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PRIME An Approach to Eliminate Monga

With financial Support from:

October, 2010

PRIMEAn Approach to Eliminate Monga Background of PRIME Programmed Initiative for Monga Eradication (PRIME) is a comprehensive approach to eradicate Monga. According to the latest (2005) Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the poverty head count rate (defined as the fraction of the population living under the upper poverty line) for the entire country was 40%; while in the greater Rangpur region (Rangpur, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Kurigram and Lalmonirhat) poverty rate was 57%. Similarly, extreme poverty rate (defined as the population living under lower poverty line, i.e. individual who can not meet the 1,800 kcal per day food intake even if they spend their entire income on food purchase only) was 25% at national level, compared to 43% in the greater Rangpur region. Moreover this region experiences seasonal deprivation and a famine-like situation, locally called monga, during mid-September to mid-November corresponding to post planting and pre-harvesting of major Amon rice crop. Another such period is mid-March to mid-May corresponding to post-Rabi and pre-Boro rice crop harvesting in the region. Households relying primarily on agricultural wages find their pre-harvest purchasing power dropping drastically due to a rise in staple food prices coupled with a fall in local labor demand and wages. The region is characterized with very limited agriculture based employment opportunities having insufficient alternative wage-employment or self-employment opportunities. This situation eventually leads to chronic impoverishment, starvation and unbalanced regional development. Field level experiences of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) in tackling severe poverty situation reveals that a sustainable coordinated initiative is essential to eradicate monga permanently. In this perspective PKSF has undertaken PRIME for the first time in 2006 in the greater Rangpur region of the country.

from the Department for international

cjx Kg-mnvqK dvDkb www.pksf-bd.org

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Objective of PRIME

The major objective of PRIME is to prevent the consequences of monga and monga-like situation by generating income through wage and self-employment opportunities for the monga-affected people throughout the year. Target Beneficiaries The target beneficiaries of PRIME are ultra poor households which are monga-affected or facing monga-like situation. These households may- have monthly income Tk. 1500 during monga period

(base year 2005); earn livelihood through selling their labor; have less than 50 decimals of land.

Geographical Coverage PRIME has been designed to mitigate extreme poverty in monga prone areas as well as areas having similar situation elsewhere in the country. Northern Region: PRIME has initially been launched in 5 upazillas (sub districts) of Lalmonirhat district during 2006. Subsequently all 35 upazillas in 5 northern districts of greater Rangpur region, namely Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Rangpur, have been brought under the extended PRIME program during 2007 and 2008 with funding from UKaid under Promoting Financial Services for Poverty Reduction (PROSPER) Program. South-western Region: Recently a number of studies have observed that the poverty situation has been deteriorating gradually in the south-western region of the country. In this context PKSF has decided to expand PRIME program in south-western region of the country covering 11 selected upazillas of 4 districts under Khulna and Barisal divisions. These upazillas include Shyamnagar, Assasuni and Kaliganj of Satkhira district,

Dacope and Koyra of Khulna district, Kalapara, Galachipa and Dasmina of Patuakhali district and Hizla and Mehendiganj of Barisal district. The detailed geographical coverage of PRIME is shown in Table 1. Table-1: PRIME Coverage at a Glance

Region Division No. of district

No. of upazilla

Target Ultrapoor

Households (in million)

Northern Rangpur 5 35 0.36 Khulna 2 5 South-

western Barisal 3 6 o.17

Total 3 10 46 0.53

Targeting Monga-affected Households

PRIME activities, in greater Rangpur region, were initiated by conducting a baseline census to identify monga-affected households. Initially 0.6 million households was targeted for PRIME intervention. However, in October 2010 PRIME has revised its target to cover 0.53 million ultra poor households, of which targets for northern region and south-western region are 0.36 and 0.17 million households respectively. Salient Features of Monga-affected Households The baseline census has depicted some salient features of the monga-affected northern region, which are as follows: Nearly 50% of the total population of the greater

Rangpur region is monga-affected. Proportion of households affected by monga is highest in Kurigram (54%) followed by Rangpur (53%), Lalmonirhat (49%), Nilphamari (43%) and Gaibandha (43%).

