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BRAC's Business Development Services – do they pay?
01.06.2003
As well as providing financial services, BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) offers members of its Rural Development Programme wishing to start businesses in a range of sectors a package of skills training, input supply and technical assistance. This paper examines two issues: the impact of skills development training and other BDS on women's income growth, and the costeffectiveness of BDS from both the service providers'as well as the service recipients'point of view. Results show that, as well as benefiting from credit, those who received skills training in their chosen activities earned significantly higher income than those who did not. Regarding cost-effectiveness, case study results show that, for the service recipients, the additional amount gained through their new business exceeds by many times the amount paid to BRAC as a service fee, so for the service recipients BRAC is highly cost-effective. On the other hand, for BRAC, the amount it charges covers only 47 per cent of its total cost.