Letter of Transmittal

July 26,2022
Nargis Sultana
Assistant Professor
Department Of Finance & Banking
Comilla University

Subject: An assignment on Reasons & remedies of poverty situation in Cumilla

Honourable Mam,
Hope you're doing well by the grace of Almighty & this letter finds you well. Here we are
submitting the assignment which you have authorized us to prepare titled "An assignment on
Reasons & remedies of poverty situation in Cumilla" under the course: Development Finance.
We've tried our best to work according to your given instructions & collect relevant information
with the topic. Most of our information is based on the survey we did on the poor people of
Cumilla region. As well as we used some secondary data as well in different sections of the
assignment. The assignment helped us in improving our research skill, data collection & analysis
skill also it has introduced us to new technology or softwares. In a nutshell it was a magnificent
learning opportunity for us.
We would like to thank you for your cordial support, guideline & inspiration. Hope you’ll give
us feedback so that we can improve our work. We hope this assignment will be able to meet up
your expectations.

Your Obediently
Labiba Islam
ID:11917040
On behalf of group "Alpha"
Executive Summary:
Bangladesh it has transformed itself from an economic "basket case" into one of the world's
fastest-growing economies. The newly-independent South Asian nation's economy was in tatters.
Over 90% of the population were living in extreme poverty. Now with a GDP of over $409
billion (€362 billion), Bangladesh currently has the world's 37th largest economy and forecasts
suggest that the size of the economy could double by 2030. In 2019-20 the poverty rate was
12.9%. Here It's pretty clear that Bangladesh has been able to reduce poverty in last 50 years but
still It's a course cause huge portion of It's population is still suffering. Our assigned topic for this

assignment was "An assignment on Reasons & remedies of poverty situation in Cumilla" so
we've worked according to that.

At the very beginning we've covered our purpose for the study. We've mentioned the reasons of
doing the study. Overall our sole purpose was to find out the reasons of poverty in Cumilla,
trying to find the thoughts of people about it, are people being benefitted by government
initiative, about their family condition, suggesting some remedies for poverty reducing etc. Later
we've Covered who are actually poor, what's the situation of poverty actually in Cumilla &
whole Bangladesh.
Our assignment was mainly lead by survey completed on 100 people who belong from several
parts of Cumilla region. We’ve analysed the survey results & worked according to that. We were
able to find the reason of poverty in Cumilla from directly people’s opinion who are actually
living in that situation & we've mentioned those reasons as well. We’ve also demonstrated how
government & other parties are actually working to diminish poverty. How people are actually
being benefitted by their initiatives as well. Their names, work, strategy, impact was briefly
mentioned there. Bangladesh Academy For Rural Development was specially highlighted as they
are working directly in Cumilla & playing a vital role in terms of bringing a change in that
region.
Lastly recommendations about how we can actually fight against poverty in Cumilla region as
well as in whole Bangladesh these ways were mentioned. In terms of providing
recommendations, we've mostly relied on our survey results & the ways suggested by world
bank or other scholars or reliable organizations.

Purpose of Our study:

We have done this research on reasons and remedies of poverty situation in Cumilla. Here our
main purpose is to present the multiple dimensions of poverty and how they can be measured.
✓ We have prevented some way to reduce the poverty of Cumilla.
✓ By this study we have shown the main reasons of the poverty. Such as- low wages,
physical weakness, laziness, lack of awarness etc.
✓ To evaluate the impact of poverty situation of Cumilla in our whole country’s GDP.
✓ To measure the contribution of low wages people in our country’s economy.
✓ Roles played by the government to reduce poverty and measure its effectiveness.
✓ Our purpose is to explore both the proximate and deeper factors that trap people in
poverty or assist them to escape poverty.
✓ Our research also shows a comparison trend in poverty reduction across continents and
regions and to consider the key factors accounting for these trends.

