Helping the ultra-poor
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Ishrat Firdousi
The special feature of BRAC's Ultra Poor Programme is that instead of loans, the target families are provided with grants and assets after scrutiny. This means that the assets that are transferred to the beneficiaries are not taken back. This programme helps the ultra poor to be engaged in income generating activities. It gives them an opportunity to make a daily living and be recognised in society as normal poor so that they can join the mainstream of economic activity.
These ultra poor cannot be brought under any micro finance programme. Even if it is interest free, these people cannot repay any loan because they have no means of earning money. They require special intensive programme
The eligibility criteria for the ultra poor women comprises of the following five features out of which at least two are mandatory.
1.Those who work as domestic servants in other households or are dependent on begging.
2. Those who own less than 10 decimals of land
3. Those who do not have any active male member in the family (who is able to make a living)
4. Those families whose children are of school going age but are engaged in income generating activities
5. Those families that do not have any productive assets that can be utilised for production.
For being eligible under BRAC's Ultra Poor Programme, there are two mandatory conditions besides the criteria mentioned above. The first one is that each family must have at least one adult and able female member who is eligible to participate in the income generating activities even if she is physically impaired but is able to work. The second condition is that no other member of the family can be engaged in other development activities run by other development agencies or micro-finance organisations.
To select the ultra poor beneficiary, BRAC uses the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method, which includes social mapping and wealth-ranking system, and special mapping, which constitutes wealth-ranking system in addition to survey by questionnaire.
The training department of BRAC undertakes need based and appropriate training activities for the BRAC staff in the light of previous experience. These trainings are conducted to identify realistically the prospective target beneficiaries among the ultra poor and to implement the programme effectively. This training programme has been divided into three categories.
1. The selection process of the ultra poor (duration 4 days)
2. Determining the strategy for implementation and management (duration 4 days)
3. Effective management training (duration 1 month)
The different BRAC staffs already working in different areas of BRAC-BDP activity helps to make a primary selection of prospective areas or villages to target the ultra poor.
A predetermined area is examined on the basis of demographic data of a particular area for the purpose of social mapping and wealth ranking. The staffs of BRAC go to the particular areas or villages and conduct the social mapping process. In the social mapping process it is the villagers who take the main role. On a certain day they are called to congregate at a certain place. At that congregation, a map is drawn on the ground with the help of the villagers or a particular villager. It is not a geographical map but a social map. The next step is to rank the wealth of the inhabitants of that particular village. Their assets and other productive means and professions are recorded.
The information obtained from this process help BRAC to make a primary list of the prospective target beneficiaries among the ultra poor.
The organisers of BRAC further use the information obtained from the wealth-ranking system by going from door-to-door of the ultra poor families in a village and then interviewing them through a questionnaire. The questions are formulated beforehand to get the necessary information about their level of earning so that the real situation or information can be obtained from the data collected from the questionnaire. The next step is to reconcile the data obtained from the questionnaire with the eligibility criteria as described before and the final list of the target beneficiaries among the ultra poor is drawn.
A team of senior supervisors first verifies the primary list and then make the final list. It has been observed in a few cases that some eligible families have been left out while using the methodology of the questionnaire. On the other hand some programme organisers may select some families dominated by females just for the sake of fulfilling the criteria despite the fact that those families really do not qualify.
So the validation by the senior supervisors is required to make a more realistic list of the target beneficiaries.
And it has been proven that this very process of validation and verification can avoid discrimination, error, and other unnecessary factors by the senior supervisors.
Ninety percent of the families under the CFPR Programme now have more than one trade to earn a livelihood.
Rabeya is a typical BRAC success story. Born to poor peasants in the remote village of Nabinagar (under Baura Union, Patgram Upazilla, Lalmonirhat district). Because of their extreme poverty, Rabeya never had any education. It was also because of this very poverty that Rabeya was given away in marriage to Ibrahim of the same village at only 13 years of age. In a very short time she became the mother of two children. With these two kids the family continued their poverty stricken life.
In 2005, Baura BRAC office chose Rabeya using the PRA Method to be a beneficiary under BRAC's CFPR-TUP Programme. As enterprise, Rabeya chose cow raring. After this she was given training on cow raring for three days. After the training she was given two cows. Rabeya started raising her cows with a lot of diligence. In time, the two cows gave birth to a calf each within a month of each other. Rabeya's fortune started to change for the better.
Now, everyday Rabeya sells five kilograms/liters of milk which is worth Tk 82.50. With money from her milk, Rabeya bought two goats for a total of Tk 2,100 and repaired her old hut. The diet of the family improved and she started saving money. Her total savings was Tk 1,700. She next bought 12 chickens which cost her a total of Tk 1,300. Now she could dream of a better life.
Today Rabeya wants to raise her voice against child marriage and dowry. Today she has become aware of health matters. She runs an orderly house. She has admitted one of her sons to school. Her son now attends school regularly.
