Observations of Five Development Programmes in South Asia

The following summary looks at five development programmes which have enabled the rural poor to obtain credit in order to modernise agriculture, gain access to employment, and increase incomes by learning and mastering savings control. Savings Clubs run by women from rural areas in Zimbabwe, the innovative methods of the Grameen Bank (rural). the initiatives of the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) and the Working Women's Forum (WWF) in India, and the Small Farmers' Development Programme (P) in Nepal are all experiences which are rich in innovations and lessons. Some common features of these initiatives: