41
VULNERABLE GROUP DEVELOPMENT (VGD) Dhaka, Bangladesh October 10, 2007 Making a difference to the extreme poor women in Bangladesh through a social safety net programme
VULNERABLE GROUP DEVELOPMENT (VGD)
Dhaka, BangladeshOctober 10, 2007
Making a differenceto the extreme poor women in Bangladesh through a social safety net programme
PROGRAMME OUTCOME REPORT ON
VULNERABLE GROUP DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITYWFP BANGLADESH
World Food ProgrammeDhaka, Bangladesh
Prepared by the
Data Analysis and Technical Assistance, Limited
8/4 Block A (Unit 2), Lalmatia, Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh
October 10, 2007
Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd
ACRONYMS
CHT
CP
DATA
FSVGD
HHs
IGA
IGVGD
M&E
NGO
PPS
PSU
RBM
VGD
WFP
Chittagong Hill Tracts
Country Programme
Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Limited
Food Security Vulnerable Group Development
Households
Income Generating Activities
Income Generating Vulnerable Group Development
Monitoring and Evaluation
Non-government Organization
Probability Proportional to Size
Primary Sampling Unit
Results-based Management
Vulnerable Group Development
World Food Programme
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report is the culmination of the efforts of a number of people. First and foremost, the study team wishes to extend special thanks to Md. Ezaz Nabi from WFP for his helpful suggestions on the methodological aspects and interpretation of various relationships. Zahidul Hassan also provided valuable suggestions and guidelines in relation to the analysis of the field data. Thanks to AKM Mahfuzul Kabir, Md. Imrul Hassan and Benger Hassan for their untiring efforts in relation to data processing and analysis.
The field survey for the study was conducted during 2007 floods. The author remains thankful to Md. Zobair who helped ensure the study's data quality and the enumerators who collected the data under hard and risky circumstances.
Sincere thanks to M. Nafiuzzaman from WFP for the excellent graphic design and pre-press production. The study team also acknowledges its debt to Catherine Storey and Md. Ezaz Nabi from WFP for their support during the editing and finalisation of the report.
Last but not least, many thanks to the women and men from the poor households who gave their precious time responding to the questionnaires.
The Study TeamDr. Firdousi NaherZahidul Hassan
Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) is one of the largest safety net programmes assisted by the World Food Programme (WFP). It is targeted at poor and vulnerable women in Bangladesh. The ultimate goal of the programme is to bring sustainable improvement to the lives of ultra-poor households. Starting with assisting war, famine and flood victims in the early 1970s, the VGD programme has evolved over time to focus on helping poor women graduate out of poverty. Currently about 750,000 women participants (about 3.75 million beneficiaries) from ultra-poor households receive a monthly food ration combined with a package of development services. The development package includes life skills and income generating skills training as well as a personal savings programme and access to micro-credit/NGO membership. There are two different forms of VGD: Income Generating Vulnerable Group Development (IGVGD) and Food Security Vulnerable Group Development (FSVGD). IGVGD participants are provided with a monthly food ration of 30 kilograms of wheat/rice or 25 kilograms of fortified flour (atta) while FSVGD participants are provided with a cash support of Taka 100 along with 15 kilograms flour. VGD activities are run on a two-year cycle, and participants can only participate for one cycle. At the end of the previous Country Programme (CP) (2001-2006), the WFP Country Office in Bangladesh launched a New Country Programme to be implemented from 2007 to 2010. The VGD programme is one of the components that makes up the New Country Programme which aims to improve the nutritional status of women, children and adolescents through improved food consumption, education, skills development, livelihood diversification and risk mitigation.
This report highlights the findings of the outcome survey conducted on the VGD beneficiary households who participated in the 2005-2006 VGD programme cycle. The purpose of the survey was to assess the changes in the lives of ultra-poor households brought about by VGD activity by comparing to their status before the programme (baseline) and the middle of the programme. The survey undertaken in July 2007, referred to as the end-cycle outcome study covered 345 women in 46 Unions under 46 Upazilas in 29 districts from each of the programme components (IGVGD and FSVGD).
The study found that VGD activity made a significant difference in the food and livelihood security of extremely poor households in Bangladesh. A comparison of food consumption status between before and after programme participation show that the percentage of households consuming three square meals a day have more than doubled for IGVGD beneficiaries and almost tripled for FSVGD beneficiaries. Notably, most VGD beneficiaries retained their improved food consumption six months after they completed their VGD cycle, although their food consumption reached a peak during their enrolment in the programme. This is no small achievement. However nearly 50 percent of the IGVGD households and 40 percent of the FSVGD households still do not consume three full meals a day. Though most households were food secure in terms of number of meals they consumed, there was little improvement in dietary diversity and the bulk of household food expenditure continued to be on cereals.
Even after the programme cycle, almost all the households still have an income of less than US$ 1 per capita per day. However, the proportion of VGD households with per capita daily income equal or more than US$ 0.5 increased from 3 percent to 33 percent among IGVGD beneficiaries and 25 percent among FSVGD beneficiaries. In relation to monthly per capita food expenditure and monthly per capita total expenditure, FSVGD households are behind IGVGD households. The VGD beneficiaries and their families achieved a phenomenal change in terms of the net worth of their households. Much of this increase is due to the acquisition of productive assets which has brought about an improvement in their material and economic well-being.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The proportion of women in the 2005-2006 VGD cycle who are now directly involved in an IGA is higher (FSVGD - 75%; IGVGD - 60%) than that of baseline situation (31%). As FSVGD women receive a combination of food and cash with mandatory saving procedures, they are able to start an IGA without the added hassle of paying back the borrowed capital with interest. IGVGD women, on the other hand, have a built-in credit programme which gives them access to a micro finance facility at the end of their IGA training. However, ultra-poor women are often reluctant to start or continue an IGA with the burden of repaying a loan by following a NGO mandatory installment procedure.
The significant decline in the number of households making distress sales between the baseline and the end-cycle survey suggests that both IGVGD and FSVGD women improved their crises coping capabilities. The decline in distress sales was higher for IGVGD households in comparison to FSVGD households. The vulnerability of these poor households has also reduced in terms of sacrificing productive assets to cope with crises. In comparison to the baseline situation, families were using more positive coping strategies during difficult periods, such as using their savings or borrowing from friends and relatives.
In relation to women's empowerment, beneficiaries from male-headed VGD households still had little say in the household decision making process. FSVGD women were more empowered than their IGVGD counterparts in areas of decision making relating to investing in IGAs, investing in household assets, taking loans and depositing savings. Since these are key areas of household decision making, it is a good reflection of the usefulness of monthly cash entitlements given to FSVGD women in addition to their food entitlement. Giving cash directly to women appears to make them more empowered to make important decisions relating to money matters.
Both IGVGD and FSVGD households do not seem to follow healthy cooking practices and neither do they maintain proper health, hygiene and sanitation. They also have a low level awareness and knowledge of AIDS. More than 70 percent of the women surveyed had not heard of AIDS.
The proportion of VGD households consuming three square meals a day more than doubled between the baseline and outcome surveys.
The proportion of households earning more than US$ 0.50 per day increased by 30 percentage points among IGVGD households and 22 percentage points among FSVGD households.
After participation in VGD activity the number of women involved in income generating activities increased by 31 percentage points for IGVGD participants and 45 percentage points for FSVGD participants.
The net worth of IGVGD households increased by 57 percentage points and 26 percentage points for FSVGD households between the middle and the end of the programme.
Women who are given cash directly seem more empowered to make important household decisions relating to money.
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•
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Key outcomes of VGD cycle (2005-2006):
The proportion of VGD households consuming three squaremeals a day my ore than doubled between the baseline and outcome surveys.
The proportion of households earning more than US$ 0.50 perday increased by 30 percentage points among IGVGDhouseholds and 22 percentage points among FSVGD households.
After participation in VGD activity the number of womenyinvolved in income generating activities increased by 31percentage points for IGVGD participants and 45 percentagepoints for FSVGD participants.
The net worth of IGVGD households increased by 57percentage points and 26 percentage points for Fr SVGDhouseholds between the middle and the end of theprogramme.
Women who are given cash directly seem more empoweredto make important household decisions relating to money.
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•
•
•
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Key outcomes of VGDcycle (2005-2006):
CONTENTS
1 Introduction 1
Introduction ................................................................. 1Purpose of the Survey .................................................. 2Survey Design and Sampling ....................................... 2Training ....................................................................... 5Field Operarions .......................................................... 5 Quality Control Mechanisms........................................ 5Problem Encountered in the Field ................................ 5Data Entry and Cleaning .............................................. 5Data Processing and Analysis ....................................... 5
2 Background characteristics 6 of VGD households
Characteristics of sample households ........................... 6Characteristics of sample beneficiaries .......................... 6
3 Improved household food 7 security of the extreme poor
4 Enhanced household 11 livelihood security of the extreme poor
Expenditure pattern of households .............................. 11Changes in the net-worth of beneficiary households .. 12Changes in landholding status ...................................... 13Skill development of beneficiary women: participation in IGA ................................................. 14Savings pattern of households ...................................... 17Crises coping strategies of households ........................ 17Knowledge of flood management strategies ................ 19Indebtedness of households ......................................... 20
5 Healthy practices in the 22 daily life of the extreme poor
Healthy practices and hygiene .................................... .22AIDS awareness........................................................... 23
Mother and child health............................................... 24
6 Social transformation of the 27 extreme poor
Awareness of women rights:......................................... 27Status of women participation in decision making ...... 28
7 Conclusions ions and 30 Recommendations
Recommendations ...................................................... 31
Case Study:
1. A Giant Step for Meem ....................................... 15
2. Vulnerable Group Development programme has changed Zayeda's life ................ 16
3. VGD helps Rupali recover after floods ............... 21
4. Bonary makes a profit 15,600 taka per month ............................................................ 26
5. Knowledge of women rights helps Shahida protect herself from violence ................ 29
List of figues
Figure 1: Targeting the poor - who are the most food insecure and most vulnerable ..... 1
Figure 2: VGD Programme Survey SItes ................... 4
List of charts:
Chart 1: Proportion of households spendingmore than 70% of total expenditure on food ........................................................12
Chart 2: Changes in landholding status ..................... 13Chart 3: Involvement in IGA: end-cycle
and baseline .................................................14Chart 4: Proportion of households making distress
sales/mortgages before and after joining programme ...................................................17
Chart 5: Crises coping strategies of households ....... 19Chart 6: Healthy practices and hygiene .................... 22Chart 7: Mother and childcare: Knowledge .............. 25Chart 8: Index of mobility of VGD women ...............29
CONTENTS
List of tables:
Table 1: Region-wise division of samplehouseholds under VGD programme ................................................... 3
Table 2: Characteristics of sample households ................................................... 6
Table 3: Background characteristics of sample beneficiary women ....................................... 6
Table 4: Proportion of households consuming 2/3 meals per day ......................................... 7
Table 5: Number of major food groups consumed by households per day ................. 8
Table 6: Number of major food groups consumed by households per day (WFP specified) ............................................ 8
Table 7: Diet diversity index of beneficiary households..................................................... 9
Table 8: Proportion of food expenditure on the selected food groups by food expenditure category ...................................10
Table 9: Expenditure pattern ofhouseholds ...................................................11
Table 10: Net-worth of households ...........................12Table 11: Net-worth of households by
net-worth category .....................................13Table 12: Skill development of beneficiary
women .......................................................14Table 13: Savings of beneficiary
households..................................................17Table 14: Quantum of savings by beneficiary
households..................................................17
Table 15: Proportion of households selling at least 25% of their productive assets in distress (non-land) .................................18
Table 16: Type of crises faced by householdsfor which distress sales/mortgages were made ..................................................18
Table 17: Knowledge of flood management techniques ................................................ 19
Table 18: Indebtedness of households ..................... 20Table 19: Reasons for borrowing ............................ 20Table 20: Water and sanitation of VGD
households ............................................... 23Table 21: Water and sanitation index of
beneficiary households ............................ 23Table 22: AIDS awareness issues ............................ 23Table 23: Mother and childcare:
knowledge-practice gap ........................... 24
Table 24: Social awareness among IGVGD and FSVGD beneficiaries .............................. 27
Table 25: Awareness of women rights ...................... 28Table 26: Status of women participation
in decision making .................................. 28Table 27: Socio-economic characteristics
of IGVGD and FSVGD households based on level of food insecurity ............. 30
AppendixWater and sanitation index ..........................................32Mobilty Index ...............................................................32
1
Introduction:Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) is one of the largest safety net programs assisted by the World Food Programme (WFP). It is specifically targeted at poor women in Bangladesh. The programme's ultimate goal is to bring sustainable improvement to the lives of members of ultra-poor households. Since the VGD programme was started to assist war, famine and flood victims in the early 70's, it has evolved to become one of WFP's key programme strategies to assist poor women escape poverty line of less than 1,805 kcal intake a day and enable them to participate in government and NGO-supported development activities.
