A qualitative research on the effect of
microfinance on material wellbeing of
fisherwomen in Karainagar
Thesis
Student: Jeffrey Haverkate – 11053097
Supervisor: Maarten Bavinck
Date: 21-05-2021
Bachelor: Future Planet Studies
Word count: 9441
Abstract
The objectives of this thesis were to analyze the impact of microfinance on wellbeing on fisherwomen in Karainagar, a village in Northern Sri Lanka. Microfinance has been recognized as a tool to help financially marginalized groups, and over the last decades, microfinance is increasingly used as a tool for poverty alleviation, household security and microenterprise development. The focus was on microloans that were given out by Cooperative Societies. This thesis argues that it is relevant to not only measure economic growth, but also - and maybe even only – the state of wellbeing when conducting research to marginalized groups. Investigating the effect of microfinance on wellbeing helped understand the social impact of microfinance, and eventually illuminated some of the social and psychological impacts of these microloans. It showed that microfinance has been a form of lending that reaches the disadvantaged and impoverished longer than is generally known. The fisherwomen that receive microloans in Karainagar can take care of their families and associated necessities, but do not earn enough money yet to ‘escape’ their socio-economic position. The microloans have ensured that fisherwomen strengthened their role in the decision-making process within their household. To conclude, microloans from Cooperative Societies in Karainagar are useful and do have positive effects on the material wellbeing of fisherwomen.
Content
Introduction ... 4
Theoretical Framework ... 6
Wellbeing ... 6
Wellbeing and microfinance ... 9
Historical background of microfinance in Sri Lanka ... 10
Current environment of microfinance institutes ... 13
Fishery cooperatives in Karainagar ... 15
Methodology ... 17
Data analysis ... 19
Limitations and ethics ... 20
Results ... 20
Material wellbeing ... 22
Women fishing activities and role in fishing process ... 22
Level and opportunity of education ... 24
Financial situation and possibilities for loans ... 25
Access to services and amenities ... 26
Conclusion ... 27
References ... 29
Introduction
Microfinance, instigated by the Nobel-Prize winner Muhammed Yunus, has been recognized as a tool to help financially marginalized groups of people by assisting them with the requisite capital to start a business and achieve financial independence (Parmeter, 2019). These loans are unique, as they are given out without the borrower having a collateral and are mostly given to people in developing countries who could otherwise not obtain a normal loan. Even though there is no collateral, the risk of having high interest rates is remarkably higher than with other loans. The term microfinance encompasses the provision of financial services including deposits, microloans, insurance micro-savings and money transfers to micro enterprises of low-income or poor households (Perera & Wijekoon, 2019). Over the last decades, microfinance is increasingly used as a tool for poverty alleviation, household security and microenterprise development. Microfinance has not only been lauded as “an historically unparalleled poverty reduction and ‘bottom-up’ economic and social development episode” (Bateman & Chang, 2012) for poverty reduction, but also as a solution for gender inequality as microfinance mainly targets women (Bibi et al., 2018). Microfinance is suited particularly for women because of its social mission and diverse institutional conditions. According to Armendariz & Morduch (2010), targeting women led to higher efficiencies and higher repayment rates. Parallel to the growth of the microfinance instutions (MFIs), several countries are experiencing competition and a growing amount of cases where multiple
borrowing in their microfinance sectors is occurring (Tilakaratna & Hulme, 2015). It has been recognized to be effective, although there is also increasing amount of dissent concerning over-indebtedness (Schicks, 2010). Its promises for social impact and a solution for global poverty has been harmonized with substantial profits for MFIs. However, studies show that the microfinance industry is engaged in an intense debate about the eligible degree of commercialization and gets criticized more for exploitation and selfish profit motives
(Schicks, 2010; Copestake 2007; Labie 2007). Thus, over-indebtedness is realistically one of the biggest risks of microfinance, threatening the monetary impact, social benefits and industry stability. In the worst case, it pushes people even further into financial uncertainty, accompanied by other known consequences of debt.
The first cases of microfinance known in Sri Lanka are from the beginning of the twentieth century, where the thrift and credit cooperative societies (TCCSs) were the first institutions that provided some form of microcredit to poor households (Tilakaratna & Hulme, 2015). The TCCSs is the umbrella organization of over 8000 primary societies dealing in microfinance.
Across Sri Lanka, fisheries have always been an important source of animal protein supply to the population. In 2016, the per capita consumption of fish was estimated around 31 kg/year (FAO, 2019). The fishery sector not only provides food, but also employment in various subsectors such as distribution or boat-building. With the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009, the damage to society, and therefore also the fishery sector was clearly visible.
Fishermen and women in the north and north-east of Sri Lanka lost a lot of fishing material such as boats, nets and capital (FAO, 2019). Due to overcapacity, unsustainable overfishing, conflicts regarding resource access and poorly managed strategies these communities are extremely vulnerable (Jentoft & Chuenpagdee, 2015). Therefore, entrepreneurship can possibly offer a solution and thus contribute to the revival of the economy and society. This thesis will build on already existing literature regarding microfinance in small-scale
entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka (Herath et al., 2015; Gant et al., 2002; Abeysekera, 2016; Wijesiri et al., 2015) and will be an addition to science as it digs not only into the situation of
microfinance business of small-scale fisheries in Northern Sri Lanka, but also the effect of microfinance on wellbeing. The objectives of this thesis are to analyze the impact of microfinance on wellbeing on fisherwomen in a village called Karainagar in Northern Sri Lanka. This leads to the research question:
“How does microfinance by fishery cooperatives affect fisherwomen’s wellbeing in
Karainagar?” In order to answer this question properly, three sub questions are drawn up:
1. What is wellbeing and how can this concept be linked to microfinance? 2. What does the current environment of microfinance institutes and fishery cooperatives look like in the Jaffna district in Northern Sri Lanka?
3. How does microfinance influence the wellbeing of fisherwomen in Karainagar? The following section provides a theoretical framework of the main concepts that are being used in this research. In addition, the historical context of microfinance in Sri Lanka will be described. After that, the methodology describes the study area and the data collection. To conclude this, the results will be explained and a conclusion finalizes this research.
