Thesis on Rural Poverty Alleviation Programe in Bangladesh

5/24/2018 Thesis on Rural Poverty Alleviation Programe in Bangladesh

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Thesis paper

On

Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme in Bangladesh:

A Sociological Exegesis on Issues and strategies of

on!"overnment Organi#ations $"O%s&

Submitted by

WWW.ASSIGNMENTPOINT.COM

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We Have a favorable and marginal change in our economy, but thebasic problem, poverty still remains. Our poverty is the product of our

social structure. This social structure, one hand, is helping the increase ofhunger and poverty among the cultivators, landless labor, poor

professionals and also compelling these people to produce more cropsand other consuming goods for the rich and the urban people. To alleviate

poverty, we should collect the exact number of the poor people and alsowe should defined poverty. An evaluation report from the statisticalureau of angladesh has shown that in the year 1!"#$"%, about "!& ofthe total population were living below subsistence level. The criterion of

poor or rich depends on monthly or annual consumption cost of a person.

The man whose consumption cost is less than others are called a poorman. ut it is true that there is a sharp difference in the consumption cost

both among the poor and the rich. 'o if we try to get a real picture of ourpoverty in terms of this criterion, we cannot get a real picture of ourpoverty. We should evaluate poverty in terms of our poverty. We shouldevaluate poverty in terms of our basic needs. The people who cannot evenmeet up their basic needs( they are the real poor. There is another meansto identify the poor. This refers to the nature and )uantity of food. We candetermine the poor and the rich by the )uantity of rich, bread and pulse

they consume. The poor ta*e coarse$foods li*e rice people consume more)uantity of fish, meat, egg, mil* and fruits. They expend more for theconsumption of industrial goods by curtailing the )uality of foodconsumption. The pre capita cost of consumption for rich, pulse and

bread are more than the consumption cost of industrial goods. With a fewexceptions, the consumption cost of the ma+ority people is the main causeto poverty cost of consumption. That means, almost all the people of ourcountry are the victims of poverty. Absolute poverty and extreme poverty

both are e)ually prevailing in our country.

The poverty of our country is the result of oppression andexploitation of ritish rule for about two centuries. efore the occupationritish rule, our rural economy was more or less self$sufficient. Therewas a harmonious co$ordination between agriculture and Agro$basedindustries. The ritish rulers caused to ruin our cottage industries andmade us dependent on agriculture, but the people became unemployed forthe ruin of rural industries. ater very few of them could get employmentin mills and factories of the urban areas. This tradition is still in tact. As aresult, the number of small farmers, landless farmers are increasing day

by day. -ore people are being detached form their original profession

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and becoming unemployed. About all of then is suffering miserably frompoverty.

We should all reali/e the fact that to ma*e our freedom meaningfuland to achieve the desired progress in economy, we must change the lotof all poor people. We should remove our poverty and ensure theavailability of basic needs for all.

0n this study it has been tried to see that whether the 2O-embers are benefited than on 2O members in terms of economic,institutional, demographic and social indicators by conducting a survey

among 2O members and on 2O members.



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)hapter I

Introduction

*(* Bac+ground of the Study

angladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world with apopulation of about 1#4 million supported by a small land area of only1,#5,%54 s)uare *ilometer. angladesh economy is characteri/ed byunprecedented poverty and resultant delin)uencies, high level of

unemployment, low level of labor productivity, malnutrition, illiteracy,high capital scarcity and low level of tax 26 ratio 7about " percentonly8 etc. limits the governments financial capabilities for underta*ingnew development and welfare activities. 0n a country where more thanfifty percent population live below poverty line and more then seventyfive percent of them do not *now how to write their names, thegovernment with its limited resources is really in a great pu//le and cannot decide on what they should do with so vast and painsta*ing multi$faceted problems.

Over a )uarter of angladesh9s people live in extreme poverty in thesense that they are not being able to meet even the barest of the basicneeds li*e food, clothing, shelter, education and treatment. They spendmost of their meager, unreliable earnings on food. However, they fail tomeet the minimum calorie inta*e needed to stave off malnutrition. :ue totheir poor health, they also further drain on their resources due to loss oftheir income and health care expenditure. 6oor people, especially poorwomen, lac* empowerment of having ac)uired their rights. The extreme

poor are thus caught in a vicious trap and the story of denial and

in+ustices tend to continue over generations for a ma+ority of them. Theextreme poor have not only been bypassed by most development

programs but also by mainstream development research activities.

;ocusing policy attention towards the extreme poor


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also to *now the differences that are exist between the memberhouseholds 7who have ta*en credit from 2Os8 and the non$member

households 7no longer the member of any 2Os8.

*(, Structure of Rural Povertyangladesh economy is mostly characteri/ed by the rural economy

where unemployment, under employment and disguised unemploymentare very high. 0n almost all rural areas the supply of labor is much higherthan available agricultural wor*. There are very few opportunities outsidethis sector and opportunities outside this sector are increasing at a muchslower rate than demand. High concentration of land ownership and rapid

population growth may be the factors of the oversupply of labor. 0n astudy in 1!!1, it was found that the top 14& of landowners owned >4&of the land where it was only 3>& in 1!>4. The bottom >4& of thelandowners had only 1& of the land 7ovib, 1!!8. 0n another study,?ahman 71!!#8 showed that a substantial portion 7%4$>4&8 of the ruralhouseholds is functionally landless.

-ost of these are dependent on selling their labor on the farms ofothers, processing of agricultural products. @illage economy structure is

comprised of landowners, moneylenders, merchants, legal authorities andvillage leaders. 'mall landowners supplement their income bysharecropping. All these factors together have enabled the members oflocal elite to establish patron$client relationship with the poor households.The rich exploit the poor through providing employment at lower wage,credit and assistance during crises in exchange for a higher return,exploitive sharecropping system. The 0:' 71!!%8 study indicated thatrural income from manual labor grew at the slowest rate of all sectors andthat agricultural wages were declining as a source of household income

by nearly 1& per annum.

0n angladesh, %5.5& of the rural households and #4.& of thepopulation were absolutely poor 7Hye, 1!!>8. :epending on the methodsrecently used, recent estimates suggest that as much as 4$3#& of the

population of angladesh lives in extreme poverty and they arerecogni/ed as extreme


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Table 1.1. The progress in income$poverty in angladesh

@ariables H0' 444 H0' 1!!%$!>

ational

?ural

Brban

ational

?ural

Brban

ess than 1*cal3$>#, in 1!"!$1!!4, and even after, establishing a hori/ontal trendline, 7ii8 moderate households have been able to overcome poverty andreduce vulnerability and 7iii8 there has been a steady rise in rural povertysituation from 1!"%$"> and onward 7Hye, 1!!>8.

To day, a large number of 2Os and governmental organi/ations arewor*ing with the aim to reduce poverty. Therefore, it is very important tosee how these organi/ations are wor*ing. How they are helping the poor=

Although a large number of 2Os are wor*ing in angladesh, a largeportion of the poor households is being left out from their programmatic

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actions. 0n a study, conducted by Hashemi, 1!!% and Eaman 1!!>, theyfound that the big 2Os reach only 14$4& of the landless. These factors

raise the criticism of the 2Os functioning. 'o this is of our interest tosee the impact of the 2Os9 program in the case of the betterment of the

poor households.

There are more than 4444 2Os are operating in angladesh andmost of their wor*ing areas are situated in rural areas. They areconstantly see*ing to reach the poorest and trying to protect the poor fromexploiters li*e moneylenders, landlords, sharecroppers and pawnbro*ers.Bnfortunately more people are getting into the vicious trap and most of

the people are chronically so.

*(/ Rationale of the studyThe population of angladesh in 1!!1 was estimated to be about 14

million, of whom "4 per cent live in rural areas. These areas arecharacteri/ed by extremely une)ual access to land, which is the critical

productive resource. The top 14 percent of landowners owns some >4percent of the land, while the bottom >4 percent hold in total only 1percent. Thus, between %4 and >4 per cent of the rural population is

functionally landless 7i.e. they own too little land to support theirhouseholds from it8. The small class of substantial landowners is playinga comprehensive extent of roles in rural society as land$leasers,moneylenders, merchants, legal authorities and village leaders. They,therefore, have a substantial degree of control over rural areas and

population, which they exert for their own benefit in response todevelopment initiatives from outside parties.

0n almost rural areas, the supply of labor is much higher than the

demand for labor needed for the available agricultural activities. A recentstudy by the angladesh 0nstitute of :evelopment 'tudies 70:'8 showsthat rural income from manual labor grew at the slowest rate from allsectors because of the oversupply, and that the real value of agriculturalwages is steadily declining. Opportunities for the poor outside this sectorare also extremely limited. The only area in which the poor show somerelative gain in recent years is in trading, in which they have becomeincreasingly active. The 0nstitute attributes this improvement to thegrowth of governmental, private and non$governmental programs, whichare providing the poor with access to credit for self$employment



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activities, which concentrate particularly in the field of small$scaletrading.