Literature Review :

As to conduct this analysis our main focus was to take primary data in consideration. We have
done research over 100 people in Cumilla region. Primary data collection wasn’t easy. But
because of this, we didn’t find any Literature, Article, Journal solely based on the poverty
situation of Cumilla. Though we didn’t find any dedicated book in this topic, we do got some
articles & journals which have some information regarding this. Where they have discussed
about poverty situation of all over country & what should be done to change the situation.
Article of World Bank regarding Poverty situation of Bangladesh. Here what is the Bangladesh’s
current situation is, reasons, government & international initiatives, sectors need to be focused to
mitigate poverty etc. was revised at that article.
Another Publication of BARD we got relatable to our topic. Where they discussed how BARD is
working for the development of Cumilla region & women training & employment. In the article
we have mentioned their long-term plan for the poverty reduction & employment generation.
We also read some articles regarding to government initiatives and planning, where government
shared their views & policies to overcome poverty.

Research Methodology:
The present study was conducted to find out the poverty aspects of the people of some villages in
a particular area in Comilla District of Bangladesh. There are 19 union parishads and 458
villages in Comilla District. Initially the study was planned to cover all the rural families of
villages.
Research was conducted via 2 steps.
1. Primary Data collection
2. Secondary Data collection
Our main study was done by primary data. The data were collected from households, beggars,
labors which were selected by two-stage random sampling. We have collected the via:
i. Survey of 100 people.
ii. Conversation with respondents.
iii. Interview of the deputy director of BARD.
At the first stage, five unions were selected randomly and from among these, twenty percent
villages were selected at random. The number of selected villages was twenty. All the
households, numbering 100, from the selected villages were covered. General information
relating to the income, expenses, reasons of poverty was collected from the people. Data were
collected through a questionnaire designed for the purpose and by face-to-face conversations
with the respondents.
After that we used 2 research tools to done our analysis
1. Google Form Analysis
2. Microsoft Excel.
When we were done with our analysis. We took some experts opinion like deputy director of
BARD to understand remedies, recommendations & government initiatives to deal with poverty.
Next, we collected secondary data for more dept analysis We have used
i. Different articles & journals.
ii. Different journal from the BARD library.
iii. Reports from government projects about poverty.
iv. Report of BARD & other many NGO’s
v. Government planning analysis data.
Collecting information & data from both methods we have tried to properly conduct the study
and reach out to some solutions.
Introduction:
The main objective of surveying is to collect field data so a map or plan can be prepared based
on the calculations of the field parameters before an engineering operation is executed to begin a
construction project. Any project of magnitude will be constructed using the points and lines
created through the survey.
As we were assigned to find out the reasons & remedies of poverty situation in Cumilla, we
went to some rural places of Cumilla and surveyed 100 people who has income less than TK
170 to 200 per day. We found these people around Jalgao, Salmanpur, Kotbari, Shahpur,
Bijoypur area.
We wanted to know about their livelihood, how they pass their day, what occupation they
wanted to take but what they have to do now etc. Most of them seemed to be unaware of their
current financial position and do not know what they must do to get themselves in a better
position. They are unskilled, untrained, and uneducated to find a better job and improve their
poverty position. The challenge is to find methods to measure poverty rates more frequently.
Our team collected primary information from 54 male and 46 female who are under poverty line.

They are engaged in several occupational work like rickshaw puller, cobbler, tea-staller, beggar,
day labor etc.
 Occupation

13% Begger

37% Day Labor

21% House help
Rickshaw pullar+Auto driver
10% 19% Others

We asked questions about what they expect from the Government and the richer part of the
country. Most of the people have high expectations from Government.
The Government has huge scope to work for the betterment of this part of the population. After
the analysis we tried to discuss the remedies and measures that can be taken by the government
to reduce the poverty here in Cumilla.