Theoretical Framework
This chapter will start with a brief explanation of the wellbeing approach and the possibilities regarding fishery management and policy. As this paper is not focused explicitly on the governance part of the fishery sector, but on microfinance, the second part of this chapter links the term wellbeing to microfinance in the fishery sector. The theoretical framework also answers the first sub-question: ‘What is wellbeing and how can this concept be linked to
microfinance?’
The worldwide fishery sector still plays a significant role in many people’s daily life. In 2006, 43.5 million people were directly engaged in primary production of fish. This comes down to around 3.2 percent of the 1.37 billion people working in agriculture around the globe (FAO, 2008). According to the Fisheries and Agriculture report of the FAO in 2008, employment in the primary fishery sector has been growing faster than the population of the world. Due to insufficient data, it is hard to quantify the overall contribution of the fishery sector, but besides the people directly engaged in fishery, there are also millions of people indirectly dependent on the nutrients to meet their food security (Coulthard et al., 2014). If the environmental pressures on especially small-scale fisheries keep increasing and the fishery sector would collapse, it would be a major issue for the global plans of fighting poverty and meet everyone’s basic human needs (Carpenter et al., 2009). As Coulthard et al (2014) state, there is little to no doubt that big policy changes are necessary to address the existing issues in the fishery sector, but there are still differing perspectives about which kind of steps should be taken.
Wellbeing
Unfortunately, human wellbeing is not equally divided around the world. The rich still get richer, while the impoverished of the world stay poor (Francis, 2020). Some communities and populations are scoring extremely well on the global development index, where others stay behind. Economic growth is still a popular way of measuring if countries are doing well, but even within countries the differences in wealth are getting bigger (Francis, 2020). Where some people are profiting copiously from the resource intensive global development, there are whole populations that still struggle with meeting the basic needs of life (Mcgregor, 2009). Within this group it is relevant to not only measure economic growth, but also - and maybe
even only – the state of wellbeing (Mcgregor, 2009). The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005 figured that processes of constant environmental decline keeps impacting poor people disproportionally hard. “The pattern of ‘winners and losers’ associated with ecosystem
change has not been adequately taken into account in management decisions” (MEA, 2005).
Together with poor people, it also hits indigenous people and women substantially. To achieve social wellbeing in the future, it is essential to succeed in sustaining environmental security (MEA, 2005).
Debates on wellbeing have sparked new ideas on how poverty is actually experienced and can help in giving impoverished people a voice they do not have and let them portray their own life as they experience it (Coulthard et al., 2011). The term wellbeing is used at a variety of opportunities, but in this paper the definition of Mcgregor (2004) is used, as this can be clearly and fully conceptualized. The definition of wellbeing according to Mcgregor (2004) is: ‘Wellbeing is a state of being with others, which arises where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one’s goals, and where one can enjoy a satisfactory quality of life’. This comes down to three basic categories: 1) what a person has and does not have, 2) what they can and cannot do with what they have and 3) how they think and feel about what they have and can do. It is important that this is actually about subjective
wellbeing, as it refers to the wellbeing as declared by a person (Rojas, 2004). As Coulthard et al (2011) states, the term wellbeing has been much misused and has rarely been properly put into practice. The reason why it is not often used in policy frameworks is because it can be a vague concept which is hard to grasp and operationalize. The ‘social wellbeing approach’ by Coulthard et al (2011) is a useful integrating framework for instigating fisheries, as it assesses and unravels complex social and economic issues within fishery policy (Weeratunge et al., 2014). Wellbeing not only provides a wider conception than normally captured in current fisheries frameworks, it can also be used as an analytical lens which can help shape more specific policies around microloans and especially adding value to the economic dynamics of microfinance. Basic human needs are defined as ‘the life essentials, and if denied, it will result in serious harm’. Social wellbeing is constructed out of three dimensions; 1) the material dimension, which considers the resources people have and the extent to which their human needs are met, 2) a relational dimension to address how people act, through
relationships with others, to pursue wellbeing and 3) a subjective dimension which accounts for the level of satisfaction with the quality of life they achieve (Coulthard et al., 2014). In summary, the three dimensions are being touched on the definition of human needs, freedoms and quality of life (Coulthard et al., 2011). All three of these dimensions must be considered
in relation to each other to provide an adequate assessment of wellbeing. This assessment is only complete when it takes into account the objective circumstances of the person (age, household type, place of birth) together with the subjective side. Therefore it not only shows how a person experiences their wellbeing and is the social wellbeing approach not only focused on the conception of happiness (Couldhart et al., 2011). For example, according to this approach, a fisherwoman who lacks the material resources and is undernourished without many chances to improve this, is not being seen as experiencing wellbeing, even though she sometimes feels happy or content with her current position in life. To fully engage in the social wellbeing approach, the objectivity (material dimension) and subjectivity is not sufficient to define wellbeing and therefore the relational dimension is part of it. In fact, the relational dimension tries to catch the ways in which the other two dimensions are socially and culturally constructed through relationships (Mcgregor, 2008). This means that besides human needs, people also desire certain social community needs in order to experience wellbeing. In table 1 an overview can be found from White (2008) which encompasses the three dimensions. In table 2, the indicators are shown that will be investigated in this research. As this research has a limited time period, only the material dimension will be investigated properly. The subjective and relational dimension will be discussed briefly, but the main focus will be on the material wellbeing. However, all three dimensions must be considered to give an adequate assessment of wellbeing, so at least some things have to be said about all three. As you can see, the indicators of material wellbeing are in bold, and these will be discussed in the results.
The material dimension The relational dimension The subjective dimension
Vital characteristics
Employment and livelihood opportunities Availability of information and communications Quality of services/amenities Infrastructure and accessibility Quality of environment Community formation Organizational belonging Informal association Relations with politics Violence and crime
Understandings of a ‘good’ community
Community self-concept Community fears and aspirations
Levels of satisfaction Trust and confidence Sense of connectedness
The material dimension The relational dimension The subjective dimension Daily fishing activities
Education
Financial possibilities Access to services and amenities
Profitability
Relationship with Rural Bank and Cooperative Society
Relationship with other fisherwomen and small-scale fisheries
Relationship with community
Goals, hopes and dreams Levels of satisfaction through microloan Identity of Karainagar Level of satisfaction with livelihood and living conditions
Overall trust and confidence
Table 2. Overview of indicators altered by microfinance.