VGD aims to reach ultra-poor rural women with complementary inputs that will improve their nutrition and enhance their livelihoods and self-reliance. Over 24 months, the VGD assistance package includes:
- fortified wheat flour or rice to offset the opportunity costs of participating in training programmes and to improve nutrition;
- training in health and nutrition, civil and legal rights, literacy and numeracy, HIV awareness and prevention measures, child trafficking, budget management, and income-generating activities;
- enrolment in personal savings programmes;
- micro-credit aimed at securing small businesses to
enhance livelihood security; and
- NGO membership for women who repay loans.
The VGD programme had two components: (i) Income Generating VGD (IGVGD) and (ii) Food Security VGD (FSVGD). The components together served 750,000 participants (about 3.75 million beneficiaries) from the ultra-poor households. In the IGVGD component, beneficiaries received a monthly ration of 30 KGs of wheat or 25 KGs of fortified flour (atta) and in the FSVGD programme, beneficiaries receive 15 kg atta and Taka 150 per month. All the programmes are similar in their beneficiary targeting approach and development package service delivery.
FSVGD was only operational in seven districts in Northerh Bangladesh: Dinajpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Naogaon, Rajshahi, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon. These areas are 'monga'(Bangla name for a near famine situtation) prone areas where the level of food insecurity is very high. IGVGD was operational in all remaining districts across the country.
IntroductionChapter 1
147 million
Ultra Poor
20+ Million
Poverty Line
Cal
orie
Int
ake
2,122 KCal
1,805 KCal
Percentage of income spent on food
Inco
me
Figure-1: Targeting the poor - who are the most food insecure and most vulnerable
2
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Purpose of the Survey
This outcome survey, undertaken in July 2007, covers the phased out beneficiaries of both IGVGD and FSVGD activity in the 2005-2006 VGD programme cycle. In this report it will be referred to as the end-cycle outcome survey. Its purpose is to assess the intended change in the lives of ultra-poor households as a result of their participation in IGVGD and FSVGD activity. The VGD women were surveyed after six months of their phase out from the programme. Overall, the survey aimed to assess the food security and nutritional status of beneficiary households and their health and livelihood status in comparison to the baseline results collected in 2005.
Survey Design and Sampling
Survey site: The survey was conducted in 46 unions in 46 Upazilas in 29 districts all over Bangladesh (see Figure 2). Of these, the FSVGD survey was done in the northern districts of Dinajpur, Kurigram, Rajshahi, Lalmonirhat, Naogaon, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh while the IGVGD survey was done in the rest of the country.
Sampling design and sample size: In order to determine the required sample size an approach based on confidence level and precision rate was followed. The advantage of this approach is that the statistical validity of a sample does not depend on its size relative to the population being investigated. Rather what matters is the required level of probability (confidence level), required degree of precision and the variability of the population. The following formula was used to estimate the required sample size:
Where, n = sample size z = standard normal variate at a given level of significance (z = 1.96 at 95% confidence interval) p = proportion of success for the indicator q = 1 - p e = precision rate or amount of admissible error in the estimate
The sample design needed to take into account the cost and time needed to interview each respondent and the time needed to move from respondent to respondent. If the latter factor was not an issue, a simple random sampling would suffice. To minimize survey costs, the right trade-off is needed between the number of clusters and the size of each cluster. Fewer clusters will reduce travel and other costs of seeking out the sample as the respondents are within a limited area. However, the variation within the population will not be well reflected as one can expect there to be less variation among people in one cluster compared to people in a range of clusters. The sample size needs to be increased or compensated for this 'cluster effect'. The cluster effect can be calculated using the formula:
Where,
The cluster size was set at 15 households per cluster taking into account cost and interview time, time needed to move between respondents and the size of the survey team. Using the above formula, an adjustment factor of 3.8 was calculated for a cluster sample of 15.
The union is the lowest administrative level in the VGD programme. Thus a union was taken as the Primary Sampling Unit (PSU). Each union was selected as a cluster. To minimize enumerator hardship in contacting sample respondents scattered over the whole union, one or two wards were selected at random. From these randomly selected wards, the sample was drawn. A two-stage systematic cluster random sampling technique was used to select the sample households. The sample was drawn according to probability proportionate to size (PPS) where the number of programme participants per union was taken as the weight. The list provided by WFP served as the sampling frame to draw the sample target beneficiaries. Table 1 gives the region-wise distribution of sample households.
3
District Upazila Union IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGDBagerhat Mollahat Chunkhola 15 175 8.6Barisal Gournadi Nalchira 15 88 17Brahmanbaria Sarail Pakshimul 15 250 6Comilla Barura Jhalam 15 80 18.8Comilla Birampur Jotbani 15 100 15Dinajpur Bochaganj Ishania 15 250 6Dinajpur Dinajpur Askorpur 15 130 11.5Dinajpur Nawabganj Daudpur 15 113 13.3Gaibandha Gobindaganj Mahimaganj 15 382 3.9Gopalganj Gopalganj(s) Paikkandi 15 264 5.7Habiganj Bahubal Shatkapon 15 200 7.5Jamalpur Islampur Gaibandha 15 290 5.2Jessore Sarsha Lauxmanpur 15 100 15Kishoreganj Katiadi Luhajuri 15 203 7.4Kishoreganj Chilmari Nayerhat 15 210 7.1Kishoreganj Fulbari Nowdanga 15 300 5Kurigram Kurigram Jatrapur 15 395 3.8Kurigram Nageswari Newashi 15 284 5.3Kurigram Rajarhat Gharialdanga 15 380 3.9Kurigram Ulipur Thetrai 15 309 4.9Kushtia Khoksha Betbaria 15 240 6.3Kushtia Hati Bandha Barakhata 15 730 2.1Lalmonirhat Kaliganj Chandrapur 15 323 4.6Lalmonirhat Lalmonirhat Mogalhat 15 300 5Mymensingh Nandail Chondipasha 15 234 6.4Mymensingh Trishal Bailor 15 220 6.8Mymensingh Badalgachi Bilashbari 15 225 6.7Mymensingh Manda Manda 15 238 6.3Naogaon Mohadevpur Chandash 15 305 4.9Naogaon Neyamatpur Sreemantapur 15 220 6.8Naogaon Raninagar Baragacha 15 175 8.6Narail Kalia Joynagar 15 230 6.5Natore Lalpur Walia 15 267 5.6Nawabganj Nawabganj Jhilim 15 229 6.6Netrokona Kendua Balaishimul 15 270 5.6Panchagarh Debiganj Sonahar 15 250 6Rajbari Pangsha Kashba Mazail 15 260 5.8Rajshahi Puthia Bhalukgachi 15 164 9.1Rajshahi Tanore Kamargaon 15 360 4.2Rangpur Kaunia Tepa Modhupur 15 440 3.4Serajganj Serajganj Sialkole 15 193 7.8Shariatpur Shariatpur(s) Domshar 15 188 8Sylhet Bishwanath Daulatpur 15 135 11.1Tangail Ghatail Ghatail 15 100 15Thakurgaon Baliadangi Barobari 15 187 8Thakurgaon Ranisankail Dharmagarh 15 195 7.7
345 345 5038 6143 6.84 5.62
No. of sample households
Total beneficiary households
% of sample to total beneficiary households
ALL
Table 1: Region-wise division of sample households under VGD programme
Ulipur
Ghatail
Manda
Kalia
Pangsha
TrishalNandail
Baura
Gobindaganj
Niamatpur
Dinajpur
KenduaTanore
Nawabganj
Islampur
Sharsha Gopalganj
Nageshwari
Lalpur
Sirajganj
Sarail
Debiganj
Mahadebpur
Katiadi
Kurigram
Nawabgonj
PuthiaBahubal
KaligonzRanisankail
Baliadangi Hatibandha
Raninagar
Palong
Mollahat
Lalmonirhatatat
Bochaganj Kaunia
Birampur
Rajarhat
Phulbari
Bishwanath
Badalgachhi
Gaurnadi
Khoksa
Chilmari
Sylhet
Rangamati
Tangail
Bogra
Khulna
Dinajpur
Comilla
Bandarban
Naogaon
Pabna
Mymensingh
Satkhira
Sunamganj
Jessore
Habiganj
Natore
Netrakona
Sirajganj
Rangpur
Rajshahi
Bagerhat
Noakhali
Faridpur
Dhaka
Jamalpur
Maulvibazar
Kushtia
Kishoreganj
Gazipur
Gaibandha
Feni
Jhenaidah
Chandpur
Sherpur
Narail
Rajbari
Nawabganj
Barisal
Magura
Manikganj
ChittagongBhola
Kurigram
Khagrachhari
Cox's Bazar
NilphamariThakurgaon
Gopalganj
BrahamanbariaNarsingdi
Shariatpur
Panchagarh
Lakshmipur
Madaripur
Lalmonirhat
Joypurhat
ChuadangaMunshiganj
Patuakhali
Meherpur
Barguna
Pirojpur
Narayanganj
Jhalokati
FSVGD IGVGD
5
TrainingA five-day training was organised and delivered by DATA (Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Limited) for the enumerators. The training included a briefing on the objectives of the survey, interview techniques as well as a detailed explanation of each question and its relevance to the survey, how to pose the question and how to code the answers. Useful feedback received from the trainees helped in the development of the questionnaire. A set of guidelines was also created during the training session, which was given to each enumerator to use during data collection.
