Food Security

CONCEPT NOTE

1.      Relevance of the Action

Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries of the world in spite of having a great wealth of natural resources. About half of the population subsists below the “food-based” poverty line (or 2122 kcal/cap/day), and app. 25% is considered to be Ultra Poor (< 1,600 Kcal/cap/day).

The Gaibandha district, located in the North-West of Bangladesh, is one of the poorest and most food insecure regions in Bangladesh. On 2,179 sqkm, there is an estimated population of 2.3 million or app. 1,050/Sqkm.

A 2004 RDRS survey in the whole district revealed that app. 35% of the total households should be considered Ultra Poor. More recent field data from the proposal partners show figures as high as 40% and above, or more than 180,000 HH.

There are a number of major factors keeping people trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and thus food insecurity:

The poor and ultra poor do not have access to government services as they should.

Gender is another key determinant of poverty in Bangladesh. Women (♀♀) are particularly disadvantaged as evidenced by high mortality rates, low literacy levels, poor health conditions, and lack of access to labour markets. 

The situation with regard to poverty and food security is even worse for People with Disabilities (PWD) and People affected by Leprosy and it is now recognised that poverty is both a major cause and consequence of disability. The needs of people with disabilities to be educated, skilled and economically involved are fundamental human rights and thus a responsibility of the nation and all its citizens.

For every person with a disability on an average 4-5 other family members are also affected in their livelihood.

Last but not least is the high frequency of natural disasters often reducing or even completely

destroying the scare resources of the poor.

Target group

The proposed project aims at implementing an integrated approach for a specific group within Gaibanda District that suffer most from food insecurity and poverty:  40,000 ultra poor women heading households and their dependants. These ♀♀ are either widow, divorcee, separated and/or single-mother who maintain their family by themselves.The project focuses on 60 of the 82 Unions that are still in need of external support.

The vast majority of these target ultra poor ♀♀ are landless or own only very little homestead land; are politically and socially deprived; have very little self-confidence; are chronic food insecure, have relatively high % (15-20) of disabled persons in their families; and all HH members are generally of very poor health. Association with formal or informal institutions like village cooperatives or NGOs is rare. Among those employed, most are minimum waged day labourers followed by beggars and domestic workers.

Project Strategy and Approach

The approach to be taken has four main components:   

·         Income Generating Activities (IGA).  Homestead based income generating activities & production systems increase the year-round availability and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods. Homestead food production increases household food security and establishes a support service system, creating employment opportunities, better social and gender equity, and reduces poverty.  All IGAs will have an asset transfer component to enable those trained to use their acquired skills and knowledge accordingly.

·         Life skill support, Nutrition and Health Training. To build the capacity and social capital of these ultra poor communities emphasis will be given to life skills development, gender-awareness training and health  including a component of prevention of disability and diseases and disability preparedness. Also water and sanitation will be addressed and safe water supply and construction of latrines.

·         Disaster&Risk preparedness.  People will be supported in being better prepared when natural disasters such as floods and cyclones strike their living area.  Joint risk inventories will be made, early warning systems promoted, and mitigation actions to reduce the damage introduced. Construction of shelters, and plinth raising, are also included here.   

·         Advocacy & social mobilization.  Social mobilization activities to address human rights and social

inequities such as gender, religious and cultural differences will be conducted.  These initial activities

will be the impetus for broader policy dialogue and change.  The focus will be on demand creation with

awareness activities and monitoring of service provision to ensure accountability.  The project will

address the current weak form of policies and local governance and administrative barriers to the

livelihoods security of poor people. Hence, key activities of this project are to a) build an effective

voice of ultra-poor people through institution building (e.g. groups, federation of groups for bigger

voice) and b) equip the ultra-poor to demand better services and improved access to services through

capacity building, training and awareness raising.

2.      Description of the action and its effectiveness

The overall objective that the proposed action aims to contribute to is as follows:

Sustained food security and improved livelihood through empowerment of Ultra Poor (Women) in Gaibandha District

The Specific objective the proposed action aims to achieve is:

Livelihood of Ultra Poor Women and their dependants improved through enhanced Food Security, Income Generating Capacity, Excercise of Human Rights, and Disaster Preparedness in Gaibandha District

For 40,000 ultra poor women and their dependants living in Gaibandha district, in the Northwest of Bangladesh the following results are foreseen:

· Diversified and year-round homestead food production that includes both plant and animal sources of foods in at least 80% of target households

· Improved livelihood and buying power from homestead food production and other income generating activities in at least 80% of the target households

· Improved health status of ♀♀ and their dependants of at least 80% of the target group

· Improved access to government development opportunities & safety net programs in at least 50% of the target households

· Households with a disabled person – 20 % of total targeted households - are included in IGA activities and WVG’s

· Improved ♀♀ group leaders participation in local government planning in at least 30% of the groups

At the start of the project the coordinators will meet with District government officials. They will be involved in selection of Upazila’s which are in the most need of support. The Upazilla government officials will be involved in the selection of the most vulnerable Unions.

