Financing An Income Generating Activities Among the Poor Rural Households: The Case of the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia
Omar, M. Z., Noor, C. S. M., & Dahalan, N.
Abstract:
This paper aims to provide an insight on the economic performance of the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) Rural Microfinance Programme based on a case study in Kelantan, Malaysia. The central focus of the AIM‘s Rural Microfinance Programme is the provision of loan to the low income rural households to be used for financing an income generating activities. In general Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia or AIM modeled along the GB concept of Bangladesh was established in 1987, being the first serious replicator of the Grameen concept. The emergence of the Grameen Bank (GB) microcredit scheme since the late 1970s in Bangladesh has been widely acclaimed as the most successful development effort in the 1980s, 1990s and the new millennium. Microcredit has been well documented to have economic and social implications such as increasing in the income, reducing poverty and empowering the poor by offering them opportunities to access economic resources. In relation to this, the purpose of this paper is to examine (i) to what extent the Amanah Ikhtiar Rural Microfinance Programme has been effective in increasing the incomes of its participants and (ii) its effectiveness in the reduction in the incidence of poverty among its participants. This case study was conducted in Kelantan based on a sample of 140 participants. Results of the study shows that the participants had a significant increased in their household income and a reduction in the incidence of poverty. AIM can thus be regarded as the effective programme with excellent machinery in dealing with poverty in the rural area.
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APA citation
- Omar, M. Z., Noor, C. S. M., & Dahalan, N. (2012). Financing An Income Generating Activities Among the Poor Rural Households: The Case of the Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia. International Journal of Social Sciences, I(1), 107–129.