Considering the percentage of households having

probability of less than 3 meals a day, the most vulnerable districts in order of magnitude are Kurigram

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(75%), Rangpur (70%), Nilphamari (69%), Gaibandha (51%) and Lalmonirhat (35%).

Nearly 79% of the monga-affected population is day laborer followed by employment in farm (22%) and non-farm (1%) activities.

Nearly 23% of monga-affected households do not have any land.

Coping strategies employed by monga-affected people are internal migration (43%), external support (36%), asset sale (15%), advance labor sale (5%) and advance crop sale (1%).

Major Interventions of PRIME Mainly two types of interventions are included in PRIME Program. These are: Year-round interventions Time specific seasonal interventions

Overall PRIME interventions and related activities are shown in Table 2.

Table-2: Component-wise activities of PRIME

COMPONENT ACTIVITIES

Year-Round Interventions

Microfinance Providing flexible microcredit (FMC) to PRIME beneficiaries. Beneficiaries undertake various IGAs in the field of crop, livestock and off-farm activities

Skill & capacity building and technical assistance support

Providing hands-on agriculture, livestock and off-farm skill development training for different IGAs implementation Extending year-round technical assistance through field level technical staff Providing quality input supply for agro-based IGAs Promoting market linkage for ensuring better economic return

Vocational training

Providing demand driven vocational training on different trades to ensure wage and self-employment

Primary health care services

Extending primary health care services for ensuring their healthy living

Seasonal (lean season) Interventions

Emergency Loan (EL)

Providing emergency loan (EL) to meet emergency consumption and needs

Cash for work (CFW)

Creating temporary wage employment when the regular income source is hindered due to disaster or seasonal joblessness

PRIME Implementing Partner Organizations (POs)

In greater Rangpur region, 16 Partner Organizations (POs) of PKSF have been implementing PRIME. These POs include RDRS Bangladesh, TMSS, Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO), SKS Foundation, Gram Unnayan Karma (GUK),

Co-ordination meeting between PRIME cell and staff of PRIME implementing POs

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Target beneficiaries attending weekly meeting under PRIME program

Padakhep Manobik Unnayan Kendro (PMUK), Peoples Oriented Programme Implementation (POPI), UDDIPAN, Ganoshasthaya Kendra (GK), Society for Social Service (SSS), Samakal Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (S-SUS), Self-Help and Rehabilitation Program (SHARP), Gram Bikash Kendra (GBK), Bangladesh Extension Education Services (BEES), Jagoroni Chakra Foundation and Assistance for Social Organization and Development (ASOD). The above mentioned POs have been selected from PKSFs existing list of POs on the basis of several criteria such as- having sound knowledge on socio-economic aspects of

the ultra poor; having good track record with PKSF; having institutional capacity and commitment to extend

financial service, training and other support services to the ultra poor, etc.

Implementing POs are supported with incentives ranging from operational subsidy to technical assistance. So far 231 branches have been established in the greater Rangpur region which are the nucleus of all PRIME activities. In addition, a number of POs along with additional branches are expected to join PRIME very soon to implement PRIME program in the south-western region. Achievements of PRIME Organizing monga-affected households: Up to June 2010, 0.3 million ultra poor households has been organized in 14,287 groups. Beneficiaries of PRIME groups are more relaxed to attend weekly

meeting and deposit regular savings compare to that of conventional microcredit groups. Financial services toward developing sustainable livelihood: PRIME beneficiaries are provided with flexible microcredit (FMC) to invest in IGAs as well as emergency loan (EL) along with service charges 10% and 0.5% respectively, which are lower then conventional microcredit program. Once beneficiaries are brought under the PRIME groups they are supported with Flexible Microcredit (FMC) services. This credit system has flexibility in loan sizes, repayment schedules and savings. Up to June 2010, a total of 176,821 beneficiaries have received Tk. 734.1 million as FMC. Average FMC loan size is Tk. 5200, but it varies considerably from 3000-20000, depending both on borrowers repayment capacity as well as the type of IGA. Rate of loan repayment is over 98%. As of June 2010, Tk. 43.8 million has been disbursed to 22,913 beneficiaries as EL to meet their emergency consumption and needs. PRIME introduced flexible savings for beneficiaries since inception. Members under flexible savings are allowed to save any amount of money and can withdraw in time of their need. Up to June 2010 PRIME beneficiaries have saved a total of Tk. 396 million. Income Generating Activities (IGAs): FMC borrowing PRIME beneficiaries are involved with different kinds of crop or livestock related or off-farm based income-generating activities (IGAs). Crop related IGAs include- specific crop pattern based farming; commercial production of vegetables and fruits; nursery; homestead gardening, etc.

