A lack of year round opportunity to earn a living wage is the basic constraint that pushes families into extreme poverty and prevents them from graduating from this state. The extreme poor typically have no land, no education or marketable skills and no social network outside of their own underprivileged community. They frequently rely on selling their physical labour on a daily basis, as agricultural or construction workers or housemaids.However such casual daily labour is highly seasonal, lacks security, is often poorly paid, and provides no ability to accumulate the savings needed to respond to family level shocks such as ill health or abandonment. Hence the labouring extreme poor face the constant threat of being forced into permanent or temporary destitution, relying on begging and forcing a further reduction in already scant levels of consumption. This in turn worsens health and nutrition problems and makes it even more difficult to get onto the first step of the ladder out of poverty.When extreme poor men or women become ill, old, pregnant, or have to take care of small children or ailing parents, they can no longer sell their labour, and then they are left with no means to earn a living. Not surprisingly the incidence of extreme poverty is highest in those regions of Bangladesh that are most economically isolated, where the benefits of economic growth experienced by the country as a whole have had least impact and where there is greatest vulnerability to shocks such as cyclone, flood or seasonal drought. However even in economically dynamic areas such as Dhaka or Chittagong the poorest lack the ability to tap in to this economic success – lacking necessary skills or education, facing constraints such as disability or chronic ill health and lacking the capital to establish or sustain their own micro businesses.The extreme poor seem destined to be kept on the outside, not allowed to share in the benefits of the considerable economic success being achieved by the country as a whole. Improving the extreme poor’s access to markets, land and skill development opportunities can help them earn a livelihood.
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QUICK FACTS
Average per capita income of Shiree beneficiaries on enrollment is typically less than 22 Taka per day (rural).
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey (1990), there are 5.7 million 10 to 14 year old children working in Bangladesh.
A recent World Bank study has projected that in order to maintain its economic growth Bangladesh needs to create 1.2 million new jobs every year for the next 20 years.
OTHER CHALLENGES
- Exclusion from public services
- Insufficient economic opportunities
- Vulnerability to external shocks
- Health and nutrition vulnerability
- Gender inequity
- Marginalised group specific risks and vulnerability
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expert view:“Middle income countries with an expanding tax base among the middle classes can afford universal basic incomes which give people a platform of security on which to plan and improve their lives. This has been demonstrated elsewhere and could soon apply to Bangladesh. There needs to be sustained policy lobbying in Bangladesh to prepare for this longer run, sustainable solution, and thus a new political settlement in the country. Alongside the social protection goal, more immediate interventions should take the form of asset transfers to help the extreme poor, where realistically possible, to enter petty produce and trading markets. Agricultural, and other rural and urban labour needs to be organised into larger, collective bargaining units to enhance the value and stability of wages as well as working conditions. Safety net cash transfers, with more transparent allocation procedures accountable to local civil society organisations, can help stressed families manage seasonal liquidities as well as hazards and shocks. Community level institutions can work better for the poor if they are not separated through privileged but temporary access to targeted resources excluding them from more locally sustainable provision and safety nets. Local MPs and local government politicians have a duty to represent more forcibly the interests of the extreme poor in their constituencies.”Geof Wood, Professor Emeritus, University of BathAnother expert view on how to address insufficient economic opportunities: “Insufficient economic opportunities is due to a lack of skills. So how can we build skills? We can promote access to vocational skill training to enhance educational opportunities. We can combine vocational training and business training as basic business awareness on accounting and finances is essential. In promoting access to skills, we must look at the specific abilities of women to ensure they are included in skills development (only 9% of those enrolled in public vocational skills training are female!). Women should be targeted to enhance their participation in vocational and business skills. We need to get past gender stereotyping to provide non-traditional economic opportunities for women.”
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Lack of skills, lack of capital, lack of market awareness, lack of non-physical work opportunities Khalil has a range of business skills, still he finds it difficult to find a non-physical job to manage, without capital investment and strong relationships with the right people. Consequently, he is trapped in debt to different people. His family always suffered food shortage so he ran away to a slum by the port when he was only 8 years old to work. He found work unloading cargo from ships. After some time, he started working under an agent who supplied food, water, wood, oil, cloth and iron to the crews of 5 ships at the port.Khalil became a very reliable and trustworthy worker for his agent within a very short while and could afford 3 meals a day and even saved some money. The agent gave Khalil 30,000 taka to buy goods for the ship and asked him to add 10,000 taka from his own savings. Jealous of his good fortune 4 other workers of the agent sent robbers who seized all of his goods. Consequently, he lost his savings and also had to compensate the agent by working for free for the next two years, after which he returned home empty handed. His mother gave him 900 taka to initiate an iron business but he could not invest in a proper license (25,000 taka) so he couldn’t continue the business. He started working as day labour in a cement factory.He left the cement factory in 2003 on doctor’s advice due to severe chest pains. He needed 500 taka of medicine monthly. He was totally unemployed. His brother’s wife could not bear the burden of the large family and since Khalil could not contribute in any way, this created tension. It was the rainy season when Khalil left his parents’ house, with just a polythene paper and a bamboo mat from neighbours. He set up a tent to live in. At that time his wife was carrying their second child.He expressed his sorrow, “Nobody expects the baby will survive. Because of my extreme economic crisis, I could not afford to give my wife anything good, not even an egg. I just embrace the legs of the union parishad members and beg them to help me.” For the rest of this story. click here. Note: The names of individuals have been changed to protect their identity
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- Shiree – NGO partners are working to improve market access for their beneficiaries.
