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3.3.1 Measurement of independent variables ... 33
3.3.1.1 Age ... 33
3.3.1.2 Education ... 33
3.3.1.3 Family size ... 33
3.3.1.4 Fatalism ... 33
3.3.1.5 Non-localite behaviour ... 34
3.3.1.6 Attitude towards NGOs ... 34
3.3.1.7 Agricultural knowledge ... 34
3.3.1.8 Aspiration ... 34
3.3.2 Measurement of the dependent variable ... 35
3.3.2.1 Change in food availability ... 35
3.3.2.2 Change in sources of drinking water ... 36
3.3.2.3 Change in physical assets ... 36
3.3.2.4 Change in sanitation ... 37
3.3.2.5 Change in increasing scope of income ... 37
3.4 Instrument for Collection of Data ... 38
3.5 Data Collection ... 38
3.6 Data Processing and Analysis ... 39
3.7 Hypotheses of the Study ... 39
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 40
4.1 Selected Characteristics of the Char Dwellers ... 40
4.1.1 Age ... 42
4.1.2 Education ... 42
4.1.3 Family size ... 42
4.1.4 Fatalism ... 43
4.1.5 Non-localite behavior ... 43
4.1.6 Attitude towards NGOs ... 44
4.1.7 Agricultural knowledge ... 45
4.1.8 Aspiration ... 45
4.2 Dimensions of Poverty Alleviation of CLP Beneficiaries and Their
Contribution towards Poverty Alleviation ... 46
4.2.1 Change in food availability ... 46
4.2.2 Change in sources of drinking water ... 47
4.2.3 Change in physical assets ... 49
4.2.4 Change in sanitation ... 50
4.2.5 Change in increasing scope of income ... 51
5
4.3 Relationships between the Selected Characteristics of the CLP Beneficiaries
and their Poverty Alleviation ... 52
4.3.1 Relationships between age with poverty alleviation ... 53
4.3.2 Relationships between education and poverty alleviation ... 55
4.3.3 Relationships between family size and poverty alleviation ... 56
4.3.4 Relationships between fatalism and poverty alleviation ... 57
4.3.5 Relationships between non-localite behaviour and poverty alleviation ... 59
4.3.6 Relationships between attitude towards NGOs and poverty alleviation ... 60
4.3.7 Relationships between agricultural knowledge and poverty alleviation ... 61
4.3.8 Relationships between aspiration and poverty alleviation ... 63
4.4 Comparative Change Pattern in terms of "Before" and "After" Enrollment
with CLP ... 64
4.4.1 Food availability ... 65
4.4.2 Sources of drinking water ... 66
4.4.3 Physical asset... 66
4.4.4 Sanitation ... 67
4.4.5 Increasing scope of income ... 67
4.5 Causes of Poverty and Poverty Alleviation ... 68
4.5.1 Causes of poverty ... 68
4.5.2 Poverty alleviation... 69
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 71
5.1 Summary of the Findings ... 71
5.1.1 Selected characteristics of the respondents ... 71
5.1.2 The extent of change in food availability, sources of drinking water,
physical assets, sanitation and increasing scope of income ... 72
5.1.3 Summary of hypothesis testing ... 73
5.1.3.1 Relationship between selected characteristics and poverty alleviation ... 73
5.1.3.2 Difference between `before' and `after' involvement in CLP ... 74
5.1.4 Causes of poverty and poverty alleviation ... 74
5.2 Conclusions ... 74
5.3 Recommendations ... 77
5.3.1 Recommendations for policy implications ... 77
5.3.2 Recommendations for further study ... 78
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 79
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ... 83
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LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
3.2
Energy contents of some selected items of food
35
4.1
Salient features of the selected characteristics of the CLP beneficiaries
41
4.2
Classification of respondents according to their food consumption
46
4.3
Classification of respondents according to their sources of Drinking
water 48
4.4
Classification of respondents according to their physical assets
49
4.5
Classification of respondents according to their sanitation
50
4.6
Classification of respondents according to their increasing scope of
income 51
4.7
Co-efficient of correlation showing relationship between respondents
selected characteristics and their poverty alleviation
53
4.8