Livestock related IGAs include- goat and sheep rearing;

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Broiler rearing as an IGA for PRIME beneficiary

Hands-on training on mat making

Primary health care for mother and

children of PRIME households

beef fattening; heifer and dairy cattle rearing, etc.

Off-farm IGAs include small business, tailoring, van pulling, production of bamboo or cane craft, etc.

Up to June 2010, PRIME beneficiaries have implemented a total of 325,133 different IGAs, of which 27% are off-farming, 40% are livestock-related and the remaining 33% are crop-related. This has given the monga-affected beneficiaries an opportunity to build their asset base, generate extra-income as well as part-time employment. All these have supported them to cope monga better than that of the pre-PRIME situation. Training and Technical Assistance for Better IGA Implementation: For effective IGA implementation-

As of June 2010, a total of 64,782 beneficiaries have been trained in crop cultivation (12%), livestock rearing (83%) and off-farming activities (5%);

Besides, PRIME field level technical staffs in collaboration with local level Government and private service providers have arranged vaccination and medication camp for preventing infectious and parasitic diseases of livestock and poultry of both PRIME beneficiaries and other farmers of the PRIME area. PRIME has also established breeding farms and nurseries at PO level with a view of supplying quality breeding stock and saplings to PRIME beneficiaries.

Primary Health Care Service for PRIME Target Households: PRIME has started providing primary healthcare support since 2008 through its 231 field level paramedics. Trained PRIME paramedics- provide basic

health support to pregnant & lactating mother, children, and elderly members of enrolled PRIME households;

conduct awareness program for the PRIME beneficiaries on cleanliness and hygiene, nutrition and feeding, de-worming and immunization;

distribute some basic drugs and vitamin-mineral supplements free of cost.

Up to June 2010, 0.7 million targeted beneficiaries along with their family members have received primary health care services under PRIME. Cash for Work (CFW): PRIME beneficiaries in greater Rangpur region were involved with CFW activities in 2006 and 2007, which reduced their vulnerability during the monga period. Around 5.65 million man-days of employment had been created for 0.116 million beneficiaries at a cost of Tk. 304 million. CFW activities

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Distribution of safe drinking water to AILA affected beneficiaries

CFW activity for pond excavation

included repair/ construction of connecting roads, raising homestead, repairing/maintenance of premises of education/religious institutions, excavating and re-excavating ponds, building/repairing dikes, etc. Facing Calamities and Disaster: Effective Intervention of PRIME after SIDR & AILA In 2007 and 2009, two short-term special programs were launched to minimize the sufferings of the Cyclone SIDR and AILA affected households through providing emergency assistance. Around 1.77 million man-days of employment had been created for 38,550 beneficiaries through CFW intervention at a cost of Tk. 213 million in 11 severely affected upazillas of 5 SIDR affected districts (Borguna, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Jhalakati and Bagerhat). Similarly, a total of 0.24 million man-days of employment was created for 4,000 beneficiaries at a cost of Tk. 36 million in the worst Aila-hit Shyamnagar upazila of Sathkhira district. Furthermore, 130,000-liter of safe drinking water per day had been distributed to the distressed people of the same upazilla for 153 days.

Alta is no more downtrodden

Alta Begum, 30-years of age, stands before her flock of ducks with a confident smile in her face. She smiles because she won the fight against monga. Only 2 years back she couldnt think of having meals three times a day with no scope for income. But the scenario has been changed now. Alta turned her fate through establishing an IGA of duck farming after receiving skill development training and loan under PRIME. She started with 100 laying ducks by using FMC and soon established a duck hatchery.

