Intervention Summary
Project Title: Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP)
What support will the UK provide?
How much funding the UK expects to provide: Up to £80.29 million
Period of Funding: Jan 2008 – March 2016 (UK financial years 2007/08 – 2015/16)
Why is UK support required?
Around 26 million men, women, girls and boys continue to live in extreme poverty in Bangladesh. They
are typically landless and jobless. They spend nearly all their money on food but are still unable to
meet their daily minimum food requirements. They are regularly exposed to a wide range of shocks
including natural disasters such as cyclones and floods; man-made disasters such as slum evictions
and fire; and personal disasters such as accidents, illness and death of a wage-earner. When these
shocks arise it is harder for the extreme poor to recover - one of the reasons why the poverty they
experience is passed from generation to generation.
To help tackle the problem the EEP Challenge Fund (also known locally as Shiree) focuses on extreme
poor people who have the potential, through support, to lift themselves out of poverty. There are two
funds. The Scale Fund supports NGOs to take large numbers of people out of extreme poverty using
tried and tested methods (£55.6 million). The Innovation Fund challenges NGOs to design and
implement innovative approaches to reducing extreme poverty (£10.4 million). The remaining
programme resources are split between direct nutrition interventions for pregnant or breastfeeding
women, adolescent girls or children; lesson learning, advocacy (to improve targeting of safety nets and
services to extreme poor people) and management cost (£14.29 million).
The support is implemented by inviting bids from NGOs for projects that reduce vulnerability,
economic, political and social exclusion and increase livelihood opportunities. Projects must
demonstrate an understanding of the pathways out of poverty and have the potential to be
mainstreamed into government strategies for tackling extreme poverty. The Fund is governed by a
National Steering Committee chaired by the Government of Bangladesh. A Management Agency
contracted by DFID manages the funds, and carries out capacity building, lesson learning,
communications and advocacy roles.
What are the expected results?
The aim of the EEP Challenge Fund is to enable one million people to lift themselves out of extreme
poverty and achieve sustainable livelihoods by 2015. The programme also seeks to reduce the
vulnerability of the extreme poor to natural disasters, economic shocks, and social exclusion. Highquality research, dissemination of lessons learned and key findings aim to transform the way in which
the distinct experience of extreme poverty is approached by government, donors, NGOs and the
public.
Outputs attributable to UK support are Output 1: Proven approaches to improving the livelihoods of the
extreme poor taken to scale. Output 2: Innovative approaches to improve the livelihoods of the
extreme poor tested, evaluated and successes ready for scaling up. Output 3: Increasing consistency
in the understanding, sharing and application of approaches to addressing extreme poverty. Output 4:
Policy and practice at local and national levels shows increasing recognition of the needs of the
extreme poor. Output 5: Direct nutritional support provided to extreme poor mothers, children,
adolescent girls and family members.
To determine whether expected results have been achieved a comprehensive monitoring and
evaluation system, the Change Monitoring System has been developed. This utilizes both quantitative
and qualitative tools to capture results and support the lesson learning and advocacy agenda of the
programme. Independent Annual Reviews are conducted, and an independent impact assessment
study will be undertaken at the end of the programme.