Wellbeing and microfinance
Investigating the effect of microfinance on wellbeing can help understand the social impact of microfinance, and eventually can illuminate some of the social and psychological impacts of these microloans. Moreover, with a combination of the three dimensions, it can create new perspectives on human behavior as it investigates the social values and meanings of the fishing activities itself (Coulthard, 2012). The extent to which wellbeing is experienced is a measurable outcome for people. Wellbeing can also be interpreted as a process, but in this thesis the focus will be on the outcome of wellbeing. To measure wellbeing as outcome, the emphasis is directed on a person’s ‘being’ (Mcgregor, 2008). This relates to outcome of welfare, life satisfaction and happiness. In the end, fisherwomen who received a loan from the Cooperative Societies are possibly pursuing wellbeing for themselves and for their families, besides trying to survive financially. The decision to get a microloan is presumably made out of a tradeoff where women feel what they could be or do with these loans. According to Mcgregor (2008), the assumption that people pursue wellbeing is critical to the social wellbeing approach, because even impoverished people with almost no belongings and no significant chances to escape this poverty, are still aware of how life is going and have certain goals to achieve wellbeing. It is also argued that this approach is optimistic and more
respectful, as the focus is not on what people lack, but what they have, can have and possibly can achieve (Coulthard, 2012). According to the report of Atapattu (2011), the quality of life
improvements that microloans offer go together with improvement of living conditions and both are increasing wellbeing and value to poor people’s lives. Especially the living
conditions are known to improve the material and subjective dimension of wellbeing (Atapattu, 2011). The report ‘State of microfinance in Sri Lanka’ from 2011 claimed that direct loans for house improvement or indirect loans which ended up increasing living
conditions already helped thousands of Sri Lankan families. On the image below a conceptual framework is made to show the effect of Fishery Cooperative’s outreach on the social
wellbeing of a client.
Conceptual framework of effect microfinance on social wellbeing.
Historical background of microfinance in Sri Lanka
To answer the sub-question ‘What does the current environment of microfinance institutes and fishery cooperatives look like in the Jaffna district in Northern Sri Lanka?’, a historical context will be described, followed by an analysis of the setting of microfinance institutes in Sri Lanka.
Some forms of microfinance in Sri Lanka already dates back to the early twentieth century. For example, ‘Cheetu’ is an informal form of capital accumulation and savings system, dating back at least to the early 1900s which functioned as a basic method for financing the poor. In addition to that, in 1906, the Thrift and Credit Cooperative Societies were the first formal institutions that provided some form of microfinance to poor households
in (Talikaratna & Hulme, 2015). In 1911, further steps were taken to create Credit Cooperative Societies and in that time the Local Loans and Development Fund (LLDF) provided loans to poor farmers (Senanyake, 2002). From here on, the microfinance sector has grown into a complex and diverse sector with a range of institutions and is currently a
significant method of financial inclusion of the low income and poor people of the population (CBSL.gov.lk, n.d.). After World War II, the Land Commissioner and Food Production departments were set out to handle loans, but due to mishandling the government started channeling the loans through the Peoples bank (Senanayake, 2002). The Peoples bank was focused more on marginalized people and this state-sponsored scheme was known as the New Agricultural Credit Scheme (NACS). The system was built up as follows: The Central Bank became involved and gave out loans to the Peoples Bank. The Peoples Bank provided the loans to Cooperative Societies. These Cooperative Societies provided the loans with a small interest rates to marginalized people. The Central Bank also vouched for credit guarantees up to 75% and provision of refinancing (Senanyake, 2002). Unfortunately, the NACS suffered from bad repayment rates and was not covering enough poor farmers. This led to a
replacement by a new scheme called Comprehensive Rural Credit Scheme (CRCS). This scheme was an interest subsidy and credit guarantee scheme and the participating financial institutions provided sub-loans to farmers with land possible for cultivation. When the CRCS emerged, the Bank of Ceylon and the Hatton National Bank began lending money, as the CRCS was a state-backed scheme (Senanyake, 2002). Nowadays, several banks are
participating in the NCRCS, such as: Union Bank, National Development Bank, DFCC Bank, Cargills Bank, Bank of Ceylon, Peoples Bank and Hatton National Bank (CBSL.gov, n.d.). Even though CRCS was introduced as a modern and new scheme and large amounts of credits were given out, recovery rates remained poor. This had caused a decline in suitable borrowers and asked for renewal. In 1977, when another new government was seated, the CRCS was instructed to give previous defaulters another chance. This went downhill pretty fast, as the default rates increased to a staggering 81% (Senanyake, 2002). The agreement of the Central Bank of a credit guarantee of 75% was revoked, which led to an instruction of the government to lending banks to only give out loans to farmers who did repay their loans on time
previously. On top of that, lending banks and even Cooperatives received authorization to prosecute defaulters. Logically, the microfinance sector hit a bump and these reasons led to an intense decline of loans that were given out. In 1986, the government came with a new
version of the CRCS, called the New Comprehensive Rural Credit Scheme (NCRCS). One of the differences was that with the NCRCS came a ‘role-over refinance facility’. This meant
that banks were insured against defaulters and this caused a repayment rate of 65.3% in 1998 (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 1998).
When thinking about the goal of microfinance – giving poor people an opportunity to become self-sufficient – these government schemes did not succeed in achieving this.
However, these schemes were not the only form of microfinance institutes in the country. In 1964, the Cooperative Rural Banks (CRBs) were established and focused on achieving self-sufficiency by farmers and non-farmers. After liberalization of the market in 1977, the microfinance sector developed remarkably and it became a more popular development strategy, creating more space for new institutions providing microfinancing services (Gant et al., 2002). With the introduction of the government’s poverty reduction program known as ‘Janasaviya’ in the late 1980s, microfinance became generally accepted as an effective tool for poverty reduction. The main objective of Janasaviya was to help poor farmer households and help them transition into sustainable and resilient households through credit entitlements and increased money and subsistence transfers (Stokke, 1995).
