Community Investment Fund (CIF): An

Alternative to Empowerment of Rural Women in

Pakistan
Ghulam Rasool
grbaloch@brandeis.edu
Advisor: Professor Dr. Laurence Simon
Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development
The Heller School | Brandeis University
Date:
 Abstract

Development problem

Methods

Table of Case Studies

Content
Findings and Recommendations

Conclusion

Sources
Abstract
Pakistan, with solid patriarchy and
religious beliefs, has high gender
inequality and discrimination towards
women.

Community Investment Fund (CIF) has

experimented as an effective means to
empower women to make their choices.

This paper looks at the role of CIF in

women's economic empowerment and
its intensity of impact on household's
decision-making process in rural
localities.
 Development Problem
• Pakistan ranks second lowest for gender equality in the world(GGGR-2020)
• 143rd in educational attainment;
• 149th in health and survival;
• 93rd in political empowerment;
• 150th in economic participation and opportunities for women;
• Only 25% of women participation in job market compared to 85% of men;
• Women literacy rate is 50%, while71%, for men;
• 32% of women have suffered physical violence, and 40% of married women
have experienced spousal abuse.
 Development Problem
• Pakistan ranks second lowest for gender equality in the world. WEF 2020
report ranking for Pakistan
• 143rd rank in educational attainment;
• 149th rank in health and survival;
• 93rd rank in political empowerment;
• 150th in economic participation and opportunities for women;
• Only 25% of women participation in job market compared to 85% of men;
• Women literacy rate is 50%, while71%, for men;
• 32% of women have suffered physical violence, and 40% of married women
have experienced spousal abuse.
About Community Investment Fund (CIF)

CIF is a Fund managed by women of organized

Communities.

Way of empowering women in rural areas, by

a)Providing the poorest of women with

microloans and grants

b) Allowing the women to manage the funds

themselves
Terms and conditions, such as utilization, loan
duration, repayment plan and service charges
are decided jointly by women in Women
Community Organizations.
Methods
 Both qualitative and quantitative approach were used

Scholarly articles Reports (UN,ADB, Project Evaluation reports Books Peer-reviewed journals News Articles Personal experiences Govt. Reports
USAID, World /case studies
Bank)
 Case Studies
• The independent research institute selected a survey sample size of 900 households in 30 clusters with 30 households
per cluster in three districts randomly. (IBA….)
• The results showed that 40% of microcredit household beneficiaries reported that women have control over daily cash.
• 16% percent of households had females involved with household decision-making, while 36% had control over their
daily income.
• 30% of women could access social and public spaces, such as community meetings and local government offices, and
participate in the democratic process at the local level.
• 36% of women were aware of the fundamental rights of the marriage agreement and the law of inheritance.
• The indicators of health and education for the CIF recipient households' children improved 87.1% compared to the non-
recipient at 44.9%.
• 97.8% CIF recipients women purchased assets in the last two years, only 7% for Control group.
• Women involvement in their daughter and son's marriage decision-making was at 95.9%, which is 40% higher than the
non-CIF women.
• CIF recipient women are 95.10% involved in decision-making for daily household income and expenditure, while non-
recipient women's involvement is 55.5%.
Findings and Recommendations
 CIF-Specific Study
CIF service impact evaluation reports are ambiguous because other development interventions benefited CIF women recipients as well. Therefore, a CIF-specific impact
assessment, gauging the actual impact of the service, is recommended.
 CIF-Post Evaluation Timeline
 CIF program stops functioning or performs very poorly in the long run in the absence of NGOs. This suggests researchers conduct impact assessments at least one year
after the NGO's program completion.
 Moreover, the studies should include questionnaires and focus group discussions for the male members to get their views of gender relations, power and privilege,
and women's participation in household affairs.
 CIF-Program Sustainability
This study recommends the involvement of the local government from the very beginning to own the program and do the due diligence of monitoring and supervision
to make it sustainable.
 Impact Assessment of Women Civil Registration
 Civil registration such as identity cards, birth and death certificates, passports, and voter registration are women's fundamental rights. The research study finds that
women's civil registration disparity is exceedingly high in Pakistan. This component is missing in the research studies, which suggests covering women's civil registration
rights in future studies to see how the CIF program empowered women to obtain their civil registrations.
 Inclusion of Destitute
The research study finds a grim issue of excluding poor women in the CIF program due to the affordability of recovery payments. In contrast, CIF program criteria solely
target starting with lowest poverty households to the letter levels. However, the exclusion of low-income families means that programs are not serving the actual
beneficiaries. Similarly, the evaluation results would not be considered impactful because poverty is one of the significant hurdles in women's human development and
well-being.
 Since inclusion is a crucial part of the program objectives and credibility, including deprived women, removing the condition of interest rates, and extending the loan
recovery period to keep monthly installments small is recommended.
Conclusion
This research paper studied the impact of the CIF on women's economic empowerment in Pakistan's rural communities. Rural women in Pakistan cannot access Microfinance Banks
due to a lack of services and strong cultural and traditional norms.
 However, the CIF service provides rural women opportunities to access microfinance in their communities. It is a grant from donors and government managed by grassroots
community organizations locally.
Compared to other countries in South Asia and worldwide, women in Pakistan are still being cited as socially, economically, and politically hindered in policy discourse. All
development indicators for women are a grave and glaring reality of women's disempowerment and disparity. The paper investigated that in Pakistan, gender inequality prevails
institutionally to subjugate women's human rights, making hurdles for them to enjoy equal opportunities and well-being. Nonetheless, in gender and development theory, social
construction roles and labor division are similar for both genders, not subordinate.
The paper's investigation shows that Pakistan's commitments with international agencies and its national policies toward gender inequalities through women's economic
participation are encouraging. Pakistan's microfinance industry initiative in 2002 provided a platform for donors to support the government to implement women's financial
programs. Further, the RSPN for rural women's income generation opened a window for access to the service. This paper primarily focuses on the "What impact CIF made in women
economic empowerment of household decision making" question under the domain of the GAD framework.
 This research paper explored the genesis of the problem in the context of Pakistan's various socio-cultural and religious dynamics. Since its inception in 1947, the country's women
are politically, socially, economically, and legally kept deprived. There are alarming gender disparity numbers in education, job opportunities, civil registration rights, gender-based
violence, enforced marriages, early child marriages, high maternal mortality rates, and unpaid and un-recognized household work. The situation in the rural areas of the country is
worse than in the urban areas. Rural women have fewer economic opportunities and lack access to health and education services. Women are considered servants of their male
partners. They are not allowed to decide their needs and choices and are forced to keep their voice lower in front of males.
 This research paper starts with a brief abstract of the research study followed by an introduction. The introduction discussed the development problem and the current situation.
Further, it talks about the CIF program's and women's economic empowerment relationship with a critical research question. It also discusses the scope and significance of the topic
in the context of theories and Pakistan's commitments. The following sections mostly talked about the methodology used in research on theories of women empowerment and
findings of studies on the research topic. The paper has two main parts, literature review, and discussion. The literature review has four sections of women empowerment theories,
women economic empowerment, microfinance, and women empowerment in different social, political, and religious contexts of rural communities nationally and globally. Similarly,
the discussion includes sub-sections of women empowerment conceptual framework, a brief overview of the country's problem, an analysis of women situation in Pakistan, and
finally, present the impact of the CIF program from three various impact study reports. The paper offers some policy recommendations for the researcher and the stakeholders
based on the study's findings.
Sources
Questions?