About #> percent of the population is female. They suffer substantialdisadvantages in angladesh society for the following conditionsD poornutritional status, lower life expectancy at birth, less access to educationand literacy, lower participation in the labor force and less wages forcomparable wor*. The female$headed households are sufferings morecompared to the male$headed households as the females are facing a lotof restrictions imposed by the society.

There are many other articles that deal with different aspects of the2Os9 activities. ut it is not possible to get a total picture of the gamefrom any of them in particular. 0t becomes necessity to conduct acomprehensive study on the 2Os with a view to explain their positionin the economy of angladesh in general and at the same time to identifytheir role, usefulness and influence in the economy in particular. ?ecentdebates on the functioning of the 2Os activities in the news, media andthe interest of general public ma*e a solid ground for conducting a studyof thus nature.

The basic points for rationali/ing the selection of the research issuesare 7i8 *nowing the factors of poverty that are persisting among the poorhouseholds, 7ii8 donors, government agencies and 2Os have been

prioriti/ing the issues of poverty, especially rural poverty. esides, someother rationali/ing factors considered areD

7i8 few studies of this type were administered(7ii8 this study will offer a new paradigm for the 2Os to

restructure their programs.

This study will help us to understand how non$member householdsdiffer from member households. As a result, it will help us to see theimpact of the 2Os9 programs that aims to reduce the poverty andvulnerability and increasing the empowerment of the rural poorhouseholds.

*(0 O.1ectives of the study To identify the factors which compel the emergence of 2Os

activities in angladesh,

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The extent of poverty reduction by 2Os and how this has been

achieved.

To see what benefits the poor derive from the activities of the2Os.

To probe the social mobility of the 2Os beneficiaries.

To analy/e the contributions of the 2Os in employment and

income generation and resource mobili/ation.

To what extent have poor people been empowered and how have

this been achieved.

To identify the role of 2Os for women empowerment.

*(2 Research 3ypothesisThe programmatic actions of 2Os are considered to be highly

beneficial and effective in the case of alleviating rural povertyconsidering the multi$dimensionality of poverty approach.

*(2(* Specific hypothesesThe hypotheses areD1. orrowing credit from informal sources of non$members is

higher than that of 2O members.. 0ncome of the beneficiary households of 2O is higher thanincome of the non F member households.

3.2O members are more politically empowered than those ofnon$members.

#. Amount of land holding of the beneficiary households of 2Ohigher than that of the non$member households.

%. -a+or items of productive assets of the beneficiary householdsof 2O have increased after +oining 2O.

>. Agricultural productivity of the beneficiary households of 2Ohigher than that of the non$member households.5. There exist more employment in 2O than that of on 2O.".Gnowledge on hygiene practice among the beneficiary

households of 2O higher than that of the on 2O households.!.The beneficiary households of 2O are more socially

empowered than that of the non$member households.

*(4 Scope5 limitations and 6ifficulties of the StudyThis study should not be considered as the direct evaluation study

of the 2Os9 programs operating in the study district, which in turn, can

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reflect the program action in angladesh. The purpose of this study is tounderstand the conse)uences of a long driven 2O programs on the poor

people. Almost all 2Os in angladesh try to address two issuesDalleviation of rural poverty and the empowerment of the rural poorwomen. -ost of the 2O pro+ects are geared up to address these twoissues. This study includes one of the largest 2Os operating inangladesh and thus the scope of the research is extensive.

This study has captured the multi$dimensional issues of the ruralpoverty. Controversies over the 2O activities among the general peopleand development thin*ers are common in reality. 0n order to capture these

issues, both )ualitative and )uantitative data were collected from bothmember and non$member households. All the diverse issues of poverty,

2Os function and the evaluation of their programs, contribution etc. arecomprised in the scope of this study.

Time and budgetary constraints were the two main limitation ofthis study. :ue to this fact, it was intended not to maximi/e sample. Theother difficulties encountered in this study wereD

All re)uired secondary information was not available due to poornational and grassroots level data base system.

?espondents sometimes became inpatients since it too* a long time

to respond to all the )uestions.

Overall, scattered location of sample households, poor

infrastructure facilities inhibited the field survey.

*(7 )onceptual frame'or+ of the studyThe framewor* for this study was based on the functioning of the

sample 2O. 0nterventions of the 2O were bro*en down into smallercomponents so that it could be measured. 0n the first step, interventionswere bro*en down into economic, social and institutional impacts basedon the data collected primarily.

*(8 )onceptuali#ing poverty Today, ending of poverty has been a ma+or issue in the policydiscussion papers all over the world. There are, however, greatuncertainties about the appropriate way of conceptuali/ing poverty in the

developed and developing countries. Wilder ec*man and 'tephen Clar*71!>8 measured poverty in terms of relativeI poverty line, which is



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generally accepted as being the relevant concept of advanced countries.This, in contrast to absolute conceptuali/ing poverty, represents an

entirely welcome change. A.G. 'en argued that poverty must be seenprimarily as an absolute notion. 0n the post$war years, elimination ofpoverty in rich countries was based on calculations using poverty linesderived from nutritional and other re)uirements of the *ind used by'eebohm ?owntree in his famous poverty studies of Jor* in 1"!! and1!3>, or by Charles ooth in his nineteenth$century study of poverty inondon. A.G. 'en argued that absolute poverty should be calculatedwhere starvation and hunger prevails chronically. 0n the light of thisstatement we will concentrate our study on absolute poverty, as starvation

and hunger are the daily matters of the developing countries.

*(*9 easurement of poverty:There are a number of aggregate measures of poverty that can be

computed. ut no measure is without criticism. ?avallion 71!!"8 argued,A credible measure of poverty can be a powerful instrument for focusingthe attention of policy ma*ers on the living condition of the poor.I Agood measure of poverty would allowD

allow one to assess the effects of pro+ects, crises, or government

policies, on poverty, permit one to compare poverty overtime,

enable one to ma*e comparisons with other countries and

target the poor with a view to improving their conditions.

'ome of the often$used measures are described below for our betterunderstanding.

*(*9(* 3ead )ount Index:y far the most widely used measure is the Headcount index,

which simply measures the proportion of the population that is counted aspoor. ational headcount index is the percentage of the population livingbelow the poverty line deemed appropriate for the country by itsauthorities. ational estimates are based on population$weightedsubgroup estimates from household surveys. This can simply beexpressed as in the followingD

N

NzyINP P

O == 87


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Where is the total population and 0 7.8 is an indicator functionthat ta*es on a value of 1 if the brac*eted expression is true and 4

otherwise. 'o if expenditure 7y8 is less than the poverty line 7/8, then 0 7.8e)ual to 1 and the household would be counted as poor. And 6 is thetotal number of the poor. This can also be expressed in the percentageform. What we calculate using the head$count index is the percentage ofindividuals who are poor not the percentage of households. The greatvirtue of the head count index is that it is simply to construct and easy tounderstand. However the measure has the following wea*ness.

it does not ta*e the intensity of poverty into account,

it does not indicate how poor the poor are, and hence, does notchange if people below the poverty line become poorer and

this index is calculated for the individuals but not the households.

*(*9(, Poverty "ap Index:A moderately popular measure of poverty is the poverty gap index,

which adds up the extent to which individuals fall below the poverty lineand expresses it as a percentage of the poverty line. 6overty gap 72n8 isdefined as the poverty line 7/8 less actual income 7y8 for the poor

individuals. The gap is considered to be /ero for everyone else. Bsing theindex function we can the formula as in the following wayD

8787 zyIyzGn =

Then the 6overty 2ap 0ndex may be written asD

This measure is the mean proportionate gap in the population7where the non$poor have /ero poverty gaps8. 'ome people thin* of thismeasure as the cost of eliminating poverty 7relative to poverty line8

because it shows how much would have to be transferred to the poor tobring their incomes 7or expenditure8 to the poverty line. The minimumcost is the sum of the poverty gaps.

6overty gap measure has the virtue that it does not imply that thereis a discontinuity 7+umpI8 at the poverty line. Jet a serious shortcoming

of this measure is that it may not convincingly capture differences in theseverity of poverty amongst the poor. The 6overty 2ap 0ndex is the


=

=N

i

nI

z

G

NP

1

1


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average over all people, of the gaps between poor people9s standard ofliving and the poverty line, expressed as ratio to the poverty line.