The special feature of BRAC's Ultra Poor Programme is that instead of loans, the target families are provided with grants and assets after scrutiny. This means that the assets that are transferred to the beneficiaries are not taken back. This programme helps the ultra poor to be engaged in income generating activities. It gives them an opportunity to make a daily living and be recognised in society as normal poor so that they can join the mainstream of economic activity.
These ultra poor cannot be brought under any micro finance programme. Even if it is interest free, these people cannot repay any loan because they have no means of earning money. They require special intensive programme
The eligibility criteria for the ultra poor women comprises of the following five features out of which at least two are mandatory.
1.Those who work as domestic servants in other households or are dependent on begging.
2. Those who own less than 10 decimals of land
3. Those who do not have any active male member in the family (who is able to make a living)
4. Those families whose children are of school going age but are engaged in income generating activities
5. Those families that do not have any productive assets that can be utilised for production.
For being eligible under BRAC's Ultra Poor Programme, there are two mandatory conditions besides the criteria mentioned above. The first one is that each family must have at least one adult and able female member who is eligible to participate in the income generating activities even if she is physically impaired but is able to work. The second condition is that no other member of the family can be engaged in other development activities run by other development agencies or micro-finance organisations.
To select the ultra poor beneficiary, BRAC uses the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method, which includes social mapping and wealth-ranking system, and special mapping, which constitutes wealth-ranking system in addition to survey by questionnaire.
The training department of BRAC undertakes need based and appropriate training activities for the BRAC staff in the light of previous experience. These trainings are conducted to identify realistically the prospective target beneficiaries among the ultra poor and to implement the programme effectively. This training programme has been divided into three categories.
1. The selection process of the ultra poor (duration 4 days)
2. Determining the strategy for implementation and management (duration 4 days)
3. Effective management training (duration 1 month)
The different BRAC staffs already working in different areas of BRAC-BDP activity helps to make a primary selection of prospective areas or villages to target the ultra poor.
A predetermined area is examined on the basis of demographic data of a particular area for the purpose of social mapping and wealth ranking. The staffs of BRAC go to the particular areas or villages and conduct the social mapping process. In the social mapping process it is the villagers who take the main role. On a certain day they are called to congregate at a certain place. At that congregation, a map is drawn on the ground with the help of the villagers or a particular villager. It is not a geographical map but a social map. The next step is to rank the wealth of the inhabitants of that particular village. Their assets and other productive means and professions are recorded.
The information obtained from this process help BRAC to make a primary list of the prospective target beneficiaries among the ultra poor.
The organisers of BRAC further use the information obtained from the wealth-ranking system by going from door-to-door of the ultra poor families in a village and then interviewing them through a questionnaire. The questions are formulated beforehand to get the necessary information about their level of earning so that the real situation or information can be obtained from the data collected from the questionnaire. The next step is to reconcile the data obtained from the questionnaire with the eligibility criteria as described before and the final list of the target beneficiaries among the ultra poor is drawn.
A team of senior supervisors first verifies the primary list and then make the final list. It has been observed in a few cases that some eligible families have been left out while using the methodology of the questionnaire. On the other hand some programme organisers may select some families dominated by females just for the sake of fulfilling the criteria despite the fact that those families really do not qualify.
So the validation by the senior supervisors is required to make a more realistic list of the target beneficiaries.
And it has been proven that this very process of validation and verification can avoid discrimination, error, and other unnecessary factors by the senior supervisors.
Ninety percent of the families under the CFPR Programme now have more than one trade to earn a livelihood.
Rabeya is a typical BRAC success story. Born to poor peasants in the remote village of Nabinagar (under Baura Union, Patgram Upazilla, Lalmonirhat district). Because of their extreme poverty, Rabeya never had any education. It was also because of this very poverty that Rabeya was given away in marriage to Ibrahim of the same village at only 13 years of age. In a very short time she became the mother of two children. With these two kids the family continued their poverty stricken life.
In 2005, Baura BRAC office chose Rabeya using the PRA Method to be a beneficiary under BRAC's CFPR-TUP Programme. As enterprise, Rabeya chose cow raring. After this she was given training on cow raring for three days. After the training she was given two cows. Rabeya started raising her cows with a lot of diligence. In time, the two cows gave birth to a calf each within a month of each other. Rabeya's fortune started to change for the better.
Now, everyday Rabeya sells five kilograms/liters of milk which is worth Tk 82.50. With money from her milk, Rabeya bought two goats for a total of Tk 2,100 and repaired her old hut. The diet of the family improved and she started saving money. Her total savings was Tk 1,700. She next bought 12 chickens which cost her a total of Tk 1,300. Now she could dream of a better life.
Today Rabeya wants to raise her voice against child marriage and dowry. Today she has become aware of health matters. She runs an orderly house. She has admitted one of her sons to school. Her son now attends school regularly.