Field OperationsBased on the sample size distribution, the field survey was carried out by two teams, each consisting of two female and two male enumerators and a supervisor. Following the plan, the enumerators had to interview three households per day and have the survey complete in 25 days. However, the floods in August and September 2007 hampered the pace of activity and the survey was delayed by two weeks. The enumerators had to work in inclement weather under hard conditions. Given the extensive flooding, the enumerators had to take boats to and from the survey sites, at great risk to their personal safety.
Quality Control MechanismsEach team of enumerators were overseen by a supervisor who managed the day-to-day data collection process. Field supervisors checked the enumerators' interviewing technique, reviewed questionnaires for problems, and dealt with logistical problems on a daily basis. Supervisors used the Lot Quality Assessment Technique (a lot of questionnaires drawn randomly from a pile of filled-in questionnaires and rechecked with the interviewee) to ensure the interview quality during the
survey. At the end of each day, supervisors and enumerators discussed and corrected any problems that may have arisen in the field. Each enumerator checked his or her work before handing the questionnaire to the field supervisor, who reviewed the filled-in questionnaires again, before passing it on for data entry.
Problems Encountered in the FieldAs already been mentioned, the field conditions were very difficult due to incessant rain and unprecedented floods.
Data Entry and CleaningCollected data was entered using the customized MS Access data input software developed by DATA. Once the entry was completed, the following techniques were employed to check the consistency and validity of data:
1. Five percent of the filled-in questionnaires were checked against entered data to measure transmission errors or typological errors, and;
2. A logical consistency checking technique was employed to identify inconsistencies using SPSS and STATA software. Any inconsistencies or discrepancies found were corrected.
Data Processing and AnalysisResults from the survey were processed using MS Excel, SPSS and STATA software.
Since the present survey objective was to assess outcomes, the basic methodology involved a comparison of VGD households with the earlier baseline survey households. Different statistical tools and methods have been used to analyse the quantitative data. Results from the qualitative survey have been put in separate boxes.
Table 2: Characteristics of sample householdsHousehold characteristics IGVGD FSVGDi) Male headed hhs (%) 52.8 73.3ii) Female headed hhs (%) 47.2 26.7iii) Average hh size 4.4 4.3
Religion of hh (%)Muslim 91.6 87.2Hindu 8.1 12.5Christian 0.3 0.3Buddhist 0 0Others 0 0
iv) Ethnicity of HHs (%)Bengali 99.4 99.4Bihari 0 0.3Tribal 0.6 0.3
v) Main source of income of household head (%)Agriculture sources 20.6 11.9Wage labor 35.9 62.6Petty trade/self employment 25.8 15.9Services 4.3 3.8Beggar 0.9 1.2Housewife 8.4 1.7Others 4.1 2.9
6
Characteristics of sample households:VGD activity targets extreme poor households from the community with particular socio-economic characteristics. The survey found nearly 50 percent of IGVGD households were female-headed while one-quarter of FSVGD sample households were female-headed. The average household size in both FSVGD and IGVGD groups was four. The majority of the households were Muslim followed by Hindu (8% IGVGD and 12% FSVGD) and Christian (0.3 %). Almost all the households were Bengali. Wage labour was the main source of income for FSVGD household heads (66 percent), in comparison to 36 percent of IGVGD household heads. Petty trade or self-employment was the second most common source of income followed by agricultural sources and services.
Characteristics of sample beneficiariesThe average age of beneficiary women in both programs was 36-40 years (Table 3). Their marital status shows that unmarried beneficiaries were rare but about one-fourth of IGVGD women and 16 percent of FSVGD women were widows. About 7-10 percent of women in both groups were divorced, or separated or abandoned.
The literacy and education level of the beneficiaries from both groups was very poor. About 22 percent of the IGVGD women and 13 percent of the FSVGD women were illiterate. Sixty to 70 percent of women only knew how to sign their names. More women in the IGVGD
group could read and write Bangla than in the FSVGD group (17% vs 10%). Most of those who could read and write do not seem to have received formal education as only 15 percent of IGVGD women and 13 percent of FSVGD women had finished primary school. Only 6 percent of IGVGD participants and 3 percent of FSVGD participants graduated from secondary school.
Most beneficiaries practice agriculture as their primary occupation. A large proportion of beneficiaries were housewives followed by day labour and petty trade.
Both beneficiary groups have an average of two children per household which is also the average number of dependants per household implying that most families are nuclear families. About 30 percent of these households have children below 5 years of age while about 55 percent of households have school going children below 15 years of age. Eleven percent of IGVGD women and 5 percent of FSVGD women had a disabled husband.
Background characteristics of VGD householdsChapter 2
Characteristics IGVGD FSVGD
i) Mean age of beneficiary in years 39.4 36.1
Unmarried 1.4 1.2Married 63.8 72.2Widowed 27 16.5divorced/separated/abandoned 7.8 10.1
Illiterate 22 13.3Sign only 59.4 73.3Read only 1.7 3.2Read and write bangle 16.8 10.1
None 79.1 84.1Primary 14.8 12.8Secondary 6.1 2.9Above secondary 0 0.3
Housewife 30.7 15.1Day labour 19.1 31Agriculture 35.7 43.5Petty trade 8.7 8.4Services 0.9 0.9Others 4.9 1.2
vi) No. of children of beneficiary 2.2 2vii) Beneficiaries with children below 5 years of age (%) 31.9 27
viii) Beneficiaries with school going children (below 15 years of age) (%) 57.7 55.7
ix) Beneficiaries husband is disabled (%) 11.4 4.8
x) Average no. of dependants in household (non-income earners) 2.4 2.1
ii) Marital status of beneficiary (%)
iii) Literacy of beneficiary (%)
iv) Education of beneficiary (%)
v) Occupation of beneficiary (%)
Table 3: Background characteristics of sample beneficiary women
Chapter 3Improved household food security of the extreme poor
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD 3 full meals per day 55.1 60.3 55.7 63.3 21.1
2 full meals per day 26.1 24.9 34.5 29.8 39.6
1 full meal per day 13 11.3 8.1 6.7 24.6
No full meal taken 5.8 3.5 1.7 0.3 14.7
Chi-square (p-value) 0 0
Table 4: Proportion of households consuming 2/3 meals per day
No. of mealsEnd-cycle Mid-cycle Baseline
At the national level food security means the availability in the country of sufficient stocks of food to meet domestic demand until such time as stocks can be replenished from harvests or imports. At the individual level, it means that all members of the society have access to the food they need, either from their own production, from the market and/or from the government's transfer mechanism. Experiences have shown that even when national level food security is achieved, individuals and groups in the country can still go hungry because they do not have the means to access food (Clay, 1989). The food security situation of VGD households was examined in terms of meal frequency, dietary diversity and household food expenditure patterns.
The proportion of IGVGD and FSVGD households who could not afford to consume three meals a day declined substantially since the baseline survey (Table 4). This is no small achievement. However, the percentage of households who consumed three full meals a day decreased between the end-cycle and the mid-cycle but remained substantially higher than the baseline situation.
The proportion of households consuming two full meals a day also declined between the mid-cycle and the end-cycle and there was an increase in the number of participants falling into the 'one meal per day' and 'no full meal taken' categories. The percentage of IGVGD households who took only a single meal in a day increased from eight percent in the mid-cycle to 13 percent in the end-cycle. The respective figures for FSVGD were seven percent and 11 percent. There was also a substantial increase in the proportion of households who did not take a single full meal in a day. Thus, it appears that the households' food consumption reached a peak in the middle of the programme but decreased again after the households graduated from the programme.
The proportion of VGD households consuming three square meals a day has more than doubled compared to the
previous situation.
7
Information was collected on the households' consumption of the six major food groups: cereals, pulses, fats and oils, vegetables and fruits, tubers and animal products. Although most households are food secure in terms of number of meals eaten per day, their dietary diversity is low (Table 5). Less than 30 percent of the IGVGD households consume all six food groups per day. In contrast 46 percent of FSVGD households consume all food groups per day. If one looks at the percentage of households consuming at least four food groups a day (which is the requirement for a balanced diet), the situation has not changed since the baseline.
8
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGDConsumed 4 food groups* 82 74.2 80 80.1 63.6Consumed any 3 of 4 food groups* 18 25.8 19.4 19.4 33.2Total 100 100 99.4 99.4 96.8
Chi-square (p-value) 0 0
Table 6: Number of major food groups consumed by households per day (WFP specified)
No. of food groupsEnd-cycle Mid-cycle Baseline
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD
6 food groups 29.3 46.4 51.6 41.9 25.7
At least 5 food groups 73.9 78 83.5 76.9 70.5
At least 4 food groups 96.2 92.2 97.4 93.6 96.2
At least 3 food groups 100 99.7 100 100 99.4
At least 2 food groups 100 100 100 100 100
Chi-square (p-value) 0.5 0
No. of food groupsEnd-cycle Mid-cycle Baseline
Table 5: Number of major food groups consumed by households per day
* These 4 food groups consist of cereals, animal products, vegetables/fruits, oils & fats
9
When compared with the mid-cycle results, there appears to be a fall in the variety of food groups consumed and a consequent fall in the diet diversity index. Overall, it can be seen from Table 4, Table 5 and Table 6 that households are improving from the baseline situation in terms of frequency of meals consumed but not in terms of dietary diversity, significantly impacting on a household's nutritional security. Thus, despite spending a majority of their income on food (Table 7), these households do not consume a well balanced diet. Notably, less than one percent of IGVGD or FSVGD households have a high level of dietary diversity. In rural areas of Bangladesh, many households still consider a full plate of rice a full meal. There could be a couple of reasons behind this. Firstly, they cannot afford more than this and secondly, even if they could, they are not aware of the importance of dietary diversity. In many cases, even when the awareness exists, households are simply not able to assimilate this knowledge into action. Perhaps it highlights the need
to strengthen the existing VGD nutrition awareness training on the importance of food diversity and also to ensure that households adopt and adhere to this practice as far as possible.
During the process of economic transformation, the proportion of expenditure spent on staple food gradually reduces. After a threshold level of income, households can afford a diversified diet and the percentage of income spent on staple food starts declining. Though one is looking at a very low income range here, this trend is reflected in table 8. Cereal expenditure as a proportion of total food expenditure is seen to decline with increasing food expenditure. As participants spend more on food the proportion of expenditure spent on cereals and vegetables and tubers decreases and the proportion of expenditure spent on protein-rich animal foods increases. Table 8 shows the percentage of expenditure per food group made by VGD beneficiaries in the mid and end-cycles.
1This index is also known as Simpson index. See G.P. Patil and C. Taillie. 1982. Diversity as a concept and its measurement, Journal of the American Statistical Association 77, 548-561.
To assess the dietary diversity of households, an index on diet diversity of the households was calculated using the Berry index of diversity (Berry 1971) which is obtained
where aj refers to individual food consumption expenditure while A refers to the total consumption expenditure of the household. The diversification index (D) is always between zero and unity with zero implying no diversification. D increases as the ratio approaches unity.