Comparative change status in terms of `before' and `after' enrolment
with CLP
65
4.9
The causes of poverty of char dwellers as perceived by the CLP
beneficiaries 68
5
The possible ways of poverty alleviation of char dwellers as perceived by
the CLP beneficiaries
70
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
Page
2.1
The deprivation trap
25
4.1
Bar graph showing the poverty line of the respondents before and after
involvement with CLP
47
4.2
Bar graph showing the sources of drinking water of the respondents
before and after involvement with CLP
48
4.3
Bar graph showing the physical asset possession of the respondents
before and after involvement with CLP
50
4.4
Bar graph showing sanitation of the respondents before and after
involvement with CLP
51
4.5
Bar graph showing the income of the respondents before and after
involvement with CLP
52
7
LIST OF MAPS
Map
Page
3.1
A map of Gaibandha district showing Shaghata upazila
31
3.2
A map of Shaghata upazila showing locale of the study
32
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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ADB
= Asian Development Bank
ASA
= Association for Social Advancement
BBS
= Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BRAC
= Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee
BRDB
= Bangladesh Rural Development Board
BRIF
= Bangladesh Rural Improvement Foundation
DFID
= Department for International Development
ECNCE
= Executive Committee of National Economic Council
et al.
= All others
GB
= Grameen Bank
GO
= Government Organization
GOB
= Government of Bangladesh
IFAD
= International Fund for Agricultural Development
IMF
= International Monetary Fund
K. cal
= Kilo Calorie
MDG
= Millennium Development Goal
NGO
= Non Government Organization
NPFP
= National Poverty Focal Point
PDBF
= Palli Daridro Bimochon Foundation
PKSF
= Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation
PRSP
= Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
RDRS
= Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service
TMSS
= Thangamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha
UNO
= United Nations Organization
WB
= World Bank
WFP
= World Food Programme
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ABSTRACT
The major purpose of the study was to determine the extent of poverty alleviation of
rural people through changes in food availability, sources of drinking water, physical
assets, sanitation and increasing scope of income due to their participation in Chars
Livelihoods Programme (CLP) and ascertains the causes and the probable ways for
poverty alleviation as perceived by the rural people. Poverty alleviation was measured
by computing the change in food availability, sources of drinking water, physical assets,
sanitation and increasing scope of income due to involvement in Chars Livelihoods
Programme (CLP). Field work for the study was carried out in Haldia union of Shaghata
upazila under Gaibandha district. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample
of 102 CLP beneficiaries from a total of 148. Data were collected through personal
contact by using interview schedule which contained simple and direct questions with
different scales by researcher himself during January to February 2007. The paired "t"
test was used to measure the comparative change of `before' and `after' involvement in
CLP. Pearson product moment correlation co-efficient was computed in order to explore
the relationship between the selected characteristics of the respondents and their poverty
alleviation.
Findings indicate that food availability, sources of drinking water, physical assets,
sanitation and increasing scope of income has increased significantly among the
beneficiaries due to the participation in CLP. The average food consumption increased
to 2350.68 k cal from 2173.82 k cal, the average sources of drinking water increased to
2.39 from 2.15, average physical asset increased to 12.36 from 4.25, average sanitation
increased to 2.69 from 1.6, average income increased to Tk. 20.66 thousand from Tk.
