Can micro-finance schemes solve the problem of rural poverty OR Is Essay

Can micro-finance schemes solve the problem of rural poverty OR Is poverty a sufficient or necessary explanation for child labourArgue in line with reference to strategies totackle child labour - Essay Example In fact persistence poverty can even dampen the prospects of economic growth. The poor stand to benefit when investments are made to ensure better health and education leading to increased current consumption and higher future incomes. To eradicate poverty it is also essential to understand the causes of poverty. Political instability, ill-defined property rights, discrimination on the basis of race, gender and sex, rapidly growing families without sustainable income are some of the causes of rural poverty. Macroeconomic stability and public investment in the physical and social infrastructure are the basic requirements to reduce poverty. However, at the individual level, microfinance was considered by Muhammad Yunus as the way to help the poor start an income that could eventually bring them out of the state of poverty. Microfinance, according to the World Bank, is the ‘provision of financial services’ (including saving and credit) to ‘the poor’ (Irobi, 2008). The purpose of microfinance is to engage the people in economic activities, make them self-reliant, increase employment oppurtunities and enhance their household income and wealth (Emeni, 2008). The basic idea behind starting the microfinance loan scheme for the rural poor was to provide loans to them without collateral security. This was based on trust and selflessness. According to Yunus, people do not seek charity but an oppurtunity to grow and become economically independent. To this extent, the concept of microfinance had a noble purpose the economic growth of the people and thereby the nation. Neo-liberalism is also based on the premise that human welfare can be served best when the state withdrawn from the welfarist policies (Karim, 2009). Neo-liberalism, a social and moral philosophy, has also been described as a way of governance where governing relies on calculative choices and techniques. The subjects have to act in accordance of the