Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Projects at the Upazila Level in Bangladesh

1. 1
A Report on Village Attachment Programme
Subject: Effectiveness of Poverty Alleviation Project at the Upazila
Level (Laksham Upazila, Comilla)
Participants:
Dr. Ali Hossain (92078)
Dr. Ahsan Aziz Sarkar (9209)
Dr. Habibur Rahman (922
Dr. Dipankar Mondal (9229)
National Academy for Planning and Development (NAPD)

2. 2
Contents
Background 04
Current state of the Upazila 07
Current Poverty State 09
Challenges and Recommendations 14
Conclusion 16
Annexure 17

3. 3
List of Tables and Figures
Table 1: Operational Definition of different forms of poverty 05
Figure 1: Educational status 09
Figure 2: Housing status 09
Figure 3: Monthly income 10
Figure 4: Number of beneficiaries in 2016 12
figure 5: Poverty rate in Laksham Upazila: year by year comparison 14

4. 4
Background:
Poverty is the scarcity or the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money.
It is a multidimensional concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements. This
concept is often discussed in term of absolute and relative poverty. Absolute poverty or extreme
poverty refers to the complete lack of the means necessary to meet basic personal needs such as
food, clothing and shelter.
The threshold at which absolute poverty is defined is independent of the person's
permanent location or era. Relative poverty occurs when a person who lives in a given country
does not enjoy a certain minimum level of "living standards" as compared to the rest of the
population of that country. The threshold at which relative poverty is defined varies from country
to another or from one society to another.
United Nations (UN) definition is poverty is the inability of having choices and
opportunities. World Bank defined poverty as pronounced deprivation of well-being and it is
multidimensional.
To measure absolute poverty World Bank established poverty line in 2015 as income of
1.90$ a day; so anyone below that income is living in absolute or extreme poverty.
Relative poverty views poverty as a concept dependent on social context, hence relative
poverty is a measure of income inequality. Relative poverty is measured as the percentage of the
population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income. There are several
other different income inequality metrics, for example, the Gini coefficient or the Theil Index.
Economic aspects of poverty focus on basic needs of living to maintain minimum
standard of living or well-being like food, safe water, shelter, sanitation etc. Social aspects of
society focus on distribution of power and resources in society and may include lack of access to
education, health care, and access to information, social status or political power. Political
dimension includes capabilities and opportunities in political domain like abuse of power,
equality, gender discrimination, freedom of speech etc.

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World Bank for research purpose has given following operational definition of absolute
poverty.
Deprivation Mild Moderate Severe Extreme
Food Bland diet of
poor nutritional
value
Going hungry on
occasion
Malnutrition Starvation
Safe drinking
water
Not having
enough water
due to
insufficient
money
Water source is
less than
15minutes walk
from household
Source is more
than 15 minutes
walk
No access to
water
Sanitation Have to share
with another
household
Facility outside
dwelling
No facility near
dwelling
No access to
sanitation
Health Occasional lack
of access to
medical care
Inadequate
medical care
No immunization No medical care
Shelter More than one
person per room,
poor repair
Lack of heating,
more than 3
persons per room
No privacy, no
flooring, more
than 5 persons
per room, one or
two rooms
Roofless
Education Inadequate
teaching due to
lack of resources
Unable to attend
secondary school
Unable to attend
primary school
within seven
years
Lack of
education due to
persecution or
prejudice

6. 6
Information Cannot afford
newspaper or
books
No television but
have a radio
No access to
radio, television,
book or
newspaper
Prevented from
having any
information
Access to
services
Health and
education
facilities
available
Inadequate Limited No access
Table 1: Operational Definitions of different forms of poverty
To assess the effectiveness of poverty alleviation program we visited Laksham Upazila of
Comilla District and interviewed 50 people using structured format. Interviewee included UNO,
officials working in Upazila Parishad offices, local politicians, NGO representatives, and
ordinary citizens. We asked each common resident about dietary habit, access to clean water and
sanitation facility, shelter, education, health facility, and access to information and other
services.
The study we conducted was descriptive type and cross sectional. Samples were taken in
a non-random way using convenient sampling method. Data were taken in structured interview
form. Both primary and secondary source of data are used here.

