BACKGROUND

Bangladesh is a small country with a very high density of population. More than 53% of the rural population live below the poverty level (BBS- Household Expenditure Survey-2000) and they are functionally landless with under 0.5 acres of land. Rural poverty is closely linked to land ownership and the burden of poverty falls disproportionately on women. Between 10-30 % of the households are female headed and the number is growing due to the erosion of family support.
Livestock an integral part of the farming system, contributes significantly to the economy of Bangladesh by providing valuable protein food, draft power, manure, foreign exchange earning, and income and employment opportunities particularly for the rural poor, landless, small and marginal farmers, unemployed youths and destitute women. By producing and selling livestock and its products poor families particularly rural women are able to enter the cash economy. Livestock sub-sector contributes more than 16% of the agricultural GDP and provide 20-25% of full time and 50% part time employment particularly in the rural areas.
During the last decade livestock has emerged as an important tool for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. A good number of livestock technologies /models have been developed and tested in about 2.70 million rural households under the Government and Non-Governmental programmes/rojects. Recognition of small-scale livestock production as a vehicle for poverty reduction, augmenting cash income and improving household nutrition and welfare in rural poor communities has gained impetus in recent years
Most of the rural households rear some type of livestock (including a high proportion of the vulnerable poor) usually poultry (Chicken and ducks), sheep and goat and sometimes cow. Livestock are especially suitable for the assetless poor who have little or no land and specially women (more specifically those in disadvantaged situations such as female headed households, widows and abandoned), and ethnic and minority group based programme as a means to increase their income and livelihood and family nutrition. There are good market opportunities in the villages and in the neighboring urban areas for livestock and livestock products
Since its inception in 1990 as a company, not for profit, under the Company’s Act 1913, Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) has been significantly contributing to poverty alleviation by providing micro-credit to the poor through its Partner Organizations (POs). The micro-credit programme of PKSF has been found to have improved the quality of life of poor people; helped diversification and strengthening of their survival strategies; enhanced their security giving them access to assets and rights and augmented their self-respect providing them choice and independence.
PKSF’s involvement in ADB financed Participatory Livestock Development Project (PLDP) implemented in northern part of the country has proved that micro-credit in smallholder livestock development can both be highly remunerative & sustainable for the rural poor women.
Bangladesh micro-finance programmes have been acclaimed for their success in providing poor people with access to credit. But most of the micro-finance sector recognized that credit alone is not enough to alleviate poverty. Investment in livestock enterprises accounts for 20-40% of all micro finance loans and is the major investment for which technical knowledge is essential. Based on the experiences of the projects/programmes implemented earlier and the lessons learned from the IFAD, ADB, DANIDA and the GO/NGO implemented projects, the Micro-finance and Technical Support (MFTS) project has been designed. The project is expected to be instrumental in contributing significantly towards poverty reduction in the selected districts and upazillas and also contribute to community development and improvement in services and input delivery system.
PKSF is implementing this project in southwest and northeastern parts of the country with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and GOB support.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES & SCOPE
The goal of the project is the improved livelihoods and food security of moderate and hard-core poor households and the empowerment of women. The project objective is the adoption of sustainable income generating activities and livestock technologies by the moderate and hard-core poor and the acquisition of livestock knowledge by PKSF and the POs.

PROJECT COMPONENTS
The project has three components: (i) micro-credit; (ii) technical support, with four sub-components namely- training for the beneficiaries, PO staff, PKSF and other government staff and research & development; and (iii) project implementation support with three sub-components namely- project coordination, monitoring & evaluation and support to partner organizations. The project will cover 2,76,000 beneficiaries through 170 Area offices, among them 25% will come from the hard- core poor category.
The project will provide three categories of initial and follow-up training to the beneficiaries. The types of training cover: (i) general livestock and/or other technology. (ii) Specialized livestock technology and (iii) social development.

PROJECT COST
The project would involve a total cost of US $20.17 million of which US $5.905 million will be used for Technical Support and US $3.716 million for Project Implementation Support to PKSF, POs and their ultimate borrowers. The remaining US $10.545 million will be for microcredit.

PROJECT FUNDING
Of the total project cost of US $20.17 million, IFAD will provide US $16.30 million. Of the IFAD loan US $8.21million will be loan and about US $8.09 million will be grant to PKSF from GOB. The remaining amount of US $3.87 million will be borne by PKSF and POs.

PROJECT DURATION
The project will be implemented in 7 years – from July 2003 to June 2010.

PROJECT AREA
The project area will cover 97 Upazillas of the following 13 districts: Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Bhola, Barisal, Jhalokati, Pirojpur, Gopalganj, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Kishorganj and Brahmanbaria. The project is under implementation by the PKSF with its 26 Partner Organisations (POs).

FUND UTILIZATION PLAN: (YEARS 2003/04 - 2009/10)
Table 1: Year wise planned utilization of fund
(US$ in Million)