ASA Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

ASA Bangladesh Essay ASA stands for Association for Social Advancement, which is a non-governmental organization aiming at helping poor people to get out of poverty. Bangladesh earned its independence in 1971, but because of the war, the whole country needed to be reconstructed. The unstable and bureaucratic political system slowed down the speed of economic development. In the meantime, some small non-governmental organizations stepped into Bangladesh to help the local people restore their life in different respects. The official ASA website shows that the organization was founded in 1978 with its goal of empowering the poor. In the beginning phase, ASA started some programs such as â€Å"training program, communication support service program and legal aid and awareness build-up program†. The results of the programs, however, were below expectations. There were several limitations in developing ASA. For example, the employers had difficulty to get paid; the design of the programs was not consistent with the local situation; the natural disaster happened at that time. All these factors forced the managers to formulate a practical solution. ASA began to favor women as clients and addressed social concerns, such as education, sanitation and health. Since 1992, ASA has launched special programs in savings, credit and security fund areas (emergency loans or insurance), which are still the main financial businesses at ASA. Main Services of ASA The annual report of the year 2011 states that the main services of ASA include loans, savings, insurance, a Technical Assistance (TA) program and ASA’s sister concern Hope for the Poorest (HP). The new program introduced is the Primary Education Strengthening Program. The following product descriptions are based on the ASA official website. 1. Loans ASA provides two kinds of loans—primary loans and special loans. Primary loans aim at providing financial support for poor people, who can get a maximum first loan from $105 to $265 based on their specific situations. Special loans are designed for enterprises or entrepreneurs with the initial maximum amount from $662 to $6500. Both kinds of loans carry a maximum of 27% interest and weekly or monthly payment. For primary loans, the payback period is normally up to one year (4, 6 or 12 months); for special loans, the duration is from 1 to 2.5 years (12, 18, 24 or 30 months). 2. Savings With respect to a savings account, people have three choices: mandatory savings, voluntary savings and long-term savings. Mandatory savings are especially for clients who have loans at ASA with a deposit rate of at least BDT 10. As an additional choice, the mandatory savings’ clients are able to choose voluntary savings with any deposit rate greater than BDT 10. Both savings accounts earn interest monthly with 6% annual rate of return. The savers are allowed to withdraw the money anytime but they have to keep the balances no lower than 5% of the loan amount. Long-term savings are suitable for everybody. The savers do not need to have loans or any other relationship with ASA. The deposit rate for this account can be Tk. 50 to Tk. 500 per month (specifically Tk. 50, Tk. 100, Tk. 200, Tk. 300, Tk. 400 or Tk. 500). For a 5-year account, the interest rate is 9% annually; for a 10-year account, the interest rate is 12% annually. If clients need to withdraw prior to maturity, they will receive the money at a lower rate of return. 3. Insurance The insurance products include loan insurance and life insurance. All loan borrowers are mandatorily enrolled in these two insurance programs. The premium of loan insurance is â€Å"BDT 5 for a loanee or BDT 10 for a loanee and his/her spouse per thousand loan disbursement†. Clients have to pay the premium before disbursement. The life insurance program requires BDT 10 as premium for eight years. The premium is included in the loan installment. 4. ASA University Bangladesh The university provides higher education with an affordable tuition payment. Meanwhile, the managerial level of the university tries their best to offer advanced facilities and experienced faculties for the students. They combine theoretical and practical learning and the university deserves credit for the high employment rate. 5. WASH program and TA program WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene. This program aims at improving the condition of sanitation in very poor places. TA, technical assistance, sends staff to different countries and areas to help people who are in difficult financial situations to improve ASA’s reputation. Avoiding Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard Researchers argue that ASA does not have a series of complicated criteria for getting loans. The borrowers should have income lower than $50 a month and must attend one group meeting a week for 4 weeks plus saving Tk. 