EXPLORING PARTNERSHIP ENTERPRISE FOR THE RURAL POOR THROUGH AN EXPERIMENTAL POULTRY PROGRAM IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

Self-employment promotion for poverty reduction has been administered through microcredit programs in Bangladesh. While microcredit has opened up new opportunities for the poor to start enterprises, some of them have not benefited from microcredit schemes. To enable the poor left behind to participate in the rural economy as entrepreneurs, this paper proposes the creation of a partnership enterprise between a sponsor and poor producers. In this partnership, the sponsor as a master trader supports partner-producers financially, technically and managerially through a subcontracting arrangement. The paper develops this conceptual relationship in a real rural setting through the observation of an income-generating program implemented by a Bangladeshi NGO in the field of poultry-rearing. This empirical form of partnership enterprise suggests an opportunity for the poor to enter into a previously inaccessible market and gain a regular income source, which builds the foundation of their household economy beyond subsistence.