Last but not least, the story of the SANASA movement is crucial to explain when talking about the microfinance sector in Sri Lanka. As mentioned in the beginning of this chapter, in 1906, the Thrift and Credit Cooperative Society came into existence, during the ruling of Great Britain. This could actually be called the first SANASA society. For a long time, these Cooperative Societies were not active, and by the 1970s the Credit Cooperatives were very limited and were not covering a great range. But in 1978 it emerged as a new modern movement due to an activist called Kiri (Howes, 2019). He focused on inclusion and had a vision to make it more commercial. As Howes (2019) stated: “he transformed it from a
savings club for old men into a village bank”. The following decade the movement kept
growing and in 1980 the national SANASA federation was a fact, with Kiri as the leader (Howes, 2019). Nowadays, the SANASA movement is an umbrella organization with over 8000 SANASA societies all over the country. These local microfinance Cooperative Societies account for around a million members across villages all over Sri Lanka. The SANASA society is a perfect example of a grassroot development federation, because the Cooperative Societies individually are autonomous bodies, registered separately and all acting as a local bank in the villages (Badullahewage, 2020). Moreover, its goal is to empower the Sri Lankan population through a system of circulating money from loans and the repayment of these loans. All the societies in Sri Lanka are divided into 29 district unions and ultimately come together as one federation. In contrast to the government schemes these societies are not
controlled by any national body, but are controlled by its members. That is why it can be seen as a bottom-up approach (Nader, 2010).
In the following part, the current environment of microfinance institutes in Sri Lanka will be explained more in depth. The institutions will be divided into four categories, based on their regulatory and supervisory mechanisms (Wijesiri et al., 2015).
Current environment of microfinance institutes
Nowadays in Sri Lanka, many different institutions provide microloans and saving-opportunities. As these institutions all have different origins and were established under different regulatory systems, there is no clear, strict or simple layout of the microfinance environment. In this section the microfinance sector will be divided based upon the regulation institutions, as explained clearly in the research of Wijesiri et al. (2015). The microfinance institutes can be divided into four groups: 1) The Licensed Specialized Banks (LSBs), 2) Non-bank Finance Institutions (NBFIs), 3) Cooperatives and 4) NGO-MFIs. This thesis will focus exclusively on the cooperatives sector of microfinance, but it is relevant to show a clear overview of the whole sector to understand in which niche the Cooperatives work. The LSBs and NBFIs are registered under the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), and the Cooperative Rural Banks and other Cooperatives are regulated mainly under the Department of
Cooperative Development (DCD) (Wijesiri et al., 2015). The DCD acts as coordinator between the government and the Cooperative, where the mission is to construct the good governance in Cooperative Societies to develop Cooperative business as a people’s
entrepreneurship (coop.gov.lk, n.d.). The CBSL and DCD operate quite differently, as there is no singular supervisory organ to check this. The NGO-MFIs are completely ‘on their own’ and not supervised by any external organ, and are encouraged to be sufficient and self-regulatory (Wijesiri et al., 2015). Being self-self-regulatory brings about great responsibility and part of this includes sufficient administration and accounting, which according to the
Microfinance Industry Report from 2010, many NGO-MFIs lack. So in summary, because these institutions are encouraged to be self-regulatory, but are not equipped to do this properly this results in many unregulated institutions that suffer from low repayment rates and poor governance (Wijesiri et al., 2015). These officially ‘unregulated’ microfinance institutions can be dangerous for the whole finance sector, because it leads to exploitation of customers, the known excessive interest rates and illegal recovery methods. These pose a threat for the whole microfinance stability, as the exploitation of money-lenders will cause damage to economic
development and overall loss of confidence in the formal regulated sector as well
(coop.gov.lk, n.d.). Overall, there is a great variety in institutions providing microloans and saving-opportunities. According to Tilakaratna & Hulme (2015), there are around 14000 financial access points in the whole country, each providing some form of loan or deposit option. In the last few years, the CBSLs safety around regulations and supervisory practices increased with regard to the entities they are responsible for, but the Cooperative Rural Banks, the SANASA societies and every other MFI regulated by the DCD grew remarkably faster (Da Silva, 2012). When looking at the activities of MFIs in Sri Lanka, it is noticed that MFIs are more effective in providing saving-opportunities than in providing credit (Badullahewage, 2020) . Based on this fact you can say that there is a high demand for the possibility to save money within this sector.
The demand side of the microfinance sector in Sri Lanka comprises small-scale farmers, fishermen (and women) and landless laborers. As most of the poor and unemployed people in Sri Lanka live in rural areas, the borrowers mainly live in rural areas as well (Badullahewage, 2020). The provision of MFIs can be roughly divided into financial and non-financial
products. The financial products offered by the MFIs are credit services, savings services, micro-insurance (rare) and remittance services (Atapattu, 2015). The non-financial products are mostly training and helping the borrowers by expanding their businesses. Moreover, it includes technical consultancy, providing information and vocational skill improvement (Badullahewage, 2020).
The borrowers – or customers – of MFIs are poor people, who are in need for microloans or micro-savings. According to Atapattu (2015), local MFIs are sometimes still far away and this makes it complex and expensive to visit such a MFI, as the traveling leads to additional costs. On top of that, for a MFI the administration and accounting is very hard to keep up with when they would provide small loans to every individual. This is the reason why a lot of loans provided by formal MFIs are disbursed and given to a community, for example a group of fisherwomen. The average loan size by customers in Sri Lanka comes down to around 10000 rupies and is expected to be paid back in several months (Atapattu, 2015). The disburse loans are often higher and are also expected to be paid back later. Table 3 shows an overview of the microfinance institutions, their way of regulation, loan balance and portfolio, retrieved from Wijesiri et al. (2015).