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Current state of Laksham Upazila:
Laksham Upazila is within Comilla district about 110Km away from the capital city
Dhaka. It has an area of 153 square kilometer and comprises seven union and 178 villages.
Around 3 lakh people are living here with a population density of 1880 per square kilometer.
95% of the populations are Muslims.
Agriculture is the main way of living for 35% of the population followed by business
(11%), service holder (13%), day laborer (19%) etc. Rice, potato, brinjal and tomatoes are main
agricultural products. 28 branches of different government and non-government banks are
working here. One 50 bed government hospital, 16 community clinics and 30 private clinics are
providing medical services in this Upazila.
53% is the literacy rate and 200 schools are functioning in this area. It has sanitation
coverage of 96% and birth registration rate 76%.

8. 8
Dakatia River is flowing through the area and responsible for water logging problem of
the Upazila.
Image: Dakatia River in Laksham Upazila

9. 9
Current state of poverty:
The poverty rate is the ratio of the number of people (in a given age group) whose
income falls below the poverty line; taken as half the median household income of the total
population. World Bank has set 1.90$ per day as the threshold of income. By this definition
about 24.3% population of Laksham Upazila is living under poverty.
We talked with 25 residents of that region to assess the effectiveness of poverty
alleviation programs. 5 of them were male and 20 were female. The pie chart below is showing
the educational statues of the respondents.
Figure 1: Educational status
Following bar diagram is showing the housing condition of the interviewees.
Figure 2: Housing status
H.S.C and above
8%
Secondary
20%
Primary
28%
No Education
44%
Educational Status
5
17
3
0
Pucca House Semi-Pucca Kacha House Others
Housing Status
Pucca House Semi-Pucca House kacha House

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Poverty threshold based monthly income inquiry is given below.
Figure 3: Monthly income
All 25 respondents were under some sort of poverty alleviation projects. Most common
was ‘one house one farm project’. Other common projects were different micro-credit programs,
cash transfer programs, and social welfare programs.
Our interview with different government organizations officials showed following
poverty alleviation programs are running here.
Under the Bangladesh Rural Development Board
1. Participatory rural development project
2. Loan Schemes for micro-credit/farm/non-farm loan
3. Savings schemes
4. Freedom fighters rehab project
5. Climate Victims Revalidation Program
Under the Department of Youth Development
1. Skill training programs (Poultry, cattle, fisheries, computer, waving, block etc)
2. Self-employment project
48%
32%
20%
Monthly Income
Below 4,500 Taka Between 4,500 to 9,000 Taka Above 9,000 Taka

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3. Family based projects
4. Youth loan schemes
Under the Department of Social Welfare
1. Old-Age Allowance programs
2. Allowances programme for widowed, Deserted and Destitute women.
3. Honorarium programme for insolvent Freedom fighters
4. Training and self-employment programme for insolvent Freedom Fighters and their
wards
5. Fund for Rehabilitation of the Acid Burnt and the physically handicapped
6. Allowance for the Fully Retarded
7. Cash transfers programs for education
8. Food for work programs
Under the Department of Women Affairs
1. Vulnerable Group Development Program (VGD)
2. Vulnerable Group Feeding Program (VGF)
3. Maternity allowance
4. Lactating mother allowance
Under Upazila Planning Monitoring and Implementation Office
1. Vulnerable group feeding program
2. Housing loan projects
3. Humanitarian aid projects (corrugated sheet, rug)
4. Work for extreme poor
Under Upazila Parishad Chairman following activities are going on
1. Old age allowance
2. Widow allowance
3. Supplying arsenic free tube well
4. Rural infrastructure development