222
21 ..........1
++
+
−=
Aa
Aa
AaD n
1
A look at the diet diversity index (Table 7) also shows similar results to that in Table 5. The proportion of households with high diet diversity has decreased. However, the proportion of households with low diet diversity has also decreased, while households with medium diet diversity has increased. The proportion of households with medium diet diversity was higher in the mid-cycle than in the end-cycle.
BaselineIGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD VGD
Low (0.0 to 0.65) 46.4 47.8 34.2 34.7 49.7
Medium (0.65-0.80) 53 51.6 64.6 64.5 48.8
High (> 0.80) 0.6 0.6 1.2 0.9 1.4
Diet diversity index End-cycle
Table 7: Diet diversity index of beneficiary households
Percentage of householdsMid-cycle
10
Table 8: Proportion of food expenditure on the selected food groups by food expenditure category
% of food exp ofIGVGD beneficiaries on
Food expenditure groupLow
(< 2500)High
(>3500)Medium
(2500-3500)Low
(< 2500)High
(>3500)Medium
(2500-3500)
Food expenditure groupIGVGD FSVGD
BaselineMid-cycleEnd-cycleBaselineMid-cycleEnd-cycleBaselineMid-cycleEnd-cycleBaselineMid-cycleEnd-cycle
53.549.454.710.716.013.511.713.711.64.23.44.8
47.047.051.914.817.712.718.417.215.43.13.04.3
43.144.845.412.517.113.618.419.019.23.13.04.7
53.551.953.810.714.414.411.714.613.04.23.03.8
47.046.653.514.815.213.018.419.915.93.12.63.4
43.141.242.812.514.915.718.424.521.83.12.33.8
Cereal
Fruit/veg
Animal
Oil
The poor do not have adequate purchasing power to secure their access to food. The chronic food insecurity of VGD beneficiaries comes from their overall household livelihood insecurity in terms of capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and means of making a living. VGD activity contributes significantly to the acquisition of productive assets, enhancement of household income and an increase in households' ability to meet food and non-food livelihood priorities.
Expenditure pattern of households: A comparison of the expenditure pattern of participants between the baseline and end-cycle situation shows that monthly per capita food and non-food expenditure has increased substantially. Using household expenditure as an indicator of proxy for household income, the survey results show that the average monthly expenditure of IGVGD households is about 8 percent higher than that of FSVGD households. Both IGVGD households and FSVGD households spend 68 percent of their expenditure on food, particularly cereals (mainly rice). Approximately, 10 percent of food expenditure is spent on vegetables and fruits and 15 percent of food
expenditure is spent on protein-rich items such as meat, eggs and fish. The increase in the price of these has surpassed the increase in poor household's purchasing power resulting in the low intake in both IGVGD and FSVGD households. The scenario seems much the same for both groups of households. The average percentage of non-food expenditure to total expenditure is about 30 percent for both groups. Almost all VGD households still have an income of less than US$ 1 per capita per day. The changes in per capita per day income for both the groups are only visible if the internationally defined poverty line is lowered to US$ 0.50 per person per day. The VGD households with per capita income of less than US$ 0.50 per day reduced from 97 percent to 67 percent among IGVGD households and 75 percent among FSVGD households.
Enhanced household livelihood security of the extreme poorChapter 4
The proportion of households earning more than US$ 0.50 per day increased by 30 percentage points among IGVGD households and 22 percentage points among FSVGD
households.
* Statistically significant at 1 percent level
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGDPer capita monthly food expenditure (Taka) 620* 586* 565 589 300Per capita monthly non-food expenditure (Taka) 330* 292* 271 240 167Per capita total monthly expenditure (Taka) 950* 878* 835 829 466Average monthly food exp of households (Taka) 2609* 2364* 2355 2540 1310Average non-food exp of households (Taka) 1357* 1167* 1105 1031 728Average monthly total exp of households (Taka) 3966* 3531* 3460 3571 2038Percentage of cereals to total expenditure 52.2 52.5 48.2 48.8 53Percentage of animal food to total expenditure 14.1 14.7 15.2 17.6 12.1Percentage of vegetables and fruits to total expenditure 13.3 14.2 16.6 14.7 10.9Percentage of food exp to total expenditure 68.3 68.2 69.8 71.6 68.7Percentage of non-food exp to total expenditure 31.7 31.8 30.2 28.4 31Proportion of households whose income is less than USD1/capita/day 96.8 98.6 98 98.8 99.1Proportion of households whose income is less than USD 0.5/capita/day 67 75.4 81.2 79.2 96.5
Table 9: Expenditure pattern of households
Expenditure categoryEnd-cycle Mid-cycle
Baseline
11
12
Chart 1: Proportion of households spending more than 70% of total expenditure on food
50.752.8 52.3 51.6 54
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
% o
f h
ou
se
ho
lds
IGVGD FS VGD
P ro g ra m m e
mid-cycle end-cycle bas eline
Changes in the net-worth of beneficiary households: Net worth is defined as the value of assets and savings minus loans outstanding. Table 10 illustrates significant changes in the net worth of both FSVGD and IGVGD households between the mid-cycle and the end-cycle. The net worth of IGVGD beneficiary households increased by a remarkable 57 percent between the mid and end-cycle. For FSVGD households, the increase was lower at 26 percent. This increase was brought about mainly by an increase in productive non-land assets as well as an appreciation in the value of land.
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGDProductive non-land assets 3659 3989 8673** 9436** 2693 4749 5508 7465
Land asset 33523 22690 58225** 35153** 25481 16795 25845 18476
Non-productive assets 961 557 1638* 837* 1033 764 1092 825
Financial assets (savings etc) 427 545 1769** 1551** 297 366 1813 1579
Loans given out 158 174 379* 572* 19 132 603 463
Stock 0 31 65* 94* 31 198 227 285
Investment 216 101 1538* 533* 122 110 291 302
Total assets 38944 28088 72288** 48177** 29675 23115 35378 29396
Liabilities (loans taken/borrowings) 418 0 4641** 327** 553 504 2938 1919
Net worth (total asset-liabilities) 38526 28088 67647** 47850** 29122 22611 32440 27477
Table 10: Net-worth of households
End Cycle Mid CycleBefore After Before After
The proportion of expenditure on cereals decreased from the baseline survey but increased slightly between the mid-cycle and end-cycle. The proportion of expenditure spent on animal foods as well as vegetables and fruits also decreased. The percentage of food expenditure in comparison to non-food expenditure also decreased between the end-cycle and the baseline.
Chart 1 shows the proportion of households spending more than 70 percent of their total expenditure on food. Although the proportion households spending more than 70 percent of their total expenditure on food decreased since the baseline situation, the decline is very minimal. However, for FSVGD households, the decline between the mid-cycle and the baseline was complemented by a further decline, although marginal, between the mid-cycle and the end-cycle. Moreover, for IGVGD households some of the improvements made between the baseline and mid-cycle fell after their graduation from the programme.
It appears that for IGVGD households, the withdrawal of food rations at the end of the programme impacts on their food consumption routine and households decrease expenditure in other areas to accommodate the additional food expenses.
FSVGD households seem less affected when their food rations stop. It is possible that due to their monthly cash entitlements FSVGD households are able to cope better with change when the food aid stops. Secondly, when their food rations stop at the end of the programme cycle, their cash flow (which they get for a few months together) still continues.
13
It can be seen from Table 11 that the proportion of households in the highest net-worth category has increased. For IGVGD households, the proportion in the lowest category of net-worth below Taka 1000 has gone up while for FSVGD households the proportion in the net-worth category between Taka 1000-3000 has
increased. Thus the number of people in the lowest categories has increased as has the number of people in the highest category, while the number of people in the middle net-worth category has declined. Thus, the increase in net-worth has not been equitably distributed as illustrated in Table 11.
Changes in landholding status: Drastic changes in land holdings cannot be expected in a span of two years. Nevertheless there have been improvements over the baseline situation both in terms of the percent of households owning no or less than 15 decimals of land and the mean area of total land owned by participants. The mean area of participant's homesteads
also increased from the baseline and end line survey. A comparison with the end-cycle and mid-cycle land holding status does not always reveal an improvement but as has been mentioned above the time period under consideration is too small for any meaningful changes in relation to land holding status (see Chart 2).
IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGD IGVGD FSVGDUp to 1000 15.7 13.6 8.2 4.9 5.8 12.7 3.5 6.61000-3000 6.1 3.8 3.5 7 3.8 6.1 3.8 6.43000-10000 16.6 19.4 9.9 10.1 18.8 16.8 13.9 15.610000-20000 16.6 21.4 13.1 15.4 20.9 22.8 22.9 20.220000-30000 12.2 13.9 9.3 15.4 14.5 12.7 15.4 16.530000-50000 12.8 15.4 17.8 17.7 17.7 17.1 20.3 17.350000 + 19.8 12.5 38.2 29.6 18.6 11.8 20.3 17.3Average 38526 28088 67647 47850 29122 22611 32440 27477
Table 11: Net-worth of households by net-worth category
Net worth category (Taka)
End Cycle Mid CycleBefore After Before After
* Statistically significant at 5 percent level, ** statistically significant at 1 percent level. Results from paired t-test
Chart 2: Changes in landholding status
* Statistically significant at 1 percent level for end cycle
IGVGD IGVGD IGVGD FSVGDFSVGDFSVGD
14
Skill development of beneficiary women: participation in IGAs: VGD activity includes income generating skills development training for the ultra-poor women to facilitate their increased participation in IGAs. Table 12 shows the number of women involved in an IGA doubled between the baseline and outcome survey. Most women have received some kind of IGA training. The most popular type of training received was poultry and livestock rearing, followed by homestead gardening. Other types of training included petty trade, fish culture and handicrafts. All beneficiaries in FSVGD and 98 percent in IGVGD have used or are using their training to either generate income or have started an IGA which is expected to generate income in the near future. In the FSVGD programme, women get a cash grant of Taka 150 every month in addition to 15 kilograms of fortified wheat flour (atta). These households can use the accumulated grant to invest in an IGA without the hassle of paying back interest. In the IGVGD programme, beneficiaries receive either 30 kilograms of rice or 25 kilograms of fortified atta but no cash. They are given access to credit through an in-built credit programme, which has to paid back in instalments.
Table 12: Skill development of beneficiary women
IGVGD FSVGD Baseline1. Received any IGA training (%) 89.3 99.1 n/a2. Type of IGA training: a) Poultry rearing 75 63.2 67.6 b) Livestock rearing 74.7 62 34.3 c) Homestead gardening 16.9 11.1 0 d) Petty trade 7.8 7.3 5.6 e) Fish culture 0.3 2.3 0 f) Handicrafts 1 18.1 9.3 g) Others 3.2 3.8 3.7
a) Used training for income generation/expected income generation 98.1 100 n/a
b) women currently involved in IGA 60.9 75.9 31.2
c) women who have taken loan from partner NGO to invest in IGA 38 4.1 n/a
Involvement in IGA % of households
3. Percentage of women applying acquired skills
31.20
60.90
31.20
75.90
0
20
40
60
80
100
% o
f hou
seho
lds
IGVGD FSVGD
Base line End cycle
As of June-August 2007, only 61 percent of the IGVGD beneficiaries were engaged in an IGA while 76 percent of FSVGD beneficiaries were engaged in an IGA. About 38 percent of the IGVGD women have taken out a loan from partner NGOs to start an IGA, while only four percent of the FSVGD beneficiaries have done so. Thus, the cash grant given to FSVGD women has a considerable impact on their decision and ability to start an IGA. Chart 3 depicts the increase in the involvement of beneficiary women in IGAs after enrolling in the VGD programme.
