ENRICH: A Holistic Approach to Household-focused Poverty Eradication

A New Initiative of PKSF

1. INTRODUCTION

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) was set up by the Government of Bangladesh in May 1990 as a not-for-profit organization for undertaking nationwide programmes for poverty alleviation through employment generation. To achieve the goal it started extending microcredit through potential institutions to carry out poverty alleviation programmes for the poor, landless, and assetless people.

PKSF has up to March 2010 disbursed a sum of Taka 88,502 million to 259 Partner Organizations (POs). The POs ultimately disbursed about Taka 524,829 million to about 10 million members. The loan repayment record has been maintained at 98% + at both PO to PKSF and borrowers to PO level. The present outstanding loan of PKSF to POs is about Taka 30,405 million.

In addition to providing funds for microcredit, PKSF also supports capacity building of the POs. It provides subsidized loans for purchasing bicycle for field workers, motorcycle for supervisors, and computers for installing an effective MIS. It also provides training to the field functionaries of the POs.

Looking back over the past 20 years since its inception, PKSF has played a major role in expanding microfinance both vertically and horizontally through a number of diversified programmes and interventions. Despite all this, the impact of microcredit on overall poverty level has been of questionable significance and the role and efficacy of microcredit as a tool of poverty alleviation is being widely questioned nationally and internationally. The questions include the following:

• Whether or not the rates of return of the activities undertaken with micro credit are larger than the effective interest rate paid? The answer is not known. PKSF is initiating a study to find answers to this question in respect of the various programmes it funds.

In this connection, it may be mentioned that it is mostly petty trading that is undertaken by using micro credit. Obviously, with market saturation occurring over time as more and more borrowers in a locality join the same trade, profitably is bound to go down steadily. This makes the above question particularly pertinent.

• Another question relates to the extent and nature of employment generated. The answer to this question is also not known. But the question is important, as the idea behind PKSF’s work is to help generate sustained employment, contributing to sustainable livelihoods. PKSF is now seeking answers relating to this question from the POs. In future, a more rigorous evaluation may be mounted.
• What about the health of the members of the borrowing families and what about the education of their children? Here again the answer is not known. As a matter of fact, these matters are not included in the on-going micro-credit programmes. PKSF is taking

steps to integrate health and education within the framework of all of its credit programmes. The methodologies are being worked out. However, some POs on their own have introduced education and health-related activities serving their borrowers, which are being looked into for lessons to be learnt.

·         How long a borrowing family must remain a micro-credit taker before it may have enough assets to graduate out of micro credit? The answer is also not known. Moreover, it appears that taking of micro-credit by the borrowers has been going on for years on end. Relating to this, another question may be asked as to whether the net worth of the borrowers is increasing or are their economic conditions weakening further. PKSF will investigate these issues.

In the meantime a consensus has emerged that for sustained poverty alleviation, interventions in health, nutrition, education, skill training, access to assets and other aspects of life and living of the poor are essential.

2.         THE NEW HOLISTIC APPROACH

In view of the above questions and observations, the PKSF Governing Body decided, in its meeting dated 28 February 2010, to pilot a programme at the grassroots level focused on total household development. The main thrust is to provide integrated support to each poor family to ensure the best possible utilization of their existing resources and capacities and also to enhance their resources and capacities as appropriate. The proposed intervention will include a support package in which credit is one of the components. The pilot will be implemented in selected unions allocated to selected POs of PKSF on the basis of `One Union One PO’ principle.

The programme seeks to end poverty by working with the poor households in the selected unions in association with the local government and other committed stakeholders to help the households lift themselves out of poverty. The overall goal of the programme is to reduce poverty on a sustainable basis towards its total elimination at the household level and eventually throughout the country. The overriding objective is to un-bundle the hidden potentialities of the poor households, encouraging and assisting them to bring changes in their economic condition themselves. They would need access to appropriate technologies as well as to health and education so that their productivity would increase and also to markets so that they can optimatize returns from their market operations. Critical to the success of this programme is the principle that the households are empowered to lead the process of their own development; obviously a lot will depend on the willingness and hard work of the people themselves. But PKSF and POs must also be committed on a longer-term basis-until the households in the programme are free from poverty and are set on a course of sustained socio-economic progress. Joint commitment of the households, the POs, PKSF, and the local government is a unique feature of this approach.