Analysis of Survey:
As we have already mentioned we have done survey 100 poor people within Cumilla region.
While making these survey we have realized that how badly they are suffering because of their
condition. Around 40% don’t have any shelter facility. Rest 60% do have shelter but the
condition of it very bad. Around 90% of them are uneducated & unskilled. They work as beggar,
house help, day labor. They think education is a luxury. Around 67% of them do not invest on
their children’s education. They do understand the importance of education, but they think it’s
expensive & they can’t afford it. Even their families dependency rate is huge. Most of them are
sole provider for their family. They don’t even encourage or support their womens to support
their family. We have done survey over 54 male and among 43 of them said they don’t like their
wife to go out and work to support their family. Womens are also not much interested to work.
They are ok with living in this condition rather than changing it with the hard work. People are in
this region are also lazy. Most are them are ok with being beggar and part time house help. They
want to work once in a week & do nothing for the rest of the week. They may even not eaten for
day or have 3 meals but they still don’t want to work. Around 83% of the people in our survey
do not have 3 meals in a day. And around 67% of them could not meet with the basic needs with
their income.
They don’t even have the proper knowledge about what actually government is doing for them.
They don’t know about the policies like free education, night schooling, free technical training,
skillful training, free abroad going opportunity as labor, women employment, government shelter
& land donation, free loan opportunity & allowances fixed for the needy people. With the huge
gap in the circulation of information. People of Cumilla still living in the dark.
We have all the empathy for them. We tried to gather their voice, their reasons and their needs
with our survey & write down some solutions for them.
We have included the questionnaire at the end of the survey.

Reasons of poverty:
From the survey we have find out many reasons of the people for being under the poverty line.
Though they have shared many reasons but we have shortlisted 10 reasons which we felt main &
have a vital contribution in this people lifestyle. The reasons are:

Lack Of Education & Education Opportunity:

Education is the basic need of human being. But a large number of children do not go to school.
This is very much true in aspect of Cumilla. Almost 70% of the people we contact through our
survey they claim existing education system is luxury. Most of them didn’t continue study more
than class 5. It is matters of great concern to the poor people that how they can make their
children into human resources. They believe that the future of the nation mainly depends on
development of education and its productive activities. According to their opinion in past their
parents also poor, their parents don’t have the ability to send them any educational institution.
Now they know the significance of education, but again they fail to send their children in
educational institution because present educational system is luxury. The cost in educational
system is too high in comparing their income. That’s why they want but can’t send their children
in existing system. They also say that at government school cost is low but most of the school is
too much distance from their locality.
Lack Of Skill:
Government provides many incentives to train unskilled people. Government also provide
subsidy in those sector that provide training to the poor people. But we have seen, most of the
people are not aware of those skill bearing opportunity. We see that most of the people in this
region don’t have any specific skill. They have the ability to do any task. But they fail to make
them specialize in any sector. They don’t know about any opportunity that are available. Skills of
the workforce are not meeting the demands of emerging or established industries in Cumilla
EPZ. EPZ want to recruit local people of Cumilla to make them engage in income generating
activity but when we contact to the poor people they don’t even concerned about any income
generating activity that are available for them. On the other hand, there are some institutions like
TTC, BARD they work for providing skill in local people of Cumilla, but people are not
interested to make them skilled. This unwillingness to learn new things & being skilled make
them stay in poverty forever.
Lack Of Employment Opportunity:
In Cumilla there is a lack of employment opportunity both public and private sectors. That’s why
people we contacted through our survey, fail to engage in income generating opportunity. That
make them stable in poverty line. Most of the people are the only earning member in their
family, when they get jobless family gets in trouble. Again, they don’t believe in woman
empowerment. At any cost they will not send their woman to work in outside. When more
