Poverty Alleviation and Empowerment: The Second Impact Assessment Study of BRAC's Rural Development Programme

BRAC began the Rural Development Programme (RDP) in 1986 to address the needs of the rural poor of Bangladesh. Through education, technology services and credit support the programme has positively impacted the lives of the poor, individuals who are not being served by either the formal banking sector or the informal credit market. BRAC's Research and Evaluation Division (RED) conducts regular evaluations of the programme in order to gain a better understanding of its specific impacts. This report represents the findings of an Impact Assessment Study conducted from 1996 to 1997 of BRAC Rural Development Programme (RDP), the second of two comprehensive Impact Assessment Studies conducted to date.

As a sequel to the Impact Assessment Study carried out in 1996, this report measures the impact of RDP on its participants in terms of their socioeconomic well-being, overall reduction in poverty level and empowerment. Some special features of the study include refinement of the methodology from the earlier impact assessment, measurement of poverty, and the correlates and analysis of panel data. An added dimension of the study is analysis of member performance and identification of factors that influence performance.