3   OUTLINING THE APPROACH

3.1  Title

The title of the approach is “ Enhancing Resources and Increasing Capacities of  the Poor Households Towards Elimination of their Poverty (ENRICH)”,  Bangla:  `vwi`ª `~ixKi‡Yi j‡¶¨  `wi`ª cwiev‡ii m¤ú` I m¶gZv e„w× (mg„w×) Kg©m~Px|

3.2       Objectives

The ENRICH is a new poverty eradication approach seeking to

Ø  empower the households participating in the programme to work effectively to reduce their poverty on a sustained basis towards its elimination;

Ø  enable them in the process to  secure improved health and nutritional status;

Ø  help and create a mechanism for them to work with relevant institutions and larger communities for effectively preparing for responses to natural disasters; and

Ø  put in place a new and effective method of GO-NGO collaboration for development from below

3.3      The Process

The key process elements are:

Ø  Best possible utilization of available resources and capabilities of the poor; and

Ø  Enhancement of resource base and capabilities of the poor as appropriate and creation of conditions for their best possible utilization

3.4.      Approach-Related Outcomes

The programme is expected to yield the following approach-related outcomes:

Ø  PKSF’s role re-engineered from `Credit Delivery Model’ to employment generating and poverty alleviating `Integrated Development Approach’ for sustainable acceleration of poverty reduction towards its elimination within about 5 years for the households in the programme;

Ø  The role of microfinance institution (MFI) in employment generation and poverty alleviation becomes more direct; and

Ø  Linkage and working relationship established between MFIs and local government institutions should usher in a sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation pathway.

4.         IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES   

4.1       The Pilot Programme Coverage

Initially a pilot programme will be implemented in 21 selected unions on the basis of one union to one PO of PKSF. The rationale for selecting a union includes:

Ø  A union is the lowest tier of local government with an elected union parishad to relate to. It is large enough (6000 households, on an average) for a variety of realities to be faced and small enough for effective administration of the envisaged activities

Ø  The potential impact of joint collaboration between the MFIs and the union parishads will be tested for the first time.

4.2       PO Selection Criteria

The POs to be selected must have:

Ø  demonstrated commitment to pursuing social mission;

Ø  wide acceptability and experience in implementing multi-sectoral programmes at the union level;

Ø  substantial involvement and good performance in microcredit and social development interventions;

Ø  demonstrated capability of the CEO in implementing multi-dimensional programmes and projects; and

Ø  an untainted transaction record with PKSF.

Based on the above criteria, 21 POs have been selected through a collaborative process involving PKSF senior staff members and others involved. Following the preliminary selection, the concerned POs were consulted.

4.3       Union Selection Criteria

The primary responsibility of proposing the unions was entrusted to the POs. They were requested to propose names of unions based on the criterion that the union selected must be relatively backward or from among those selected by the government for `Digital Bangladesh’ intervention. However, the villages/unions selected under the government’s `Ekti bari ekti khamar’(one household one farm) programme are kept out of ENRICH to avoid overlapping/duplication. The final selection was to be approved by PKSF.

The selected POs and their respective unions are shown in Annex 1

4.4       Resource Mapping in the selected union

A resource mapping exercise is underway in each selected union to identify the existing resources and development interventions currently in place. The mapping is expected to capture, among other things, the following aspects, both in existence and urgently needed:

Ø  health infrastructures available (hospitals, clinics etc);

Ø  schools ( general, technical, NGO-run), madrasas, colleges etc;

Ø  roads/bridges;

Ø  markets/hats/bazars/growth centres;

Ø  availability of electricity;

Ø  government offices and their programmes;

Ø  NGO/MFIs and their programmes;

Ø  donor assisted projects and activities covered;

Ø  specific economic drivers of the union, if any, which have special impact on economic/social condition of the households;

Ø  special risks/vulnerabilities, if any , faced by the union; and

Ø  any other special feature not covered under above categories

4.5       Beneficiary Selection Criteria

All beneficiary households of the selected PO in the selected union under any ongoing intervention or are likely to be covered by any programme in future will be included in the proposed programme. The non-poor and the beneficiaries covered by other MFIs will not be included. To be more specific the beneficiaries visualized are:

Ø  poor households already covered under one or another PKSF intervention,

Ø  eligible and willing poor households not reached by any MFI, and

Ø  poor households left out, being ineligible, by traditional microcredit approach.