people in a family engage in income generating activity that helps to make a balance. But they
only send boys outside the door for work. In Cumilla we have EPZ, people who belongs outside
to the city, don’t get this opportunity.
Early Marriage:
We have conducted this survey over 46 women among 100. They all faced early marriage. Their
parents forced them to marry before they become matured. When they should learn about how to
shine in life, need for education, need to improve skill, that time they have huge pressure of their
family. They have child. They have to take responsibility to take care of their children. Men also
feels the pressure. Because of early marriage they can’t plan their family. With children they do
not want to take any risk. They continue with their existing work. Because everyday they have
huge expenditure. But sometimes we see someone who know the importance of skill, education
etc wants take challenging step like convincing their wives for giving them some time to take
risk for start business. But their wife is also illiterate, they don’t have any interest to take risk.
That’s create some mental pressure. Finally force them to continuo with current situation.
Lack Of Interest in Working:
In our survey we see that most of the people are physically fits for work. They know about
training opportunity, they know about employment opportunity, they don’t have any family
pressure beyond this they are not interest in work. They work or beg one day in a week to earn &
sit back home for the rest of the week. They live in the philosophy that they earn less because
they are happy with their current situation. They don’t want to work hard. Ignore in working
under pressure. Have attitude that they will not work under any people. That’s why they are still
in the poverty line.
Dependency:
In the survey, we have seen that 58% are the sole provide in the family. The whole family is
dependent on the income of one working man, so everyone has to struggle to meet the expenses.
As a result, the usage of income gets diverted. Per person income is reduced, which leads to the
increase one person lives in the poverty.
Lack of Financial Planning:
We have seen while making survey that most of the poor family haven’t got any knowledge
about financial planning or money management. 42% people doesn’t know about anything like
money management, loan management, investment idea & 27% doesn’t even know if they can or
cannot manage their earnings & savings. They are not concern about how much loan they are
able to take or how much interest are apt to for them to take the loan. As a result, sometimes they
borrow from neighbors, mahajans, banks or NGO's a huge amount of loan but often they cannot
reimburse timely. Gradually the debt burden continues to increase. If their earnings are more,
they cannot effort better life because of the debt payments they need to make. Which leads them
to stay in their present situation.
Information Gap Between Government and Poor:
Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty, supported by sustained economic
growth. At present, our government provides many facilities for poor & homeless for reducing
poverty. Interest free loan, easy loan, allowances for poor, old-age, free primary education, free
training, Job opportunity & so on. But after doing the survey, we have seen that maximum
people don't know about these facilities provided by our government. They say government
haven’t done anything for them, didn’t provide any loan or other facility So, the huge
information gap between policy makers like government and poor people makes a boundary
between the rural & poor people’s development.
Family & Social constrains for Women Employment:
We are living in 21st century, where women are equally important & equally contributing,
sometimes more than man. To support a family women employment is equally important in a
society. But in Cumilla region, we have seen that there are still many constraints for women
employment. Women in this area generally face discrimination but when the women are poor,
discrimination becomes more acute. Family and social barriers are main factors here. Social
norms & taboo, lack of religious knowledge, superstition, lack of required skill and education,
social and work place safety, long working hours/overtime, lack of transport facilities, lack of
family support & unwillingness.
Social Injustice:
Whether it’s gender discrimination, racism, or other forms of social injustice, poverty follows.
People who are victims of social injustice struggle with getting a good education, the right job
opportunities, and access to resources that can lift them out of poverty. More than 66% people
said they are facing social injustice. We have identified that this people face inequalities in
income distribution and access to productive resources, basic social services, opportunities and
more, which demotivates them eventually leads them to live in poverty. Groups like women,
religious minorities, and racial minorities are the most vulnerable.

