District Level Advocacy Workshop

Engaging with Safety Net and Khasland

Economic Empowerment of the Poorest

shiree – Bangla word for stepsStimulating Household Improvements Resulting in Economic

Empowerment

• Partnership - UK aid & GoB - Rural Development & Cooperative Division, MoLGRD&C• EEP/Shiree aims to help 1 million

people lift themselves out of extreme poverty - UN MDG 1

Extreme poverty• 17.6% of our population is extremely poor*

i.e. earn less than that needed to meet just their basic food requirements; on average, that means they earn less than 42 BDT per day rural or 45 BDT urban*

 

~25 million peoplelow income linked to lack of employment, low caloric

intake, no secured shelter, low literacy-rates, no access to micro finance, inadequately covered by safety nets, low community involvement and decision-making, elderly, people with disability and minority groups are the poorest disproportionately high among the extreme poor, 40% female headed compared to national average of 10%, intergenerational vulnerability, structural inequalities

*Source: Household Income & Expenditure Survey (HIES), 2010, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

shiree portfolio• Challenge fund: EEP/Shiree supports 9 scale fund NGOs

projects and 27 innovation fund NGO projects across the country

• Scale fund: large grants to scale up existing successful projects• Innovation fund: small grants to explore creative new

approaches, technologies and processes to lift people out of extreme poverty

• Advocacy, research and lesson learning: shiree generates and shares knowledge on extreme poverty through in depth research, a dynamic change monitoring system, an interactive website, frequent inter-NGO sharing sessions and Extreme Poverty Research Group

• Number of districts covered 24• Number of households targeted 259,715

117,955 selected as of April 30, 2012

Modus operandi• EEP/Shiree is an asset-transfer programme• EEP/Shiree partner NGOs provide carefully selected

beneficiaries (bottom 5% of the population) with a means to earn a sustainable livelihood and graduate out of extreme poverty

• Asset-transfers vary and generally include livestock, poultry, land for agriculture, ponds for aquaculture, sewing machines, shops, petty trade etc.

• NGOs also provide holistic capacity building, community mobilisation, social empowerment and nutrition components alongside the asset

Pockets of vulnerability

Haor

Urban

Chittagong Hill Tracts

Monga

Barind tract

Costal belt

shiree partner NGOs

Safety Net• Target group of Shiree with special emphasis • Disabled• Old age• Widow/Deserted• Vulnerable ethnic minority• Pregnant women(around 30-40%)

• Justification for claim• Only asset can not graduate them out of extreme

poverty• Constitutional obligation (Article 15)• Commitment in the ‘Election Manifesto’ of the current

government• Human rights obligation stated in UDHR, ESCR

Consequences if they won’t be included with the safety net• MDG 1 will not be achieved• Violation of constitutional obligation• Non fulfillment of Election Commitment • These extreme poor people will remain below the

poverty line and will remain to the burden of the government

• A major portion of people will have to go to bed hungry almost every day

Khasland• Khasland for the landless provides them with a

way to diversify their incomes in order to graduate from poverty sustainably

• This land can be used to grow vegetables for household consumption and for sale

• Uttaran, CNRS , IC– have managed to transfer 3300 acres to 10500 households – BDT 60,000 per year per household

• GoB has promised khasland to the landless, but there are many obstacles in the transfer of khasland to the neediest

• The poorest lack the capacity to apply for the land or pursue for it and hence it may often go to the wrong people

Obstacles• The poorest are unaware of their rights and entitlement,

the process for application and necessary steps• Complicated application process – the poorest lack the

resources and knowledge required to fill the forms• GoB land offices do not always have the forms and other

necessary resources available• Multi-office process which requires significant

coordination• Slow process/takes enormous amount of time• Elite land grabbers• Khasland not digitised, unavailability of information; so

identifying land is sometimes a challenge• Targeting the extreme poor/real landless may be difficult

How shiree-NGOs can help• Sensitising national policy makers on khasland for

the poorest – MPs, parliament session, policy brief• Identifying landless extremely poor people who

deserve khasland• Supporting landless people to understand

application process and guide them to fill-up application form including submission and in utilizing it productively once it is attained

• Assisting local land administration in implementing khasland distribution process

• Organizing khasland deed distribution events with celebrities

How local land officers can help• Support EEP/shiree in the process• Expedite the overall process of khasland

distribution such as meeting of Upazila khasland distribution committee and promote khasland distribution process

• Receive applications from EEP/shiree beneficiaries on priority basis

• Accelerate approval process and approve• Provide khasland to EEP/shiree beneficiaries on

priority basis• Identifying more khasland for distribution and evict

land grabbers who grabbed khasland illegally• Ensure redistribution of khasland among landless

people

How EEP/shiree can help• Visit of APPG/engagement of APPG• Discussion in parliament through APPG on

khasland• OP-ED campaign• Prepare case studies, best practice stories,

guidance notes• Conduct research, training• The GoB team in charge of the upazilla and

district with the largest number of households receiving khasland will receive recognition at our Extreme Poverty Day Fair in Dhaka on November 24, 2012

• We need champions!

Heroes: who will be the next?

TOGETHER WE CAN ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY!

THANK YOU

For more information, please visit www.shiree.org