Chart 3: Involvement in IGA: end-cycle and baseline
15
Farida Akter Meem, 25, lives with her four-member family in Hatinanda village, Kamarga union, Tanore Upazila in Rajshahi district. She lives with her father who suffers from asthma, her school age brother, and her mother. In the past her father ran a tea stall, however, the family used all the earnings from the stall to marry off Meem's two younger sisters. Meem was unable to find a husband of her own because she suffered from heart problems. She was also too unwell to help her ailing father run the small shop. As a result, the shop remained closed most of the time. In 2001, with a generous donation from some prominent social workers she underwent successful open heart surgery at the National Heart Foundation in Dhaka.
Meem was incorporated into the 2005-06 FSVGD cycle due to her susceptible health and poor economic status. She hoped that the monthly wheat ration of 15 kilograms would ease her family's food demands and the monthly cash transfer of Taka 150 (which they would receive for 3-4 months at a time) would be used for her brother's education.
At present, Meem earns about Taka 7500 per month - enough to get her father the medical treatment he needs, fund her brother's education and meet other household expenses. Her main desire now is to see her own business "Neel Aachal" expand and flourish.
Determined to extricate herself and her family from the clutches of poverty, she decided to attend the IGA skills training provided to her as part of the FSVGD intervention. At the training, she learnt basic tailoring and handicrafts. With her newly acquired knowledge as capital she began to make things at home and sell them for a small profit to shops in Rajshahi. Meanwhile a local NGO "Aasroy" (Bangla for shelter) working in Meem's village noticed her work and enthusiasm. "Aasroy", invited her to take further training consisting of a 3-month long training on making handicrafts and hand painting on fabric, along with other poor vulnerable women.
On completion of the training Meem took a micro credit loan of Taka 4000 from "Aasroy". She used it to buy some fabric, thread, dyes and a brush and began working at home. She also began to train others in the skills that she had learned for a fee of Taka 50 per person. She now has four groups of women who come to her regularly for training, giving her Taka 3000 per month. Apart from this, Meem and four other women make sarees, other garments and handicrafts such as doormats, cushion covers and bed covers, which is sold through Meem's own outlet called "Neel Aachal".
Zayeda, 35 years old, lives with her three daughters and a sick husband in Gurhail village under Mirzapur Upazila of Tangail district. They have no assets, no land except a small homestead with a thatched house.
Her husband has been sick for a long time and can rarely work. When he can work he works as a seasonal boatman. Zayeda worked as housemaid and somehow managed a meager income. Survival was difficult and vulnerability was extreme.
Zayeda was enrolled in the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme in the 2003-2004 VGD cycle. During this period she received WFP food ration and training on income generating skills in poultry raising; and social awareness training from BRAC. She has learnt a lot thanks to the training programme, not only on income earning but also on life skills. After the completion of the training she took loan from BRAC to start her own income generating activity.
She prepared one tin-shade for chick rearing and bought day-old chicks for Tk. 350. She raised the chicks for 60 days and sold them in the local market. Zayeda noticed that there was great demand for fresh chicken in the local market and her small business started to make a profit. Her net annual profit stood at TK. 40,000. Gradually she expanded her business and invested more capital. She also diversified her earning sources by investing in vegetable cultivation and cow rearing. In the meantime, Zayeda arranged treatment for her husband. Now he can assist his wife in running the business. Zayeda has sent her daughters to school. She is the proud owner of a tin shade house and has also bought some agricultural land.
Zayeda feels that VGD programme has been a blessing, and she foresees a bright future for the family. Moreover, with her small business and the VGD food ration not only her livelihood situation has improved but also her confidence level. Self-confident Zayeda feels VGD programme has changed her life.
She confidently states that when she is old, no one will take care of her, not even her daughters. It will be the money that she has acquired through her VGD participation that will take care of her.
16
1510
97
0
5
10
15
20
% o
f Sam
ple
hous
ehol
ds
IGVGD FSVGDbefore after
17
Savings pattern of householdsThe savings characteristics of beneficiaries (Table 13) reveal that more than 90 percent of FSVGD households have savings and the bulk of these households started saving before joining the programme. At present most FSVGD households keep their savings in the programme fund. In comparison the majority of IGVGD households who have savings (about 60 percent) keep their savings with NGOs or international organisations (50 percent) while only 33 percent of households maintain savings with the programme fund. Like the FSVGD households, most IGVGD households started saving before joining the programme. It is interesting to note that both programme beneficiary groups prefer institutional or formal savings and very few save at home or with friends and relatives.
The difference in the savings pattern of IGVGD and FSVGD households is that among the latter, 55 percent of those who saved belonged to the smallest savings category i.e. under Taka 1000 (Table 14). Very few belonged to the higher savings categories of Taka 3000 and above (7.2 percent households). In the case of IGVGD beneficiaries, nearly 40 percent had no savings at all while about 15 percent had savings of Taka 3000 and above. Thus there appears to be more "inequality" among IGVGD households. The average savings of the IGVGD households was about 20 percent higher than the average FSVGD beneficiary savings.
Crises coping strategies of households: The poor are vulnerable to shocks (natural disasters, crop failure) that cause transitory food insecurity. Improved livelihoods, in terms of expanded asset bases or household savings, reduce the vulnerability of households to short term disruptions in income flows, because part of a household's asset base can be sold or savings can be used in times of adversity.
In order to assess whether the programme has made any impact on the vulnerability of the participants, the survey attempted to assess whether a household's ability to deal with a crisis was enhanced due to participation in the programme. In a time of crisis it is common for extreme poor households to sell household assets to meet expenses. These assets are often sold at below market value and their loss compromises a household's ability to rebuild after a crisis occurs. Crises or any kind of shocks to a household are either inevitable (such as the marriage of a family member) or cannot be anticipated beforehand (such as accident or illnesses). Chart 4 shows the proportion of households making distress sales or mortgaging their assets either before or after joining the IGVGD and FSVGD respectively. The proportion of IGVGD households making distress sales decreased in comparison to FSVGD. The vulnerability of FSVGD beneficiaries also decreased after joining the programme but to a lesser extent.
Chart 4: Proportion of households making distress sales/mortgages before and after joining programme
IGVGD FSVGD
No savings 37.7 7.2
Up to 1000 25.2 54.8
1000-2000 11.9 23.8
2000-3000 9.6 7
3000-4000 5.2 1.4
4000-5000 2.9 2
5000 plus 7.2 3.8
Average savings (Tk) 1,533 1,255
Amount of savings (Tk)Percentage of
Table 14: Quantum of savings by beneficiary households
Aspect of savings IGVGD FSVGD
Whether have any savings:Yes 62.3 92.8No 37.7 7.2
When saved:Before joining programme 54.5 89after joining programme 9 2.9partially before and partially after 4.1 7
Place of saving:a) Programme fund 32.7 58.4b) Home 7.5 5.5c) Bank 4.4 10.3d) NGO/IO 49.1 20.1e) Post Office/government organization 2.8 1.9f) Other Social Organization 1.9 3.6g) Relatives/friends 0.6 0.2h) Elsewhere 0.9 0
Table 13: Savings of beneficiary households
18
Table 16 shows the different types of crisis faced by the households for which distress sales or mortgages were made. The questionnaire was designed to collect information on two specific time periods: '1 year before joining the programme' and 'after joining the programme'. Since the survey was conducted six months after the cycle ended, the time span for 'after' was two and a half years. Given the longer time frame of the second time period, distress sales of poor households can be logically expected to increase. Therefore to make the 'before programme' and 'after programme' comparable, the 'after' figures for the time period were adjusted. In all cases a substantial decline in occurrence of distress sales or mortgages among households is seen for both groups. The decline is more pronounced among FSVGD households demonstrating substantially reduced vulnerability of the extreme poor households participating in the programme.
Crises type% change in occurrence
% change in occurrence
(1 year) (1 year)Treatment 15 20 10 -33.3 28 15 8 -71.4Housing/ house repairing 2 1 1 -50 4 4 2 -50Marriage 1 2 1 0 8 11 6 -25Loan repayment 2 2 1 -50 15 5 3 -80Buy food 22 33 17 -22.7 27 16 8 -70.4Buy clothes 9 16 8 -11.1 4 5 3 -25Meet education expenses 7 13 7 0 4 3 2 -50Others 2 2 1 -50 9 5 3 -66.7
IGVGD FSVGD Before
programme (1 year)
programme (project cycle+6
After programme
(1 year)
Before programme
(1 year)
programme (project cycle+6
After programme
(1 year)
Table 16: Type of crises faced by households for which distress sales/mortgages were made
Table 15 shows the proportion of productive assets beneficiary households sold in times of distress. Households making distress sales were divided into two groups i.e. households selling 'up to 25 percent of assets' and 'more than 25 percent of assets' in order to judge the vulnerability of the households to shocks. In both IGVGD and FSVGD households, distress sales in the
first category (up to 25 percent of productive non-land assets) increased while that in the second category (more than 25 percent of productive non-land assets) decreased. Thus, although households are still making distress sales after participation in the programme the percentage of productive assets sold has decreased. This implies that their level of vulnerability has decreased.
before programme
after joining programme
before programme
after joining programme
Up to 25% 2.9* 3.35* 0.6* 3.35*
More than 25% 10.7 5.5 7.5 3.05
Proportion of productive assets sold in distress
IGVGD FSVGD
Table 15: Proportion of households selling at least 25% of their productive assets in distress (non-land)
* A paired t-test revealed significance at 1 percent level
19
Coping strategies were categorised into two groups: strategies that do not have a negative impact (positive strategies) and strategies that have a negative impact (negative strategies). The former included strategies such as borrowing from friends and relatives, selling household stocks and using savings while the latter included selling land, selling other productive assets and borrowing from a money lender. Chart 5 shows that none of the IGVGD households used any positive strategies before or after joining the programme. However, the employment of negative strategies declined after joining the programme. For the FSVGD households, the employment of positive strategies increased after joining the programme while use of negative strategies declined substantially.
Chart 5: Crises coping strategies of households
IGVGD FSVGD
% o
f hou
se h
olds
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
00 0
11.7 10.6
16.4
9.2before
after
01
positive negative positive negative
Knowledge of flood management strategiesFloods are a regular occurrence in Bangladesh. Even while the survey was being conducted, the country was experiencing massive floods. Given the geographic location of Bangladesh, programmes must operate in the context of frequent natural disasters. Beneficiaries were questioned on their knowledge of flood management strategies. Nine precautionary flood-related activities were delineated in the questionnaire including: keeping medicines handy for flood-related diseases, constructing elevated platforms on homesteads, keeping books and valuables on raised platforms, stocking up rice, pulses, puffed rice, kerosene oil, candles, match boxes, etc, raising homestead level, storing drinking water and other dry foods, keeping poultry and cattle in safe places and keeping 'chulha' (make-shift oven for cooking) and fuel in stock. Table 17 illustrates VGD participant's knowledge of flood management techniques.