4.6       Beneficiary Selection and Action Formulation Process

A comprehensive household survey will be conducted covering all households of the union (both poor and non-poor) capturing salient features of the households, including the number of earning and non-earning members; asset base, indebtedness, and current sources of income of the family; education of the members; quality of houses etc. The survey will be conducted through a formatted questionnaire and the data and information generated will be preserved in computerized database system for future reference as baseline.

The households to be covered by the new programme will be identified on the basis of the household data generated through this survey; and the needs and opportunities of the selected families in relation to their socio-economic uplift will be worked out from the database along with thorough follow-up discussions with them for jointly identifying appropriate interventions.

5.         SERVICES TO BE OFFERED TO THE BENEFICIARIES

5.1       Outlining Support Services 

A range of services and capacity building support shall be offered to the households, based on their felt needs and socio-economic and environmental realities they face. In all relevant activities, particular emphasis will be given to women and children. The interventions will include:

      Financial Support

Ø  Loans as needed within the framework of ongoing credit programmes such as rural microcredit, seasonal loan, Ultra Poor Program (UPP), microenterprise or agri.loan, livestock loan under Microfinance and Technical Support Project ( MFTSP) or Participatory Livestock Development Project ( PLDP ), and fishery loan of various types, as appropriate;  and

Ø  Loans for new activities, including soft/consumption loan to help them tide over temporary exigencies; support for schooling of children under the proposed PKSF education programme; loan/grant for improvement of houses and their surroundings; loan/grant for establishing solar home system; loan/grant for establishing bio-gas plant; loan/grant for sanitary latrine; loan/grant for hand tubewell for pure drinking water; loan/grant for improved cooking stove for healthier and energy saving efficient domestic cooking; and soft loans for overseas employment in collaboration with the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) and the Bangladesh Overseas Employment Services Limited (BOESL).

Establishing Linkages.

Ø  Linkages with government service providing agencies/centres such as social welfare, agricultural extension services, hospitals/community health clinics and educational institutions; and

Ø  Efforts will be made to secure ‘khas’ land for the landless ultra poor who would be provided with housing loans on easy terms.

Infrastructural Improvement

Ø  Assistance towards improving infrastructure including roads and electricity, where required; and

Ø  Establishment of union-based  e-centres will be attempted to encourage/promote ICT in appropriate cases.

Community Cooperation

Ø  Promotion of cooperation in the community to collectively address common problems such as flood and salinity intrusion, and pursue common purposes such as marketing of products.

Capacity Building

Ø  Providing capacity building, awareness raising and vocational training, as appropriate, is another important area of intervention. Skill development training will be followed by necessary support so that the training is used in a productive manner. Steps will be taken to provide such support in kind, as far as practicable A Training Need Assessment (TNA) will be conducted before embarking on the training component.

Tree Plantation/Kitchen Gardening and Marketing

Ø  Special emphasis will be given to promoting tree plantation and homestead/kitchen gardening with high value horticultural crops. PKSF has already signed MOUs with Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB) and Inter Cooperation (IC) to provide technical assistance for such intervention. The scope of these MOUs would be expanded to include the ENRICH unions;

Ø  Special efforts will be made to help small producers in quality up-grading and storage and marketing of the products; and

Ø  Formation of producers cooperatives (viz.  Farmers Marketing Group in ADB assisted NCDP Project) and cluster-based product concentration (`OTOP concept of Thailand) will be initiated, if appropriate given the scale of marketing of products involved.

