WFP project lifts 30,000 women out of extreme poverty

Thirty thousand ultra poor women, supported by a four-year cash-transfer project, have moved out of extreme poverty in the disaster prone areas of three northern districts of Bangladesh, a report revealed yesterday.
The "Food Security for the Ultra Poor" (FSUP) project initially supplied each of the women with Tk 14,000 in cash to start their business and monthly subsistence allowance of Tk 500 over a period of four years.
As the European Union-funded programme of 15 million euros came to a close in December 2012, the results showed that the average income of the participants and their families increased fivefold, savings way above four times, and household asset threefold.
The project implemented by World Food Programme (WFP) aimed at reducing food insecurity and extreme poverty among the most vulnerable women in Bogra, Sirajganj and Pabna. They were supported to create income opportunities through livestock rearing, crop cultivation, artisan works and the like, said the report disclosed at Westin Hotel in the capital.
"I had nothing before joining the project in June 2010," said Rahida Begum from Sirajganj, who now cultivates fish in four leased ponds. "My husband's monthly income was only Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 but now I can earn Tk 10,000 every month and my asset value is Tk 2.50 lakh," she told the programme.
The participants received entrepreneurship training to consider long-term investments, select income generating activity, and formulate business plan suitable to their needs, says the report on the FSUP programme, which started in January 2009.
State Ministry for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said, "Vulnerable Group Development Programme, one of the largest social safety nets in the country, addresses the feminisation of poverty through the exclusive targeting of ultra-poor women.
"With the assistance of the WFP, we will formulate a new long-term strategy for pro-active poverty reduction, using experiences from promotional safety net projects such as FSUP to assist in improving sustainability in graduation out of extreme poverty."