*(*9(- S;uared Poverty "ap Index:-any researchers and practitioners use the s)uared poverty gap

index to solve the problem of ine)uality among the poor. This is simply aweighted sum of poverty gaps 7as proportion of the poverty line8, whereweights are the proportionate poverty gaps them. The measure of s)uared

poverty index implicitly puts more weights on observations that fall wellbelow the poverty line. -athematically,

( )

1

1 =

=N

i

n

Iz

G

NP

This measure lac*s intuitive appeal, because it is not easy tointerpret and so it is not used very widely.

*(*9(/ Sen Index:'en 71!5>8 proposed an index that sought to combine the effects of

the number of poor, the depth of the poverty and the distribution of thepoverty within the group. The index is given by

)(( )z

GPPpP

s

= 11

4

Where 64 is the head$count index,p

is the mean income 7orexpenditure8 of the poor, 2pis the 2ini coefficient of ine)uality amongthe poor. The 2ini coefficient ranges from 4 7perfect e)uality8 to 17perfect ine)uality8. The 'en index can also be written as the average ofthe headcount and poverty gap measures weighted by the 2ini coefficientof the poor. This expression loo*s li*e the followingD

6'K64 26L 6071$268

The 'en 0ndex has widely been discussed and has the virtue ofta*ing the income distribution among the poor into account. However theindex is almost never used outside the academic literature, perhaps

because it lac*s the intuitive appeal of some of the simpler measure ofpoverty, but also because it can not be used to decompose poverty intocontributions from different subgroupsI7:eaton8.

*(*9(0 Poverty "ap


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6overty 2ap M1


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and there are some factors which contribute to the individuals orhouseholds or a country to get stuc* in a poverty trap.

*(** )onceptuali#ing "OsAs commonly conceptuali/ed and defined 2Os tend to have a

well$specified mission, but most of the cases they wor* as mostlyprofessional in the sense that in order to have their services, peoplere)uired to have some s*ill. All of the 2Os have their formal structure,salaried staff and clients. ig 2Os render support to other organi/ation,mostly community based organi/ations and sometimes governmentalagencies. 0n a broader sense, the definition of 2Os encompasses all*inds of voluntary and private non$profit organi/ations. :ale 74448

defined non$profit organi/ations as those that are specified in the laws ofa country and are exempted from taxation.

2O interventions refer to those programs activities those aim toalleviate or reduce poverty through their program action. There aremainly three indicators of 2O interventions$economic, social andinstitutional interventions. 0ncome generation, asset building, savingscheme, production and employment creation constitute the economicintervention. Housing, health and sanitation, education and empowerment

constitute the social intervention. 0nstitution building, access toinstitutional credit, s*ill and capacity building comprise the institutionalintervention.

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)hapter II>iterature Revie'

,(* The )oncept of PovertyThere is still no internationally accepted definition of poverty$

unli*e measures such as employment, unemployment, gross domesticproduct, consumer prices, international trade and so on. This is notsurprising( perhaps, given the absence of an international consensus onwhat poverty is a how it should be measured. 'uch consensus precededthe development of all other international standard 76in*er, 1!!!( Worldan*, 1!!>( C0?:A6, 1!!#$%8. The lac* of an internationally accepteddefinition has also reflected indecision as to whether an internationalstandard definition should allow comparisons of well$being acrosscountries compared to some international norm, or whether poverty linesshould be established according to the norms within each country 7ovib,1!!%( 2ordon and 'pic*er, 1!!!8.

The underlying difficulty is due to the fact that poverty isintrinsically a )uestion of social consensus, at a given point in time and inthe context of a given country. 'omeone acceptably well off in terms of

the standards in a developing country might well be considereddesperately poor in a country of developed world. And even within thesame country, the outloo* changes over time. A standard of livingconsidered as acceptable in the previous century might well be viewedwith abhorrence today 7'iddi)ui, 444( Hye, 1!!!8.

6overty refers to forms of economic social and psychologicalderivation occurring among people lac*ing sufficient ownership, controlor access to resources to maintain or provide individual or collective

minimum levels of living 7Chowdhury, 44( Hyder, 1!!!8. 0n thissituation, the ability to provide for minimum nutrition, health education,shelter, security, leisure or other aspects of life is impaired. 6overty, as

per this definition, represents an exclusionary relation denoting the stateof being excluded from or denied access to a pac*age of resources7?utherford, 1!!%8. 6overty, narrowly, is measured by the percentage of

population having incomes below the minimum expenditure re)uired formeeting the basic needs. A minimum nutritional diet consisting of fooditems typically consumed is first estimated and the diet is then valued at

representative prices 7Hye, 1!!>8. 6overty has social and culturalramifications of inade)uate income which has casual lin*s with many

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other forms of deprivation, including inade)uate access to health care,housing, educational services and employment opportunities 76in*er,

1!!!( -omin, 1!!( ovell, 1!!>( 'CA6, 1!!"8.

The two features of poverty NwantN and N deprivationN are definedrespectively as failure of flows and failure of stoc* are services derivedfrom material goods and human capital 7e.g. education, housing andsecurity8, whereas flows are simply goods for immediate consumption7'iddi)ui, 4448. The core basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter,health, education, drin*ing water and contraception )uantify theacceptable per capita re)uirement. Thus, the cost of the acceptable cluster

of this basic needs constitute the poverty line, and persons who cannotafford this are regarded as poor 7ovell, 1!!>( 'iddi)ui, 4448. 6overty isdefined as ine)uities in the distribution of five resources including cashincome, capital asset, occupational fringe benefits, current public servicesand private income in *ind 7Townsend, 1!548.

The concept of poverty as powerlessness underlies 7;igure .18 theimportance of economic vulnerability, physical wea*ness refers to having

poor health, with fre)uent births and deaths, with high ratio of dependants

to able$bodied adults, while isolation refers to living far away fromcenters of communication and information etc, and receiving no or fewvisits by extension wor*ers, relatives friends 7Chambers, 1!!3( 'iddi)ui,444( :ale, 444( B:6, 1!!>8. @ulnerability refers to having littleresistance against unexpected and occasionally occurring unfavorableevents, which often forces them to incur more debt or to sell or mortgageassets.

,(, >iterature Revie'

?eading discourses right is important. The discourse around micro$finance and poverty reduction has been and is being shaped by the ideasand thoughts of the social scientists. The elimination of poverty all overthe world has become a much$discussed international issue. 'till there isno internationally accepted definition of poverty. This is not surprising,

perhaps, given the absence of an international consensus on what povertyis and how it should be measured. The lac* of an internationally accepteddefinition has also reflected indecision as to whether an internationalstandard definition should allow comparisons of well$being acrosscountries compared to some international norm, or whether poverty linesshould be established according to the norms within each country 7ovib,



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1!!%( 2ordon and 'pic*er, 1!!!8. The existing evidence on the impact ofmicro$credit on poverty alleviation in angladesh is not precise. The

micro$finance revolution has changed attitudes towards helping the poorin many countries and in some has provided substantial flows of credit,often to the very low$ income groups or households, who would normally

be excluded by conventional financial institutions. angladesh is thestar*est example of a very poor country, where currently roughly one)uarter of rural households are direct beneficiaries of the programs7Ghand*er 4438. There is another wor* that suggests that access to credithas the potential to reduce the poverty significantly 7Ghand*er 1!!"8.-orduch 71!!"8 argued in his reading that micro$credit has the minimal

impact on poverty reduction. The provision of micro$credit has beenfound to strengthen crisis$coping mechanisms, diversify income$generating sources, building assets and improve the status of women7Hashemi et al 1!!>, -ontgomery et al 1!!>, -orduch 1!!", Husain etal 1!!"8. xecutive summary of the studies on 2O,s done by the facultyof angladesh Academy for ?ural :evelopment 7A?:8, Comilla in1!"1 made me possible to comprehend the ma+or purposes, activities and

policies of leading 2O,s of angladesh, 7'atter and Abedin,1!"18. 0n avery limited way this study also attempted to critically evaluate some of

the 2Os activities.

