Managing To Empower

Plot

An estimated 13-18 million people die from hunger, malnutrition and poverty-related causes every year. This book draws on the lessons of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, to explore the process of managing poverty alleviation programmes that make a lasting difference in the lives of the poor. The author shows how the concepts of vision, values, motivation, structure, planning and control in management literature offer systems that can be used to explore participation, empowerment, centralization and decentralization. She suggests that development projects can never be participatory and empowering unless their management is itself participatory and empowering. The Grameen Bank, an organization which delivers credit to nearly two million people and has a repayment rate of over 98%, successfully combines a centrally-defined vision with a decentralized and participatory manner of execution. Its framework of shared vision and values has not only enabled borrower-members to be brought into decision-making roles, but also motivates a large and widely-dispersed field staff.