13.04 thousand per year. Only non-localite behaviour of the respondents had significant
positive relationship while age, education, family size, fatalism, attitude towards NGOs,
agricultural knowledge and aspirations had no relationship with their change in food
availability. Age had significant negative but education, attitude towards NGOs,
agricultural knowledge and aspirations had significant positive relationship while family
size, fatalism and non-localite behaviour had no relationship with their change in
sources of drinking water. Family size had a significant negative relationship while
remaining variables had no relationship with their change in physical assets. The
selected characteristics of the respondents had no relationship with their change in
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sanitation. Age had significant negative but education, family size, agricultural
knowledge and aspirations had significant positive relationship while fatalism, non-
localite behaviour, and attitude towards NGOs had no relationship with their change in
increasing scope of income. Among the 25 causes of poverty, riverbank erosion,
frequent flood inundation, inadequate educational opportunity, encroachment of char
land by terrorist, diseases of cattle, goats and sheep etc. are the main causes of poverty.
Among 20 possible ways of alleviating poverty, control of river bank erosion, ensured
educational facilities, increasing cultivable land by proper management, improved
communication and transport facilities, control of diseases of cattle, goats and sheep etc
came out as the main ways.
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General Background
Bangladesh is an over populated country with a population of 138.2 million and it
contains nearly 941 people per square kilometer which is one of the highest in the world.
About 42.1 and 18.7 % of the people of Bangladesh live in absolute poverty level and
hard core poverty level respectively. In the rural area the absolute and hard core poverty
levels are 43.3 and 18.2 % respectively (BES, 2006).
Bangladesh is a riverain country. About 230 rivers exist in this country as like net. Most
of the rivers possess a number of char areas. The char dwellers are facing with the
problem of poverty which manifests itself in landlessness, unemployment, illiteracy,
malnutrition and vulnerability to frequent natural disasters.
Poverty has been identified as a major problem and largest issue of millennium
development goal. Poverty is not only the problem of Bangladesh, but also a global
problem. The global community is also adopting various efforts to reduce its existence.
In the world summit, 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the world committee of 191
countries discussed about the ways and means of reducing poverty. In the summit, 37
commitments were adopted to fight against poverty (Anonymous, 2000). The slow
growth of resource poor economy combined with an alarming growth rate of population
which is continually disturbing all efforts of planned development. At present, poverty is
a curse of whole nation. But it is not pragmatic to depend upon the curse.
Bangladesh like most of the developing countries has been engaged in economic and
social development programmes, so as to pull the masses of people out of the circle of
poverty and ignorance. In the development process, particularly of the less developed
countries, rural sector plays a vital role because most of the people in these countries
live in the rural areas.
Poverty alleviation is the main issue in the various developing countries. In Bangladesh,
it is a difficult and challenging task. Considering the importance of the problem, both
the pre and post independence of Bangladesh, government have accorded top priority to
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poverty alleviation programmes. Different poverty alleviation programme deals with
improvement of the quality of life of the poor through promotion of viable economic
and social activities under various government and non-government organizations. The
burden of poverty falls differentially not only among various socio-economic classes,
but also on different sex groups. Thus, different poverty alleviation programmes are
undertaken to address regional as well as gender dimensions of poverty.
Poverty alleviation has been enjoined as a fundamental responsibility on the state by the
constitution of Bangladesh. Poverty alleviation therefore lies at the core of the
government's economic policy. Bangladesh is also playing a leading role in the regional
approach of poverty alleviation in South Asia. Under the aegis of the SAARC of which
Bangladesh is a member, an independent "South Asian commission of poverty
alleviation" was appointed in 1991. A plan of action for poverty alleviation in
Bangladesh within the regional context is currently under preparation. At present the
government, has approved the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), in tact a
strategy for development programme on 16 October 2005. The government declared the
war on poverty and asked the poverty reduction policy planners to adopt a
multidimensional approach in chasing poverty. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
(PRSPs) are prepared by governments of low-income countries through a participatory
development partners, including the IMF and the World Bank. PRSP describes the
macroeconomics, structural and social policies that a country will purpose over several
years to promote broad based growth and reduce poverty as well as external financing
needs and the associated sources of financing.
A char is a strip of land or a bar which has emerged from the river-bed following
deposition and accretion of silt and alluvium. Chars can be of two types: attached and
island chars. An island char is defined as that land which even in the dry season can only
be reached from the mainland crossing a main river channel. Attached chars are
accessible from the mainland without crossing a channel during the dry season.