10 per week. After that, they are able to get a loan (Ahmmed, n.d.). The same idea is also presented in the work of Sheikh and Amin (2011), which indicates that ASA follows a very similar model to Grameen Bank’s. They send supervisors to inspect borrowers’ businesses and hold mandatory weekly meetings for borrowers to share experience and to take suggestions from others. ASA also collects repayments in that meeting and keeps track of the group performances (p.356) From the product perspective, ASA secures their loans to some extent. All borrowers have to be in the savings program and leave at least 5% of the loan amount in the account. The loan insurance enhances this security as well. All these methods keep the institution from getting a high default rate. In fact, it turns out that borrowers are willing to pay back the loans on time. Special Points about ASA In the microfinance world in Bangladesh, ASA is famous for its innovative ideas, namely high efficiency and low costs. At ASA, staff use a different accounting method which is easy to master, so they do not need to have an accountant in the office. Secondly, every branch has freedom of preparing its own target and is allowed to deposit or withdraw money whenever it needs to. Thirdly, the set-up engenders less hierarchy. The regional managers are also the supervisors; credit officers have the authority to grant loans. As compared to Grameen Bank, ASA minimizes its staff numbers and cuts layers as much as it can. Lastly, ASA does not have any training program, neither training center nor trainers. â€Å"Work routines are standardized and simplified so that new recruits need only a few days of supervised work experience in a branch before being sending off to another one to start work†.1 Challenges ASA Faces: 1. Interest Rate of Return Microfinance differs from common banking. MFIs should be allowed to charge a higher interest rate to at least cover the costs of processing the loans. However, in Asia, the biggest potential market, governments control the interest rates in some extent. This regulation interfere the development of Microfinance. 2ASA, as a main MFI in India, has the same difficulty in its business as well. 2. The Weakness of the Insurance Bangladesh is an undeveloped country with many problems that are hard to solve, such as a high unemployment rate, lack of health insurance, gender discrimination and liabilities to floods. Though ASA forces all members to get enrolled in the insurance program, it does not guarantee to collect the premium from every member on time. Nearly all members have the difficulty of balancing their payments and normal life expenses. 3. Entering into the Poorest Areas Sarder and Nabi (n.d.), who work at headquarter of Bangladesh Bank, claimed that â€Å"MFIs/NGOs could not become able effectively to reach among the people of economically backward regions of the country. As a result, MFIs showed poor performance to reduce poverty in economically poor areas.† Because of the special features of MFI, it is not realistic to develop its business in the very poor place without any government assistance. Keeping the balance is already a challenge for ASA; if there is no financial support from local governments, ASA, and other MFIs, cannot enter into these places without budget concerns. Different features of Grameen Bank, BRAC and ASA First, though all three institutions require borrowers to have a certain amount of landholding, the specific criteria are different. By Grameen Bank, the member needs to have at least half an acre landholding; the other two institution have a looser clause of landholding, which is maximum half an acre. In order to insure the borrower’s repayment ability, BRAC and ASA lend money only to people whose families have at least one family member earning wages. Second, from the perspective of group size, Grameen Bank has the smallest one, which includes only 5 members. ASA’s group is 4 times larger than Grameen Bank’s. And BRAC has the largest group members—30 to 40 people per group. Third, each of these institutions asks the members to save weekly. Grameen Bank and ASA both require 10 Taka a week, while BRAC requires for 20 Taka per week. Fourth, Grameen Bank and BRAC have the same credit delivery mechanism, which is 50 weeks for one loan cycle with 20% interest rate and maximum loan size of Tk. 10,000. ASA, however, has a shorter loan cycle which is 46 weeks with 15% interest rate and the maximum loan size of Tk. 5000 to TK. 7000. Implications: The successful experience of ASA shows that microfinance needs both variety product designs and effective guarantee methods for repayments. ASA provides different loans or saving programs for different borrowers, which helps the institution to reach as many potential clients as it can. Meanwhile, the insurance policies prevent a certain default rate. This design brings out the best in each other.