Remedies:
We surveyed the people of various professions in Cumilla region and understood that they
remain in poverty due to various problems. To get rid of their condition, they demanded several
remedies from the government. In their opinion, if they get these remedies their problems will be
solved & they can live their life in a better condition.

Government Allowance:
Their demands to the government are a good amount of allowance. Government provides
allowance to those, who are above 50 years. This is old age allowance. Many elderly people in
Cumilla do not even get old age allowance. Poor allowance, unemployment allowance is out of
question to them. That is why they can’t support their life & family well & fall further into
poverty. Their claim is that although the government announces various allowances every year,
they do not get those, reason can be irregulation & corruption. Government sometimes provides
them rice, lentils, flours but again not everybody gets the grocery. So, That is why the
arrangement of government assistance & allowance with proper regulation need to be done for
them.
Free education opportunity:
The people of this region are demanding that even though the government is taking charge of
primary education, they are not able to get good school and college education after primary
education. Again, government schools are not located in every village. Facility of night
schooling, open schooling, old schooling, technical education should be available for the
childrens who are working. Their demand is if government provides free education opportunity
and availability of education, they can change their situation.
Free interest loan opportunity:
They want to free interest loan opportunity for investment and to start new business. Government
should help them if they want to create their own earning source. The free interest loan, easy
loan & low interest charge some sector should be arranged for them. With that easy paperwork,
simple loan approval procedure & terms, poor & uneducated people will fill the interest to take
loans. This can be a good solution of their problems.
Shelter creation:
Many people in this region have no houses, no sanitation. Around 40% don’t have any shelter &
rest of the 60% have a shelter but the condition of it is not good. Most of their shelter is broken,
made with old, rusty corrugated iron sheets. Although, government every year allocates houses
and sanitation, but they never got them. So, their demand is the construction of good, reliable
shelter that they can own and provision of sanitation.
Providing land &cultivation equipment:
People of this region are very skilled in agriculture. They want to cultivate different types of
crops & vegetables. But most of them have no land. That is why they cannot cultivate or earn
from their cultivation. Their demand is to manage the land for them. For example, There are
many government lands but they are abandoned. If those are available to them, they will be able
to cultivate. And they hope to be freed from poverty. On the other hand, many have land, but
farmers do not have organic or modern tools. That is why they cannot produce good amount of
crops & qualityfull crops. So, their demand is that the government should provide free
cultivation equipment & land for them.
Technical Training Opportunity:
The participator of the survey, the semi-educated or literate poor, are willing to make themselves
skilled through technical training. According to them, there are government technical training
center in Cumilla, but it’s not enough. On the other hand, the number of candidates against each
seat in the Technical Training Center entrance exam is very high and competition is increasing day
by day. The examination is very tough. It is very difficult for the uneducated people to crack. So,
in this case, the number of seats should be increased and they feel that the government should take
necessary steps to impart technical education even at the threshold of the society level.
Free Abroad Going Opportunity as Labor:
Again, many who participated in the survey think, there is a lot of job shortage in the country. So,
it would have been better if the government arrange them abroad going opportunity as labore for
free or by providing them loan. And by working abroad they would send remittance later in the
country. They think in that way, they could have improved their condition by earning foreign
currency and at the same time they could contribute to the development of our country as well.
The role of remittances sent by migrant Bangladeshis is very important in the poverty reduction
process. It is estimated that 80 lakhs to 1 crore people of this country have migrated abroad now.
90-95 percent of these expatriate Bangladeshis are low-educated, low-skilled rural youth, who are
engaged in a better-wage jobs in abroad.
That's why Some of them are think that the government should provide them with loans or our
government should take necessary steps to go in agreement with foreign governments, for them to
go abroad as labore for free, as they don't have enough money to spend for bearing the expenses.
Rural Development:
According to them, rural development aims to improve livelihoods by implementing
comprehensive development for rural areas where a majority of people in poverty live. Rural
development can also contribute to reduce poverty in urban areas by reducing excessive population
influxes from development.
Inventing in infrastructure and public services or Sustained investments in roads, electrification,
improved sanitation, safe drinking water, education, health care and the bridging of the digital
divide in rural areas can eradicate extreme poverty and to close rural-urban disparities.
Creating Poultry, Hatchery Farm & Nursery for Earning:
According to the majority of the poor who participated in the survey, they need government
assistance to improve their economic conditions. For example, they want to raise the farm of
chickens, cows, goats or birds with government loan assistance & training. In this way they can be
self-reliant.
Social Justice & balance creation:
The twin brothers of poverty are the growing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth.
It is a natural tendency for societies where inequality-enhancing institutions are strengthened to
find poverty alleviation difficult.
Therefore, according to many of the educated poor in Cumilla who participated in the survey,
poverty alleviation needs to be achieved by reducing inequality in the education system,
strengthening quality-oriented health systems, bringing banking back to the service of the general
public, progressive government taxation, mass-oriented and production-oriented government
spending, and political and bureaucratic reforms. War should be declared against corruption.

Government & Non-governmental initiative to reduce poverty

Poverty is a huge problem and barrier in the development of the country. It effects our economy
very badly. To deal that government & non-govermental organizations took some initiatives &
policies. These policies can change our poverty situation.

Target Assumptions Regarding Poverty Alleviation:

The Government has set the target to bring down poverty to 13.5 percent by 2021. In the time of
proposing budget for the current fiscal year (FY 2014-2015), scrutinizing the progress rate, they
have drawn an assumption that poverty will be reduced to 10.2 percent by 2021. They further
believe that, extreme poverty will be totally eliminated from this country by 2018. To attain the
target the budget proposal contains various programmes worth Tk. 1,500 crore to eradicate
extreme poverty.