Within the Unions, the project will start by conducting Participatory Rapid Appraisals (PRA) which will identify the project's individual target group members: ultra poor women heading households. In addition, these PRA's provide the baseline data on the basis of which the progress made and impacts of the project's interventions are measured against.

The identified women will be encouraged to organise themselves in Women Village Groups (WVG).   The WVGs are the focal groups at grass root level: The project's Group Development Agents (GDA) will make the members aware of the benefits of group organisation, train them among others on livelihood skills, homestead gardening and tree planting, health and nutrition, disaster preparedness, and their basic rights. 

The WVGs also serve as the platform from where the project's trainers provide training to the ♀♀ on Income Generating Activities (IGA) including the transfer of assets.  These assets enable the ♀♀ to actually start an IGA with the skills and knowledge acquired during the training.  The WVG's will also be given the responsibility of managing the assets generated through the multiplier (see section 1.7).

Furthermore the WVG members will be stimulated to enter into saving schemes to increase their resilience and to further invest in improving their livelihoods.

At Union Level, Federations will be formed, consisting of 650-675 members. The Federations has its own democratically elected board of WVG representatives, with ensured representation by PWDs, people affected by leprosy, and other minorities. The Federation develops as an apex organization of the poor, which eventually grows up to Upazilla level through a coordination of 8-10 Union level Federations in order to channel bigger voices upward.

The Federations are expected to sustain the project output through the following results:

· Collective voicing of the ultra-poor ♀♀ for lobbying & advocacy in favour of their rights;

· Federation members elected / co-opted into local Government (Union Parishad) and capable of influencing decision-making in favour of their groups/poor community members at large;

· Ultra-poor access to Government resources/services (e.g. safety programs, khas lands, extension services etc.) increased.

The activities and expected results in the income generation trainings are:

25,000 women learn Homestead gardening – continuous availability of vegetables/fruits (200kg/40 sqm).

25,000 women learn homestead tree planting – fruits, timber, fodder available (80% of the trees survive).

500 women learn tree and vegetable nursery – average net income Tk 10,000/year.

10,000 women learn to cultivate winter crops – Av income Tk 100 per day (during the monsoon period).

5,600 women learn milk cow rearing – Average net income Tk 12,750/cow/year.

25,000 women learn goat/sheep rearing – Average net income Tk 5,000/2 animals/year.

2400 women learn Beef fattening – Average net income Tk 12,000/year/cow.

20,000 women learn poultry farming – Average net income/flock/year Tk 7,000.

250 women learn broiler rearing – Average net income/cycle Tk 2,000.

100 women become livestock/poultry vaccinator  - Average net income (half-time) Tk 2,500.

1000 women learn Cage fish production – Average net income Tk 600 per cage/cycle.

1,600 women learn Rice fish production – Average net income/season Tk 4,500.

100 women learn Fingerlings rearing – Average net income Tk 10,000/cycle.

300 women learn handicraft production – net income at least Tk 100/day.

300 women learn Embroidery – net income at least Tk 100 per day.

The activities and the expected results in Nutrition, health, leprosy and disability are:

400 community health volunteers/TBA’s are trained on identifying persons with disabilities, early detection and intervention – annual reduction of 15% in disabilities caused during pregnancy and birth.

All project staff sensitised on leprosy and disability – people with leprosy or disability are included in all project activities.

40 Technical trainers and 200 Group development agents are trained on including people with disabilities in IGA – All IGA training programs have included PWD’s.

Early detection of leprosy cases – 3000 people affected by leprosy detected and treated.

Assistive devices provided to PWD - 8300 people have their functional ability improved.

Reconstructive surgery for disabled people – 1,000 people have their functional ability improved.

Eye surgery for disabled people – 500 people have their vision improved.

The activities and the expected results in Disaster & Risk are:

2,000 tubewells constructed – 40,000 households have improved access to save drinking water throughout the year.

5,000 latrines constructed – 4,500 households make proper use of the latrine.

300 government officials trained in disability and disaster preparedness – 90% of the PWD have access to government safety net facilities.

The activities and the expected results in Human rights, advocacy and Lobby are:

Lobby with GoB for allotment of khas land – 5,000 women granted Khas lands.

