Exploring the long-term impact of development interventions within life-history narratives in rural Bangladesh

This paper explores long-term effects of microfinance, educational transfers and agricultural interventions within life-trajectories in rural Bangladesh. More than one-half of respondents had used microfinance for some kind of income-generating activity in their lives. For 18 per cent it was an important cause of well-being improvement, but about one-third had used microcredit to cope in crises. Educational transfers contributed positively for 29 per cent of participants, but its impact was limited by low monetary value of benefits. The life-histories showed little long-term benefit from the agricultural technology programmes, and a number of possible reasons are discussed in the paper.