Challenging the frontiers of
poverty reduction
Experiences from a BRAC Program
Rabeya Yasmin , Program Coordinator
Ultra Poor Programs
BRAC
1
An Introduction to BRAC
BRAC : Founded in 1972 , BRAC stands for - Building Resources
Across the Countries
Serving about 5 million poor people through Micro finance
program in Bangladesh
About 10 million poorest students are getting primary education in
34 thousand BRAC schools across the country
More than 110 million poor people are getting Essential Health
Care services from BRAC’s Health Programs
BRAC is operating in other countries : Afghanistan , SriLanka,
Tanzania , Uganda .
2
Extreme Poverty :
Bangladesh Record
• Head count poverty decreasing : from 70% in 197374 to 47% in 1995-96.( 2200 k.cal.)
• About 20% still remains below the lower poverty line
: daily per capita calorie intake of 1805 k.cal.( BBS
2003)
• The Ultra Poor spend 80% of their income on food
• Still fail to reach 80% of their recommended calorie
intake
• Ultra Poor are largely remaining left out of the
mainstream development programmes
3
Background of CFPR
• Most often the conventional micro finance program
view the ultra poor as high risk group
• Generally the disciplines of micro finance do not suit
the livelihood pattern of the ultra poor
4
Therefore ,
BRAC’s new innovation is
“A Pushing Down” strategy to combat ultra
poverty
A Program called : “Targeting the Ultra Poor”
5
Pushing down BRAC interventions
to reach the ultra poor effectively
Objectives
 Assist the ultra poor to improve their
livelihoods by achieving positive economic,
social and aspirational changes
 Assist the ultra poor to access mainstream
development services
6
Coverage in the First Phase
Duration: 5 year
Year
: 2002
2003
2004
Members
served
: 5000
5000
10,000 30,000
No. of
districts
:
3
7
12
2005
15
2006
Total
50,000 100,000
15
15
7
Pushing down to reach the Ultra
Poor: Definition of the Ultra Poor
• Households with < 10 decimals of land.
• Those who earn livelihood as beggar,
day laborer, domestic aid.
• Households with no productive assets.
• Children of school-going age
taking up paid work .
• No adult active male member in the
household
8
Pushing down to reach the Ultra
Poor: A Brief Overview of HH
Identification Process
A. Geographical Area Selection:
- Identifying areas with high incidents
- NGO Survey conducted
- Identify specific villages with high
ultra poverty incidents
B. Household Selection:
-
-
Participatory Rural Appraisal conducted
following 3 steps:
* Rapport building
* Social Mapping
* Wealth ranking
Door to door mini survey
verification
9
Some Baseline Information : 2002
• 54 % completely landless
• 50% of household cannot afford two meals a day
• 70% depend on irregular day labour for income source
• 95% ultra poor have no fixed place for defecation
• Only 3% of the ultra poor household reported ever
participation in development programs
10
Supports and services provided to
ultra poor members through the
pushing down strategies
• Enterprise Development Training
• Special Investment :Asset Transfer/
Stipend as short term income support
• Tailor made health care program
• Tailor made social development
services
11
Some Special Features of Enterprise
Development Training Programme
• 3-5 day class-room Training and monthly/quarterly
refresher courses.
•
Hands on Training throughout 24 month period .
• Ensuring technical support and input supplies to
run the enterprise successfully.
12
Some Special Features of the Asset Transfer/
Special Investment Component
• Asset transfer as grant.
• Support in kind
• Weekly stipend for short term income support
• Close supervision for 24 months
13
Tailor Made Health Interventions for the Ultra Poor
Members
• Promotive (eg. Health education, awareness raising for family
planning, use of sanitary latrines, etc.)
• Preventive (Immunization, ANC, Vitamin A, etc.)
• Limited curative care (TB treatment by Health Volunteers, Access to
qualified health practitioners, etc.)
- Financial Assistance For Mild and Severe morbidity
14
Tailor Made Social Development Program for The
Ultra Poor Members
• Social Awareness Education
• Community Mobilization (Village Poverty Reduction Committee)
• Confidence building
15
Tailor made Social Development: Community
Mobilization for The Ultra Poor Members
Village Poverty Reduction
Committee to :
- Provide social security , resolve
social conflicts
- Install tube well , sanitary latrines
- Repair/ rebuild houses
- Support during illness
- Help enroll their children in school
16
Support programs
• Advocacy and Social Communication
• Action Research
17
A Repeat Survey on Nutritional Status by RED
2004
Description
Male – daily per capita calorie
intake
Baseline
2002
Changed status
2004
1880 k.cal
2024 k.cal
Female – daily per capita calorie 1632 k.cal
intake
2236 k.cal
Daily per capita
Food expenditure
Tk.13.5
Tk. 9
18
CFPR Repeat survey 2005 by BRAC RED
reveals :
Description
2002
2005
Sanitary latrine used:
2.32%
78.36%
Non latrine
:
94.82%
19.33%
Have savings
:
8.13%
98.44%
Loan to invest in IGAs :
7.62%
27.91%
Could not eat for the whole
day
:
62.10%
14.86%
19
STUP Graduation Matrix
Ist Six Month
-Selection of STUP members.
-Enterprise dev. Training.
-Asset transfer.
-One-to-one Individual Followup(weekly).
-Social dev.+ Health+Advocacy
activities.
3rd Six Month
-Enterprise dev. Training/Refresher.
-Individual Follow-up (weekly).
-Informal group discussion.
-Social dev.+ Health+Advocacy
activities.
-Confidence building training
2nd Six Month
-Enterprise dev. Training/Refresher.
-Asset transfer.
-One-to-one Individual Follow-up.
-Social dev.+ Health+Advocacy
activities.
4th Six Month
-Enterprise dev. Training/Refresher.
-Individual Follow-up .
-Social dev.+ Health+Advocacy
activities.
-Formal weekly group meeting (VO).
-Loan and savings activities in
group.
20
What makes the programme work
• Thoughtful program design taking past experiences of BRAC
• Careful staff recruitment and development process
• Effective monitoring and supervision
• Close Coordination
• Continuous research
• Enormous support from development partners
21
Key Lessons Learned
• The ultra Poor are not homogeneous
group
• Special efforts needed to change the
“mind set at all levels” .
• Close follow-up model is ‘a must’ for
any program for the ultra poor.
• Educating/assisting the ultra poor on
making their future plan is critical
• Social mobilization is necessary to
create an enabling environment for
the ultra poor
22
Future Challenges and CFPR Phase II
• Rethinking targeting
• Capturing diversity
• Continuing health support for the graduates
• Capacity building
23
Visit Bangladesh
visit CFPR
Thank you
24