Within two years of her involvement with PRIME, Alta begum initiated livelihood activities that have triggered her family to come out of poverty through increased income generation and created employment opportunity for other monga affected people

Struggle of Dinobala: A success story

Three years back Dinobala was a pauper living in abject poverty-hunger and want were everywhere. Now she has become an iconic figure in Fulgach village. Starting with seasonal CFW program under PRIME later on she involved with different IGAs. In 2007 she established a mini farm and now she is a proud owner of a medium sized layer farm with handsome monthly income.

Now she has no fear of monga She is a winner against poverty

Annas journey to self-reliance

Living with unimaginable scarcity Anna Rani took tailor training under PRIME in 2007. After successful completion of the training she got a sewing machine. This sewing machine and the training changed her life.

Anna has fought back to break the shackles of poverty and hunger PRIME gives Anna a new horizon for towards eradicating monga

Alta Begum and her fortune (duck)

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Impact of PRIME Interventions Institute of Microfinance (InM) has been conducting longitudinal study on impact of PRIME on its target beneficiaries since 2007. The study reveals a remarkable progress in consumption ordering, income, food expenditure, reduction of vulnerability and asset building of PRIME beneficiaries. Some of the major observations are: Occasional starvation among the PRIME beneficiaries

during monga period went down from 47% in 2007 to 31% in 2009 (Figure 1).

Consumption of three full meals during monga period among the PRIME beneficiaries was only 4% in 2007, which has increased to 23% in 2009 (Figure 1).

Average annual income of PRIME participant was about Tk. 40,000 as against Tk. 38,000 for the non-participant.

Average annual savings of PRIME participants was nearly Tk. 2,100 compared to nearly Tk. 1,250 for the non-participants.

Annual mean food expenditure of PRIME participant was Tk. 31,383 compared to Tk. 29,743 of non-participant.

Mean number of livestock of PRIME participant was 2.26 as against 2.08 for the non-participants.

Figure 1. Impact of PRIME in reducing food-hardship of monga- affected households All these positive findings suggest that in three years of operation, PRIME has proved to be effective in reducing vulnerability of monga-prone households in the greater Rangpur region.

Challenges for PRIME

Increased production involves applying appropriate technology with adequate inputs. One of the major challenges of PRIME is to ensure the availability of that appropriate technology to the beneficiaries;

PRIME beneficiaries are deprived of getting real price for their product due to poor market linkage thus the challenge of PRIME is to link PRIME beneficiaries with high-end market;

The south-western region, which is a cyclone-prone area is located in the coastal belt of the country and were devastated by cyclone Sidr and Aila. PKSF has made an attempt to expand PRIME program in that region though the experience of implementing PRIME program in the northern region would not be that much helpful to devise appropriate interventions for the south-western region. The causes and nature of poverty and income pattern in the south-western part of the country are not similar to the existing PRIME working area in the greater Rangpur region. Considering these facts as major challenges for the expansion plan of PRIME program PKSF is trying to design an appropriate intervention policy.

Concluding Remarks

PRIME underscores two broad spectrums of actions- ensuring year-round employment opportunity through

diversified IGAs; fostering sustainable and integrated development

practices in elevating the living standards of the beneficiaries and bringing them out of extreme poverty.

PKSF is committed to further consolidate the achievements of PRIME and as a challenging program PRIME has been netted with all possible socio-economic dynamics to ensure long lasting impact on the process of alleviating poverty in Bangladesh.

PKSF sees poverty alleviation as a continuous process thus the success of PRIME largely depends on the efficient and synchronized coordination among the stakeholders, efficient tackling of challenges and providing demand driven services to the beneficiaries.

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For more information Contact

Team Leader- PROSPER

Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF)

PKSF Bhaban, E-4/B, Agargaon A/A Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207 Phone: 880-2-9126240-3, 9140056-9

Fax: 880-2-9126244, 9134431

Excavating pond in AILA affected southwestern district for holding fresh water

Sheep breeding farm of SKS Foundation to supply quality-breeding animals to monga-affected beneficiaries

Mat making ensure year-round employment opportunities for monga-affected household