Paper details

Paper authors	Ihsanullah Ghafoori
In panel on	Precarity and Debt: The Vicissitudes of Credit and “Upliftment” in Asia and Africa
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Building on 10 years of AREU research on rural livelihoods and credit, this study examines the dynamics of informal credit in two villages in Herat province, Afghanistan, in order to produce a nuanced understanding of its contribution to livelihood security on the economic margins. In a context of shifting insecurity, high poverty levels, and frequent natural hazards, informal credit is found to be among the most important ways in which households survive crises, spread risk and consumption and in some cases ensure household survival through marriage. A qualitative methodology of semi-structured interviews is employed in two distinct villages, allowing an in-depth comparative examination of household borrowing and lending within specific social and economic locales. The research identifies the variety of types and usages of informal credit, tracing it through social networks and exploring reasons explaining varying outcomes. The research finds extremely widespread borrowing, with households able to command remarkable sums without interest, with unrivaled repayment flexibility. It also uncovers the lengths households are prepared to go to protect and develop invaluable credit relationships; themselves inextricable from the social and economic relationships which both underlie and are in turn reinforced by informal credit.

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