A recent past study on the 2Os made by Aditee ag Chowdhury71!"!8 is et 2rass ?oots 'pea*I. This study analyses the activities ofsome leading 2Os li*e ?AC, 6roshi*a, i+era Gari, etc. 0t attempts toexplain the techni)ues of poverty alleviation in general but does notanalysis the role of 2Os separately. Another important research on the

2Os conducted by -. Alauddin 71!"#8 is Combating ?ural 6overtyDApproaches and xperiences of 2Os.I 0t deals with the policies,techni)ues methods of the 2Os activities in general and the actions ofsome selected leading 2Os in particular. 0t does not elaborately explainthe role of the 2Os in the context of economic and social developmentof angladesh.

ose 71!>"8 and Alamgir 71!5#8 used income indicator to studythe living condition of the rural and urban population in order to analy/ethe trends of the real income of the agricultural labor households. oseused the unweighted average data on the daily money wages collected bythe :irectorate of Agriculture, and concluded that the level of living of

the people having some or no land and depending on wage$labor waslower in the 1!%4s and did not appreciably raise in the 1!>4s. ;ollowing

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the same methodology, Alamgir extended ose9s series up to 1!53 andconcluded that the series based on wage$data collected by the :irectorate

of Agriculture indicated that li*e the nominal wage$earnings, real wageswere lower in the 1!%4s. 0t was only in 1!>1 that the real wagesregistered some upward trend, but there was a sharply declining trend inreal wages following 1!>!. He also constructed a new consumer priceindex for the period 1!>5$53 using an alternative set of wage$datacollected by the ureau of 'tatistics and following different proceduresthan those of ose. This also gave the result of a similar trend.

Though these path$brea*ing studies dealt with the magnitude of

poverty in angladesh, the methodology and indicators used by them hadseveral limitations. oth researchers agreed that the studies used

published data, which were doubtful. Bnavailability of reliable data hasremained a serious constraint in macro$studies.

0ncome indicator had obvious wea*nesses that are the followingsD7a8 the estimated real wage$earnings do not measure the level of

living of the agricultural laborer households as they do theirwor*s by their individual labor(

7b8the wage$earnings do not indicate the consumption of home$produced goods( and7c8 the trend in real earnings is )uite obscure since real wage$rate

can fall and total earnings rise if the number of days wor*ed andthe number of hours spent for wor*ing there increase.

Alamgir also used per capita consumption expenditure data7collected through Central 'tatistical Office9s 'ample 'urveys8 tomeasure the level of living of the various groups of population. Hisanalysis of the trend in per capita consumer expenditure by incomegroups did not bring out any conclusive result. He, however, identifiedclear$cut differences in the pattern of consumption between rural andurban areas. He further analy/ed the data on consumer expenditure onfood and related items by income groups ta*ing different time periods forthe rural and urban areas. He concluded that the proportion of incomespent on food and related items decline with the upper income groups in

both rural and urban areas but the rate of decline is much more rapid inurban than that of rural areas. The data used for this analysis were also

published data and hence it also lac*s reliability. -oreover, the

relationship between the expenditure pattern and the level of living is notsimple. -any factors such as level of income, family si/e, social and

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physical environment, life$style and related factors govern the pattern ofconsumer expenditure.

Alamgir 71!5#8 and -u+ahid 71!558 constructed consumptionbas*ets per capita and applied the national data collected by theangladesh ureau of 'tatistics 7'8 in order to measure themagnitudes and trends in poverty. Alamgir constructed consumption

bas*ets that satisfy 144 cal and #%g protein re)uirements of an averageperson per day. ased on the retail prices of 1!>>, he calculated the perannum expenditure of ta*a !" and ta*a % for the urban and rural areas,respectively. He found that in 1!>!, more than 53 per cent of the

population was living under the poverty line and the proportion waslower in the urban areas. 0n the urban areas the proportion of people

below the poverty line seemed to have declined.

-u+ahid critici/ed Alamgir9s methodology since the lattercompletely ignored the possibility of from the average variations in percapital expenditure of persons comprising the households falling within agiven income$group. He adopted an alternative methodology to constructestimates of poverty depending on the same data. He estimated poverty

based on monthly income instead of expenditure on food. -u+ahid foundthe rise in the extent of poverty in urban areas. Thus the result is contraryto the findings of Alamgir.

Construction of a consumption bas*et is not easy as there are manyproblems relating to fixing average nutritional norms, choice ofappropriate price to value the minimum consumption bas*et and also thechoice of appropriate price index to deflate current price expenditure onfood and related items. As a result, the application of this measure often

brings out conflicting result. Hartman and oyce 71!5!8 emphasi/e theimportance of land ownership in angladesh and dramati/e by reportingthat land determines who eats and who dose not. Wood in Ameerul Hu)7ed.8, 1!5>DP considers uneven distribution of land ownership as the ma+orcause of poverty. A etherlands 'tudy 7ol et al, 1!5"8 concludes thatland ownership is the *ey factor in the understanding of rural poverty.'iddi)ui 71!"8 also considers land as an important factor in socialdevelopment and cautions that no development program would besuccessful without reorgani/ing the social structure that attaches so muchsignificance to land ownership.



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A spectacular feature of rural angladesh is its ever$increasinglandlessness. 0n 1!%1 ladles laborers comprised of 1#.% percent of all

rural households, whereas in 1!>1 the figure rose to 15.%. A benchmar*survey conducted in 1!53$5% of 5514 rural households in 1 districts ofangladesh indicated that the estimated percentage of ladles householdsat 35.>! percent 7Abdullah, et al., 1!5>8. ;amilies with less than one acreare considered functionally as ladles. Then it implies that >4 per cent ofall rural households in 1!55 were ladles 7 Qannu/i and 6each, 1!558.Ruoting B:6 < ;AO 'tatistics, Qones 71!5!8 calculated that ladleshouseholds were increasing at #.% percent in contrast to the populationincrease of ." percent. The second five$year plan of angladesh

estimated that %4 per cent of the rural population have either no land orland below one acre and ladles is considered as important indicator of

poverty. ?ural poverty ine)uality continued to accentuate due toconcentration of land in the hands of few. 0n the third plan, they estimatedthat the number of landless and the functional landless 7below 1.% acre8around two$thirds of all rural households. 0n a recent union level research,;arou* 71!"%8 found that the number of families owning 4$1 acre doubledfrom ".51 to %5.!% per cent within seventeen years.

6overty refers to forms of economic, social and psychologicaldeprivation occurring among people lac*ing sufficient ownership, controlor access to resources to maintain or provide individual or collectiveminimum levels of living 7Chowdhury, 44( Hyder, 1!!!8. 6overty hassocial and cultural ramifications of inade)uate income which has causallin*s with many other forms of deprivation, including inade)uate accessto health care, housing, educational services and employmentopportunities 76in*er, 1!!!( -omin, 1!!( ovell, 1!!>( 'CA6, 1!!"8.

The two main features of poverty are want and deprivation. Theseare defined respectively as failure of flows and failure of stoc* in terms ofmaterial goods and human capital li*e education, housing and security.'iddi)ui 74448 defined the flows as simply the goods that are re)uiredfor immediate consumption. The core basic needs such as food, clothing,shelter, health, education, drin*ing water and contraception )uantify theacceptable per capita re)uirements. Thus the cost to meet up these basicneeds may constitute the poverty line.

The concept of poverty may be defined as the powerless. This in

turn underlie the importance of economic vulnerability, physicalwea*ness refers to having poor health, with fre)uent births and deaths,



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with high ratio of dependants to able$bodied adults. 0solation may also bedefined as one of the factors of poverty. 0solation can be defined as the

place or region that is far away from the center of communication andinformation etc.

,(- Rural Poverty in BangladeshThe population of angladesh in 441 is 1!. million( of whom

"4& live in rural areas. These areas are characteri/ed by extremelyune)ual access to land, which is the critical productive resource 7',1!!1( 6op Census, 4418. The top 14& of land owners own some >4& ofthe land, whilst the bottom >4& hold in total only 1.4& of the available

land. Thus, between %4 and >4& of the rural population are functionallylandless 7i.e. they, therefore have a substantial degree of control overrural areas and their population, which they exert for their own benefit inresponse to development initiatives from outside parties.

0n almost all rural areas, the supply of labor is much higher thanthe available agricultural wor*. A recent study by the angladeshinstitute of :evelopment 'tudies 70:'8 shows that rural income frommanual labor grew at the slowest rate of all sectors, because of the

oversupply, and that the real value of agricultural wages is steadilydeclining 7B:6, 1!!>8. Opportunities for the poor outside this sectoralso extremely limited. The only area in which the poor show somerelative gain in recent years is trading, in which they have becomeincreasingly active. The institute attributes this improvements to thegrowth of governmental, private and non$governmental programs whichare providing the poor with access to credit for self$employmentactivities, which concentrate particularly in the field of small$scaletrading 7Garim, 1!!!( Hye, 1!!>8 About #>& of the population are

females. They suffer substantial disadvantages in angladesh society,including the followingD poorer nutritional status, lower life expectancy,less access to education and literacy, lower participation in the laborforces and less wages for comparable wor*. ;emale$headed householdshold the poorest position of all, and there are many restrictions imposed

by the religious re)uirements of purdah 7'alahudding and 'hamim, 1!!>(Ghan, 1!!"8

,(/ The 6ynamics of Rural Poverty'ince poverty is so pervasive in angladesh, the great ma+ority of

the poor are functionally landless, and there are relatively few formal

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sector employment opportunities in rural areas, poverty alleviationstrategies of 2Os have focused particularly on possibilities for income

generation through self$employment 7Aminu//aman and egum, 4448.