i. Netz is engaged in making markets work for ethnic minorities (plain land adivasis) through capacity building and group formation.
ii. Gana Unnayan Kendra develops skills of climate change refugees and places them in jobs within the garments and footwear industries. 700 extreme poor people were placed in jobs with APEX Footwear.
iii. Action on Disability and Development develops skills of disabled extreme poor people and places them in jobs.
iv. CARE encourages the growth of micro cottage industry initiatives such as rag rug factories and indigo factories, to create jobs for the extreme poor.
- BRAC’s dairy products and processed poultry products have created a fair market for the extreme poor people’s produce. Aarong is an example of a thriving enterprise created to boost the earning potential of poor people.
The above are only a few examples. There is loads of good work already taking place. If you would like to add further examples or a link to a relevant website, please contribute through the form below.
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The following are recommendations shiree has received online and through various consultations with NGOs, private sector actors, government officials, international donors and other civil society activists interested in making a difference and bringing change to Bangladesh.
| Wages |
| Minimum wages to be fixed for farm labourers and introduce a strong monitoring mechanism to oversee the implementation of minimum wage. (International NGO)
Ensure equal pay for equal work. (International NGO) |
| Agricultural Technology |
| Natural resource management program must be adopted in CHT for ensuring short term income generating activities. It may be bamboo cultivation or medicinal plant cultivation which is short harvesting period along with traditional agriculture. (National NGO)
Access to natural forests must be allowed during the lean time in CHT. (National NGO)
Modern Agricultural technology in the hill areas must be promoted in consultation with renowned agricultural institutions, both national and abroad. (National NGO)
Our country is basically enriched by its agriculture based economy. But every year, 1% of agriculture land is engulfed by urbanization or river erosion. In the south of Bangladesh shrimp farming is overtaking agricultural land because of the growing foreign market for seafood. As a result, agriculture labourers and marginal farmers are losing their jobs and they are forced to migrate to urban areas for survival. So, we should adopt an effective adaptation strategy and coping mechanism to survive. (International NGO)
For broad-based sustainable reduction of poverty, investment in agriculture and technological advancement should be increased. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Bangladesh and BRAC)
Insufficient economic opportunities are the result of severe structural and institutional constraints like corrupt and exploitative political system as well as of unfair social relationship pattern. As a result, development of skills and technical know-how, in many cases, fail to bring the people out of extreme poverty or poverty circle. Gains slide back again towards previous condition. Traditional way of creating economic opportunities to a greater extent has become ineffective or less effective. Development planners and practitioners more importantly the government need to go beyond the boundary of traditional style of thinking and planning. Science and technology as well as innovations have to be encouraged and supported at all levels. Encouraging entrepreneurship and establishing small agro-based industries, cottage industries, etc also can create huge employment in sustained manner. So, the government of Bangladesh should come forward with new ideas and technologies in collaboration with private sectors and donors. (International NGO) |
| Market Services |
| Develop context specific market analysis and make available information to all. (National NGO)
CHT Market management policy must be adopted for getting fair prices from producers. In CHT, about 95% businessmen are Bengalis. They dominate the market price of the products. On the other hand, 80% of producers are CHT ethnic communities. (National NGO)
Small scale cottage industries should be created at the Upazila level where farmers sell their products with fair prices and offer short term employment. (National NGO)
Trade bodies (eg. FBCCI) help extreme poor establish market linkages and ensure fair prices for producers. (shiree)
Markets are imperfect with entry barriers for the poor or with high transaction costs that make it difficult for the poor to participate. There is asymmetry of information, making the poor less aware of opportunities that actually do exist. Markets are also often thin, with limited productive opportunities especially in remote areas distant from the growth poles of the economy. In short, a major barrier preventing people from breaking out of poverty is not poverty itself but the problematic environment in which poor people are forced to pursue their livelihoods. (UN Agency) |
| Legal Rights |
| Farm labourers should be brought under legal protection. (International NGO) |
| Bank |
| Large rural-urban migration in Bangladesh should translate into greater cash transfers in the form of remittances, as migrants send money back to support their family members. Innovative banking practices such as mobile phone banking should be encouraged and promoted to help to enable these cash transfers, which are vital to boost consumption, saving and investment in poor regions. (Economist, Government)
Microfinance is a key tool in helping to increase economic opportunities among the poor. However, given that the poor often lack the necessary education to successfully implement any investment ideas they may have, it could prove beneficial to link microfinance to extension services. (Economist, Government)
Provide bank loans without interest as a part of working capital for the extreme poor. (International NGO) |
