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 is a partnership between UKaid from the Department for
International Development (DFID) and the Government of
Bangladesh under the Rural Development & Cooperative Division,
MoLGRD&C
• EEP aims to help 1 million people lift themselves out of extreme
poverty and contribute to UN MDG 1
• 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
• Challenge fund: 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

5. Modus operandi
• Shiree is an asset-transfer programme
• 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 from NGO to NGO, 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

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

7. SR1
shiree partner NGOs
SR2
IR1
IR2
IR3
IR4
Concern
HELPAGE ActionAid
MJSKS
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

8. shiree Advocacy
• Aims to expand the understanding of extreme poverty and asset
transfer programmes among development partners, GoB and
other stakeholders
• Aims to improve extreme poor people’s resilience to shocks,
increase the sustainability of graduation, prevent the
intergenerational transfer of poverty through advocacy which
links the extreme poor to external support mechanisms
• Aims to strengthen local government response to extreme
poverty and sensitise national policy makers on extreme poverty
• Focuses on improving policies and practices that effect the
economic empowerment of the poorest through private sector
engagement
• Nutrition and gender mainstreaming are important components

9. THANK YOU
For more information, please visit www.shiree.org