The Social, Cultural, and Historical Issues in Coral Island and Lord of

The Social, Cultural, and Historical Issues in Coral Island and Lord of the Flies At first sight, ‘Coral Island’ seems an extremely pompous and arrogant novel. This, however, is because the book is being read from a 21st century perspective, whereas when Ballantyne wrote ‘Coral Island’ it was seen as a thoroughly enjoyable story. This is because the book was written in the 19th century, when the people of Britain felt that they had developed an organised society where humans were at their best and flourishing. As Ballantyne himself described the society: ‘Britons at the top of the tree, savages and pigs at the bottom.’ Looking at ‘Coral Island’ from a 20th century point of view, Golding analysed the book very critically and decided that it was an out of date, arrogant, false portrayal of society and that he could write a better book. He sat down and wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ to show the problems of human nature. The island in the book was used just as a place to put his group of boys away from the adult world, but also had symbolic values linked closely to the theme of evil in man throughout the novel: ‘The island itself is a symbol of perfection and paradise, and the instant that humans arrive, a scar of destruction is left through the once perfect forest. The island is also boat shaped, and looking out at the waves at a point on the island gives the illusion that it is moving backwards. This symbolises a journey in which man is always moving on, but makes no progress in life.’ As well as being linked to Golding’s beliefs, the use of the island also enabled direct comparisons with ‘Coral Island’. Golding hated the tone and ideas of Ballantyne in ‘Coral Island’, and expressed his thoughts publi... ...e rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island. The officer, having interrupted a manhunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a ship which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same way. And who will rescue the officer?’ Overall, I think the main theme running throughout ‘Coral Island’ is the nobility and courage of Victorian England, that the English are innocent and that they can do nothing wrong. These views are completely turned upside down by Golding in ‘Lord of the Flies’. I think Golding makes a very clear point that society holds everyone together. Without strong government and rules, mayhem and savagery will thrive, and without policemen and schools men revert to their primitive beginnings as hunters and killers.

Profit Maximization / Maximization of Shareholder Wealth Essay

The primary goal of financial management regarding corporations should be to maximize shareholder wealth on the whole. If management was to only concentrate on profit maximization, they would more than likely run their corporations into the ground. The very existence and concept of a corporation is beneficial to business in numerous ways. First and foremost, corporate status helps release management from possible enourmous financial liability issues. Second, shareholders are the key of checks and balances in a corporation. Management is wise to heed the concerns and needs of shareholders. The book uses a good example when referring to mergers. A merger in the future of a corporation could be viewed as a positive move – bringing more wealth, more talent and/or a larger consumer base. However, management could see the move as a negative one as they would have to possibly change roles and give up certain privledges they are accustomed to. Although the merger may bring the corporation positive growth, management could be reluctant to make the merge. This could be the case in a main goal of personal profit maximization. Without the merge, the company could lose steam and competitiveness and shareholder could lose in the end. It is important to note that shareholders may be employees of the firm who would become more loyal and efficient when they are rewarded financially. Shareholders financially invest in the corporation and if rewarded with good returns, will continue to invest generously. The more shareholders find value in a given corporation, the more likely they are to financially invest, which in turn gives the corporation more positive funds to grow business. Also, social responsibility may play a part in the maximization of shareholder wealth. If the public perceives a corporation as being socially responsible they may become more loyal customers. Knowing that a local corporation has taken steps toward pollution control would make me much more likely interested in consuming their goods as I would feel that I was aiding my community. More business from loyal consumers maximizes profits as well as shareholder wealth. Although the above example of pollution control may  cost more for the corporation than not deploying the controls, it would create a more loyal customer base. I believe that a loyal customer base is more beneficial to have than a fly-by-night customer. As shareholders are rewarded financially and P/E grows, corporations appear to be winning investments on the stock market. The more value customers perceive in a business, the more likely they are to financially support the institution.

