The document introduces the shiree program, which aims to help 1 million extremely poor people in Bangladesh lift themselves out of poverty. It does this through an Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Challenge Fund that provides funding to NGOs testing new approaches. Shiree funds 9 large scale projects and 27 small innovation projects across 24 districts. It provides asset transfers like livestock or equipment to help vulnerable households start small businesses or farms. The goal is to stimulate improvements that lead to economic empowerment and sustainable graduation from extreme poverty.

1. Introducing
shiree
shiree – Bangla word for steps
stimulating household
improvements resulting in
economic empowerment
Economic Empowerment of
the Poorest

2. Economic Empowerment of
the Poorest (EEP) programme
UKaid from the Department for International
Development (DFID) in partnership with Government of
Bangladesh under the Rural Development &
Cooperative Division, MoLGRD&C
to help 1 million people lift themselves out of extreme
poverty (poorest 10% of the population) and help
achieve UN MDG 1
 Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Challenge Fund
 Md Asadul Islam (Joint Secretary) – PD shiree
 Colin Risner – CEO, shiree

3. 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 people
low 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

4. shiree portfolio
 shiree funds 9 scale fund NGOs projects, 27 innovation fund
NGO projects across the country
 Scale fund: large grants for the scaling up of tried and tested
successful projects to lift people out of extreme poverty
 Innovation fund: untested new approaches, technologies
and processes to lift people out of extreme poverty
 Advocacy, research and lesson learning – shiree also
generates and shares knowledge on extreme poverty
eradication policy and practice with other stakeholders in the
development community, private sector, donors and GOB
 Number of districts covered 24
 Number of households targeted 259,715
117,955 selected as of April 30, 2012

5. Pockets of vulnerability
Haor
Monga
Urban
Barind tract
Costal belt Chittagong
Hill Tracts

6. SR1
Grantee NGOs
SR2
IR1
Concern IR2
HELPAGE ActionAid
MJSKS IR3
IR4
CARE
PAB
IC
GUK
NETZ Oxfam GB
PRIP Trust
NDP
DSK
Eco-Development
Concern, ADD,
Plan CARITAS HKI
Green Hill
Save the Children
uttaran
Handicap
Aid Comilla
SSS, BOSS
Shusilian
IDE
TARANGO

7. Modus operandi
 Shiree is an asset-transfer programme that
provides carefully selected beneficiaries (those
within the bottom 5% of the population) with a
means to earn a sustainable livelihood and
graduate out of extreme poverty
 Asset-transfers vary from NGO to NGO, and
generally include livestock, poultry, land for
agriculture, ponds for aquaculture, sewing
machines, shops, petty trade, light
engineering, etc.
 Capacity building, community
mobilisation, social empowerment and nutrition is
also imparted alongside the asset

8. Advocacy
 Aims to share the challenges, opportunities and
learning from within shiree among development
partners and also within GoB and other
stakeholder groups
 This is a start – but we also need to:
 reduce their vulnerability to shocks
 make their graduation sustainable
 prevent the intergenerational transfer of poverty
 This can only be achieved through advocacy
which links the extreme poor to external support
mechanisms!

9. Thanks …