,(0 Poverty Trend in Rural BangladeshAccording to human poverty index for developing countries,

angladesh ran*s sixty$seven, 1th from the bottom, among seventy$eight developing countries 7Human :evelopment ?eport. 1!!58. Human:evelopment index ran*ing of angladesh is e)ually depressing. 'heran*s 13 among 1#> countries 7Human :evelopment ?eport. 1!!58.@ery similar picture is reflected in the World an* new system of

measuring the real wealth of nations, angladesh ran*ing 1 from thebottom among 1! countries. The wealth endowment of the country isestimated at only 3.> percent of the global average with 5! percent of thecountryNs wealth being attributed to human resources. This underlines thesignificant relative deprivation in terms of human development. An inter$country comparison of wealth among selected countries highlights the

predicaments of angladesh.

Bnited ations 0nternational ;und for Agricultural :evelopment

70;A:8, 74448 estimates that over 5%& of the poor people in the worldlive in rural areas of developing countries 7as defined by 0ntegrated6overty 0ndex$0608. 0n terms of absolute numbers, Asia dominates the

picture of world poverty with >33 million rural poor 72ordo and 'pic*er,1!!!8. angladesh is predominantly rural and the ma+ority 7About "4&8of the poor live in the rural areas. Widespread poverty fogs all otherachievements made in angladesh during the almost )uarter of a centuryof planned development 7Hye, 1!!>8. 6overty is also deepening, creatinga class of hard$core$poor. After about three decades emphasi/ing on

poverty alleviation, it had to be admitted recently that despite governmentand non$governmental organi/ation9s efforts and implementation ofvarious programs, poverty continues to be pervasive and overwhelming7'iddi)ui, 1!!>( -ustafa, 1!!8.

:etailed statistical investigation in to the economic life of a districtin central angladesh carried out by Qac* QC, the ritish Administrator71!148, on the basis consumption expenditure estimated the %1& of therural population lived in absolute poverty. 0n 1!!#, a surveyed was donein th same district by angladesh 0nstitute of :evelopment 'tudies andfound that the poverty trends show little change over "4 years since 1!14.



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The findings of 0:' research were that %& of rural people in thatdistrict lived in absolute poverty 70:', 1!!"( ', 1!!>8. 6eriodic

Household xpenditure 'urveys 7H'8 carried out by the angladeshureau of 'tatistics 7'8 is the ma+or source of information forestimating poverty. There are 14 surveys carried out, the earliest

beginning with 1!53

poverty was assessed at 51& in 1!53 7', 1!!>(

B:6, 1!!%8.

The nutritional status of the under$five children, which is verysensitive to the non$food environment, shows extremely unsatisfactory

progress. The proportion of underweight children dropped by only fivepercentage points during the half of the nineties 7-u+eri, 1!!38. 0nfantmorality has gone down from 111 in 1!"1 to 55 in 1!!>( maternalmorality has also dropped albeit at a slow pace from >%4 in 1!"> to ##4in 1!!%.

Compared to the levels prevailing in the early seventies, both ruraland urban poverty increased in the mid seventies 7possibly a reflection ofthe continued effects at a time when the spread of new HJ@ technology

begun to get momentum. The trend continued unabated till the mid$eighties 7?ahman, 1!!"8. 'ubse)uent to that, poverty started to rise againin angladesh, The early nineties the estimated poverty was higher thanthe level observed for 1!"%

:espite of the faster rate poverty reduction in urban areas, itsoverall impact on the poverty state of the nation has been rather modestdue to the low weight of urban population. According to the recent Worldan* estimates, the national head$count declined by only 4.% percentage

point per year during 1!"3$!%. ?elative consumption ine)uality hasincreased considerably in both rural and urban areas. The urban 2ini

index went up to 35& in 1!!% from 3& in 1!!18.

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According to the fifth plan document of angladesh 2overnment,

the over all adult literacy rate has increased from >& in the mid$seventies to #>& in the mid$nineties. -ale literacy rate was about threetimes higher than female in the mid$seventies( the gape was reduced to35& by the mid nineties. The aggregate allocation of resources, whichhas either a direct or indirect bearing on rural poverty, has gone upsubstantially since early eighties, from a level of 34& to %4& by 1!!#

The following figure presents the trends in poverty in angladeshfrom 1!5# to 1!"> based on the nutritionally determined income normAndean household expenditure.

,(0(* A.solute poverty trends in Bangladesh $*877=78 to

,999=9*&Table . reveals the steady situation of poverty trend of rural

areas. 0n twelve years, the percentage of poor population under povertyline has reduced from #5." to #%.1 7only by .5&8

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Table . 6opulation below the poverty ine 70n &8

Jear ?ural Brban

1!""

1!!1 #>.5

1!!% #5.1 #!.5

444


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$mployment generationD 2overnment efforts, althoughsubstantial, have had little impact in view of the consistently high

numbers of new entrants into the labor mar*et. 'ocial service provision,particularly health and education. 'hortages of )ualified personnel limitthe achievements of government systems and are aggravated byinsufficient facilities and e)uipment. 0n the face of a rising population,expenditure on social services has become increasingly inade)uate andamounts to only some .3 per cent of 26 according to World an*figures.

$?elief and rehabilitationD -any such programs combineinfrastructure provision or maintenance with employment generation.

xamples have included S;ood for Wor*9, the ?oad -aintenance 6ro+ectand the @ulnerable 2roup :evelopment 6rogram. 'ome of these

programs are extremely large. ;or example, in 1!!1


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implementation of the programs, they first set some characteristics for atarget group with similar characteristics although there are significant

differences from one to other. Today most of the 2Os are involved inthe diversified development activities while some local 2Osconcentrated their activities only on the poverty alleviation.

,(7 Typology of "Os 2Os can be of different types based on their programs. 0n

contrast, a same program of different 2Os is wor*ing for the differenttarget groups in angladesh. 'o 2Os can be categori/ed following the

programs or the target group or target development activities. ;or the

simplicity categori/ation is done on the basis of the programs asprograms can tell us where and for whom they are operating. On the basisof programs, they can be categori/ed as -icro$credit, Health, ducation,Advocacy, nvironment, infrastructure, 0nformation, Cultural, Housingand and :evelopment, 'ocial 'afety et, 0ntegrated development,0ncome 2enerating Activities etc. :efinitely there are overlapping amongthe programs and there are some multi$sectoral 2Os 7basically national

2Os8 who are operating different programs and some are uni$sectoral2Os 7basically local 2Os8 who are specially engaged a single

program.

,(8 Role of "Os in BangladeshThe great ma+orities of indigenous 2Os in angladesh are engaged

in activities falling under the SWelfare9 category and are registered underthe @oluntary 'ocial Welfare Agencies Act 7as described, for example,An Assessment of the ?ole and 0mpact of 2Os in angladesh9, Asian:evelopment an*, :ecember 1!!8. 'uch organi/ations are counted tonumber over 13,444, but few of these are believed to be currently active.

-ain areas of operation include health and family planning, whilst otherorgani/ations come into activity only in espouse to natural calamities.Only some 44 indigenous bodies registered under this act are usingforeign funding sources. -ore than !4 overseas bodies also have suchregistration, even though many of these are in fact developmentallyfocused.

?egistration of the developmental 2Os receiving foreign fundingshould be registered with the 2O Affairs ureau and nearly !44 havesuch a registration 7this was only 344 in 1!!18. They should then complywith the provision of a series of Ordinances passed in 1!5" and 1!" 7see

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'ection 3.".18. Other 2Os not under the view of the ureau areregistered with the 'ocial 'ervices -inistry, :epartment of ducation,

:epartment of Jouth Affairs, -inistry of ;orests and the nvironment orthe Women9s Affairs -inistry and receive overseas pro+ect fundingdirectly through the respective line -inistries.