Institution TYPE
Regulatory status Number of borrowers Loan portfolio (LKR' million) Average loan balance (LKR) Number of offices LSBs Regulated & supervised by CBSL 959,498 50,801 50,675 329
NBFIs Regulated & supervised by CBSL
NA NA 23,649 NA
Cooperatives Regulated & supervised by DCD
34,412 1103 63,817 143
NGOs Self-regulated 424,972 8191 21,502 466
Table 3. Overview of the microfinance sector in Sri Lanka. Retrieved from Wijesiri et al. (2015).
As you can see in table 3, the Cooperatives are not part of the MFI sector in large numbers, even though their number of offices is relatively high. The self-regulated part of the sector is still quite present, which is not bad by definition, but important to take into account that some of these companies are ill-equipped and don’t care for the customers, but only for profit. In the next part the Fishery Cooperatives and rural development banks in Karainagar will be looked into.
Fishery cooperatives in Karainagar
As mentioned in the past chapter, the Cooperative Societies are regulated by the Department of Cooperative Development (DCD). The DCD provides services to everyone who desire help from the Cooperative movement, which boils down to playing an important part in the
development process. Some Cooperatives can be seen as semi-formal institutions, but the DCD is clearly a viable government body which succeeds in achieving their mission. The DCD falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Local Government, Relief and
Rehabilitation and Co-operative Rural Development.
Before diving into the specific Fishery Cooperative Societies, it is important to mention that Cooperative Societies are not meant to be profit organizations. They’re established for impoverished people to help them and let members help each other by participating in these
societies. The emphasis is on the latter, as members intend to not only take, but if possible also give something back to others (DCD, n.d.). The DCD as umbrella organization, is focusing on strengthening the Cooperative Societies, by helping them be more sustainable, give trainings and develop more professionality.
In total, there are ten Cooperative Societies functioning in Karainagar, but this research is focusing on the activities of Ambal Fishery operative society (AFCS) and Karainagar operative Rural Bank (CRB). The CRB is a unit of the Karainagar Multi-Purpose
Co-operative Society (KMPCS). The MPCS was started in 1971, and was formed by some well-wishers of the village to protect fishers against the exploitation of the landowners and the elite. In the 1990s, it had thirteen well-functioning branch shops, where people could get good quality goods at a reasonable price. The MPCS also helped getting essential goods during the war, but after the war they lost a lot of their assets and resources. Currently, they have around 4000 members, but only five shops are functioning. One of their services is the Cooperative Rural Bank (CRB) and was started to provide affordable loans to the people through the saving habits. The CRB is an example of a wider strategy to tackle rural indebtedness, focused mainly on women. During an interview an employee of the CRB said: “women get
around 80% of the loans here, whereas normal banks don’t give out loans to so many women” (I2). Together with microloans for economic development, the CRB also includes a
debt relief scheme. This was financed by the Finance Ministry and the budget for the Northern Province in 2019 was 250 million rupies (KMPCS, 2021). Of these 250 million rupies, 1.8 million were given out to Karainagar CRB and this was matched by the Cooperative funds with 3.2 million rupies. Together, they provided small loans of 20.000 rupies to 240 women. Due to these loans, harassment by predatory finance companies and loan sharks has decreased as the people and the Cooperative Societies have been empowered. As the MPCS stated, the work in the North addressing the enormous challenge of
indebtedness is an example for the rest of the country.
The Ambal Fishermen’s Cooperative Society (AFCS) is one of the ten functioning
Cooperative Societies in Karainagar and has 400 members. These 400 members consists of men and women. AFCS was started in 1990, but in 2002 they created a Rural Bank for themselves, to protect fishermen and -women from loan sharks, aggressive microfinance institutes and boat owners. Besides microloans they also provide saving services, fish auction market management, fisher’s pensions schemes, conflict mediation and liaising with fisheries inspectors (AFCS, 2021).
Methodology
This section will provide a strategy on how this research will be done, and ultimately how the main question will be answered. Besides, it will elaborate on the units of analysis and the way of data collection. To conclude, this methods section will reflect on the way this research has been established and will take into account ethical considerations.
The first approach is an extensive literature review and has been used to answer the first two sub-questions. According to Bryman (2016), a literature review is a critical examination of existing research relating to the phenomena of interest, and on top of that of relevant
theoretical ideas. Assuming this literature review is used to elaborate on certain concepts, the idea was to only use scientific papers. But due to the current situation around Covid-19 the research has been affected, and therefore also grey literature is used to fill in the gap of some missing interviews. Moreover, information retrieved from the Cooperatives and archives has been used as well. The concept of microfinance in general has been further investigated, the same as the current Cooperative Societies in the Northern part of Sri Lanka.
The last sub-question has been answered following a qualitative approach to gain insight in the experiences of fishery cooperatives and their vision and perception on the effectiveness of microfinance on wellbeing on the fisherwomen. Qualitative research is the best approach as it offers the opportunity to discuss and analyze different perspectives and interpretations. Additional to the literature review, this research has conducted semi-structured interviews with female members of the above shown Cooperative Societies in Karainagar. In this research the aim was to conduct six interviews with different men and women of fishery cooperatives. As seen in the operationalization table 4 it was desired to conduct interviews with members of at least Karainagar Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society and Ambal Fishery Co-operative Society. Moreover, it would have been ideal if interviews could have been held with members (men or women) with the Northern Cooperative Development Bank.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was not possible to conduct these
interviews. Semi-structured interviews cover a wide range of possibilities. It normally refers to the context where the interviewer has several questions – closed and open – with a
possibility to vary the order or sequence of the questions (Bryman, 2016). In this case, semi-structured interviews are chosen to have the freedom to ask further questions regarding the experience around wellbeing. In the latter part of this thesis the concept questions of the semi-structured interviews are added. It was important to consider and alter these concept questions
along the way, as I was not sure whether some questions were appropriate and/or necessary to ask.
The idea of this thesis is to be inductive research, as the aim is to find out what the impact of microfinance on wellbeing is in the small-scale fishery sector is and develop a theory whether this impact is valid or not. With an inductive research, theory is the outcome of research. In other words, the process of induction includes drawing generalizable conclusions out of observations (Bryman, 2016).