Primary Health Care Services    

Ensuring access to primary health care services is another key area of intervention of ENRICH. The interventions would include:

Ø  facilitating health checks of members of the families periodically;

Ø   taking steps to ensure access to

ü   life saving and other primary health care medicines,

ü  vitamin and mineral supplements to tackle malnutrition,

ü  safe drinking water, and

ü  sanitation;

Ø  helping lactating mothers with nutritional supplements;

Ø  promoting safe motherhood;

Ø  arranging hospital and/or ambulance-based referral services in case of medical emergency; and

Ø  promoting family planning campaign targeting households in particular and the community in general, particularly in chars and other disadvantaged areas.

Scope of  PKSF’s recently signed MOU with Renata Limited would be expanded further to include the unions under ENRICH. The ongoing discussion with Rockefeller Foundation on collaboration in health initiatives will have special focus on ENRICH.

Insurance

            Endeavour will be made to cover the borrower’s investments with suitable  insurance, for example, livestock, crop, and death of the earning member of the family, as appropriate. The resources of the proposed ADB assisted `Developing Inclusive Insurance Sector’ Project funded by Japan Fund for poverty reduction would be geared towards giving special focus on ENRICH unions

            Overseas Employment

Scope of MOUs earlier signed with BMET and the BOESL to send people for employment overseas under PRIME will be strengthened to include ENRICH unions.

Savings and asset building

Each household will be encouraged and facilitated to build assets. A requirement will be that the household opens a bank account within the purview of this programme and saves at least Taka 300 fortnightly to be deposited in the account on the 15^th and the 30^th of each month; in case any of these dates falls on a holiday, the deposit will be made the next day the bank opens. No withdrawal will be allowed for two years. The amount saved in this period (up to Taka 20,000) will be matched by PKSF in the case of ultra poor (to be defined) while in the case of others soft loan may be provided; and the total amount (i.e. savings plus matching fund or savings plus soft loan, as the case may be) will be used, with PKSF’s concurrence, for acquiring physical assets or undertaking productive activities. While acquiring physical assets, it would be ensured that the ownership of such assets lie with women when they are the participants in the programme.

Other Assistance/Services

Any other feasible support/assistance/services as may be found necessary will be included in the package.

5.2       Assessment of Household Needs

The actual need for different types of support will be assessed jointly with the households. The baseline survey data generated will be used as source material. Since the family as a whole is the focus unlike individuals, for example, in traditional microcredit, more than one member of a family may be entitled to a credit or grant for one purpose or another or support combining both credit and grant. In fact, the needs of the family as a whole as well as of each individual will be assessed and addressed in the best possible manner.

5.3       The Core Purposes

The core purposes of all of the above interventions are to increase the household’s socio-economic status and welfare on a sustained basis. Increasing productivity, diversifying into higher value crops, and promoting off-farm employment are some of the ways of raising income of the households. Higher incomes should raise household savings, thus enabling them to expand and diversify sources of income and undertaking human development activities including education, training, health, sanitation etc. Given judicious use of the rising incomes and capabilities, quality of life of the people participating in this programme should improve on a sustained basis.

5.4       Developing Community Disaster Response Initiatives

Special emphasis will be given to developing a quick local response mechanism to face natural disasters, through community participation on cooperative principles. The community members will be trained on different response mechanisms and their coping capacity will be enhanced, depending on the geographical location and vulnerability of the union to various natural disasters (viz. cyclone, tornado, flood, drought, river erosion etc). Formation of school-based disaster management committee will be encouraged, in appropriate cases. A special disaster management fund will be created for each of the unions with an initial contribution from PKSF’s DMF/EFRRAP fund, which will be sought to be enhanced by persuading the local rich and others to contribute.

5.5       Promoting Human Rights and Gender Equity

Promoting human rights and launching campaigns against gender discrimination will be yet another area of intervention for the community as a whole. Posters/leaflets etc will be published and distributed and other appropriate publicity materials will be used in addition to holding community-based seminars and training sessions to sensitize all concerned on these issues. Awareness campaign on violence against women will be a regular agenda item in such campaigns, meetings/seminars, and training sessions.

