Poverty is one of the important problems in our country. It creates other many problems for the people. In this situation, it is very much necessary to alleviate the poverty from Bangladesh. For poverty alleviation, different organizations, NGOs and associations have taken various effective programmes and steps. On the other hand government also has taken some plans and policies for poverty alleviation. In 2000-20001 fiscal year, government has declared a large amount of money for poverty alleviation and rural development now I would like to mention the following steps, programmes, plan and fiscal also should be followed for poverty alleviation Bangladesh.
- At first, to decrease the population growth rate by giving proper training and facilities of health and family planning training center.
- To ensure the equal distribution of resources which is available in the country.
- To create the employment opportunities for the poor by expanding and establishing cottage and small-scale industries.
- To remove the poverty, it is necessary to increase the productivity by using modern technology and skilled manpower.
- To create skilled manpower by providing proper training for the unskilled manpower.
- We can reduce poverty through micro-credit facilities among the poor people.
- All cultivable land can be converted into three-cropped land by means of irrigation.
- To raise literacy rate by taking various programmes—Food for education programme, Compulsory primary education, adult education etc.
- Facilitate agriculture development through institutional support and expansion of irrigation.
- Increase basic physical infrastructure (roads, markets) in the rural area.
- Promote participation of women in development activities.
- Utilize the resource properly to reduce poverty.
- Remove the social corruption for poverty alleviation.
- Increase the awareness of poor people by teaching and proper training.
- Various NGOs can play a vital role for poverty alleviation. So, we should take the opportunities of different projects and programmes of NGOs and association, such as--- Grameen Bank Prokalpa (GBP), Small Farmers credit project (SFCP) etc.
- We can alleviate poverty by taking proper plan and utilization of resource.
The Economic Development Program (EDP) works with and for the disadvantaged rural people of Bangladesh, especially women, and it has a compelling vision of a society where the poor and disadvantaged will be able to achieve sustainable improvement in their livelihoods, attain a high degree of self reliance and manage their own affairs with dignity and freedom.
In the last three decades, with more than three and a half million rural women, it has been able to reach a large number of poor people. EDP has been working in all the 64 districts of Bangladesh and has a wide range of interventions including institution building, microfinance, sector program, social development and health intervention. EDP's greatest strength lies in its innovative development programs and learning from experiences.
Bangladesh has made great strides since its independence in 1971--in foodgrain production, prevention of famines, effective response to natural calamities, and achievements on the social front. Rural poverty, however, remains extensive. More than half of Bangladeshis are below the poverty line and about 90 percent of the poor live in rural areas.
"To reduce poverty, it is crucial to develop rural areas--where most of the poor people live. This study identifies ways of accelerating growth in rural areas. Poverty in Bangladesh must tbe reduced by helping agriculture and rural non-farm sectors grow faster and by strengthening rural institutions that empower rural people to improve their income and welfare.
"The study identifies the critical constraints that prevent Bangladesh from realizing its strong potential to increase agricultural and rural non-farm growth. It also draws lessons from different programs to develop rural institutions and reduce poverty in order to design the future strategy.
"The proposed rural development strategy addresses the critical constraints to rural growth and to the building of rural institutions within a medium-term time frame. The key propositions of the strategy are to: i) improve short-term food assistance and reform food policy, ii) reform policy environment and public sector programs for farm and non-farm growth, iii) invest in improved infrastructure, iv) improve the efficiency of the rural financial system, and v) build a strong local government system."
In Bangladesh, the approach to poverty alleviation, particularly reduction of income poverty, covers several channels. An important channel is economic growth. Although the impact of economic growth on poverty is somewhat indirect, high economic growth, along
with measures to influence the ‘quality’ of growth such that its poverty alleviating capacity is increased, is an important element of a successful anti-poverty strategy in the country. In addition, direct efforts to reduce poverty cover several routes e.g. capability–raising of the poor by education, health and nutrition interventions; targeted employment, and safety nets programmes; and improvements in non-material dimensions of well-being including gender gaps, insecurity, powerlessness and social exclusion. In short, the approach sets three broad imperatives in the fight against poverty:
First, opportunities for employment and productivity growth must be created so that incomes rise and the poor are able to move out of poverty; Second, measures must be put in place to ensure that access to basic services is equitable so that the poor can benefit; and
Third, special measures must be taken to reduce the vulnerability of the poor to unforeseen events and shocks.