IGVGD FSVGD Individual level strategies
Stock up medicines for flood related diseases 1.7 0.9Construct raised bamboo stages near house 22.3 20.6Keep books, valuables, etc on raised ground 24.9 6.1Stock up rice, pulses, puffed rice, kerosene, candle, match etc. 40.9 28.7Raise homestead by piling up earth 45.2 39.1Collect dry foods and drinking water 19.4 22Keep poultry and livestock in safe places 34.8 58Make arrangements for alternate stove along with fuel 16.5 11.3Others 2.6 0.6Total 208.4 187.2
Community level strategiesGive midwifery training to select women before flood 1.2Make embankments 16.8 17.1Encourage temporary migration before flood 10.4 42.9Keep boat ready for use 9 4.9Warn people using loudspeakers 4.9 18.8Raise roads, if possible 32.5 15.9Others 44.3 30.7Total 119.1 130.4
Percentage of households
Table 17: Knowledge of flood management techniques
20
Indebtedness of householdsSince the IGVGD programme has a built-in credit facility wherein, on completion of IGA training, households can borrow for investment, the indebtedness of IGVGD households is higher than the indebtedness of FSVGD households (Table 18). This is further validated by the fact that nearly 91 percent of IGVGD households took loans after joining the programme in contrast to 87 percent of FSVGD households. The majority of loans taken out by both beneficiary groups were with NGOs.
Interestingly quite a good number of IGVGD households took loans from informal money lenders (Mahajans) who charge exorbitant rates. It should be noted that an increased loan burden does not necessarily indicate a deteriorating economic condition of a household. When NGOs or formal financial institutions fail to provide enough loans for productive investment or when a prospective investor does not have access to such sources, she needs to seek a loan from non-institutional sources. This is not harmful if one can manage to borrow at a reasonable interest rate.
Indebtedness attribute IGVGD (number)
FSVGD (number)
% of indebted households 52.2 (180) 34.5 (119)% of households who borrowed after joining programme 91.1(164) 87.4(104)% of households who borrowed before joining programme 11.7(21) 8.4(10)% of households who borrowed both before and after joining programme 5.6(7) 7.6(9)Sources of loan% of indebted households borrowing from formal sources 13.9(25) 10.9(13)% of indebted households borrowing from NGO sources 81.7(147) 84.0(100)% of indebted households borrowing from informal money lenders (mahajan ) 21.7(39) 7.6(9)% of indebted households borrowing from relatives and friends 29.4(53) 23.5(28)% of indebted households borrowing from other sources (shop, samity , employer, etc.) 8.3(15) 2.5(3)
Table 18: Indebtedness of households
FSVGD households achieved higher savings and took out fewer loans than IGVGD households (Table 19). Twice the proportion of IGVGD households borrowed for business purposes. Disturbingly, in both groups, about 13 percent of beneficiaries took out loans to cover their food needs. It appears that although households may have improved their material well-being, they are still food insecure. In addition to formal borrowings and NGO loans, approximately 29 percent of these households took loans from friends and relatives (Table 18).
Table 19: Reasons for borrowing
Reasons IGVGD FSVGDNon-food household consumption exp 0.4 2.6Food needs 13.3 13.1housing 7.9 18.3business purposes 31.5 15.7To purchase productive asset 5.7 11.1Agriculture 6.5 9.8education/training 2.2 0.7medical/emergency purposes 13.6 12.4any future unforeseen contingencies 1.1 0To get loan 0 0for marriage/dowry 5.7 10.5To repay Loan 9 4.6Court case 2.5 0others 0.7 1.3
21
VGD HELPS RUPALI RECOVER AFTER FLOODRupali is 25 years old and has two young children. Her husband is a day labourer who earns about 50 taka for the days when he can find work. Since the flood though, work is impossible to find. There are no employment opportunities in the local area as all agricultural land is still submerged beneath flood water. Rupali's husband will shortly migrate to the nearest city (Bogra) and look for work. Rupali says that he is currently "wandering from here to there - not doing much".
Despite her husband's current unemployment status, Rupali and her family are better-off than many flood affected families. She contributes this to her recent participation in the VGD program.
While she was a VGD beneficiary, Rupali received a monthly ration of rice. With one meal a day being provided for her and her family, she was able to save 1,500 taka over two years. Rupali used this money to purchase a goat, which soon gave birth to three kids. She also used a 10,000 taka loan provided by a local NGO to purchase a calf. By raising and selling goats, Rupali managed to earn and save nearly 4,000 taka. This money was the difference between her family starving and not starving during the recent floods.
When the flood water reached her area, Rupali moved her children, bed, livestock and food (10kg rice and 3kg of pulse) to the nearby embankment. She stayed there for about 12 days. During this time both her and her children, and all of her goats, became sick from the dirty flood water. Unfortunately, four of her goats died. Rupali used a portion of her savings to treat her family's illness - she did not need to take a loan from a rich family as many of her neighbours were forced to do. Rupali used the remaining 2,500 taka of her savings to purchase paddy. Given the current demand for paddy as farmers start to replant their rice crops, she recently sold this for a profit and purchased pulse, oil, salt, rice and vegetables to feed her family and straw for her cow. At no time during the flood did Rupali feel she may have to sell her cow.
Rupali's future plan is, once the flood water fully recedes from her area, to take another loan and re-start her goat rearing business.
"I am confident that the local NGO will give me another loan. I have proved myself capable of paying my current loan. My confidence is because of my involvement in the VGD program. The training provided and the NGO loan will help me to soon recover from the flood."
212
Healthy practices in the daily life of the extreme poor
Healthy practices and hygiene:There appears to have been improvement in health and hygiene practices of VGD households in relation to food preparation, cleanliness, sanitation and garbage disposal. To establish nutrition related practices, questions were asked about which stage of the cooking process the vegetables were usually washed and the length of time they were cooked. Approximately 22 percent of IGVGD households and 35 percent of FSVGD households wash their vegetables before cutting. This is considered best practice as it helps retain the maximum amount of nutrients in the vegetables. Overcooking vegetables also diminishes the nutritional value of vegetables. A small percentage of the households (10% IGVGD and 22% FSVGD) cooked the vegetables till just done, these figures reveal an improvement over the baseline scenario where only 5 percent followed this practice.
Almost all beneficiaries wash their hands after using the toilet. The hand washing behaviour of beneficiaries before cooking has also improved substantially compared to the baseline situation. Similarly, usage of soap for hand washing is quite high among the phased-out programme participants. However, improvement in terms of covering water and food containers was not satisfactory. The situation is similar in the case of wearing footwear to toilet. These findings call for more intensive awareness raising initiatives.
In comparison to the baseline survey the percentage of households using open places to dispose of their garbage has reduced. The percentage of households practicing environmentally unfriendly garbage disposal has increased. Hygienic disposal of garbage is more prevalent among IGVGD households in comparison to FSVGD households.
Chapter 5
22
19.1
4.6
47.442.2
92.8
72.8
41.6
48
30.1
2.3
92.2
3.2
22.3
10.7
73.9
49
94.2
75.4
45.8
56.8
44.6
8.7
74.8
8.1
35.4
22
82
31
98
89
64.1
76.2
61.4
2
75.1
26.7
0
20
40
60
80
100
Was
h ve
geta
bles
bef
ore
cutti
ng
Coo
k ve
geta
ble
till j
ust d
one
(not
ov
erco
ok)
Alw
ays w
ash
befo
re c
ooki
ng
Alw
ays w
ash
befo
re e
atin
g/fe
edin
g ch
ildre
n
Alw
ays w
ash
afte
r us
ing
toile
t
Usa
ge o
f soa
p fo
r han
d w
ashi
ng
Drin
king
wat
er c
over
ed
Food
cont
aine
rs c
over
ed
All
hous
ehol
d m
embe
rs w
ear s
anda
ls to
to
ilet
Hyg
ieni
c di
spos
al (c
olle
ctio
n sy
stem
)
Unh
ygie
nic
disp
osal
(ope
n pl
ace)
Envi
ronm
enta
lly u
nfrie
ndly
dis
posa
l (b
urn/
bury
)
Chart 6: Healthy practices and hygiene
Percent
Base-lineIGVGDFSVGD
23
Table 20: Water and sanitation of VGD householdsAbout 26 percent of IGVGD households use a sanitary toilet while only eight percent of FSVGD households use a sanitary latrine (Table 21). Though these perecentages are very low, they do reflect a substantive improvement over the baseline situation when only two percent of the households had access to a sanitary latrine. Similarly, the proportion of households who had no toilet at all and simply used open fields reduced by 19 percent among IGVGD and 20 percent among for FSVGD households. Almost all households get their drinking water from tube wells (Table 20).
A water and sanitation index was formulated to judge households' overall degree of cleanliness. The details on the formulation of the index are shown in the Appendix. Table 21 clearly illustrates that hygiene among VGD households in relation to water and sanitation is still very poor despite improvement in comparison to the baseline situation. Less than five percent of IGVGD and FSVGD households follow good hygiene practices. The majority of IGVGD households fall into the lowest category of the water and sanitation index, while the majority of FSVGD households fall into the medium category of the water and sanitation index.
Water and sanitation IGVGD FSVGD Baseline
Tube well 98.3 99.7 98.8Tap water 1.2 0 0Open well 0 0.3 0.6River/pond/stream 0.6 0.6Others 0 0 0
Sanitary 26.4 7.5 2Non-water sealed pit 49.6 51.9 26Kutchha latrine 12.2 29 39.6Open field 11.6 11 30.9Others 0.3 0.6 1.4
Source of drinking water (% of households):
Type of latrine (% of households):
IGVGD FSVGD Knowledge of deadly AIDS
Terminating disease 13.3 21.4Infectious disease 3.2 2.9Disease caused by infidelity 9.6 2.9Do not know 73.9 72.8
Do you know how AIDS spreadUnprotected sex 13.3 14.2Accepting blood from an AIDS patient 9 7Using a syringe used by an AIDS patient 7.5 6.4If an AIDS patient get pregnant 0.3 0Do not know 78.8 77.4
Table 22: AIDS awareness issues
AIDS awareness:The survey showed that VGD women had little awareness of AIDS. Over, 70 percent of the women surveyed are unaware of AIDS. Among those who responded that they were aware of AIDS, more than 75 percent did not know how the disease spreads (Table 22). Only a little above ten
percent of the AIDS aware VGD women knew that the disease spreads through unprotected sex. About 7-9 percent felt that AIDS spreads through accepting blood from an AIDS affected person. Approximately, 6-7 percent of the beneficiaries were aware that AIDS can spread through the use of an infected syringe.
