Written evidence submitted by Muhammad
Taher
NOTES ON
DFID ASSISTANCE TO
BANGLADESH
I shall start with some general comments on
DFID Bangladesh and its work which will be followed by specific
comments on two livelihoods development programmes that I have
known closely; ie, the Chars Livelihood Programme and the economic
empowerment of the poorest programme known as Shireee.
A GENERAL ASSESSMENT
OF DFID ASSISTANCE
Overall strategy to address national priority
needs have been appropriate and quite effective because the process
of identification of needs have been participatory and based on
ground realities. As strategic partners to its mission in Bangladesh
DFID has rightly chosen to involve the national government and
experienced NGOs in the implementation of its programmes of work.
This has ensured local ownership of the process initiated by DFID,
many of which needs to continue for a long time. This has also
ensured adoption of appropriate policy changes to expedite the
process of development. The involvement of NGOs in the implementation
process has also enabled it to receive the best possible knowledge
and experience of the grass roots realities making development
assistance ever more relevant and effective. For example, it has
encouraged the government to adopt different pro-poor development
policies (eg, different social protection programmes for helping
vulnerable communities, investment in education, health and livelihoods
development) that are being jointly implemented by NGOs and government
agencies. As a result of effective policy influence by DFID and
the donor community, the government has very recently produced
its second poverty reduction strategy paper ("Steps towards
Change: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction—II"
for 2009-11).
DFID has been treated with respect in Bangladesh
not because it is the largest contributor of overseas development
grants, but because it gives assistance to priority needs with
clear strategic objectives. DFID's assistance in Bangladesh is
characterised by its deep concern about poverty eradication and
relatively more generous (not tied with too many conditions) approach.
DFID is the leading international partner to the government's
efforts to combat adverse effects of climate change in Bangladesh.
Its recent plans for example, to provide an increased level of
assistance to help four million more children to receive quality
primary education by 2015, facilitating women's access to an effective
justice system and lifting six and half million people out of
extreme poverty are indeed appropriate, popular with the development
community and strategic in nature.
Its focus on poverty eradication through meeting
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving the number
of extreme poor people by 2015 have so far been effective and
thus earned public recognition. Some of the key investments in
social development sectors by DFID, eg, in health, education,
livelihoods development of the poor, have been quite effective
and some are path-breaking in many ways. We will discuss below
two major development programmes in this connection—implemented
jointly by DFID and the government of Bangladesh under close supervision
of DFID to specifically address eradication of extreme poverty
from Bangladesh.
LIVELIHOODS DEVELOPMENT
FOR POOR
IN REMOTE
RURAL LOCATIONS
I have known about the Chars Livelihood Programme
or CLP since its inception and had the opportunity to observe
its field operations a couple of times last year (as a part of
an expert group trying to help DFID with a monitoring framework
for four similar projects) and once this year in connection to
another evaluation work in the region. The following comments
are based on my first hand experience of the programme.
The following except from a programme introduction
gives a detailed picture of the Char context which is deemed useful
to understand the key challenges there:
Bangladesh, as the terminal floodplain delta
of three major rivers (the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna)
is highly prone to dramatic and often devastating annual floods.
Serving as the main branch of the Brahmaputra as it enters Bangladesh,
the Jamuna River is the fifth largest river in the world. In the
CLP project area, the Jamuna is at least 3.5 kilometres wide;
swelling to over twice this width when it bursts its banks in
the flood season.
People living in these areas are vulnerable
not only to the flooding but also to river erosion, as the sand
and silt char land areas deposited by the river are eventually
destroyed by the speed and strength of its water. Both of these
environmental hazards remain outside the control of inhabitants
of the area. They are reasonably predictable (annual flooding)
and completely unpredictable (erosion) events, which people have
to contend with alongside their day-to-day struggle for survival.
In one generation each household can be expected
to be displaced by river erosion and flooding at least five times;
with the average lifespan of a char being just a decade. Even
if a char is not completely destroyed by river erosion, families
frequently have to move as huge areas of land are submerged for
weeks at a time by the Jamuna flood waters.
The vulnerability of a char household to these
types of environmental hazards is increased by how close they
live to the riverbank, with the most vulnerable households often
living on the banks of the river. Char dwellers not only live
in areas where flooding and erosion are annual events but their
poverty means that they often struggle to recover from these shocks.
With no reserves to fallback on or safe drinking water, flooding
for chars dwellers often means episodes of ill-health and being
forced to take loans with high interest to pay for basic daily
needs.
To reduce household vulnerability to flooding,
one of the key challenges for people living there, the programme
helps to raise homesteads above the highest-known local flood
level, thereby reducing the likelihood of them being forced to
move and lose assets during flooding. It then helps to increase
the ability of households to cope with flooding and erosion by
building and diversifying their mobile asset base. Besides, provision
of year-round access to a safe supply of drinking water and other
essential support services are gradually introduced.
It has been recognised as a remarkable initiative
by DFID to aim to lift six million people out of extreme poverty
by 2013 through this programme. For many years, this rather difficult-to-reach
river basin shoals (island chars) and their vulnerable
population in the northern part of the country have been deprived
of any substantial developmental assistance. The CLP working areas
within the Jamuna chars are isolated from major markets,
suffering from erosion and annual flooding, seasonal hardships
(Monga) and extremely limited health and education service
provisions for them. The Char inhabitants are normally the poorest
landless labourers and their families who earn a living through
cultivation of these marginal lands with low yield potentials
during the dry season. Deprived of access to the basic needs and
services these people are also deprived of a dream of a promising
future. DFID recognised that without a focussed social protection
measures for them, they cannot be lifted out of their present
condition. This has come from the realisation that not only do
extreme poor households have to be specifically targeted but they
also need intensive, context specific types of assistance.
