The Performance of the Village Funds in China

umelbCentre for Contemporary Chinese Studies Seminar Series – University of Melbourne

Dr Enjiang Cheng, Victoria University

5.30pm, Thursday 3 September 2015
Room 321, Level 3, Sidney Myer Asia Centre, University of Melbourne

Community Development Funds have emerged as an important tool for poverty reduction in the less developed economies. Elite control and deviation from targeting the poor are common problems identified with community development funds. Grass-root institutions like community development funds with the bulk of outside funds also suffer from moral hazard problem. China started to pilot its village mutual help funds (village fund) in 2006. By the end of 2013, more than 17,900 village funds had been established in China’s 27 provinces and total funds in circulation exceeded USD 722 million. Based on a field investigation in China in late 2014 and the data available from the poverty office, this paper attempts to assess the performance of the village funds in China, with a focus on poverty targeting and financial sustainability. The paper also examines innovations undertaken by some village funds to improve their poverty targeting and financial performance

Dr Enjiang Cheng currently works as an associate professor at the Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies (VISES) of Victoria University in Australia. Before taking up his current position, Dr Cheng worked for Accion International, International Poverty Reduction Centre and the Citibank in China. Cheng’s research interests include rural finance, microfinance, and China’s economic structural change and energy. Dr. Cheng has also worked as an international consultant for UNDP, World Bank, ADB and other donors in China and other Asian countries.

Admission is free, but registration is essential. See here.