6.         COORDINATION AND LINKAGES

6.1       Coordination between PKSF POs

There may be instances where more than one PO is working in the same union. In such a situation, a consortium arrangement will be worked out so that all the POs working in the same area could participate while the selected PO works as the lead agency.

6.2       Linkage with PKSF’s Existing Project Interventions

PKSF is currently implementing the following programmes/projects throughout the country:

Ø  PRIME: targeting monga and other distressed area

Ø  LIFT : supporting innovative interventions in poverty alleviation

Ø  MFMSF Project: targeting small and marginal farmers

Ø  MFTSP: targeting small scale household livestock development in rural areas

Ø  PLDP II : Targeting  small scale household livestock development in rural areas

Ø  EFRRAP : Providing disaster mitigation soft loans

Ø  FSVGD & UP Beneficiary: providing capacity building support to the ultra poor

Ø  FEDEC : targeting promotion of microenterprises

One or another or more than one of these relevant projects/programmes will be in operation in most of the selected unions under ENRICH. The respective projects/programmes will enroll these unions as thrust areas for their support. Monitorable targets for delivering inputs/training services for the ENRICH beneficiaries will be fixed for these projects/programmes and their achievements evaluated and discussed at periodic coordination meetings at PKSF. The Agricultural Advisor, the Livestock Specialist and the Microenterprise Specialist appointed under the above mentioned respective projects will be given special assignments for providing appropriate services and promoting suitable enterprises for the  households under the ENRICH programme.

The MFTSP and the PLDP projects have registered commendable achievements in promoting small-scale livestock enterprises for poverty alleviation. These projects are due to be completed within December 2010 (PLDP in June 2010 and MFTSP in December 2010). The huge technical capabilities and resources mobilized under these projects, may be retained, as appropriate, for deploying in ENRICH areas.

6.3       Linkage with other Projects Implemented in ENRICH Unions

There may be instances where other poverty focused projects are being implemented in ENRICH unions by the government or by other agencies either at their own initiatives or with donor assistance. Efforts will be made at PKSF level to work out an understanding at the Head Office level of these initiatives to avoid overlap while focusing on maximizing the benefit of the people concerned.

6.4       Linkage with other Government Agencies

Linkages will be established with respective line Ministries so as to seek help of their field functionaries as and when needed. PKSF already has MOUs signed with the Department of Agricultural Extension, the Department of Livestock Services, and the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI). These MOUs will be sought to be activated and their scope expanded while steps will be taken to sign new MOUs with the Department of Health Services and the Local Government Engineering Division (LGED).

6.5       Cooperation with Local Government

The chairman/members of the respective unions have already been informed about ENRICH, introducing the respective lead PO; and their cooperation have been sought. An advisory committee may be formed in each of the unions with the Union Parishad Chairman as its convener and all the members and representatives from the involved PO as members. Representatives of the donor assisted projects being implemented in the union may also be invited as members of the committee. The designated branch manager of the lead PO may act as its member secretary. The committee will have a set terms of reference. However, the committee will have an advisory role. Operational issues will be the responsibility of the PO, within the framework of the  programme.

After completion of one year of implementation of ENRICH a field level evaluation will be conducted and the best performing union and the PO will be recognized at a national level function. A letter from Secretary, Local Government Division to the union chairmen introducing PKSF, ENRICH and the lead PO should be helpful ensuring active support/involvement of the local government. Meanwhile, the respective Upazila (sub-district) Parishad Chairmen and the Members of Parliament (MP) have been informed about this new programme of PKSF

7.         MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

7.1       At PKSF Level

PKSF is establishing a separate Unit at its Headquarters to implement and monitor the programme. The Unit will be headed by a Programme Director reporting to MD and assisted by one Economist, one Community Health Specialist, a Household Enterprise Development Specialist, a Communication Specialist, a Monitoring Specialist, and an IT Specialist reporting to the Programme Director along with necessary support staff, to start with. An ENRICH Coordination Committee (ECC) is being established at PKSF with the Programme Director as its Convener and all Panel Supervisors as its members. One of the designated Specialists of the Cell will act as its Member-Secretary. Once the implementation of ENRICH starts, the PKSF Governing Body will be kept informed about the progress through memo to its meetings.

