of growth reach impoverished communities, and protecting vulnerable segments of the impoverished population. This study looks the role of microcredits, which has received increasing attention as a means to combat poverty. The advent of neoliberalism led to advances in autonomous markets, commodification, market-led growth, and the dissolution of the Keynesian welfare state. Microcredit growing out of a neoliberal shift plays a powerful role as an instrument to fight poverty, especially in the age government and state failure, entrepreneurial expansion and self-employment income-earing opportunities. Microcredit programs are of great interest to governments, non-governmental organization, and banks because of their potential for reducing poverty. Critics of the microcredit movement argue that microcredit does little besides replacing existing informal credit arrangements to fund subsistence activity, which they view as having little or no prospect of growth. They argue that support of microcredit may over anticipate its benefits, such as the alleviation of poverty and female empowerment. This study assesses the effectiveness of microcredit combined asset building as a pro-growth approach to reduce poverty sustainably in Kinshasa. The recent crises of over-indebtedness in several markets and Kinshasa have fueled growing concern that microcredit may be getting borrowers into trouble. However, my study findings show that assets, specifically microcredit, can stem the poverty cycle and better enable individuals to "stand on their own two feet"socio-economically if combined with other innovative programs. This study uses the test of significance to assess the effectiveness microcredit integrated asset building.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Planning, Governance, and Globalization

Department dc:contributor.department

School of Public and International Affairs

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Mbeky, Morgan

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Sanchez, Thomas W.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Martin, Frank
• Rothschild, Joyce
• Zahm, Diane L.

• Asset Building
• Effectiveness
• Microcredit
• Kinshasa

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:11283

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77913