Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Background: This study intends to discuss the status of Millennium Development Goals and analyze the role of microfinance in the improvement of the first two important goals of poverty reduction and achieving universal primary education in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Methods: The data were collected at the end of the year 2015 when the deadline of previous millennium development goals (MDGs) was coming to an end. This study was conducted in the population of Mirpurkhas district of Sindh province and randomly selected 350 households from different villages. Results: The results show the low socioeconomic status of people living in rural areas of the Sindh province of Pakistan. Household poverty was 30% in the study area and people were living in a poor rural infrastructure environment. The study has found low literacy rates with 53% male and 17% female literacy. The majority (97%) of households had access to government primary schools in the area but more than half (51%) of children of school-going age were not enrolled. In logistic regression analysis, a significant association of poverty was noted with the education of household head, land ownership and microcredit loans. Conclusion: The results of the study show that there was a significant role of microfinance in achieving poverty reduction, but overall indicators of poverty and education remained unachieved due to inconsistent policies and weak institutional structure in the study population.
Keywords: Microfinance, Poverty, Rural, Agriculture Credit, Sindh, Pakistan.