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5. Humanitarian aid
Different NGOs like World Vision, Grameen bank, ASA, and BRAC are working in Laksham,
Comilla. There activities are confined to following areas
1. Awareness building
2. Loan schemes
3. Training programs
4. Education help etc.
Number of beneficiaries in different poverty alleviation programs
Figure 4: Number of beneficiaries in 2017
To assess the effectiveness of different programs we have looked at poverty rate statistics
of Laksham Upazila. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and Ministry of Finance showed latest
statistics as 24.3%. We enquire about monthly income, housing facility, educational status,
sanitation and whether he or she is recipient of any poverty alleviation projects. Our data showed
different projects are highly effective to reduce poverty rate. The chart below shows year by year
reduction in poverty level.
6,205
3,880
30,000
2,888
700
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
35,000
Rural Development
Programs
Youth Development
Programs
Planning Monitoring
and Implementation
Office
Women Affairs
Department
Social Welfare
Department
Number of beneficiaries Under Different Projects in 2017

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Poverty rate in Laksham Upazila: Year by Year Comparison
Figure 5: Poverty rate in Laksham Upazila: Year by Year Comparison
1996 2000 2005 2010 2013 2017
Percentage 51 48.9 40 31.5 26.4 24.3
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
In%ofPopulation
Poverty In Lakhsham Upazila
In Percentage of Population

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Challenges and Recommendations:
The main challenges faced by the government, local government and NGOs in reducing
poverty are summarized below
1. Lack of education and necessary work skill to find a better job. There is no government
school in the area. 53% of the populations are illiterate. There is no daily allowance for
attending different training programs.
2. Poor industrial growth in the Upazila and unemployment. Lack of infrastructure and
energy resource resulted in poor industrial presence in the area. Most people still work in
agricultural sector and as day laborer.
3. Natural disaster and water logging problem. Dakatia River flows through the Upazila.
60% of the lands are non-utilizable because of obstruction in the stream and inadequate
drainage facility. So farmers can cultivate only once in year.
4. Problem in attitude as showed in a way that most people follow their father’s profession
and reluctant to go outside the district for work. Also women are discouraged to involve
in economic activity.
5. Lack of good governance.
Recommendations:
1. The target group of the Government project is very limited. It must be expended so that
most of the poor can be benefited.
2. The allocation of Government budget should be increased to make programs effective
and extensive.
3. New branches of different banks should be open the serve more people; the loan limit of
this bank may be increase especially for establising labour intensive Agro-based small
and cottage industries.
4. Effective measure must be taken to check the losses in the intermediary level so that the
poor can take the best possible benefits from Government project.
5. Government banks and financial institution should pay more attention on small and
medium scale enterprises instead of corporate services.

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6. The number of rural development training institute should be increased which will
positively contributed to make skilled manpower.
7. A pro-poor land reform should be implemented and equitable distribution of “khas land”
to the land less people must be ensured.
8. Small and landless farmers have to be organized and be motivated in co-operative
forming.
9. Modern information and communication technology can be effectively used to increased
rural production and can it boast their marketing system.
10. Development of rural infrastructure is very much needed.
11. The micro-credit loan limits must be increased to make the poverty alleviation initative
dynamic.
12. To reach the desired goal a co-ordination between the Government and NGO’s activities
is a must.
13. The Government Banks should be distributed more loan among the poor people.
14. Government should start the Jakat system to alleviate the poverty.
15. Another important thing is to establish government schools in the area to prevent drop out
after primary and secondary level as the cost increases with the level. Also scholarship
programs should be properly implemented.
16. Adequate road and infrastructure development for big industries.
17. Water logging problem of this area can be solved by dredging and preventing river
encroachment.
18. Loan taking and distribution programs should be made easier.
19. Changing attitude and creating awareness through mass communication means.

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Conclusion:
The Laksham Upazila of Comilla district is an example of effectiveness of poverty
alleviation programs in Bangladesh. More than 200 projects of government, local government
and NGOs are running here for the poor people. As a result of efficient implementation poverty
rate has reduced to 24.3% in 2017 from 51% in 1996. So in just 20 years poverty is cut down to
half which could be an envious achievement for many countries. Increase budgetary allocation,
development of rural and industry friendly infrastructure, human resource development, good
governance and solving water logging problem will increase the rate of poverty alleviation and
ensure better standard of living for the Upazila residents.

17. 17
Annexure
Participants with UNO Md. Rafiqul Huk of Laksham Upazila, Comilla
Participants visiting “one house one farm project” in Laksham