A significant portion of the total population in Bangladesh lives in the char area. Due to
lack of education, regular loss of land undeveloped communication facilities with a
number of causes, they become more vulnerable class of the society compared to plain
land people. Although some GOs and NGOs worked scatteredly in char areas of
13
Bangladesh, no special programme were taken before for the betterment of the socio-
economic status of poor char dwellers. In fact, they were neglected. The flood plain char
areas always faced natural disasters like regular loss of land flood, drought etc. But in
these char areas, a large portion of non-advanced poor people live. About (80 %) of
these people are hard core poor. Geographical, social, immoral and political instability
and insecurity pushed them to a vicious cycle of poverty. Regular loss of lands and
natural disasters often lead to migrate their habitat. The conventional development
programme in char areas till now brought a very little development which is not
sufficient for the char dwellers. In that case, the life oriented developmental activities
and institutional arrangement of a programme will try to alleviate poverty of char areas.
For improving the livelihood status of char dwellers the Department for International
Development (DFID), UK, introduces Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP). The Chars
Livelihoods Programme (CLP) is being implemented in the major char areas of
Bangladesh. In the study area, the CLP is being implemented by a NGO named Samaj
Kallyan Sangstha (SKS).
1.1.1 A brief history of Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) and its activities
Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) is funded by the Department for International
Development (DFID), UK, and sponsored by Rural Development and Co-operatives
Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives,
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It was started from June 2003 in
the study area.
Mission
The purpose of this programme is to improve livelihood security of the poor and
vulnerable women, men and children living within the riverine areas of the five districts
of the northern Jamuna. Chars Livelihoods Programme is seen as Millennium
Development Goals `relevant' in that it aims to reduce poverty; enhance sustainable
livelihoods opportunities, particularly in women-headed households and to build and
improve partnerships to facilitate enterprise development.
14
Programme Area
CLP focuses on the main char areas along the Brahmaputra and Jamuna River in 150
Unions of 28 Upazilas spread over five districts of Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur,
Bogra and Sirajgonj.
Target Group
Group consists of the 2 million people living on the chars in extreme poverty; also
described as ultra-poor. These communities are some the poorest and most vulnerable
people in Bangladesh. The poorest households are constituted of single women-
abandoned or widowed, disabled men and women, those unable to contribute to the
labour market, adolescent girls and children. While CLP targets the extreme poor
households, the core group is made of these poorest households and CLP focus is the
intervention.
Strategy to Achieve Programme Purpose
Enterprise & Livelihood aims to improve the capacity of the extreme poor to effectively
sustain their livelihoods and engage in local and national economies. This is done by
broadening economic opportunities and strengthening productive livelihood strategies,
particularly targeting women-headed households and adolescent girls.
Social Mobilization aims to increase the influence of the char dwellers on local and
national policies and to give them greater choice of services. This is done by social
mobilization and then engaging the community to participate in local level planning and
to improve local government accountability.
Approach to Programme Implementation
There are two important notions here.
· The phased roll out of CLP interventions and
· The participatory approach to design and sequence of CLP activities.
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Sustainability of benefits generated by CLP
The following strategies are expected to have longer term sustainable benefits.
· The programme of capacity building of Upazilas and Union Parishads should
leave behind stronger institutions which are better able to respond to the needs
and demands of the local people.
· Improving char dwellers' awareness of their own rights and of the
responsibilities of the local governments and setting a process in place so that the
voices of the poor char dwellers are heard, will equip char dwellers with means
of continued influence on local plans and policies.
· Enhanced crop productivity and diversification; lower mortality rates of
livestock and poultry; improved use of water bodies and better fish harvest;
increased scope for development of small and medium enterprises; better access
to social protection schemes by the poor; will all go towards increased household
income and improved livelihood security.
