Impact of Zakat in Alleviating Rural Poverty: A Case Study of MACCA in Bangladesh

The Masjid Council for Community Advancement (MACCA) provided zakat to the rural poor in order to improve their living standard through accelerating income- generating activities. The prime objective of the study was to assess the impact of zakat on the living standard of the poor in terms of total household income, expenditure and saving. Primary data was collected from the households of Manikganj District of Bangladesh that received zakat under the Hasana program of MACCA. Using a simple random sampling technique 179 households were selected as the sample for this study. The weighted least square (WLS) technique was used for accessing the influence of the zakat fund on the total income, total expenditure, and total savings of the household. The study showed that the amount of zakat received by the beneficiaries did not have any significant influence in improving their income, expenditure and saving