7.2       At PO level

The lead PO may open more than one branch in the union, if found necessary, subject to concurrence of PKSF. Each of the branches will be staffed with Household Enterprise Development Assistant(s), Health Assistant(s), Social Development Organizer (s) and an MIS Assistant. A suitably qualified coordinator will be appointed at the PO level. He/She will be located at the concerned branch of the PO. These functionaries shall be in addition to the usual staff strength of the branch. The cost of these ENRICH officials, to be deployed at the branches exclusively for the programme with specific terms of reference prescribed by PKSF, will be borne jointly by the PO and the PKSF, 50% each.

8.         FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS

All costs of the specific new activities will be borne by PKSF while the POs are expected to make modest contribution of 50% of the cost of operations at the PO level. For this purpose, the POs would use the surplus generated from the PKSF supported microcredit activities. The financial services component will have some facilitative special features as under:

Ø  The funding from PKSF will be packaged together as ENRICH component and sanctioned/renewed on yearly basis. The fund received from PKSF will be credited in a designated account and withdrawal from this account would be subject to ceiling/restriction imposed by PKSF. The idea is to allow maximum leeway to the POs to maneuver the use of funds as, when, and where necessary without waiting for sanction/disbursement from PKSF. A set of special mechanisms will be devised, in consultation with the POs, for disbursement, recording, and reporting so as to ensure transparency of transactions while ensuring efficient use of funds.

Ø  The PO will be given preferential treatment in relation to opening of new branches; and all ENRICH related funding from PKSF will be released in advance following imprest account mechanism.

However, a PO’s entitlement to funding will be contingent upon performance in ENRICH. This will be measured on the basis of mutually agreed criteria. The operation division of PKSF will take views and recommendations of ENRICH Unit on any proposal for new sanction/disbursement favoring the PO.

A set of social performance indicators (SPI) will be developed for all POs of PKSF for measuring their performance in areas other than microcredit for which indicators are already there. Achievements in these areas will be used, along with indicators of financial performance, in the rating of the POs. The POs participating in ENRICH may secure better rating, given their focused involvement in this comprehensive programme.

9.         RESEARCH, EVALUATION AND IMPACT MONITORING

PKSF is in the process of enhancing its own capability of undertaking periodic evaluation of not only ENRICH but also all other programmes of PKSF, involving its mainstream training and research divisions. Efforts will also be made to enhance the respective capacities of the concerned POs in this regard. The Director, Research Division of PKSF will coordinate these activities with support from the Monitoring Specialist of ENRICH.

10.       PUBLICITY AND CAMPAIGN

Efforts will be made to raise public awareness about this new programme with a view to improving the image of poverty alleviation campaign of PKSF and its POs. Both print and electronic media would be used for this purpose. Booklets/brochures/newsletters shall be published periodically. A suitable media partner may be engaged at the outset to help, in cooperation with the Communication Specialist, disseminate the ideas behind and the progress of this programme with a view to garnering support for this new intervention and encouraging others to take up similar programmes.  However, the main responsibility lies with PKSF

11.       RECORD KEEPING, SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

These will follow the standard practices of PKSF, with the following exceptional provisions:

Ø  The beneficiary’s normal passbook will be replaced with a multi-colour multi-page household passbook in which the baseline data and information about the household will be recorded with provisions for making periodic entries subsequently. The first part of the passbook will record household information, while the second part will contain usual information on loans, grants, other assistance, savings etc.

Ø  The PKSF desk officers will make periodic visits to the unions (at least once every three months) and submit reports to their supervisors with a copy to ENRICH Programme Director. The ENRICH Cell will also give copies of routine supervision/monitoring reports to the supervisory officers of the POs.

Ø  The Coordinators at the PO level will also submit copies of their visit reports to the Programme Director.

Ø  Quarterly coordination meetings will be held at PKSF where the CEOs of the concerned POs and the senior officers of PKSF would participate and discuss progress and resolve  issues, if any.