· Construction of community flood shelters for people and livestock; raising
homesteads above 1998 flood level; improving overall disaster preparedness in
the chars will lead to better coping strategies to deal with chars-specific
vulnerabilities.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In the context of continuous rapid population growth and shrinking land resources and
productivity, poverty alleviation is a crucial issue. But one of the greatest problems is
the implementation of poverty alleviation programme. Due to lack of efficient
personnel, time and money, most of the poverty alleviation programme fails. Especially
in the char area, most of the development programme can not obtain their goal due to
lack of willingness of service providing agencies. In view of the foregoing discussion
the researcher undertook an investigation entitled "Poverty alleviation of rural people
through Chars Livelihoods Programme." The main purpose of the study was to
determine and describe poverty alleviation of the char dwellers, to explore the
relationship of their selected characteristics with poverty alleviation and to find the
causes and solutions of the poverty of char dwellers. The study aims to find out the
answer to the following questions:
16
· What is the poverty alleviation status of the char dwellers due to participation in
CLP?
· What contributions are made by the CLP to the target groups in relation to :
Improvement in food availability
Improvement in sources of drinking water
Increase in physical assets
Improvement in sanitation
Increase in income
· Are the selected characteristics of the CLP beneficiaries related to their poverty
alleviation?
· What are the underlying causes of poverty and solutions of poverty in char area?
1.3 Specific Objectives of the Study
The following specific objectives were formulated for giving proper directions to the
study:
1. To determine the extent of poverty alleviation of rural people due to their
involvement in Chars Livelihoods Programme. The extent of poverty alleviation
was measured by comparing before and after participation in Chars Livelihoods
Program (CLP) in the following aspects:
i. Change in food availability
ii. Change in sources of drinking water
iii. Change in physical asset
iv. Change in sanitation
v. Change in increasing scope of income
2. To explore the relationship of the selected characteristics of the respondents with
their poverty alleviation. The selected characteristics are:
i. Age
ii. Education
iii. Family size
iv. Fatalism
v. Non-localite behavior
vi. Attitudes towards NGOs
vii. Agricultural knowledge
viii. Aspiration
17
3. To find out the causes of poverty of char dwellers and ascertain the probable
ways for alleviating poverty.
1.4 Justification of the Study
In fact, char areas were almost neglected day by day. Now-a-days, not only the
government of Bangladesh but also most of the governments of other developing
countries are increasingly aware that they have a major responsibility for rural
development and food security. Due to lack of enough capacity, they didn't meet the
challenges. Presently, various government organizations and non-government
organizations are launching programme for increasing rural poverty level. Most of the
government and non-government organizations are believed to be working to meet up
the challenges for improvement of livelihood status of rural people since the
independence of Bangladesh. The GOs and NGOs are trying to improve the livelihood
status of the poorest section of the char dwellers. As the char dweller have no sufficient
employment opportunities and income earning sources to maintain their livelihood, they
are the vulnerable class of the society and they are expected to uplift their personal,
social and economic dimensions by increasing their access and control over resources.
In order to improve this situation, Department for International Development (DFID)
has introduced Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) for char dwellers which are being
operationalzed through various GOs and NGOs. For understanding any meaningful
socio-economic development programme, if the main target is to involve the poorer
section of rural people in development activities, it needs to know the specific problem
issues. The issues on socio-economic development need more attention and thus it
deserves a specific investigation. It is necessary to conduct study regarding to the
performance of different poverty alleviation programme activities. Considering the
vulnerability and poverty of char dwellers, the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP)
was selected for this piece of research.
The findings of the study are expected to be of great value to the researchers, extension
service providers, students and particularly planners in formulating and designing for
future poverty alleviation programme.
18
1.5 Assumptions
The researcher had the following assumptions (Carter, 1945) in mind while undertaking
this study:
1. The respondents were capable of furnishing proper responses to the questions
contained in the interview schedule.
2. The responses furnished by the respondents were valid and reliable.
3. Information furnished by the beneficiaries, included in the sample, was the
representative of the whole population of the study.
