Integrated Development Foundation (IDF), based in Chittagong Hill Tracts districts in Bangladesh, has recently added a micro-credit component modeled on the Grameen Bank to its poverty-alleviation and community development. IDF already has eleven branches scattered across Bandarban and Rangamati districts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, extending loans averaging $45 to more than eleven thousand borrowers. IDF is unique in that it caters primarily to sixteen tribal groups in the rural hill regions of southeastern Bangladesh. While IDFs microcredit practices closely resemble those of Grameen Bank, it has adapted them to suit the needs of the tribal peoples it serves. GF USA intern Maitri Morarji visited IDF in May and discribes her experience in the article below.

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The open exchange of ideas between borrowers and IDF staff that I encountered at this center meeting continued throughout my visit. While management and staff realize the importance of enforcing and maintaining credit discipline, they also welcome creative ideas from the borrowers. They clearly recognize that including participants’ views in program design (and redesign) is essential to social empowerment as well as economic efficiency.

Since its inception, IDF has been sensitive to the status of these tribal populations as "minorities" within the larger Bangladeshi community. These tribal groups are practising Buddhists, and they have traditional clan-based leadership hierarchies. IDF has worked closely with traditional leaders, frequently consulting with tribal chiefs to ensure support for the program from the grassroots level.

IDF, moreover, has been sensitive to the fact that, in most cases, "tribal" groups speak entirely different languages or dialects. In order to facilitate communication between staff and borrowers in terms of language and culture, IDF employs center managers (or loan officers) with the same ethnicity as the women with whom they work. All the borrowers of IDF are ladies and more than 1.5 million US dollars has been disbursed with a perfect record of 100 percent repayment.

IDF's work in the Chittagong Hill Tracts demonstrates the flexibility of the Grameen methodology and its possible applications among indigenous or aboriginal peoples around the world who often live in complete destitution and are left out of traditional development programs.

For more information, contact Integrated Development, Foundation (IDF), House # 01, Road -15A, Block GI, Mirpur - 2, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh. Phone/Fax: 880-31-612229,

E-mail: zalamidf@citechco.net