Jointly undertaken with the government of Bangladesh,
the CLP has been considered as a bold step. There have been quite
a few successful innovations in this approach of addressing extreme
poverty in these remote areas by introducing appropriate agricultural
technologies and practices including cultivation of crops suited
to the local ecology or land and rearing of livestock animals.
Taking into consideration the particular circumstances these communities
live, the CLP has pioneered an approach of "Asset Transfer"
to the poor households so that they can have something tangible
to start building their economic bases on:
The main livelihoods entry-point is the building
of household finances by a one-off transfer of investment capital
(presently set at about £170) to the poorest households.
This financial injection is then followed by a sequenced programme
of intensive household and community support.
Just over three years into the programme, the
results have been quite clear. People that we saw and talked with
are living in their raised (above flood level) homesteads with
significantly increased sense of security and peace. They now
have a dream as the programme offered some of the means for it.
For example, their level of resilience to the effects of natural
hazards have been enhanced, they have means to earn an income
and are in the process of building an asset base with direct assistance
from the programme. They have been gradually linked with the national
service delivery programmes on health, education, water and sanitation
etc. CLP has a strong monitoring and evaluation component which
regularly tracks the effectiveness of the interventions and changes
resulting from them. There are programme specific reviews on CLP,
but also independent assessment conducted by others[31]
that can be used as further evidence.
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
OF THE
EXTREME POOR
This economic empowerment of the extreme poor
(EEP or Shiree) project aims to lift over one million poor people
in rural and urban areas in Bangladesh mainly through support
to a variety of NGO projects related to income and asset generation
of extreme poor communities. The Shiree programme has deliberately
taken time to go through a rather thorough process of partner
(mainly NGOs) selection before disbursing funds. I have been involved
in the selection process of NGO projects as a member of an Independent
Assessment Panel (IAP) for DFID/Shiree assistance. The process
of making applications to Shiree for grant assistance has been
quite thorough and effective. As a result it has been able to
select some of the best NGOs in Bangladesh with some of their
best project ideas to assist the poorest with economic and social
benefits.
Shiree is providing financial and technical
assistance to NGOs mainly through two funds. One is known as "Scale
Fund", which supports larger NGO projects utilising proven
methodologies. The other is known as the Innovations Fund. The
later is supporting smaller projects using innovative approaches.
The Innovations Fund selected novel, undocumented and even un-tested
approaches which address the economic needs of the extreme poor.
This includes innovative ideas, processes, systems and technologies
which are likely to generate assets, improve incomes, decrease
dependency and vulnerability, and increase food security and provide
sustainable pathways out of poverty.
Fund disbursement for the projects has started
from early 2009. Although the preliminary results of the projects
will start to be known from the end of this year, there are projects
supported under "Scale Fund" which are based on proven
track record of NGO initiatives and thus, in a way, are able to
offer some advance indication of their chances of success. Because,
this (chances of success) was one of the selection criteria on
which the investment process was based. The other group of projects
are known as "Innovation Fund" projects as noted above.
This is also implemented jointly with the government of Bangladesh
and like CLP, it also aims to contribute to the MDG goals of reducing
extreme poverty.
The evidence in this respect is thus on a successful
and thorough preparatory (including selection) process with strong
potentials to lift about a million of the poorest people in different
(priority) parts of the country with a variety of programmes and
projects. The Shiree programme is staffed by a group of specialists
in different technical areas who are capable of managing the technical,
operational and institutional contents of the programme efficiently
and effectively. The IAP comprised of experienced development
professionals who have spent several weeks on selecting the projects
have been impressed with the range of potentially successful ideas
and approaches that came to Shiree for DFID support. I am quite
confident that we have been able to select some of the best ideas
and best organisations who can successfully channel DFID assistance
to benefit the country and specifically contribute to the sustainable
economic empowerment of the extreme poor through enhanced livelihood
options. The female headed households, the indigenous people,
people located in geographically remote or environmentally vulnerable
areas and people with disability will also get a chance to change
their situation through income earning activities. Some of the
support will increase resilience and adaptability of the poor
to climate change and develop "innovative" pathways
out of poverty.
ISSUES ARISE
Just a couple of issues related to DFID and
its assistance in Bangladesh:
1. This is quite encouraging to note that there
has been an enhanced level of mutual trust and respect between
DFID and the government of Bangladesh through an increased level
of understanding about each other's perspectives on development
issues. There is a general feeling however, that the same kind
of development has not happened in the case of inter-donor relationships
and coordination of development assistance by foreign donors in
Bangladesh. DFID being the leader and the largest development
grant provider in Bangladesh is expected to play a role in improving
donor coordination.
2. Some people believe that frequent change in
international staff of DFID-B often contributes to loss of valuable
institutional learning and socio-political capital built over
years. While it is fine to assume that change like this is also
necessary for administrative reasons and to bring in fresh ideas
and experiences, it would be good to see that changes are well
planned (not abrupt) and the process ensures continuation of positive
trends and works.
3. There was a case of assisting the process
of enhancing the capacity of national consultants in providing
quality of services in the field of social development. The idea
generated within DFID some time ago did not seem to have gone
far? Could a fresh initiative be undertaken to assess the rationale
and viability of that idea?
31 For example, please refer to Holmes, R et al
September 2008. Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh: Protecting and
promoting rural livelihoods. ODI Project Briefing No 15. Back
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