Social Safety Net Programmes:

Social Safety Net Programmes and Poverty Reduction Recent years have seen a perceptible
increase in interest in social safety nets within developing countries including Bangladesh.
Historically, public safety net efforts in Bangladesh have clustered around the twin themes of
food rations and post-disaster relief. The third cluster has been informal safety nets at family and
community levels to address issues of demographic and social shocks. There has also been
pension scheme for state employees. In recent years, however, safety nets have transcended these
historical moorings and have graduated to a mainstream social and developmental concern.
The Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2010 reveals that 24.57 percent families
of the country have been brought under the coverage of social safety net programme. In this
coverage, the share of beneficiary families in the rural area is 30.12 percent.
Social security programs implemented in Bangladesh are classified into five categories based on
the social security life cycle approach. The main class-based programs are:

1. Programs for children

2. Program for Workable Citizens
3. Pension Scheme for Old Age
4. Programs for the disabled
5. Minor and special programs
Apart from food security of the people and distribution of free food to the very poor and needy,
food in exchange for work and test relief, the government is running several programs. Among
them, the government is working to provide social security to the poor people of the country by
providing old age allowance, distressed women allowance, widow and widowed women
allowance, disability allowance. The rate and the number of beneficiaries are gradually
increasing within the activities of this sector. In the financial year 2022-23, the allocation and
number of beneficiaries in the social safety net sector is increasing. In this sector, 1 lakh 13
thousand 576 crore rupees have been allocated in the new financial year, which is 16.75 percent
of the budget and 2.55 percent of the GDP. In the fiscal year 2021-22, the allocation for this
sector was 1 lakh 7 thousand 614 crores. According to this, the allocation has increased by 5
thousand 962 crores.

Poverty Reduction Policy and Strategy

Bangladesh has laid special emphasis to make safety net programmes more target oriented with
a view to accelerating the poverty eradication process. The country is now on verge of finalizing
the ‘National Social Protection Strategy’ (NSPS). At the same time, steps have been taken to
prepare a list of hard-core poor and a ‘National Population Register’ for proper identification of
beneficiaries of social safety net programmes. Currently the Government of Bangladesh
following four broad principles to formulate various social safety net programmes:
• Enhancing capacity of the ultra-poor to face poverty by providing them with special allowances
• Creating employment and self –employment opportunities for the hardcore poor through micro-
credit operations
• Ensuring food security for the hardcore poor by providing food assistance free of cost or at a
nominal cost
• Creating capacity of the hardcore poor to deal with poverty by providing them with education,
training and healthcare services.
New project (NJLIP)
The World Bank-supported Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project has improved
livelihoods for thousands of poor and extremely poor people in selected areas of Bangladesh by
promoting community financial institutions and livelihood enterprises that gave people a better
chance to make their own living. The project, 95 percent of whose beneficiaries were women, led
to improved livelihoods in more than 325,500 households, generated health and nutrition gains
and strengthened women’s empowerment.

Organizations Reduce Poverty in Bangladesh

What has been done to get Bangladesh to this point? These are three organizations and their
efforts that helped reduce poverty in Bangladesh:

1. BRAC: As of December of 2016, the national aid organization BRAC had reached over
90,000 families in Bangladesh suffering from extreme poverty. BRAC was founded in
1972 in Bangladesh with the goal of discovering the cause of extreme poverty in the
nation and ways to relieve its people. The main aim of the organization was to empower
the impoverished, especially women, through interventions described as a “poverty
graduation” plan. The steps of the plan are as follows: target a group, transfer assets,
provide weekly stipends, encourage members to begin a savings account, provide
specialized training, introduce health care and integrate the group into society. The
poverty graduation plan takes around two years to complete. What’s unique about this
program is it provides people with the tools to make this lifestyle sustainable so they will
not fall back into poverty (if the tools remain available). To date, more than 95 percent of
the participants have reached graduation.

