RAJSHAHI, July 7 (BSS):More than 35,000 women from slum and underprivileged areas in Rajshahi City have come together in an anti-poverty savings scheme.
Already they have saved around Tk 120 million (Tk 12 crore) to fight against poverty and improve their living conditions.
The poor and extreme-poor people have gotten the means of eradicating their long-lasting poverty through self-managed savings and credit activities to some extent.
The activities are being managed by Community Development Committee (CDC), initiated by the just concluded Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP).
The project was implemented jointly by Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) and Local Government Engineering Department with financial and technical support from United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), UKaid and UN-Habitat.
Ajahar Ali, Chief Executive Officer of RCC, said main thrust of the project was to improve the living condition and livelihoods of around 72,832 poor and extreme poor families, especially women and girls.
He said a total of 35,000 women saved around Tk 122.5 million under 173 CDCs consisting of around three lakh populations in the metropolis aims at elevating their living and livelihood conditions till June last.
Against the savings, the community members received collateral- free loan for addressing their emergency needs and other family purposes and the credit figure has been cumulated to around Tk 175 million till the same time.
After taking loan from CDCs, many of the members are operating different kinds of micro business successfully allowing them to have access to a regular income.
The poor communities operate their own savings scheme along with creating a revolving fund from which credit operations are managed through the savings credit program generating a new dimension towards women empowerment and curtailing urban poverty.
Saving of Ganpara CDC has been raised to more than Tk 2 million while Tk 1.7 million was saved by Natun Budhpara and the entire money is being managed and used by the community members for their own welfare purposes without any outside intervention.