The project is implemented by a total of 10 partners, three of which in Europe, and seven in Bangladesh, all of whom are directly or indirectly linked to each other. The reasons for this relatively large number of partners are complementarities and added value. In Europe, the applicant ICCO has a permanent coalition with TLM and Dark&Light Blind Care in order to ensure that the developmental projects and programmes supported worldwide encompass adequate attention for the cause of people affected by leprosy and people with disabilities.

TLM and CDD will be the coordinating partners on the leprosy, disability, health and nutrition related components, whereas CCDB will be coordinating all the disaster&risk preparedness and management activities.  The IGAs at field level will be implemented by RDRS, GUK, GBK and UST, whereby for practical reasons the latter organisations each bear the implementing responsibility over a specific number of unions.

The project will identify and support the development of formal linkages with various sources of technical information including the technical departments within the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Department of Fisheries and Department of Livestock, research institutions like Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI). These institutes provide the consortium partners with knowledge and training on appropriate technology in agriculture and livestock.

The Directorate of Social Welfare Department and the Directorate of Women Affairs Department are associates of the consortium and collaborate in order to disseminate relevant information, establish legal justice through court cases on violence against women, ensuring Government support.

3.      Sustainability of the action

It is assumed that support services rendered by the Government in quantitative terms will not substantially increase due to the many constraints the GoB faces in terms of available staffing and funding. Emphasis in this project is hence on promoting self-help and empowerment of the ultra poor ♀♀. 

The cooperation with- and of the GoB at all levels in the district has been ensured already, but will nonetheless be a continuous point of attention.  It should be clear that this project is there to help ultra poor ♀♀ and their dependants to improve on their food security and livelihoods and not to replace government in any way.  The proposed interventions are complimentary to what GoB can do.

A risk that cannot be controlled is found in natural disasters, especially excessive floods and cyclones. All the project can do is to provide support in improving on the disaster preparedness in terms of promoting early warning systems, promote emergency contingency plans with the required organisational structure, reduce health risks through provision of disaster-proof clean drinking water sources, and by providing emergency shelters. We assume that food availability is ensured by the government and/or the international donor community, also in times of major natural disasters.

The sustainability of the project's interventions is in the targeted women's' capacity to learn, innovate and generate income, contributing to a better livelihood. The integrated development model has proven to be financially sustainable due to the fact that the targeted ultra poor ♀♀ have been provided the skills and knowledge plus the starter assets required to begin generating more income and food. In order to reduce risk associated with each IGA (e.g. destruction of crops/produce), each ♀ is given at least 2 different IGA possibilities. The system is self propelling as saving schemes are encouraged, savings which are to be used for extending the ♀♀ income generating base.

Furthermore the project gives ample support to those ♀♀ and their families who are affected by leprosy and disability. By increasing the mobility and independency of these disabled family members, the time burden for the other family members and the associated cost is reduced. Furthermore, by involving the disabled in the IGA trainings, they are taught to become productive members of the family.

At community, Union, Upazila and District level, groups and Federations will be formed, at each level being in the position to liaise, communicate, and lobby for their interests. Official recognition by the Government of these societal developmental groups makes them formally institutionalised partners in development.

The group members also stand much stronger positions with regard to access to local govt. resources eg, leasing in roadsides for tree plantation. For the Local Government the Federations are very useful partner in the identification of beneficiaries for the GoB support from special funds for the poor.

Especially at ward and union level the project will promote strengthening the position of producers towards market parties e.g. to ensure that they get a fair price for their produce.

The partner NGOs have the capacity and experience to absorb village groups developed in previous projects. This project will ensure that the ultra poor women groups are developed in line with the eligibility criteria of micro-finance programmes and so that they are absorbed as regular members of the NGOs when the project support is withdrawn.

Another important contribution to the financial sustainability is the in-built mechanism of input recycling through asset multiplication. Each recipient of a cow, goat or sheep has to render the first offspring to someone else within her community, the recipient to be decided upon by the group to which she belongs.  The Women Village Groups do have the responsibility of administering their own development, welfare and income generation support programmes, such as with regard to livestock, which continues after the project is withdrawn.

In terms of capacity sustainability, the project puts a lot of efforts in training its own staff, especially the 200 Group Development Agents working at grass root level.  After the project phases out these GDAs will be in a better position to find other employment or even start their own income generating activities.

This food security program will also be an impetus for policy development with regard to inter-sectoral

collaboration at the community level given that the programme integrates food, nutrition, disability,

health and economic development in a comprehensive approach.