The units of analysis chosen for this research are individual women who received a microloan or are part of a community loan and are working in the fishery sector in Karainagar.
Concept Dimensions Subdimensions Form of data gathering
Indicators Social wellbeing:
“A state of being with others, where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one’s goals and where one enjoys a satisfactory quality of life.” (McGregor, 2004) Material dimension Practical welfare and standards of living Semi-structured interviews (with a focus on the consequences of the received microloans) Income, wealth, employment and livelihood activities, education, skills, physical health and ability, environmental quality Relational dimension Personal and social relations Governance Relationship Assessment (Semi-structured interviews and ‘relational landscape tool’) Relations of love and care, networks of support, relations with the state, social political and cultural identities, violence and conflict, scope for personal and collective action Subjective dimension Values, perceptions and experience The WeD-QoL (a measure of an individual’s perceived quality of life) Understandings of the moral order, self-concept and personality, hopes and aspirations, sense of meaning, levels of satisfaction and trust and confidence
Concept Dimensions Actors Indicators Microfinance: encompasses the provision of financial services including deposits, microloans, insurance micro-savings and money transfers to micro enterprises of low-income or poor households (Perera & Wijekoon, 2019). Fishery Cooperative societies Ambal Fishery Cooperative Society Monetary microloans Material loans Rural Development bank Karainaigar Rural Development Bank Monetary microloans Material loans
Table 5. Operationalization of microfinance
Data analysis
To properly analyze the data gathered during the semi-structured interviews, coding will be used. In contrast to quantitative research, the primary aim of qualitative research is to find out more about a certain phenomenon through the experiences of people who are directly affected by this phenomenon (Bryman, 2012). In the case of this thesis this phenomenon is receiving a microloan. In this way, the participants perception will be understood more thorough and particularly out of their point of view (Castleberry & Nolen, 2018). As this research is to be inductive, but with an existing approach (social wellbeing approach), a thematic analysis is the most suitable way of analyzing the interviews, as it allows for both inductive and
deductive coding (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). The coding process involves inductive coding, which means recognizing important quotes and encoding it, without preexistent codes. Besides the inductive coding, deductive coding based on the operationalization table is done as well. According to Fereday & Muir-Cochrane (2006), a ‘good code’ is one that fully includes the full experience of the phenomenon. The codes that have been established are: fishing activities; financial situation and wealth; education and skills; access to services and amenities; relationship with Fishery Cooperative Societies; relationship with household; relationship with other fisheries; relationship with themselves; decision-making; hopes and dreams; level of satisfaction with life. Coding the interviews will be done with the program ATLAS.ti. This is a powerful workbench for qualitative analysis, which can help with arranging, reassembling and analyzing the interviews in an easy and systemic way.
Limitations and ethics
First, due to Covid-19 restrictions it is not possible to travel to Sri Lanka and conduct the interviews in person. Therefore, the interviews has been conducted via zoom or Whatsapp. It is important to take into account possible obstacles such as a bad internet connection, a lack of personal contact or difficulties with understanding each other due to our accents. As
mentioned earlier in the methodology, the language barrier can potentially cause problems with understanding or even prevent me from conducting interviews in the first place. Moreover, it is crucial to take care of informed consent before taking interviews or mentioning names of people or institutions in this thesis.
Concerning the subject of the thesis itself, it is relevant for me as a male researcher that I take into account the different perception on gender roles during the interviews. Because of the civil conflict and even the tsunami in 2004, it is relevant to be cautious in speaking freely about these subjects.
Results
To answer the sub-question ‘How does microfinance influence the material wellbeing of fisherwomen in the Jaffna District?’, it is necessary to outline the context in which this study is done. The study area of this research is the Jaffna region, with a focus on the village of Karainagar. Jaffna is a district in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and is populated almost exclusively by Tamils (>99%). The civil war heavily affected the region and hundreds of thousands of Tamil people fled to mainly the west of the country. Currently there are living around 582000 people in Jaffna. The Jaffna district is surrounded by full fishing waters and is home to a number of holothurians, finfish and shellfish (Tharmakokilam et al., 2017). The fishing methods vary from traditional to modern, but in the area still traditional methods are mainly used. In Karainagar the main occupation is to be a fisherman or fisherwoman. The fishermen are mainly focusing on the fishing itself, where the fisherwomen are mainly busy with the process of cutting, processing and selling the fish. Women are often placed at the lower ends of fish value chains and their contributions often remain invisible, undervalued and unremunerated (Williams et al. 2005). Yet women’s subsistence fishing activities provide essential food security and nutrition for fishing households. In Northern Sri Lanka, over
37,000 fishers operate over 11,650 boats, the majority of which are 18 feet FRP boats propelled by outboard engines of 8 to 25hp. Including post-harvest sector employment and dependents, about 200,000 people in the Northern Province are dependent on the sector (Dailynews.lk, 2018).
Map of Jaffna and the location of Karainagar. Retrieved from Karainagar.org.
As mentioned earlier, the focus of this research is on two cooperative societies in Karainagar. The first is called Ambal Fishery Cooperative Society (AFCS) and the other one is called Karainagar Cooperative Rural Bank (CRB). In Tamil the word Karai means coast and ‘Nagar’ means town. Together it means ‘town by the sea’. The island where Karainagar is located is called Karainagar Island and is about 26 square kilometers. According to the
Divisional Secretariat office data, there are living around 10000 people in the town.
Karainagar is officially a member of the Jaffna district. Since 2003 it enhanced as an Assistant Government Agent division (Website of Karainagar, n.d.). Once, when Sri Lanka was ruled by the Dutch, the island of Karainagar was named New Amsterdam. The remains of the Dutch can still be seen in Karainagar, as they once built a small fort Hammanhiel. To this day, this fort still stands. Karainagar was flourishing due to the maritime trade, but due to the civil war and the Indian trawler boats the island was heavily affected. Currently, around 1400 families’ main livelihood is fishing. Besides the fishing sector, paddy cultivation in Karainagar is thriving as well.