12.       IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (IP)

Each of the participating POs will formulate its own draft Implementation Plan (IP) based on the outlines provided in this concept paper. While the core elements must be the same for all unions and households, the POs may include activities in their implementation plans based on the union-wide realities and household needs, prevailing and emerging in the respective unions, with special needs of households determined in consultation with them. The draft IP will be discussed with PKSF and the final IP will be the one agreed by PKSF and the particular PO with due regard to the views of the households.

13.       Update as of 31 October 2010

13.1     Survey

Household survey of the selected 21 unions was initiated on 7 July 2010 and completed on 8 September 2010. The total number of households found in the 21 unions is 117,610, which have all been surveyed. So far data of one union has been entered into computer, cleaned and analysed, using Foundation’s own manpower and, based on the findings, appropriate interventions are being chalked out for finalization after consultation with the respective households and implementation. An IT Firm is being engaged for computer entry and processing of the data of other 20 unions.

13.2          Actions

Two broad types of activities are to be undertaken within the scope of ENRICH. These are:

• Household-specific actions based on identification of requirements through analysis of data collected and consultation with the households; and

• Union or community based activities, as explained in the brochure

The household-specific activities will be started after the household-specific plans are ready in few months’ time. There are also certain things which households in general may find beneficial. Some of such and community level actions already underway, based on what has been learnt from field visits, information collected and discussions are:

13.2.1  Supply of Safe Drinking Water

With a view to meeting the demand for safe drinking water of the affected families of Aila hit Shyamnagar Upazila (one of 21 selected under ENRICH), 20 Pond Sand Filters (PSF) and 20 Rain Water Harvesting Plants have been repaired with financial assistance provided by PKSF through Nowabeki Gonomukhi Foundation, a PO of PKSF.

13.2.2  Environment Friendly Cooking Stove

Programmes have been chalked out to supply health and environment-friendly cooking stove to all families in the 21 unions under ENRICH. A total of 10,000 families will be brought under this programme within 2011 and rest of the families will be covered gradually. The cost of one cooking stove, based on its size, ranges from Taka 600 to Taka 800. Arrangement has been made to provide subsidized loans to the poor families for procurement of the stoves. In addition, awareness and publicity campaigns will be undertaken using flip chart, leaflet, poster, billboard, demonstration centre, group meeting, video display and folk songs. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has also been signed with GTZ to jointly implement the programme in the field.

13.2.3  Solar Lantern

A programme has been taken up, especially in off-grid areas, to supply environment-friendly and risk-free solar lanterns to poor families who now use kerosene lanterns. The poor will be given solar lantern at an affordable price of below market rate. Each solar lantern with a 12 to 18 months guarantee period would cost between Taka 1000 to Taka 2000. The poor households will have access to subsidized credit for purchasing the solar lantern. In the meantime, discussions are underway with 7 institutions to identify a suitable one to be engaged as service-provider for this programme. It is expected that this new intervention will not only help improve the living standard of the poor households but would also open up new avenues for increasing family income. In addition, an arrangement for supplying solar home-system to the comparatively richer families will also be made

13.3     Theme Songs

 As a publicity campaign, two `theme songs’, one on ENRICH and one on cooking stove, have been composed with a view to enhancing awareness of the people about ENRICH programme as a whole and cooking stove in particular. Palli Baul group has composed the theme songs and will present them widely in the ENRICH unions.

13.4     Recruitment of Personnel

A Coordinator has been appointed in each of the ENRICH unions. In addition, each of the concerned branches of the POs has been staffed with a Health Assistant, Enterprise Development Assistant, Social Development Organizer and an MIS Assistant. A separate Cell has been set up in PKSF with required manpower to implement different specialized interventions. In addition, a Programme and Research Implementation Committee (PRIC), with the PKSF Managing Director as chair, has been formed at PKSF to provide appropriate guidance and guidelines for proper implementation of the programme. 

For further details, please contact:

ENRICH Unit

PKSF Bhavan

E-4/B, Agargaon Administrative Area

Sher-e-Banglanagar, Dhaka-1207

Bangladesh

Tel: 880-2- 9140056-59, 880-2-9126240-43

Fax: 880-2- 9134431, 9126244

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web: www.pksf-bd.org