THE DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACT OF INCOME-GENERATION PROGRAMS IN BANGLADESH

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly relied upon to deliver a variety of services in rural Bangladesh to improve the incom e and employment position of the poor The ''minimalist credit'' approa ch has gained particular support recently, seemingly at the expense of a more integrated sector approach. This paper presents results from a household survey that compares the distributional performance of cred it and sector programmes - irrigation and sericulture - maintained by three indigenous Bangladeshi NGOs: Association for Social Advancement, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, and Proshika MUK. It was foun d that while NGOs work with a poor section of the population, their pa rticipants ave not from the very Poorest. However, there was little ev idence of uneven distribution of benefits among participants.