Partnership for Development: Alternative Approaches to Poverty

Poverty has been identified as one of the world’s biggest problems. The international community recognises that reducing global poverty is one of the major development challenges of the twenty-first century. The problem of poverty is particularly severe in Bangladesh, where a variety of poverty alleviation initiatives have been tried. The most recent one involves Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which are collaborations between partners in different sectors. PPPs are assumed to be effective for reducing poverty as they are seen to optimise the use of scarce resources, promote economic growth and enhance efficiency. The Government of Bangladesh has recognised the use of PPPs as an innovative and effective approach for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. This thesis addresses this major policy issue by examining the novel arrangements of PPPs to determine how this approach can assist in alleviating poverty. This research explores different PPP arrangements for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh and evaluates the performance and effects of these PPPs. It identifies opportunities and constraints affecting these PPPs. This research utilises the multiple-case study methodology, examining two cases namely, the Income Generation for Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD) and Rural Micro Credit (RMC) PPPs that have been introduced in Bangladesh as poverty alleviation measures. The thesis also identifies the rationale, features and mechanisms of the IGVGD and RMC PPPs using interviews with key persons who were involved in the policy making and th