2. The Grameen Danone Foundation: This foundation was established in 2007. It is a

social business model that aims to reduce extreme hunger in Bangladesh through the
distribution of affordable yogurt that provides missing nutrients to malnourished people.
The foundation created jobs for local farmers and women looking to bring themselves out
of poverty. To ensure lasting jobs, the foundation used as little machinery as possible so
that production would be more hands-on. On top of such action, Grameen Danone paid
laborers at top prices to boost the economy. When acquiring the materials for the yogurt,
the foundation goes to local farms and businesses to keep the process at a grass-roots
organization level. The main priority of the organization is to provide nutritious products
to extreme poverty areas at an affordable rate, while also providing jobs to those looking
to help themselves.
 3. The Poverty Eradication Program (PEP): PEP is a non-profit, non-governmental
(NGO) organization operating at the national level in Bangladesh. PEP focuses on rural
poverty in its most extreme variations and works with the people to provide them with
resources that will allow them to rise out of poverty. The organization specializes in
economic, social and environmental empowerment. For example, in some instances, PEP
helps families start up small businesses that will not only empower them but the whole
community they live in as well. PEP will provide the resources needed to start the
business then watch as it flourishes. They accomplish such feats through grants, training
or offering the tools required for business.

Contribution of BARD for Poverty Reduction:

Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development has taken a number of projects to reduce poverty,
which are:
● Strengthening Institutional Capabilities and Rural Population for Territorial Development
in Chittagong
● Disseminating the Concept of TQM for Providing Quality Services in Public Sector
● Sustainable Intensification of Rice-Maize Production System in Bangladesh
● Low-cost Paddy Threshes Project
● Rural Food Security and Women Empowerment through Catfish Farming at Household
Level.
● Technical Cooperative Activities of Improve Sanitation of Rural Areas in Bangladesh
(TCAISR)
● E-parishad for Better Service Delivery in Rural Areas
● Management and Extension of Demonstration Dairy Farm
● Development of BARD Physical Facilities

(WEINIP): A new project for women empowerment:

By creating an opportunity for the active participation of women, especially poor women, in the
mainstream of development, and by creating opportunities for the implementation of basic rights
including education, health and nutrition of mothers and children, the project activities have been
expanded in a modified form from January 1993 and are currently in Cumilla Sadar, Sadar
Dakshin, Barura and Burichong upazilas. Women's Education, Income and Nutrition
Improvement Project (WEINIP) is being conducted experimentally in 24 villages.

Main objective and brief description of the project:

1. Provide appropriate training for women to achieve organizational management skills,
empowerment and leadership development;
 2. Providing assistance in capital formation, entrepreneurship, income generation
empowerment and establishment of market linkages to achieve self-reliance of women;
3. Provide comprehensive support in the implementation of plans for the prevention of
gender discrimination and abuse at home, family and community levels, the
establishment of rights, access to safe motherhood, education, health nutrition and
environmental development, etc.; And
4. Use of information technology, information and establishment of effective network in
service delivery of all public and private development agencies.

Project area and budget:

BARD's revenue-funded Women's Education, Income and Nutrition Development (Mashiapuu)
project is in progress to run the project on a pilot basis with a total budget allocation of Rs 20.60
lakh for the period July 2014-June 2018. The project is in progress in 12 villages of Cumilla
Sadar, Sadar Dakshin, Burichong and Barura upazilas of Cumilla district from 1999-June 2004
and currently in 24 villages in modified form and expansion of previous project activities.

Recommendations:
The estimated poverty in Bangladesh has declined by 0.6 percent in the 2021 fiscal year, riding
on the strong economic recovery amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest report of
the World Bank. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty, supported by
sustained economic growth. Based on the international poverty line of $1.90 per person per day,
poverty declined from 44.2 percent in 1991 to 13.8 percent in 2016/17.Undoubtedly Bangladesh
is doing well in reducing poverty. But,in Cumilla region as well as in whole country poverty is
still a curse. Now we are going to give some recommendations which will help to reduce the
poverty of Cumilla region as well as the whole country.