Over the years, significant diversity has emerged among each of these broad channels. The growth enhancing interventions, along with economic sectors and infrastructure development, have covered elements of good governance and an enabling environment such that growth prospects are enhanced. Similarly, the direct approach to reducing poverty has been broadened to cover different programmes. Along with microcredit based employment programmes which rely more on self-employment generation, other types of income transfer programmes have been evolved. At present, the Government’s targeted programmes cover a broad range of activities: food aid to create safety-nets for the poor, building and maintenance of rural infrastructure, rural development programmes, primary and girls education programmes, microcredit and other specific welfare programmes. While the initial focus of most of these programmes was on ‘transfer elements’ to supplement consumption, create employment opportunities, and help the poor to acquire access to income generating assets, significant changes have taken place in their approach and design to strengthen the development impact of the programmes. While such diversity in targeted anti-poverty instruments serves the immediate needs of different poverty groups, this also raises a moot policy issue: What should be the relative priority of different instruments for ensuring accelerated poverty reduction? In view of significant complementarities among these programmes as well as observed differentials across different poverty groups, one probably may not suggest an ‘either-or’ approach. But certainly it is desirable to identify relative impact of different approaches on the poverty reduction process and generate priorities in specific contexts, given the resource constraints. In short, this will help the policy makers to move towards a more ‘optimal mix’ of targeted anti-poverty programmes.
Food Assisted Programmes
Bangladesh has one of the largest systems of targeted food transfer programmes in the world through which, since 1993/94, more than 1 million metric tons of foodgrains are channelled to the target population. The food assisted programmes generally act as conduits of transfer to enhance household food security and, in many cases, as a means of promoting human development of the poor. During the 1990s, resources channelled through these programmes increased significantly (Table 3.1). The share of foodgrains distributed through food assisted programmes in the Public Food Distribution System (PFDS) also rose sharply in the 1990s: from less than 30 per cent in the early 1980s to over 80 per cent in the late 1990s.14
Table: Profile of food assisted programmes
The rural infrastructure development programmes support building and maintenance of rural roads, bridges and culverts, small scale irrigation structures, development of trading facilities in rural markets, and creation of trading network. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, is involved in the development of rural infrastructure including rural roads, growth centres, embankments and other physical facilities.
Another unique programme of ‘cash for work’ in rural infrastructure development is the Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP) which started in 1983. All the beneficiaries of RMP are women. The programme employs 41,000 destitute rural women (with land ownership of less than 0.5 acre) from 4,100 unions of 435 upazilas in 61 districts as RMP crews. They are employed on a daily wage basis for maintenance of 15 miles of rural earthen road throughout the year. The RMP crews maintain a total of 42,596 km of rural roads in the country and remain in the payroll for a period of four years after which they graduate from the programme. The crews are organized and provided with training on income generating activities during involvement with RMP to assist them in livelihood activities using their own savings.
The Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP):
This program is similar to FFW programmes and is implemented by Union Parishads with assistance of CARE-Bangladesh. With the dual objective of maintaining rural earthen roads and providing employment and training to destitute women, RMP covers about 4,100 union parishads in the country. In each union, 20 km of rural roads, built under IFFD-FFW programme, are maintained by a road maintenance association (RMA) comprising 10 destitute women. The RMA is responsible for maintaining the given stretch of road with quality monitoring done by a union parishad member. The union parishad and a Project Implementation Committee oversee the beneficiary selection process. The eligibility criteria include: being divorced, separated, or otherwise destitute; work. The participating women are enrolled in a four-year programme of RMP work and training during which they are paid Tk. 43 per day as wages (about one-fourth per cent is retained as savings on their behalf). During the last year of the project cycle, the women are given more intensive training in basic business management to help them in pursuing gainful activities after graduation from the project.
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