Material wellbeing
This part of the research describes the situation of material wellbeing in Karainagar and how microfinance possibly has affected this dimension in this area. This is based on various interviews with fisherwomen and supplemented with information of grey literature,
newspapers and scientific articles. It first explains the main role of fisherwomen in the fishing process and how microloans play a role in altering the division of labor. It focuses on the level of education and the view of fisherwomen on the importance of education. In addition, this part describes the financial management of the fisherwomen and their possibility for
applications of a microloan. It ends with a description of their general access to services and amenities and a short conclusion.
Women fishing activities and role in fishing process
The fisherwomen of Karainagar are at the heart of this research, not only because of the role they play in microfinance, but also because of their important role in the fishing process itself. Many official reports about the global fishery sector tend to make the mistake to focus too
much on fish stocks and fish production, underestimating the great relevance of fisherwomen in the process (Sandaruwan et al., 2016). As Williams (2008) states, nowadays the share of fisherwomen is recognized more than before, but to understand the exact role fisherwomen play in the sector much remains to be done. In Sri Lanka, traditions and regulatory structures ensure that the gendered division of labor is old-fashioned and women are still
under-represented in the data (FAO, 2008). Often, their work is on the lower end of the supply chain and remains invisible in official reports. Despite the fact that fisherwomen are
under-represented in the data, they make long hours and have various tasks during the day. They not only help with the fishing process, but are busy to maintain their household as well. To the question what her activities look like during the day, a fisherwoman responded:
“From 6 o clock is going to collect prawns, then I’ll come back at 8 o clock and go back to the market and sell the prawns. After the market, in the afternoon I’ll come back and do my things in the household. Sometimes I got enough and sometimes not, than I don’t go to the market. Sometimes I catch enough prawns, but sometimes not. When I don’t have enough myself, I have to buy them to sell them again on the market”. (I1)
This clearly shows the hard work of the women, and on top of that the daily insecurity of catching enough prawns to make ends meet at all. She not only does the indirect activities in the fishing process, she also helps in catching the prawns. When the same question about daily activities was asked to another woman, her reply was:
“I help with cutting the fish and the selling process mainly. My husband goes fishing and I help with all the other activities. I work around 16 hours a day. Every morning I go into the sea and help with carrying the nets. At 2pm I come back from the sea and help with
processing the food, help at the market or clean the house or our marketplace. In the evening I cook and clean as well.” (I2)
Here you see a clear example of the relatively ‘invisible’, but extremely important work these fisherwomen do. They help their husband with everything and also does physically hard work by cutting the fish. According to the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium, this
invisibility of the work of fisherwomen can also mean that they are excluded from certain decision-making within the household. However, during various interviews I found out quite the opposite. When the question was asked how the decision-making within her household was, a fisherwoman replied:
“I decide everything in the household and I also received the loan. So this means that I have to pay back the loan and I need the money to pay it back.” (I1)
This made it clear that because of the microloan, this woman has more to say in the decision-making as she is responsible for the repayment and made it possible to receive the loan in the first place. As mentioned in the introduction, targeting women for microloans led to higher efficiencies, and also higher repayment rates (Armendariz & Morduch, 2010). However, the labor-intense activities and long working hours of fisherwomen in Karainagar are clearly unrecognized and underestimated. It is important to consider that at the CRB they target women for their loans on purpose. Not only because they have higher repayment rates or higher efficiencies, but also to empower women. The member of the CRB that was
interviewed mentioned this as well: “because they [fisherwomen] cannot go to normal banks,
they come to the rural banks. At the same time we give these loans to women because we indeed try to empower them. But it is also possible for men to apply” (I2).
Level and opportunity of education
The level of education in Karainagar can be described as inadequate, compared to the rest of Sri Lanka. In spite of the civil war that ended in 2009, Sri Lanka has one of the highest literacy rates in Asia. Besides literacy rates, elementary school enrolment and average years of schooling are some of the indicators that are above average compared to the rest of South Asia. 30 years after the independence of Sri Lanka from the British, Sri Lanka enshrined the right to education in the constitution. Public secondary and higher education studies are completely free in the country to the whole population, but several areas that were heavily affected by the war still lack the access to quality education. In Karainagar there are two advance level schools, two ordinary level schools and thirteen primary schools (Karainagar website, n.d.). However, Karainagar currently suffers from a lack of teachers and there are no private educational institutions (KMPCS, 2021). Students have to go to Jaffna to study at a private educational institution or university. The problem with this is that the youth is not always encouraged to do this, because they are needed in the household or are expected to take over the family business.
Financial situation and possibilities for loans
As explained earlier, Karainagar was heavily affected by the civil war, and this is can clearly be seen in the economic situation of fisherwomen. Besides the fact that a lot of women became widows after the war, there are just as well as many women with a husband that struggle to earn enough money and take care of their family. Karainagar is also located in the Palk Bay, which is subject to a long lasting conflict with Indian trawlers and Sri Lankan fisheries (Stephen, 2014). During the interviews conducted during this research questions were raised about the competition of Indian trawlers as well, but the fisherwomen that were interviewed said that they were not bothered by it. The lady from the third interview
explained: “This area are only small scale fisheries and I am only cutting fish here and don’t
experience a lot of competition from Indian trawlers. Other people have that kind of problem, but I don’t have these kind of issues. This problem is more to the west instead of here. Here it feels more like working together between small scale fisheries” (I3). The women that were
interviewed all were part of a family business where the husband went out fishing and the interviewees helped around this process. Although they did not experience competition from Indian trawlers, they do live with the daily insecurity of catching enough fish and earning enough money. A fisherwoman told me: “Sometimes I got enough and sometimes not, than I
don’t go the market. I also buy other prawns from other fishers and sell this on the market. I will buy for 600 rupies and maybe the profit will be around 100 rupies a day.” (I1). This
uncertainty can cause a lot of stress and can lead to a lower subjective wellbeing, as the feelings of stress are known to cause a lower hedonic wellbeing (Steptoe et al., 2015). Moreover, a daily income of 100 rupies (about 0,42 eurocents) is very limited and is barely enough to provide sufficient needs for her family.