;rom an early stage, developmental 2Os have laid emphasis onempowering the poor against those above them in the social system,notably landowners, moneylenders and local politicians, which are oftenclosely inter$connected or overlapping categories. These members of thelocal elite are depriving the poor from opportunities to sustain themselves

through productive activities and monopoli/ing access to resourcesprovided by 2overnment.

arly attempts to empower the poor had an ideological focus,placing emphasis on the process of Sconcreti/ation9 through a cycle ofaction, reflection and improved action, often in parallel with educationaland training activities. Whilst some 2Os, 7such as i+era Gori, see'ection ".38 retain their concentration on this process, many others now

place their ma+or emphasis on provision of services, and most particularly

credit, with concentration remaining as a relatively minor component ofactivities in the field. Although the main emphasis of many 2Os hasshifted from consciousness$raising activities, most still operate under anideological approach, which differs from that underlying government

programs in similar fields. ;or example, in an A: report 7 A: 1!!8 itis observed that Smany 2Os have micro$credit < employment$generation

pro+ects similar to the 2overnment9s ?:$?ural 6oor 6rogram. 0n theformer, however, the care and attention given to the formation of

borrower groups is much greater and is provided within a particularvalue$framewor*. The far less rigorous social preparation of ?: isgenerally accepted as the ma+or reason for lower group sustainability,

poorer loan recovery and greater miss$ targeting compared to ma+or 2Oprograms9.

,(*9 a1or Sectors of "O Operation-a+or sectors in which 2Os are currently operating are as followsD

0ntegrated rural development

'avings and credit

;amily planning 0ncome generation and training



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Women9s development

Health

ducation

Adult education

?elief and rehabilitation

'ocial awareness and motivation

Agriculture

;isheries

egal aid

Human and civil rights

?ehabilitation of blind and < or disabled

Child development

Children9s homes and orphanages

nvironment and forestry

6ublic health.

These operational sectors are combined in various ways to meet localneeds, 2O capacities and donor and < or angladeshi government

re)uirements. 0n addition to these specific activities, many of which canbe grouped under the broad rubric of poverty alleviation, most 2Oshave an underlying concern to raise the capacity of the poor to participatein national social and democratic processes. This is underta*en throughraising the organi/ational strength of the poor by group formation anddevelopment, as well as by encouraging the poor to avail themselves ofgovernment services and to participate in national and local elections.The success of the 1!!> national elections, in terms of conduct, rate of

participation and voter behavior, has been partly attributed to theheightened political awareness at grassroots level, has been raised to aconsiderable extent by the long$term efforts of 2Os, particularly inrural areas.'ome ma+or activities of 2O operation are outline below.

,(** Poverty alleviation'ince poverty is so pervasive in angladesh, the great ma+ority of

the poor are functionally landless, and there are relatively few formalsector employment opportunities in rural areas, poverty alleviationstrategies of 2Os have focused particularly on possibilities for incomegeneration through self$employment.



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,(**(* 3ealth and family planning;ew development 2Os are concentrating on speciali/ed health

and family planning programs, although many included elements of thesesectors in broader activities. ven organi/ations, which began in this area,have tended to broaden out to include income generation elements toenable the poor to access health care services and products. Bnli*e in theeducation sector, 2Os have rarely set up parallel programmes to thoseof 2overnment. An important emphasis has been to inform the poor, sothat they can participate more fully in those aspects of governmentservice perceived tobe effective, such as immuni/ation and family

planning. This has often resulted in demonstrably higher participation

among 2O group members and in villages where 2Os are active.

0n family planning, 2Os have played a substantial role in raisingawareness and acceptability and in provision of products and services.

2Os speciali/ing in family planning have, however, so far remainedlargely in urban areas.

,(**(, Environmental Activities6overty and landlines have forced people to live in areas unsuitable

or dangerous for habitation. This exacerbates the tendency for fre)uentdisasters, which are often a combination of natural events withinappropriate settlement patterns. 6opulation pressure also often leads toexcessive pressure on limited land and associated natural resources. -any

2Os in the years after 0ndependence placed considerable emphasis onthe necessity for land redistribution to reduce the pressure onenvironmentally vulnerable areas. However, this process proved virtuallyimpossible to implement in the face of powerful coalitions betweenlandowners and the political system. Accordingly, attention shifted

towards other means of poverty alleviation and reducing environmentalstress. 'ocial forestry is an important area of concentration for some2Os. 0t sometimes brings them into disagreement with 2overnment$sponsored programs, which place more emphasis on physical replantingtargets than on social aspects. Areas in which cooperation between 2Os2overnment have had substantial success include 2O member groupsleasing strips of roadside land for tree planting and maintenance, as wellas fish farming in formerly derelict government$owned ponds.cologically sustainable agriculture is another area in which several

2Os have substantial programs.



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)hapter III

Research 6esign-ethods and techni)ues applied to this study are mainly discussed in thischapter. :ata were collected from the member and non$members of 2Othrough a structured )uestionnaire in order to see the impacts of the 2O

programs. The research employed a holistic approach to see the role ofthe 2Os in alleviating the widespread poverty. The analysis iscomprised of economic, institutional and social issues to observe thediverse issues of poverty and the 2Os activities.

-(* ethodology of the StudyAs per the stated ob+ectives, different approaches would be used to

conduct the study. oth )uantitative and )ualitative methods were used tocollect data on economic, social institutional aspects and its change dueto rural development programs by a specific 2O 76roshi*a8. ;or the)uantitative data, a structured )uestionnaire was administered among the

2O members and non$members and for the )ualitative data( in$depthinterviews were ta*en from the 2O members.

-(, Selection of "O There are 4,444 2Os have been operating in angladesh. Ofthose 2Os, 6roshi*a is one of the largest and it has the multi$faceteddevelopment programs for the eradication of poverty. ;or this study

purpose 0 selected 6roshi*a for having the ideas on those developmentprograms and to comprehend the impact and


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-(/ Sample Selection

At list of 5" households were selected from the study village as asample consisting of two categories, namely, member households andnon$member households. -ember households are defined as thosehouseholds who are the involved in the 2Os functioning and the non$member households, not involved. 6roportionate sampling was used forthis study. -ember and non$member households were selectedrandomly.

Table$#D 'ampling :istribution across @illages

@illage ame ;re)uency 6ercent'adulla pur #! 15.>?asul pur >3 .5

i*ram Hati %# 1!.# Gaghmara %5 4.% -agurhata %% 1!." Total 5" 144.4

-(0 Techni;ues of 6ata )ollectionoth )ualitative and )uantitative methods were applied to

investigate the lin*ages between development programs by 6roshi*a andpoverty alleviation. Alongside the )uestionnaire survey, techni)ues of the)ualitative methods were used to collect relevant data and the informationregarding their perspectives. The )ualitative methods used in this studywere participant observation, case studies, in$depth interviews andinformal discussion with *ey informants. 0n$depth interviews were

partially recorded and extensive notes were ta*en. Total five case studies

were ta*en from the study village. ;or the )uantitative data, a structured)uestionnaire, as*ing about their income, expenditure, sources of income,sanitation, socio$demographic variables, was administered and datacollected both from the member and non$member households.

-(2 Tools for data analyses

;or ma*ing a lucid and meaningful analysis of the impact of ruralpoverty alleviation programs by 6roshi*a 7a national 2O8 on the rural

development as well as socio$economic changes, the following statisticaland economic tools will be usedD

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1. :escriptive summary statistics . 2raphical representation

3. 0nferential analysis#. Confidence 0ntervals

%. Hypothesis testing regarding differences, and associations.Contingency chi$s)uare test can be applied to investigate

association between socio$economic development of control group andnon$control group. on$member households were considered as thecontrol groups.

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)hapter I?

Profiles of the Activities of Sample "O and Beneficiaries

/(* )oncept 6efinition of the study2orman said about 2O, Son$governmental 7private8 non$profitagencies engaged in overseas provision of service for relief anddevelopment purposes 7which8 derive at least a portion of their fund from

private charitable contribution9. 2Os or non$governmentalorgani/ations are mostly *nown, now a day, as 6@:Os or 6rivate@oluntary :evelopment Organi/ations, or 2:Os 7on$2overnmental:evelopment Organi/ations8. As commonly conceptuali/ed and definedthey tend to have a well$specified mission, they usually provide servicesthat are considered as professional 7re)uiring people with somespeciali/ed s*ills for rendering them8, they have clearly identifiableformal structure, they normally wor* with least some salaried staff andoften render support to other organi/ations, mostly community basedorgani/ations, but also other, even governmental agencies. 2Os aresometimes used with a broader meaning, even occasionally asencompassing all *inds of voluntary and private non$profit organi/ations.

on$profit organi/ations are those that are specified in the laws of acountry and are exempted from taxation. 0n angladesh, however, theterm 2Os refer to all such organi/ations and institutions that areregistered with the government under @oluntary 'ocial Welfare Agencies7?egistration and Control8 Ordinance of 1!>1 and the ;oreign :onation7@oluntary Activities8 ?egulations Ordinance of 1!5". 2Os could bedefined in thiopian context as voluntary humanitarian privateorgani/ations, non$profit ma*ing, non$ serving, non$political, non$

partisan and independents organi/ations involved in the promotion of

social +ustice and development using its own resources 7:66C, 1!!% 0nTe*le, 4448.