Table 21: Water and sanitation index of beneficiary households
FSVGD IGVGDLow (< 5) 53 33Medium (5-8 42 62.9High (>8) 4.9 4.1
85.814.2
0
Index rangeProportion of households
Baseline
24
Mother and child health:Table 23 shows beneficiaries' level of knowledge regarding mother and childcare. The table also looks at the practices adopted by mothers in order to establish if there is a gap between knowledge and practice. It must be noted that findings related to the practice of mother and childcare was collected from mothers with children under 18 months old,
while information on the level of knowledge on good practice was collected from all beneficiary respondents. In order to make the knowledge-practice gap comparable, Table 23 has been shown based on the total number of mothers with children upto 18 months of age. Chart 7, however, gives the knowledge about mother-child care of all beneficiaries.
knowledge Practice knowledge PracticeAware of birth registration 50 40 80.6 64.5Aware of qualified prenatal care(%) 62 28 93.5 77.4Av. no. of prenatal consultations (no. of times) 2.6 3.7Aware of tetenus innoculation during pregnancy (%) 98 80 90.3 77.4Aware of benefits of colostrum (%) 98 98 100 100Aware duration of exclusive breast feeding (6 months) % 44 6 48.6 16.1Child immunization: Polio 87.8 84.8 93.5 76.7 Measles 75.5 54.3 61.3 56.7
Mother-child care issues IGVGD FSVGDTable 23: Mother and childcare: knowledge-practice gap
25
It was found that there is a large gap between knowledge and practice in relation to mother and childcare. However, the benefit of colostrums/breast feeding appears to be well known and well practiced. Knowledge among beneficiaries about the importance of the tetanus inoculation during pregnancy was rather high but practice was relatively low. Awareness of the importance of the polio vaccine for children was high but very few women put this knowledge
into practice. The campaign for polio eradication has to be strengthened in the ultra poor regions of North Bengal. The knowledge-practice gap was the highest in relation to the duration of exclusive breast-feeding. Less than 50 percent of the women were aware of the recommended practice of 6 months of exclusive breast-feeding and among the women who were aware very few put the knowledge into practice.
Only 54 percent of IGVGD women were aware of birth registration, while 70 percent of FSVGD women were aware of birth registration. It must be noted that the importance of birth registration only begun to receive attention recently. There is now an on-going nationwide campaign for birth registration. In this context it is quite commendable that a large number of FSVGD women are aware of birth registration. Although most women knew of the importance of child immunisation, their awareness of the different types of vaccination for children was low, especially for diphtheria, whooping cough and tuberculosis.
53.9
71.3
98 98
49.3
9182.8
52.565.6
21 26.4
56.770.4
97.794.2
98.8
42.6
88.492.5
68.5
52.5
12.5 7.923.6
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Aw
are o
f birt
h re
gist
ratio
n (%
of
hous
ehol
ds)
Aw
are o
f qua
lifie
d pr
enat
al c
are
(% o
f hou
seho
lds)
Aw
are o
f tet
anus
inoc
ulat
ion
durin
g pr
egna
ncy
(% o
f ho
useh
olds
)
Aw
are o
f ben
efits
of c
olos
trum
s (%
of h
ouse
hold
s)
Aw
are o
f dur
atio
n of
exc
lusi
ve
brea
st fe
edin
g (6
mon
ths)
(%)
Chi
ld im
mun
izat
ion
(% o
f ho
useh
olds
)
Aw
are
of P
olio
Aw
are o
f Tet
anus
Aw
are
of m
easl
es
Aw
are o
f dip
hthe
ria
Aw
are o
f who
opin
g co
ugh
Aw
are o
f tub
ercu
losi
s
IGVGD FSVGD
Chart 7: Mother and childcare: knowledge
Perc
ent
26
BONARI MAKES A PROFIT 15,600 TAKA PER MONTH
Bonari is 42 years old. Her husband is a day labourer and cuts grass for other people's cattle. He is 70 years old and becoming too old and not strong enough to continue this demanding, manual labour. As a result Bonari is responsible for being the main wage earner of the family.
A few years ago Bonari was working in the local rice mill. She did this job on a daily basis. If there was no work for her on a particular day then she was not paid a wage. This happened many times. Her wage was not money but broken and left over rice from the day's milling. Bonari took this rice home to feed her family. Mixed with salt and chilli, this was only enough for one or two meals a day. To make the family's poverty more complete, Bonari was forced to sell all her assets, as little as there was, to pay for her daughter's marriage and dowry. Life was hard.
Fortunately, based on her hardship, Bonari became a participant of the WFP's Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) program. She was provided training in both social awareness issues and income generating activities (IGA). As her IGA, Bonari selected small trade training. She had no land to raise cows or goats and her only experience was working in the rice mill. She believed that, using this training, she could begin trading rice paddy and make an income from this. During the VGD training, Bonari learnt how to determine the sale price of rice based on labour costs and other inputs, which turned out to be a very important lesson.
Once her training was complete, Bonari received a 4,000 taka loan from a local NGO. With 1,750 taka of this money she invested in her business and bought 200kg of rice paddy from the local market. Over a period of two days, she processed this paddy into rice at home. When the time came to dry the rice, since she does not have enough room at her house, she took this to the rice mill where she previously worked. For a charge of 50 taka, the mill also completed the process of milling the paddy into consumable rice.
Together with her son, Bonari sells her fine grade rice at the local market. Bonari sells 200kg of rice, in small amounts, for a total of 3,100 taka. Given that Bonari can complete this milling process three times a week, this calculates to a 15,600 taka profit per month! This profit varies slightly depending on the time of year and whether paddy is being harvested, which impacts on its purchase price. However, since Bonari can buy rice from a "paddy keeper" whenever she likes and continue milling throughout the year, she earns a significant profit every week.
With her profit, Bonari has purchased a cow, invested in her business by installing a water pump in her yard and improved her house. She looks back at her life a few years ago and cannot believe far she has improved. She sees her poverty as a blessing in disguise. Because she was poor she was offered a life changing opportunity through the VGD program. Never again does she have to worry about earning enough money to support her family. She has become a very successful, independent business woman in her own right.
Awareness of women rights: Delivering of life skills awareness tarining on women rights issues, has been effective to greatly enhance the knowledge level of VGD women. This section seeks to examine the social transformation brought about by VGD programme in relation to different aspects of social awareness. Table 24 lays out the responses received from IGVGD and FSVGD women regarding their social awareness. Most beneficiaries are aware that marriages have to be registered. Several reasons were cited by these women on why they think marriages have to be registered. The highest number of respondents felt it was required in case of marriage termination. Respondents also stated that marriage registration is required for securing the rights of women. Other responses included that marriage registration is required because not registering is a lawful offence and the alimony amount is officially indicated. Besides the satisfactory level of the women's awareness of marriage registration, they are also aware of the location of marriage registration but not aware of the marriage registration fee.
Approximately 70 percent of beneficiaries in both programs were aware of the minimum age at marriage for girls but they did not seem to know that a minimum age exists for boys as well. It is heartening to know that more than 95 percent of the beneficiaries were aware of the hazards of early marriage and cited reasons such as hazardous to become mother too early (66% IGVGD and 93% FSVGD), cannot come to terms with burden of additional responsibilities (34% and 19%), higher risk of death during childbirth (40% and 52%) and inability to take proper care of husband and children (27% and 13%). Among those who supported early marriage, most felt so because lower dowry is often required. A substantial proportion responded that early marriage reduces parental burden while others felt early marriage could help prevent any scandal that might occur or any rumour that may float around involving a girl. Thus, showing the continued insecurity faced by girls in Bangladeshi society.
Chapter 6
27
Social transformation of the extreme poor
Social awareness issues IGVGD FSVGD
Aware of marriage registration 88.4 90.1Know why marriages have to be registered
To secure the rights of woman 28.9 23.8Lawful offence 16.1 7.1Alimony amount is indicated in registration 11.5 3.9Required in case of marriage termination 38 65.3Others 5.6 0
Know where marriages have to be registered Kazi office 82.6 82.6Marriage registrar 13.1 14.5Do not know 3.3 2.9Others 1 0Know about the marriage registration fee 4.9 11Aware of minimum age for marriage for girls 67 73Aware of minimum age for marriage for boys 13.9 11.6Know about the hazards of early marriage for girls 96.2 95.9
Support early marriageWhy?
Reduces paternal family burden/expenses 38.5 28.6Require less dowry 61.5 42.9Avoid any untoward incident/scandal 30.8 28.6Avoid rumours 23.1 0
Why not?Hazardous to become mother too early 66.3 93.1Cannot come to terms with burden of additional responsibilities 34 18.7Mother’s survival at risk during child delivery 40.1 52.3Cannot take proper care of husband and children 26.8 13.3
Table 24: Social awareness among IGVGD and FSVGD beneficiaries
Status of women participation in decision making:Table 26 shows the status of women in the household through their level of participation in decision making. Male and female-headed households have been separated since the level of empowerment is likely to be very different for these two groups. Beneficiaries responded to a list of decision-making issues such as expenditure relating to food, child's education, health and other non-food items as well as family planning, travel/visit etc. More beneficiaries of male-headed IGVGD households seem to have no say in the decision making process in comparison to women from FSVGD households. In all areas of decision-making listed in the table below, except for family planning and voting, more than one-third of the
women of male-headed IGVGD households had no say at all. In contrast, 10 percent of FSVGD women had no say in decision making. It is interesting to note that in terms of family planning, the participation of women in the decision making process in both programme groups was high. The fact that FSVGD women participate more than their IGVGD counterparts in key areas of decision-making such as investing in IGAs, investing in household assets, taking a loan, depositing savings, etc. is, perhaps, a good reflection of the impact of the FSVDG monthly cash entitlement. Since the cash is given directly to the beneficiary (mostly 3-4 months accumulated amount at a time), they seem to be more empowered to make important decisions relating to money matters.
Self Joint No say Self Joint No say Self Joint No say Self Joint No say
Food purchase 33 30.2 36.8 69.3 22.1 8.6 9.5 77.5 13 79.3 9.8 10.9
Children’s education 18.7 26.4 39 53.4 14.1 7.4 6.3 68 11.1 59.8 12 4.3
Clothes purchase 16.5 33.5 50 68.1 19.6 12.3 5.5 80.2 14.2 77.2 12 10.9
Health expenses 16.5 38.5 45.1 57.1 28.8 14.1 5.9 82.2 11.9 70.7 14.1 15.2
Invest in IGA 11 26.9 61.5 58.9 21.5 18.4 10.7 67.2 11.5 66.3 14.1 12
Marriage-children or other family member 2.2 27.5 35.2 22.1 12.3 16.6 2 48.2 9.9 34.8 13 14.1
Family planning 15.4 57.1 3.8 17.2 12.9 5.5 1.6 84.6 2.4 10.9 13 0
Household assets 7.1 30.8 61 57.7 20.9 19.6 14.2 72.3 12.6 73.9 12 14.1
Travel/visit 18.7 34.6 46.2 66.3 20.9 12.9 17.8 70.4 11.9 79.3 12 8.7
Non-food spending 5.5 29.7 50.5 52.1 20.2 16 20.2 69.6 9.5 73.9 12 13
Voting 58.8 16.5 24.2 71.8 16 9.2 60.9 30.4 6.7 90.2 5.4 3.3
Taking a loan 6 25.3 63.7 42.9 22.1 19 2.8 44.7 5.9 28.3 14.1 6.5
Depositing savings 9.3 28 59.3 47.9 20.9 18.4 11.5 71.1 11.1 70.7 13 10.9
All responses 217 371.4 611.5 684.7 252.1 177.9 168.8 866.4 131.6 815.2 156.5 200
Decisions onIGVGD FSVGD
Male-headed Female-headed Male-headed Female-headed
Table 26: Status of women participation in decision making
28
Table 25 looks at beneficiaries understanding of women's rights. Most women are aware that it is an offence to give and receive a dowry and that if a man marries a second time, he has to seek permission from his first wife. Surprisingly, about 80 percent of the women in both IGVGD and FSVGD believed that if their husband said 'talaq' (divorce) three times it would lead to divorce. The majority of the women surveyed were unaware of their inheritance rights and were unaware that the law does not say that the son must inherit all the property. Thus, in many areas of social development women continue to be uninformed and there is a strong need for more rigorous awareness raising on such issues.