These families are struggling to survive with this limited money and are not able to apply for loans at normal banks. This is due to the complex application system and often are not eligible for such loans (AFCS, n.d.). During an interview with a member of the
Cooperative Rural Bank, she told: “normally these women cannot get loans at licensed banks,
because they can not show that they will pay back the money. They come to the rural banks and here a loan is provided five days after applying” (I2). As mentioned earlier, Cooperative
Societies and their rural banks are established to provide affordable loans for people who are not eligible for licensed bank loans and in this way they will be protected from loan sharks and their inhumane interest rates. The interest rates of the CRB is around 9-12% and are
therefore fairer than the occurring interest rates of 50-120% of common MFIs (Hulme & Amun, 2011). The fisherwoman in the third interview mentioned this as well: The cooperative
society and rural bank loans are the only possibilities for us to receive a loan, other banks have high interest rates and it is difficult to apply for such a loan” (I3). This lady received
two different loans; one from the CRB and one from another Cooperative Society in
Karainagar. The interest rates were only about 3-5% for both loans. She told me that her first loan was already repaid, but she needed another loan for other expenses. The general purpose of microfinance is to provide financial services to the impoverished population who is
normally excluded from traditional banking because of their low and fluctuating income. When Muhammed Yunus and his bank were awarded the Nobel peace prize, the Nobel committee was honoring Yunus and his bank ‘for their efforts to create economic and social development from below’ (Akanji, 2006). The loans that are provided by the AFCS and the CRB to fisherwomen are perfect examples of this purpose, but to say these loans create economic and social development is a little far-reached. It is rather a loan to stay afloat, than a loan to ‘escape’ their socio-economic position. When asked about the usefulness of the
microloan she received, the first fisherwoman that was interviewed summarized it quite clearly: “It [the microloan] made some things more easy, but I am still quite poor and don’t
have a lot of option. I can pay back the loan and take care of my family, but that’s it. This microloan helps me because I don’t have any other opportunities. These days I don’t have a lot of income, so it is hard to pay back at the moment” (I1). To conclude, microloans in from
the CRB and ACFS are useful and do have a positive effect on fisherwomen. The repayment rates are very high (100% in 2019 at the CRB), which at least means they earn some money. These loans take care of their necessities, but not quite enough to climb out poverty.
Access to services and amenities
This part will briefly discuss an overview of the current accessible services and amenities. The village of Karainagar is fairly remote from the mainland, but due to the construction of a 4km long causeway that was built around 1869, the island is connected ever since. Before the war, the island was thriving in the maritime trade. Due to many casualties, destroyed boats and people that fled the island, Karainagar got economically pretty damaged. Education is critical due to a lack of teachers, but the population is increasing slowly. There are still quite some Karainagarans living in other parts of Sri Lanka, so it’s possible they will return some
day (Karainagar website, n.d.). In 2005, the Welfare Society procured two water bowsers within a water supply scheme for the village, which replaced the old ones. Currently, around 70% of the population is benefiting from this drinking water scheme. When talking about the amenities of fisherwomen, it is relevant to mention that just a few fishers have boats. In Karainagar it is not common to all have boats, but to buy you in on one of the existing boats to go along and fish for the day. A fisherwoman explained in her interview that it was her goal to buy a boat some day: “We don’t have boats, we are getting help from other boats and help
the fishers to cut the fish. If I get a bigger loan, we are going to buy boat, but we don’t have one at the moment. Two third of our profit goes to the boatowner. I give money to the boat owner and then we can go on the boat” (I3). This shows that small-scale fisheries really are
small scale, but also shows that these women do have certain goals to achieve. Lastly, Karainagar has one Divisional Hospital on the island (Karainagar website, n.d.).
Conclusion
This research has tried to take a glance at a complex system built around the microfinance industry in Sri Lanka. It showed that microfinance has been a form of lending that reaches the disadvantaged and impoverished longer than is generally known. Although Muhammad Yunus made it more popular globally, microfinance in Sri Lanka had been a tool since the early twentieth century. Since the microfinance sector in Sri Lanka is complex and can be hazy, this research had its focus on the Cooperative Societies, which were initially created with the purpose of providing affordable loans and protection against loan sharks. The Ambal Fishery Cooperative Society and Karainagar Cooperative Rural Bank are fine examples that embody these purposes. The main research question was: “How does microfinance by fishery
cooperatives affect fisherwomen’s wellbeing in Karainagar?”
Karainagar was flourishing in the maritime trade, but due to the civil war the island was heavily affected. This damaged the material wellbeing and caused a decline in the economic situation. When it comes to the effect of microfinance on fisherwomen, I found several trends, causes and opportunities. Firstly, this research has shown the essential role of women during the fishing process in Karainagar. Their long working hours and importance are not yet documented well, especially when you consider that mainly women receive the microloans. Secondly, the women that receive microloans in Karainagar can take care of their families and
associated necessities, but do not earn enough money (yet) to ‘escape’ their socio-economic position. However, the repayment rates were very high and this means that the loans do not cause more debt and are actually profitable. Due to these loans, harassment by predatory finance companies and loan sharks has decreased and the people from the Cooperative Societies have been empowered. The loans have ensured that fisherwomen strengthened their role in the decision-making process within their household. To conclude, microloans from the CRB and ACFS are useful and do have positive effects on the material wellbeing of
fisherwomen. The background and history of Karainagar made clear that a person’s wellbeing also is a process and changes over time. Although this thesis used the definition of wellbeing as an outcome for people, when this research would have been done in the past or will be repeated in the future the conclusions would certainly differ. However, to adequately assess a person’s wellbeing, it is essential to consider all three dimensions of wellbeing in relation to each other (Coulthard et al., 2011). Due to limited time and Covid-19 restrictions it was not possible to assess all the three dimensions. When looking at the effect of microfinance on the subjective wellbeing of the fisherwomen – the quality of life they achieve – it is relevant to mention that these fisherwomen often have multiple loans, which cause insecurity and stress. The effect of microloans on the relational wellbeing – the way they pursue wellbeing by accepting a loan – is demonstrated in the responses of the fisherwomen that they do pursue certain goals. However, due to missing data it must be said that real conclusions should not be drawn from this.
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