0n angladesh, 2Os have been defined as association of personsformed through initiative of a few committed persons dedicated to thedesign, study, and implementation of development pro+ects at the grassroot level. The wor* outside government structure, but operate within thelegal framewor* of the country. They are involved in direct actionoriented pro+ects some times combined with study and research. Their

target population is primarily rural poor.



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/(, Rural 6evelopment?obert Chamber suggests, S?ural development is a strategy to

enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain forthemselves and their children more of what they want and need. 0tinvolves helping the poorest among those who see* a livelihood in therural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of development.The group includes small$scale farmers, tenants and the landless9. Timroached opinion expressed by 2O exclusively$$$$$$ any voluntarynon$profit agency involved in the field of development cooperation or ineducation and policy advocacy activities.I

/(- Proshi+a%s @nderstanding of Poverty6roshi*a believes that mass poverty in angladesh stems from

structural deprivation. 0t is caused by the interplay of several factors suchas the une)ual distribution of productive assets, ine)uitable distributionof income, unemployment and underemployment, low levels of humanresource development, lac* of people9s access to public institutions andservices, interloc*ed imperfect and distorted mar*et operations, a

patriarchal social system, environmental pollution and degradation, lac*of good governance and development pro+ects which bypass the poor

7Towards a 6overty free 'ociety, 6lan for phase 1!"" p$!8. 0n the face ofsuch conditions, 6roshi*a argued that eradicating un+ust and distortedsystems is a vital prere)uisite for poverty eradication in angladesh. Withan understanding of this development ethics, 6roshi*a has been providingsupport for structural poverty eradication throughout the country.

6roshi*a argued that as poverty is a structural problem in thesociety of angladesh, it could be eradicated through providing supportfor restructuring the social system and social structure. 6overty trend

analyses by various organi/ations have suggested )uite strongly thatimproving the income of the poor has to be associated with correspondingimprovements in health, education, environment and people9s

participation in development activities. All these issues are inter$lin*edand interdependent and re)uire an integrated, innovative and multi$dimensional approach to change the structurally uneven and un+ust socio$economic system. Conversely, it can be said that poverty is created by acombination of a set of economic, social, environmental and politicalfactors and any successful poverty alleviation strategy must have anintegrated approach to act upon all these factors in a synergistic way.

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A sound framewor* for the analysis of poverty is needed to assessthe efficacy of any development strategies underta*en. The creation and

recreation of poverty is a process in which the resources of the poor$economic, social, human, cultural and environmental$are eroded throughvarious relationships of a dominance$ dependence or patron$client nature.conomic is eroded through unemployment, underemployment, lowwages, low prices paid for commodities produced and indebtedness tomoneylenders.

'ocial resources drain away through ine)uality in social relations,loss of a sense of a community due to social atomi/ation, wea* hori/ontal

relationships between the poor, strong dominant relationships, theoppression of women and lac* of their participation in the decision$ma*ing process of the community and the state. rosion of humanresources occurs due to illiteracy, ill health, lac* of employable s*ills,lac* of confidence, lac* of an analytical ability to understand the causesof poverty, fatalism, lac* of a co$operative attitude and superstitious

beliefs and practices.

nvironmental resources are eroded when natural resources such as

land, water, air and forests are depleted and degraded. This not onlythreatens the sustainability of crops, fish, livestoc* and biomes but alsocreates health problems for the poor.

Cultural resource erosion occurs due to an adherence to a feudalculture which endorses passivity, resignation, the devaluation of physicallabor, acceptance of social ine)uality and in+ustices, and patriarchalvalues which marginalia women. These resource erosion processes are,although separately identifiable, generally inter$lin*ed and mutuallyreinforcing. ;or example, illness, dowry, illiteracy, and natural allaccentuate income losses. 6roshi*a9s policy, therefore, is to providesupport to beneficiaries through a multi$dimensional but integratedapproach in order to constrain the erosion of resources 70mpact study1!!! p$"$148.

/(/ 6evelopment Activities of the Sample "OsAll the development programs of 6roshi*a are geared up to alleviate

poverty and improve the status of rural women. Here 1% activities ofproshi*a have been documented. -ost of the programs of 6roshi*a havethe similarities. The following information shed lights on the ongoing

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activities of the 6roshi*a as a whole. -ost of the 6roshi*aNs programs arerural development programs, institution building and social mobili/ation

and micro$finance. Other programs are income generation for vulnerablegroup development, rural enterprise pro+ect, relief and rehabilitation

program, support enterprise, nutrition facilitation program, shushastho,schools, union library, cultural integration of ethnic groups, supportenterprise.

/(/(* Organi#ation Building Among the Poor6roshi*a encourages the poor living in the rural and urban areas to

organi/e themselves into groups, popularly *nown as sammitee. The

primary groups from group federations at village, union and thana levelalready reaching to 14,%% boarder organi/ational networ*s.

/(/(, 6evelopment EducationThis consists of Human :evelopment Training 6rogram and

6ractical '*ills. A total of #>%,15 training courses on humandevelopment were offered during 1!!#$1!!!. ",4>%,34 participantsattended these courses. 0n s*ill development training, the number ofcourses offered during last five years was 35,1>#. A total of "#>,143

participants attended these courses during the period.

/(/(- Peoples )ultural ProgramThis program aims at using cultural resources as a means of

concreti/ation and empowerment. 'ince inception, 6?O'H0GA hasorgani/ed a total of >#4 cultural troupes comprise of !,4# members atA:C level. Of them ,!>4 are women. 'ince women, in particular, aredeprived of participating in different cultural programs, 6roshi*a aims toensure the involvement of the women, which in turn, helps them to be

empowered.

/(/(/ 6evelopment Support )ommunication Programme $6S)P&This program, with its different components, contributes to the

social empowerment for the poor by providing communication support toother social development programs of 6roshi*a.

/(/(0 @niversal Education Program $@EP&'o far 34,%>! adult literacy centers have been established.

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/(/(2 Employment and Income "eneration $EI"& ActivitiesActivities in this program encompassD tiological Agriculture(

ivestoc*( ;isheries( 'ocial ;orestry( 0rrigation and Tilling Technology'ervice( 'ericulture, Apiculture( Homestead 2ardening( 'eed productionand -ar*eting. The 02 Activities are initiated through building savings,

provision of credit 7T*.13 billion so far8 and extension of technicalassistance. Currently the group members are engaged in 1,"%,"#4different income generating pro+ects creating .3 million employment


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communicable diseases under control and has ensured a safer and morehygienic environment in its wor*ing areas.

/(/(*, 3ealth Education Program0ntegrated nutritional activities, integration of disabled in

development, upgrading *nowledge and s*ills of traditional birthattendants and health training courses are some regular activities of this

program.

/(/(*- Economic Enterprise 6evelopment $SEE6&This 6rogram enhances the capacities of existing small

entrepreneurs, and creates more employment opportunities for the poor.

The program has so far extended T*.!1 million loans along with formaltraining, business counseling and mar*eting extension supports.

/(/(*/ Assistance to Other Organi#ationsThis program aims at achieving sustainable development through

building partnership with local 2Os, clubs and educational institutions.There are many organi/ations wor*ing with strong commitment and somegrassroots development experiences in different areas of angladesh butdo not have re)uired capacity due to different training, fund etc. 6roshi*a

with its vast experience and capacity thus extended a helping hand tothose organi/ations.

/(/(*0 6isaster anagement Program6roshi*a has been providing disaster relief during natural

calamities such as floods, cyclones, cold spells and tidal bores, andrehabilitating the victims of communal riots since 1!"#. 6reventive

programming has complemented these responsive interventions includingthe construction of > two$storied cyclone shelters in the costal areas of the

ay of engal together with costal a forestation over a stretch of 13% Gm.

/(0 Existing Activities of Proshi+a in the AreaThe following table provides the programs of 6roshi*a and the

expected impacts of the programs in the study area.

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Table #.1 Activities of the 'ample 2O in the study area and expectedimpact

Activities 6roshi*a xpected 0mpact0nstitutional 0nstitution building 2roup formation

0ncrease group cohesion0nstitutional credit ?educe dependency on

informal money lender:iversified use of loanand raise income

Training '*ill development

conomicCow rearing

To raise income andemploymentopportunities

0mprove agriculturalproduction

2oat rearing Cattle fattening ;ish farming Tailoring

;6 teaching 'mall business

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/(2 Profile of em.er and non!mem.ers of "O: Socio!