My Impressions From Thomas Mores Utopia - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1402 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/08/02 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Utopia Essay Did you like this example? In Thomas Mores Utopia one passage that I found most interesting was the engagement and marriage passage. In the passage it talks about how, Women are not married before eighteen, nor their men before two-and-twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage they are severely punished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them, unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince (Thomas More Article). I found this interesting because, women but really young girls do not get married before the age of 18, when in reality now women do not get married until their late twenties early thirties. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "My Impressions From Thomas Mores Utopia" essay for you Create order Times have changed so much since then and a lot of morals and what is acceptable/not acceptable has as well.Therefore, if these rules are broken a great amount of criticism gets placed upon the mother and father of the family in which they have failed their duty to marry off their daughter or have their son married by these certain ages. It differs from today because, it does not matter how old the son or daughter are to get married or if they get married at all. The parents do not get ashamed or have a heavy amount of criticism sent towards them. Also, explained in the text if the daughter and or son is not married by that age there is a punishment but, The reason of punishing this so severely is, because they think that if they were not strictly restrained from all vagrant appetites, very few would engage in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole lives, by being confined to one person, and are obliged to endure all the inconveniences with which it is accompanied (Thomas More Article). Another part of this passage I found interesting was, how they choose their wives, and how they use a certain technique that would seem to us now very odd and bizarre. It is odd and bizarre because, before the marriage some serious matron has to offer the bride nude, it does not matter whether the soon to be married bride is a virgin or a widow and this also happen vise versa. I did find this off because, I did not expect the bride and groom have to look at each other first before getting married.This relates to the Renaissance period because, marriages in the Renaissance were not just about personal matters; they were also very critical to the system of associations that caused a familys wealth and that formed the material of devotions and affection. By arranging an appropriate match that involved mostly family and friends, and even went to acquaintances and political allies. For example, in the aristocratic families, marriages were about money and what they can exchange for their daughters.Brides, specially in Florence, Italy, were normally much younger than grooms that they were marrying. In this time period brides and grooms also married early, in the Renaissance period women married even younger than in Thomas Mores Utopia. The women were married at fourteen years old and were often married to older men, men that were in thirties, this is because to m ake sure the bride is still a virgin.This also related to the Middle Ages because, just like the Renaissance they did arranged marriages as well. In the Medieval times, marriage was extremely different than it is today. The women did not have a choosing as to whom would marry them and pretty much most of the time the women did not even know the man before she got married to him. The parents chose the man who would be suitable for their daughter, this is why the woman did not have much of a say. However, the men sometimes were able to have a say in who their bride to be will be. Therefore, marriage back in this time period did not revolve around love, it mostly revolved around political arrangements. The husbands and wives were strangers until they had finally met for the first time, and if love existed at all it would have came after the pair had been married not before. Even thought, if love did not exist when they eventually did get married, the pair usually develops a bond or friendship. As I mentioned before, the arrangement of the marriage was not done by the couple being wed but by their parents. Back in the middle ages, the girls were around their teens around thirteen through fourteen when they arranged to be married, and boys were typically in their primary twenties. The arrangement of the marriage revolved around how much money the family had, and the family of the girl who was to be wed off would give a present to the husband she was to be wed to. The present would be given to the groom at the time they would be married. I found how all these time periods were pretty much alike very interesting, all the women who were pretty much young girls were married off early and it all had to do with money and standards of the family they were married into. It just shows how far marriage has come from today and back then, today we mostly marry for love and in the time periods mentioned they mostly married for money and high standards.The elements of government, philosophy, education, the arts, language and communication, location, religious beliefs, laws, goods and services that would be represented in my utopia are, starting off with government would have to be a Republic because, I would want my people to be able to vote for who they would want in power just like we do in the United States. The philosophy would be like Platos, and how developed a proper dialogue for everyone to communicate. The education would be, just like education is now with a curriculum for every subject. The arts, language and communica tion would be all in English; everyone will speak one language to make it easier for everyone to understand each other. Location would be have my own world just dedicated to my utopia; religious beliefs would not exist in my utopia to cause less conflict but I would want a common culture within my utopia and have all my people transmit it to their children and grandchildren. I would want the traditions of the utopia passed down. Therefore, laws would be made up to reasonably fit my utopia and have them be fair but not too fair, not like some points in Hammurabis code. In Hammurabis code, he goes a little over board with killing someone for trespassing into someones home, in my utopia if that happened they would just be held in jail and fined for trespassing. Finally for goods as in food and services as in favors, will still be traded amongst the people in my utopia.I would name this utopia Vivremo in pace, which means, we will live in peace in Italian.This would be my utopia because; I just want a world where everyone lives in peace, no war and no fights over which religion is better. I feel like if there were a world where everyone just got along, it would be a lot better. I believe that Thomas More would have agreed with my utopia because, he wanted his utopia to just share a common culture as I want mine to as well. But we would disagree when it comes to marriage because, I would want my utopia to be based around love and I would want people to fall in love naturally and not for marriage to be arranged. I do not like or believe in arranged marriages and I would not want that in my utopia, arranged married is not as common anymore and will not be available in my utopia.The individuals whowouldNOTenjoy it in my utopia are, primarily the cultures who still have arranged marriages, in my utopia like I said I want couples to fall in love and marry for love. I do not want them marrying for money or high standards of any kind. I believe that is not love, being forced to marry for money is not love. I believe in love 100%, and in my perfect world I would want couples to fall in love themselves not eventually because they are forced to be married to each other.