Table 25: Awareness of women rights
Women’s rights issue IGVGD FSVGD
Dowry is an offence 85.5 92.5
Second marriage requires permission from first wife 85.5 97.4
Saying 'talaq' thrice does not lead to divorce 73 75.4
Law does not say that son will inherit all property 84.6 91.6
The beneficiary women were asked whether they go out of their homes to places such as a friend's or relative's house, union council, market, hospital etc. on their own and the frequency of these trips. Based on the participant's responses, an index of mobility was created for beneficiary women (see Appendix for details). Chart 8 classifies the women in terms of their degree of mobility. In conformity to the discourse of empowerment, most FSVGD women seem to have a moderate to a high degree of mobility. Although the majority of IGVGD women have moderate to high mobility, more than one-quarter also have low mobility which corresponds with their lack of participation in decision making.
29
27.2
63.5
9.33.5
88.4
8.1
0
15
30
45
60
75
90
Low mobility(<2.5)
Moderatemobility(2.5-3.5)
High mobility(> 3.5)
% o
f VG
D W
omen
IGVGD
FSVGD
Chart 8: Index of mobility of VGD women
KNOWLEDGE OF WOMEN RIGHTS HELPS SHAHIDA PROTECT HERSELF FROM
VIOLENCE WFP's VGD programme has taught Shahida how to protect herself against violence. It has also given her the confidence to effectively use Bangladesh family law the and legal system to provide a better life for her and her daughters.
One year ago Shahida's husband declared that he was taking a second wife. This came as a complete surprise to Shahida as they had not discussed this before. He showed Shahida a false marriage registration and informed her that his second wife would be joining the family within a few days. Shahida felt she had no choice other than letting this wedding take place. However, while negotiations for this second marriage were delayed, Shahida was provided with some very important information. While participating in VGD social awareness training, she discovered that her husband actually needed her permission to take a second wife. Shahida went straight home and refused to give her permission for this marriage.
And that's when her husband started to physically torture Shahida. He pulled her hair, punched her in the face and hit her with a piece of bamboo. This lasted several weeks and still Shahida refused to give her permission. She was certain that once her husband had married a second time he would divorce her. Life for a divorced woman in Bangladesh, especially one with two small daughters, is very hard. Shahida felt that a second wife would threaten her and her children's security.
Shahida discussed her situation with her neighbours. Unfortunately, her husband became aware of this. He threatened to kill her if she ever spoke out again. Shahida feared for her life. She knew that her husband's previous wife had died under suspicious circumstances and she was personally aware of his capacity for violence.
Shahida sought refuge in her father's house. With the knowledge that the VGD programme had provided, that there were laws to help a woman stop the violence against her, Shahida approached the NGO that had provided her training. As a first step, the NGO suggested trying to solve the issues with the help of a local committee. However, these discussions did not resolve anything, as her husband was very angry with Shahida for now living with her father.
Shahida refused to give up. She knew a second wife would always threaten her future unless this issue was resolved now. So Shahida sought help from a local lawyer. Again a meeting was held. But this time the lawyer threatened Shahida's husband with legal consequences. He was told his potential punishment was up to 14 years in jail for the violence against Shahida and additional jail terms for fraud (producing fake documents) and not seeking the permission of Shahida for any additional marriages. Shahida's husband quickly reconsidered the situation. He now realised that Shahida was fully informed of her rights under Bangladeshi law and she would never agree to a second marriage. He agreed to stop the physical violence against her.
Shahida knew she was "healthy, capable of work, and able to support my husband and children. There was no reason for my husband to need a second wife. I could not let my children's future be threatened. I am thankful for the VGD programme for giving me the information and courage I needed to stop this second marriage. Otherwise, I could easily have found myself divorced and living a desperate life."
30
Conclusions and Recommendations
Chapter 7The primary objective of WFP's VGD programme is to enhance the food consumption and nutritional well-being of ultra-poor people. By comparing the baseline survey with both the mid-cycle and the end-cycle surveys, improvement can be seen in poor households' access to food since their participation in VGD. Overall, beneficiaries' food consumption reached a peak during their enrolment in the programme. Some of the improvements made, in terms of food security, by some households during the mid-cycle stage declined (see Tables 4, 5 and 6) by the time the end cycle survey was conducted. This raises some important questions: who are the people who are not able to sustain the improvement in food security brought about by the VGD programme? And who are the people who are able to graduate out of poverty once they enter the VGD programme? Why does this difference exist?
To answer the above question as best as possible from the information obtained from the survey, the beneficiaries were grouped into two, based on their level of food insecurity. These two groups were (a) households which consumed three full meals a day and (b) households which did not consume three full meals a day. Table 27 depicts some basic socio-economic characteristics of these two groups.
Consumed 3 full meals
Did not consume 3 full meals
Consumed 3 full meals
Did not consume 3 full meals
Household size 4.37 4.52 4.24 4.41Per capita monthly total expenditure (taka) 1,024 859 967 744Per capita monthly total non-food expenditure (taka) 350 305 315 257Per capita monthly total food expenditure (taka) 675 553 652 487Mean savings of households (taka) 4507 1276 1476 921Loan taken from partner NGO 23 20.6 2.9 2.2Loan taken from other NGO 22.1 8.4 22.1 21.9Loan taken from any NGO 41 25.8 24.5 24.1Any institutional loan taken 44.2 32.9 28.4 25.5Non institutional loan taken 13 17.4 6.3 8Directly involved in IGA 65.8 56.1 80.3 69.3
Agriculture sources 23.2 17.4 14.4 8Wage labour 32.6 40 60.6 65.7Petty trade/self employment 27.4 23.9 15.4 16.8Services 3.7 5.2 4.3 2.9Beggar 1.1 0.6 1 1.5Housewife 8.9 7.7 1.9 1.5Others 3.2 5.2 2.4 3.6
Housewife 31.6 29.7 12.5 19Day labour 15.8 23.2 29.3 33.6Agriculture 40 30.3 49.5 34.3Petty trade 8.9 8.4 7.2 10.2Services 0.5 1.3 0.5 1.5Others 3.2 7.1 1 1.5
Occupation of beneficiary (%)
Household characteristics
IGVGD
Main source of income of household head (%)
FSVGD
Table 27: Socio-economic characteristics of IGVGD and FSVGD households based on level of food insecurity
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Using the consumption of three full meals a day as an indicator of food security, it is clear from the table 27 that the socio-economic characteristics of households who do not become food secure even after entering VGD are substantially different from those who do become food secure. The former households were worse off than the later in terms of per capita food and non-food expenditure, savings, involvement in IGA and access to credit facilities. The average size of food insecure households is larger in comparison to the households that are able to achieve food security. Most of the household heads in food insecure households are day labourers. In IGVGD households, the food expenditure per capita of food insecure households is 22 percent less than food secure households and 34 percent less for FSVGD households. Direct involvement in IGA is also lower for the food insecure households. These food insecure households seem to be the poorest of the very poor households who do not have enough to offer as collateral, thus the higher proportion of these households resorting to non-institutional loans.
Thus, beneficiaries who are unable to harness the full benefits of the VGD programme and graduate out of food insecurity are the poorest of the very poor households. These households only benift from the consumtion of temporary food aid. Although they attend the trainning sessions and meet the mandatory savings requirements they do not have the capability to utilise the other benefits of the programme as leverage to escape the poverty cycle.
The poorest of the very poor among the VGD beneficiaries need to be identified. There are quite a sizeable proportion of beneficiaries, for whom the only benefit that VGD brings about is the increase in direct food consumption. They need to be given extra leverage so they can move closer to the poverty line and have a greater opportunity to graduate from poverty. Perhaps an additional cash grant to these households could provide the extra leverage required.
IGA training should be more demand-driven in order to cater to the needs of the participants and a wider choice of activities needs to be available to beneficiaries. Training facilities should be able to reinforce beneficeries existing IGA activities to give the beneficiaries the additional knowledge and skills required to expand or strengthen the IGA activities they are already involved in. The training should be more practically based, which could increase the beneficiaries' confidence in investing in an IGA. At present though most beneficiaries attend the IGA training sessions as per requirement, many of them are reluctant to use micro credit facilities for future income generation. In the current survey, only 38 percent of IGVGD women used the in-built credit programme to start an IGA. Often women choose not to borrow money from NGOs due to their lack of confidence or fear of debt.
Many women enter the programme with a desire of receiving the free food ration without fully understanding the benefits of the programme. As a result, they do not receive the full benefits that the programme has to offer. Social awareness training could be used to initiate social change especially in relation to women's empowerment.
Despite participating in life skills training beneficiaries' knowledge of AIDS is appallingly low. Misconceptions about social ills are also prevalent. Incentive schemes could be used to encourage social development. Each village could honour one or two beneficiaries who display the best knowledge of social development. This could bring 'status' to the woman and she would be looked upon as somebody to emulate. This has the potential to bring about much-needed social change among rural women which, in turn, will impact upon their overall well-being.
RECOMMENDATIONS
WATER AND SANITATION INDEXThis is a continuous variable, ranging from 0-10. The points for each question were averaged,
but normalized for the number of responses against each question. The index is the sum of the components.
Hand washing practice score Never/sometimes = 0 Always = 1
Soap usage No soap or unused soap = 0 Used soap = 1
Latrine Hygienic = 1 (water-sealed) Unhygienic = 0 (open space, unsealed , hanging / katcha)
Handwashing after using toilet Poor practice = 0 (dirt, mud, only water) Good practice = 1 (soap, ash)
Garbage Disposal Poor practice = 0 (burn / bury, drain / ditch, anywhere, leave in courtyard) Good practice = 1 (collected, designated place)
Safe drinking water Source is tubewell =1 (whether or not purify) Source is not tubewell but purify =1 Source is not tubewell and not purify =0
MOBILITY INDEXCan you go out of the house alone?
Yes =1No =0
For all 'yes' responses, give a score of 1 for 'own village', 2 for different village and 3 for city.
Add these scores for each households and average for number of responses. Again for 'how often', give a score of 0 for never, 1 for only in times of need, 2 for sometimes and 3 for all the time. Average for no. of responses. Now add the 2 averaged scores for each households. Divide into terciles. The lowest tercile will be low mobility, the middle tercile will show moderate mobility and the last tercile will show high mobility.
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Appendix