6emographic )haracteristicsAccording to the World an* estimation 71!!48, more than a

billion people in the world have been living in the poverty despite ofhaving enormous economic development in the last few decades. Theincidence of poverty is diffused unevenly and the lowest )uintile incomegroup bears comparatively more burdens. This diffusion in the poverty

picture is responsible for the creation of ine)uality in education, income,and access to health care services etc. 'uch disparities definitely shapethe demographic and socio$economic structure of the population. 0t has

been reported in the World an* publication that in a number of

developing countries, the well being of the poorest has been and


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2O program activities grouped as member and non$memberhouseholds. The surveyed households constituted a population of 1>1

people. Compared to female, the proportion of the male population washigher for the member and non$member households, but the male$femaleratio is higher for the member households than that of non$memberhouseholds.

ational 0nstitute of 6opulation ?esearch and Training 706O?T44188 found that there were more people in the age group that that ofolder age groups for both sexes. About 3!.!& of the population was

below 1% years of age compared to the national estimate of 3!&

indicating that dependent population at the early age is slightly higheramong the poorest segment of the people. The dependent population atthe later age 7>% or above8 is 1& among the poorest. This is much lowercompared to the national estimate of #&. This may be attributed to thelower life expectancy of the poorest in angladesh.

Table 1. 6opulation distribution by age and sex

Age2roup

'tudy population

-ember households on$member households-ale ;emale oth -ale ;emale oth

4$# 1.4& >.%& !.%& ".#& ".#& ".!&%$! 11.3& 1.1& 11.5& 1%.5& 1.!& 1#.#&14$1# 14.1& 13.4& 11.#& 1>."& 1#.& 1%.>&1%$1! 11."& ".!& 14.%& "."& 5."& ".3&4$# 5.& ".>& 5."& %."& !.1& 5.3&%$! >.5& 1#.& 14.1& #.#& %.& #.5&34$3# 5.5& >.& 5.4& #.5& 1!.4& 11.3&

3%$3! ".& ".>& ".3& 1.#& ".>& 14.5$## >.%& 5.#& >.!& !.!& 3.4& >.5%$#! >.& 3.3& #.!& #.5& >.%& %.%&%4$%# 3.#& 3.4& 3.& 3.>& 1.3& .>&%%$%! .& 3.>& ."& .& 1.5& .4&>4$># .#& 3.3& ."& 1.%& .#& 1.4&>%$>! 1.!& 1.%& 1.5& 4.4& 4.4& 4.4&54$5# 1.5& 4.4& 4.!& 1.1& 4.4& 4.>&5%$5! 4.%& 4.4& 4.3& 4.4& 4.!& 4.#&

"4L 4.%& 4.4& 4.3& 4.4& 4.4& 4.4& #15 33" 5%% 5# 3 %4>

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/(2(, 6isa.ility:While it is not *nown whether physical or mental disability among

the poorest is higher than the general population, this study suggests that4.%& members are either physically or mentally disable.

/(2(- 3ousehold )ompositionA small proportion of the poorest households were female$headed

7Table 8. 0t is .#& for the member households and 3.>& for the non$member households. The percentage of female$headed households washigher for the non$member households than the member households. Thismay be due to the fact of selectivity bias of the development a program as

they emphasi/e more on the male$headed households considering thatmale$headed households are comparatively more capable of repayingtheir loan installments. A finding of this study contradicts with thenational estimate where the national rural average of the female$headedhouseholds were ".#&706O?T 4418. This may be attributed for thesmall sample si/e compared to the national estimate. While single$personhouseholds were rare 71.%&8 according to national estimate 706O?T4418, Table #. shows that the estimate is approximately double for the

poorest households and the estimation is also higher for the member

households compared to the non$member households. The cause behindthis is that 2Os willingness to select single$member households as theyare comparatively more deprived and 2Os try to bring them into thedevelopment programs providing various types of assets, cash transfer,income generating activities etc. to upgrade their livelihood strategies. Asa result, the average si/e of the member$households 7#.%8 is lowercompared to the average si/e of the non$member households9 7#.%>8.

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Table #. Household composition by study population

Composition 'tudy population-ember households on$member

households

Household headship-ale !5.>& !>.#&;emale .#& 3.>&

umber of householdmembers

1 .#& 4.4&

.#& 3.>&3 1#.#& 15.1 35.5& 31.%&% ".1& "."&> !.4& !.!&5 1.& >.3&" 1."& 4.!&!L 3.4& 1."&-ean household si/e #.% #.%>

1>5 111

/(2(/ arital StatusThe distribution of marital status was of our interest in the sense to

see whether development programs were benefiting the mostdisadvantaged li*e divorced or separated. This finding suggests that the

percentage of abandoned or separated members is higher on an averagecompared to the non$members. 2Os are also providing services to thewidowed members. asically there is no significant differences exists

between the member and non$members in the case of marital statuscategories 7see table #.3 and fig$18.

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Table#.3 -arital status of 71%L years old8 study population

-arital 'tatus

'tudy population

-ember on$member othBnmarried 1".!& 4.1& 1!.3&-arried 55.#& 5>.5& 55.1&Widowed ."& .!& ."&:ivorced ."& .3& .>&'eparated ."& .3& .>&

%4! 34! "1"

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/(2(0 Education Profile of 3ousehold em.ersducation is an important component of human life as it has the

association not only with the standard of living but also an indicator ofstatus in the society. 0t has strong effect on employment creation, incomegeneration, standard of living, protecting oneself from malnutrition,access to and the use of the health care goods and services and manyother aspects of human life. This caused to consider their education. 0nthis study, education was measured by years of schooling. According to

06O?T 441, education has been consistently increasing in angladesh.About #1& of the 7%L years old8 rural population attended school at leastonce in their lifetime 7Ahmed et al. 4438. This study finding, in this

aspect, is consistent with the study done by Ahmed et al. Theinsignificant rise in education among the poorest may be attributed to thetime lag between the study. ut a very small portion of the members andnon$members had the opportunity to continue in school for more thanfive or ten years. This is why average years of schooling are very lowamong the poorest household members and this is also true for the headof the household.Table#.# Jears of schooling of the study population

Jears of schooling 'tudy household-ember household on$member

households

one 3".#& 3>.!&1 F % #3.%& 3!.#&% F 14 1#.>& 4."&

>14 3.%& .!&

Average years of education .%1 .5"-ean education of the

household head

.55 3.3

n >>> ##5

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/(2(2 >and O'nershipAs one of the ob+ectives of this study is to show the poverty

situation among the poorest households, so land ownership should beconsidered as a determinant of poverty condition within the households.

early 5& of the member households were landless compared to only

1."& of the non$member households. This reveals the facts the 2Os arehelping the poorest households by providing different types of incomegenerating assets. ut we see that except homestead, only ##.3& memberhouseholds have only cultivable land where the figure for the non$member households is #.3&. There is a significant difference in theaverage si/e of land between the member and non$member households7;ig$#.%8.

Table #.%. Ownership of and by 'tudy Household

and ownership 'tudy household

-emberhousehold

on$memberhouseholds

andless >.>& 1."&and per head 7decimal8 1%.33 ".>"Having land except homestead7decimal8

##.3& #.3&

-ean si/e of land 7decimal8 >3.1! 3%.!"

1>5 111

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2.51

2.772.78

3.32

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Average years of educa ion Mean educa ion of he household head

ean education

Fig-4.1: Educational status

em er on-mem er


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/(2(4 Cater and SanitationAccording to World an* 7448, about 14& of the total burden of

disease in developing countries arises from the contaminated drin*ingwater and an inade)uate supply of water. An estimated 14444 people dieevery day from water and sanitation related diseases and thousands of

people suffer from debilitating illness. This situation is mostly prevailingin the poor households, as they are not capable of managing bettersources of drin*ing water and sanitation. Water and sanitation relatedsic*ness put severe burdens on health services. :ue to the lac* of safewater and proper sanitation, diarrhoea spreads. Water$borne diseases are

one of the causes of under$five mortality. Considering all of theseaspects, Bnited ations initiated the 0nternational :rin*ing Water 'upplyand 'anitation :ecade 71!"1$1!!48 to promote safe water supplies andsanitation facilities for the poor especially for the developing countries. 0nthis connection, 2Os in angladesh have been wor*ing to promotethese conditions proving safe water facilities and pacca sanitationfacilities to their group members. 0t should be mentioned in thisconnection that those are not the members of 2Os( they are being

benefited due to the spill over effects of *nowledge relating to this aspect.

Over the last decade, angladesh has improved a lot in the case safedrin*ing water and sanitation facilities. ;rom Table$#.>, we see that

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>3.1!

3%.!"

4

14

4

34

#4

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-ember on$mem

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Thesis on Rural Poverty Alleviation Programe in Bangladesh

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