4. The researcher who personally collected data well adjusted himself to the social
environment of the study area. Hence the data collected from the respondents
were free from interviewer bias. The findings of the study are expected to be
useful for planning and execution of various programmes in connection with the
rural poverty alleviation activities of the country especially poverty alleviation
programmes to be implemented by the government and NGOs.
5. The selected characteristics of the respondents and their poverty alleviation
activities study were normally and independently distributed with their
respective means and standard deviation.
1.6 Limitations
Considering time, money and other resources available to the researcher, the following
limitations were taken into consideration:
1. The study was confined to only one union namely Haldia under Shaghata upazila
of Gaibandha district in Bangladesh.
2. There were many people in the study area, but only the beneficiaries of CLP
were selected.
3. Characteristics involved with Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) were
considered for this study of the rural people was many and varied. But only eight
characteristics were selected for this study.
19
4. For information about the study, the researcher had to depend on data as
furnished by the selected CLP beneficiaries during data collection.
5. Usually the respondents do not keep records of annual/daily accounts of their
data and the researcher had to rely on memory of the respondents.
6. The researcher was a male and the respondents were females. Some initial
difficulties were faced in interviewing the female respondents due to cultural
barriers. However, this problem was subsequently overcome, by creating proper
rapport by the researcher and also with the support of CLP personnel.
1.7 Definition of Terms
A Number of key terms used throughout the study are defined below for clarify of
understanding.
Age: Age of a rural woman was defined as the period of time in years from her birth to
the time of interview.
Aspiration: aspiration referred to the desire or ambition of an individual regarding
his/her farm, family and environment.
Attitude: an attitude may be defined as predisposition to act towards an object in a
certain manner. It is an enduring psychological system consisting of three interacting
components, which may be classified as:
· Cognitive component the belief about the object;
· The feeling component the affect connected with the object;
· The predisposition or action tendency component the predisposition to take
action with respect to the object.
The term attitude towards NGO of a respondent is therefore, used to refer to his /her
beliefs, feelings and action tendencies towards the various aspects of NGO activities.
CLP: Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) is a programme funded by the Department
for International Development (DFID) committed to uplift the livelihood status of the
char dwellers.
20
Education: education is defined as the ability of an individual to read and write or
formal education received unto a certain standard.
Family size: It referred to actual number of permanent members in a subjects family
who live in a fixed dwelling unit and eat from the same cooking arrangement.
Livelihood: livelihood refers to those things (material and social) that allow a person to
live well, or prevent a person from doing anything against development. It includes
clean water, shelter and access to health care and education, freedom from abuse, access
to credit facilities, virtually anything that would contribute to gain a better life.
Poverty: It was a condition in which people was not capable of procuring the minimum
amount of food consumption. It was functionally the absolute poverty when the income
level below which even minimum standards of living, sanitation and personal amenities
cannot be maintained. It was measured on the availability of k cal as follows:
Poverty line I: It is defined as daily intake of >1805-2122 k cal per person. Poverty line
II: It is defined as daily intake of up to 1805 k cal per person Poverty line I and II are
used by BBS 2005.
Poverty alleviation: The term refers to bring about such changes on an increasing trend
in different aspects of economic and social development starting from a level-below
which minimum standard of living like food, cloth, shelter and personal amenities can
not be maintained.
SKS: Samaj Kallyan Sanstha (SKS) is a non-government organization which has been
helping its absolute poor and hard-core poor women and their family members through
guiding and providing supports since 20 years for their socio-economic development
and empowerment.
Participation: Participation refers to the extent of involving and performing by the rural
people during the years preceding the interview.
Change: It refers to lay improvement or deterioration of the respondents in various
aspects and personal amenities cannot be maintained.
21
Rural people: Rural people refer to the people specially women who live in char areas,
aged between 20 to 65 years and involved in the CLP.
Beneficiaries: Beneficiaries are those who get benefit from the CLP directly.
Non-localite behavior: It referred to the degree to which an individual's orientation is
external to her own social system.
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