05594nas a2200253 a 450000500170000000800410001703500150005810000240007324500980009726000680019530000220026349000290028550001570031450200580047152044550052961000170498465000240500170000420502570000340506770000480510171000660514981000590521585600660527420260817161533.0100531s2009    th uu|m rtt   0|  a1eng d  a.b120774951 aAlam, Md. Zahidul  12a"Sadaqah Bank" :ba model for a new financial institution for sustainable poverty alleviation  aPathum Thani, Thailand :bAsian Institute of Technology,c2008   a66 leaves :bill.1 aThesis ;vno. SM-08-02    aSubmitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Masters of Business Administration in International Business, School of Management  aThesis (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2008  aPoverty is a global problem and more than half of the total population of the world is affected by poverty. The problem is serious especially in the third world countries like Bangladesh. Poverty is not only a problem of the poor person himself, but it affects badly the whole society and the country. Though various attempts are undertaken from government levels as well as private levels to alleviate poverty, the progress in poverty reduction has not been significant.  Nowadays, 'Microcredit' has become a popular weapon to combat against poverty and it has created some success stories in different countries in the world. However, Microcredit organizations are charging amazing high interest rate on its micro-loans from the poor borrowers, imposing joint liability on the group members for individual loans. The present microcredit system does not allow any project implementation period to its borrowers and does not provide any social support services like education or healthcare to the borrowers. Because of these limitations the microcredit model is now being questioned and strongly criticized about its ability for sustainable poverty alleviation. Microcredit, nowadays, has become a profitable business of credit with the poor people. Because of high profitability and high repayment rate, more and more non-government organizations (NGOs) are undertaking microcredit programmes in Bangladesh, but the overall state of poverty has not changed in proportion.  Poverty alleviation should be a non-profit oriented social movement. In order to attain sustainable poverty alleviation, the poor people should be given, at least, the opportunities of fixed-income employments, zero-interest loans, free education and free healthcare. Finding a zero-return source of finance is one of the major challenges for the sustainable poverty alleviation program.  The charity and donation funds are one major source of zero-return finance. In Bangladesh, Islam is the major religion and Islam has ordered and encouraged its followers to pay different types of charities. In Islam charity funds are categorized under three major headings: compulsory charity (Zakah, Fithrah, Ushar), voluntary charity (Sadaqah) and perpetual charity (Waqf). Every year a large amount of charity payments are made in Bangladesh as well as in other parts of the Muslim world. However, in reality, there is no financial institution to collect and utilize these huge charity funds for the purpose of alleviating poverty. In other words, there is no charity funds management in Bangladesh.  The present research study attempts to develop an institutional framework, named "Sadaqah Bank", in order to collect and utilize charity funds in more efficient and effective ways. Sadaqah is an Arabic word which means charity. The proposed bank will be a interest free, non-profit organization, which ultimate goal is to build a hunger and poverty free society. A new model of investment, named "Micro-project" is proposed instead of "Microcredit" for breaking the "vicious cycle of poverty". Micro-project is a medium scale, labor intensive project which will create fixed-income employments for the skilled and semi-skilled poor people. The operational responsibility of the micro-project will go to the Sadaqah bank management. Therefore, Micro-project mechanism will shift of risk of default from the poor members to the institutions.    Micro-project mechanism will shift the risk of default from the poor members to the institutions.  Moreover, the micro-project system will attempt to overcome the limitations of the present microcredit system. The Destitute groups are also given financial benefits under the micro-project model. Micro-project will give 15% of ownership to the destitute people (orphan, old people, physically disabled person etc.) The present study believes that loans, credit or financial supports can not solve the poverty problem alone. Some basic social support services like education and healthcare are must for real poverty alleviation. Therefore, the "Sadaqah bank" model will ensure free healthcare and free education for the extreme poor people from its Waqf charity (perpetual) funds.  Finally, a non-monetary social growth model is proposed for the Sadaqah bank.  The concept of the Sadaqah bank model is novel so far it is only a theory. Attempts should be made to implement the model in order to judge its efficiency in poverty alleviation.  20aSadaqah Bank 0aPovertyzBangladesh1 aNeal, Mark W.,eExamination Committee1 aIlkka Kauranen, eChairperson0 aDonyaprueth Krairit,eExamination Committee2 aAsian Institute of Technology Fellowship, eScholarship donor2 aAsian Institute of Technology.tThesis ;vno. SM-08-02  3Full-Textuhttp://203.159.5.9/ait-thesis/detail.php?q=B03961