Proper Circulation Of Information:

According to our survey many people doesn’t know about the government schemes, facilities or
programmes provided for poor people like free education, monetary support, loans at zero or low
interest, government training etc. Which is really a matter of great sorrow. So, the information
should be circulated properly. By using electronic media as well as some old announcement
method government can properly circulate the information & people who need it they'll get to
know about that.
Encourage Women's to participate in workforce:
Working women percentage is 30.4 % in 2021 according to World Bank collection of
development indicators. That means we're losing millions of dollars each year just because
women's are not participating in work. In village area cause of family pressure or religious issues
as well as lack of study, skill when the main earning member of the family dies or falls ill most
of the people fell in a bad condition specially the women if that person is her husband. They
don’t know how they can earn. This a common scenario. So, government has to encourage
women to participate in workforce.
Rural development:
A big portion of people still live in the rural areas of Bangladesh. So, government should
encourage them to participate in farming, provide enough logistical support, arrange training &
Proper educational facilities so that they can easily work & earn their own livelihood as well as
by doing farming or these type of work they can contribute in our economy.
Reducing early marriage:
According to our survey one of the biggest reason for females poor conditions was early
marriage. Due to that they. Couldn't complete their studies & faced some social barrires as well.
Though the amount is less but still in many parts of Cumilla this thing happens. So,the authority
should punish them who are doing this & take strong action against this all over Bangladesh.
Proper family planning:
Another reason we found from our survey of being poor was having too many childern.
So,Government should take proper steps to aware people about proper family planning. Already
population is a big headache for Bangladesh. So,government should encourage small family &
parents should only take child when they can atleast fulfil their basic needs.
Eradicate Corruption:
Most of the time even when government provide incentives or money for the poor cause of
corruption the poor people doesn’t get it. It's a common scenario in our country. So, government
has to take strong action against corruption to remove poverty. Otherwise no matter how good
the initiative is It'll not be succeed.
Skill based education system:
For a Country like Bangladesh we need skilled based education system. Most of the time in our
whole education life we Can't apply our learning. So,technical education should be encouraged
& the education system should be redesigned.
Employment Opportunity:
Although government is making 100 EPZ in whole Bangladesh but It's not enough. Crores of
people are still unemployed now. Government has to make easy business policies & ensure free
trade so that it becomes easier to trade & more people can be employed.
Agricultural prosperity:
Our agriculture sector can perform well if It's managed properly. As people of Cumilla or in
Bangladesh are very familiar with it so It's high time we should introduce farming technology &
encourage them to participate in agriculture. We've to ensure proper price for their good. By that
easily millions of people will be removed from the curse of poverty. 10) Ensuring basic needs:
Bangladesh is called the Asian Tiger now. But, at first we should more focus on ensuring basic
needs for our people than we should go of economic development. Both is important but at first
we should prioritise the basic need of people.
Natural resource management:
Bangladesh can export electricity, can prosper in Pharmaceutical sector, RMG sector, export
shrimps, can discover new gas fields etc. In a nutshell we should use our natural resources
properly It'll indirectly have a great impact in the economy & It'll help to reduce poverty.
Global Partnership & Infrastructure development:
Infrastructure development is highly recommended for removing poverty. Cause it makes works
& life easier. Poor people also can participate in lower level works & earn their livelihood. For
example, when a garment factory is established thousands of people get employed. So, we've to
ensure our infrastructure development. Build our roads etc. to make trades easier for business
person.
1) Skilled manpower & zero interest loan opportunity: There should be zero or no interest
loan opportunity for the poor people’s & it should be encouraged in a large number.
Cause most of the poor people doesn’t have the capability to give interest. They Will use
the money & earn their livelihood.
2) So, these were some recommendations from our side to remove poverty in Cumilla area
& whole Bangladesh.

Reference
1)https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thedailystar.net/business/news/bangladeshs-poverty-
declines-119-wb-3004236%3famp
2)https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2018/11/15/bangladesh-reducing-poverty-and-sharing-
prosperity
3)https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2018/11/15/bangladesh-reducing-poverty-and-sharing-
prosperity
4)https://tradingeconomics.com/bangladesh/labor-force-female-percent-of-total-labor-force-wb-
data.html#:~:text=Labor%20force%2C%20female%20(%25%20of,compiled%20from%20offici
ally%20recognized%20sources.
5)https://bonikbarta.net/home/news_description/
6)https://mof.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/mof.portal.gov.bd/page/
7)https://m.dailyinqilab.com/article/115325
8)https://www.worldbank.org › results Building community institutions to fight poverty in rural
Bangladesh
9)https://cri.org.bd/2014/07/02/poverty-reduction-in-bangladesh-recent-progress
10)http://www.bard.gov.bd › project
11)http://www.bard.gov.bd