Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday inaugurated a disbursement of Tk 1.27 billion in financial assistance on behalf of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina among 255,000 poor and extremely poor people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Tk 5,000 has been sent directly to the mobile number of each beneficiary," according to a press statement.
The financial assistance was disbursed under the Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) project of the Social Development Foundation (SDF), an autonomous 'not-for-profit' trust under the Ministry of Finance.
The disbursement was made under US$340 million, equivalent to Tk 29 billion, RELI project, implemented by the government and the World Bank to improve the livelihoods of the poor and extreme poor, enhance their resilience, and support rural entrepreneurship.
While inaugurating disbursement of the financial incentive, the finance minister said the government was working to bring the poor and extremely poor people, who suffered financial crisis due to the Covid pandemic, in the mainstream development process.
He said the financial incentive would help boost the financial activities among the rural people, thus contributing to the national economy.
Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah, secretary of the Financial Institutions Division, attended the programme as a special guest, with Md Abdus Samad, chairperson of SDF and former senior secretary of the government, in the chair.
Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah called upon the incentive recipients to ensure the best use of this support for improving their livelihoods.
SDF Managing Director AZM Sakhawat Hossain delivered the welcome speech at the event.
The five-year RELI project commenced in October 2021 to improve livelihoods of the poor and extreme poor, enhance their resilience and support rural entrepreneurship in project areas by reaching over 750,000 direct beneficiaries - of which, 90 per cent are women.
The project covers 3,200 villages in 20 districts and the support comprises, among others, a one-time additional cash transfer grant to those who might have fallen back into poverty because of the Covid pandemic.
The indicators that have been taken into consideration in granting financial assistance include: which member of the beneficiary family has died or been affected of Covid-19; if the income-generating activities of the beneficiary families were stopped or damaged due to Covid; extremely poor women-headed family or family with physically challenged members and indigenous families; and youths who have lost their jobs due to the Covid pandemic and returned to their village from within the country or from abroad.
The SDF has been implementing various development programmes since its inception in 2001 for the socio-economic development of the rural poor and the extremely poor.
The SDF is implementing development activities at 9,333 villages of 159 upazilas in 35 districts to eliminate poverty; developing skills and employment through training; engaging poor and hardcore poor in income generating activities through providing financial support; ensuring food security; helping construction and renovation of small-scale rural infrastructure; improving livelihoods of fishers community in the coastal region of the country; and providing financial incentives to small- and medium-scale Covid-hit entrepreneurs for their livelihood improvement and women empowerment.
The total number of direct and indirect beneficiaries of the SDF project is about 83 lakh (8.3 million). So far, 16.55 lakh poor and extremely poor families have been directly included in the project activities - of which, 95 per cent are women.
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