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Development, divinity and dharma : the role of religion in development and microfinance institutions / Malcolm Harper, D.S.K. Rao and Ashis Kumar Sahu.
LIBRA HN690.Z9 C652814 2008
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Harper, Malcolm, 1935-
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rural Development Programme.
- Economic development--India--Religious aspects.
- Economic development.
- Microfinance--India--Religious aspects.
- Microfinance.
- Community development--India--Religious aspects.
- Community development.
- Economic development--Religious aspects.
- Microfinance--Religious aspects.
- Community development--Religious aspects.
- Faith-based human services.
- India.
- Physical Description:
- xiii unnumbered pages, 178 pages ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Rugby, Warwickshire, U.K. : Practical Action Publishing, 2008.
- Summary:
- Faith-based institutions are getting involved in economic development programmes, including microfinance, and many foreign donors are looking to religious organizations for new ways to reach the poorest people. This book considers the work of a number of these, of different faiths, and asks what is 'special' about them. Do religious links make these organizations more or less effective? Should spiritual and economic development be kept apart?
- Development, Divinity and Dharma explores these questions by examining a number of Hindu, Christian and Muslim institutions in India and in Pakistan. Its main focus is the Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Rual Development programme, which is linked to a famous Hindu temple run by a Jain in Karnataka State, India. This institution, though little known outside south India, has changed the lives of almost half a million people, including Hindus, Muslims and Christians, through social and economic development programmes motivated by religious faith.
- Profitable money lending and rigorous professional management may not appear consistent with deeply held religious convictions, but the institutions described in this book have successfully combined these different approaches. They are able to 'break the rules' of development practice, by building spiritual capital, a resource that transcends the more tangible forms of capital with which secular development institutions are more familiar. The results provide an interesting alternative perspective for all those working with pro-poor organizations operating within the more familiar donor-funded development project paradigm.
- Contents:
- 1 Religion and development - can they go together? 7
- The lessons of history 7
- Religion and development institutions 10
- Can religion help? 11
- Links to local institutions and communities 14
- Leadership and management 17
- 2 How does religion affect the 'BINGOs'? 21
- Financial indicators 21
- 3 Dakshin Kannada and Dharmasthala Temple 29
- South Canara district 29
- The banking tradition 30
- The Shri Kshetra Dharmasthala Temple 34
- 4 SKDRDP, the rural development programme 39
- The origins of SKDRDP 39
- Reappraisal and restructuring 42
- SKDRDP's programmes 45
- The Pragathi Bandhu groups 48
- The JVK Women's groups 49
- Alcohol de-addiction 51
- Community development programmes 54
- 5 Microfinance 57
- The origins of SKDRDP's microfinance programme 57
- Raising bank finance 59
- The power of groups 60
- Financial results 63
- Microinsurance 72
- 6 Livelihoods 77
- Microfinance is not enough 77
- Group businesses 80
- 7 The sevanirathas 85
- The role of the sevanirathas 85
- A day in the life of Sivaram Pujary, a sevaniratha 90
- 8 Two cases of success 95
- Moneppa Gowda, a successful household 95
- Sree Nidhi Panakaje, the Women's Snacks Group 100
- 9 The results of SKDRDP's work 107
- The impact on the community 107
- Future challenges 113
- 10 What explains SKDRDP's success? 117
- Breaking the rules 117
- The divinity factor 119
- 11 Islamic development practice 123
- The special circumstances of Islam 123
- Examples from Bosnia Herzegovina and Hyderabad 127
- Akhuwat of Lahore 131
- Muslim development NGOs - some tentative conclusions 138
- 12 Christian development practice and some examples 141
- 'Christian development' 141
- 'Catholic Bank', or the Chotanagpur Catholic Co-operative Society 146
- The Holy Cross Social Service Centre, Hazaribag 160
- Catholic Bank and Holy Cross - some comparisons 169
- Some common features 173
- Strengths and weaknesses 175
- 'Sustainability', of a different kind 176
- The lessons of experience 177.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- ISBN:
- 9781853396557
- 1853396559
- 9781853396717
- 1853396710
- OCLC:
- 180880482
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