Projects per year
Abstract
In this paper, we question the promotion of financial inclusion, and microfinance specifically, as a means to achieve ‘Decent Work’ (DW) under the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) programme. Drawing upon original research findings from two types of internal migrants in Cambodia, we make a twin contention: first, that excessive levels of microfinance borrowing by garment workers are part-outcome of the failings of the DW programme to engender ‘decent enough work’, and second, that microfinance borrowing is actually eroding rather than contributing to the prospect of decent work for debt-bonded brickmakers in the country. The data presented on two of the largest sectors contributing to Cambodia’s growth in recent decades, enable the paper to show how microfinance and labour precarity are intertwined through the over-indebtedness of workers in both cases. The paper ultimately looks to caution the ILO on its current promotion of financial inclusion and microfinance in particular, stressing the need for significant sectoral reforms before this form of credit can be considered to align with the core principles of the DW programme.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 361–381 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Global Public Policy and Governance |
Volume | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 5 Oct 2021 |
Projects
- 3 Finished
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Social Protection and the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in Cambodia: Longitudinal Research to ‘Build Back Better’ in the Global Garment Industry
Brickell, K. (PI) & McCarthy, L. (CoI)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
20/08/19 → 19/01/21
Project: Research
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Blood Bricks: Examining the Climate Change-Modern Slavery Nexus in the Cambodian Construction Industry
Brickell, K. (PI) & Parsons, L. (CoI)
Economic & Social Res Coun ESRC
1/09/17 → 28/02/19
Project: Other
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Moral geographies of work and activism in Cambodian garment supply chains
Lawreniuk, S. (Fellow) & Brickell, K. (Mentor)
1/09/17 → 31/08/20
Project: Research