| Vocational Skills and Education |
| Education is the key factor in empowering the poor and helping to make sustainable changes in their lives. Vocational and rural area-oriented job creation needs to be emphasized in the Education Policy so that human resources can be trained in a manner that enhances productivity. More resources should be used for building infrastructure that is conducive to employment generation and increased income for the poor. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Bangladesh and BRAC)
Provide technical education as per demand which will open diversification of income opportunities. (International NGO)
Respective government departments should provide relevant skills training to the extreme poor considering local contexts. (International NGO)
Insufficient economic opportunities are also due to a lack of skills. So how can we build skills? We can promote access to vocational skill training to enhance educational opportunities. We can combine vocational skills training and business skills training; basic business awareness on accounting and finances is essential. In promoting access to skills, we must look at the specific abilities of women to ensure they are included in skills development (only 9% of people enrolled in public vocational skills training are women). Women should be targeted to enhance their participation in vocational and business skills. We need to get past gender stereotyping to provide non-traditional economic opportunities for women. (Government Agency) |
| Khas Land |
| Transfer and ensure ownership of khas land with multiple income generating activities. In case of all income generating activities, ensure linkages with input, production and output markets. (National NGO)
Khas land should be properly allocated among the extreme poor in visible and transparent manners with the participation of local community. (International NGO) |
| Information Services |
| A comprehensive list of economic options may be developed and made available online and at information centres for wider dissemination among the poorest. (shiree) |
| Government |
| At the central government level, there may be scope to encourage businesses to set up in poor areas of the country in order to create more stable employment opportunities. This could be in the form of incentives such as tax breaks, cheap loans and regulatory relief. (Economist, Government)
As stressed it is important that education and skills development are emphasised in the more remote areas. Government should ensure that there are adequate rewards and incentives to attract good teachers and above-average facilities in those areas. (Government Donor Agency)
The Government needs to build market facilities that support rural based markets to develop and attract market players to spur economic growth. (International NGO) |
| Social Safety Nets |
| Addressing such challenges, social transfer programmes need to facilitate new livelihoods opportunities and create links to existing ones. Social protection can assist poor households to upgrade survival strategies to more dynamic livelihoods strategies, with recipients of social cash transfers investing in productive activities and assets – feeling secure to engage in a larger, more rewarding but often also riskier livelihoods portfolio with the reassurance of a social safety net to fall back on. Besides, poor households contributing to the local economy instead of weighing it down can set a multiplier effect in motion, with beneficial second order effects for the local community. (UN Agency)
When designing any policy or programme regarding poverty reduction, it needs to be taken into consideration that impact of these programmes will not benefit all the poor equally. Therefore, indices for defining and distinguishing the ‘poor’, ‘extreme poor’, ‘hardcore poor’, and ‘ultra poor’ can help in making budgetary allocations for respective groups. For any region, factors such as seasonal variation, geographical features and local needs should be taken into account while designing poverty alleviation programmes. Access to SSNPs should be identified as the ‘right’ of the poor rather than as ‘relief’, which suggest goodwill. The idea of ‘relief’ still prevails Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest (EPGG), but the philosophy behind SSNPs should rather be to offset the imbalances in the socio-economic structure through employment generation for the poorest. (Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Bangladesh and BRAC) |
| Private Sector |
| MNCs & Private sector should establish decentralised factories/industries and utilize human resources. (shiree)
MNCs and Private Sector can allot CSR for productivity and employment generation. (shiree)
Strengthening corporate social responsibilities can also put a very good contribution to the creation of economic opportunities for the extreme poor. Programs should be designed analyzing the obstacles as well as scopes and opportunities. So, collaborations with a long-term perspective among the government, the academia, the research institutions, privet sectors, NGOs and donors are very essential. (International NGO)
The creation of large numbers of new jobs will be dependent upon the private sector and an appropriate enabling environment which provides confidence and access to investment funds. To have maximum impact within the country this will need to be focused in areas which have a comparative advantage: this will not be in the more remote and disaster prone areas where the most vulnerable groups are often concentrated. Access to new jobs will be dependent upon education, skills, mobility and a good work ethic. (Government Donor Agency) |
| Infrastructure |
| Development of social enterprise specially owned by the extreme poor and the poor and building markets and connecting roads in remote rural areas need to be supported by the NGOs and the government as well. (International NGO)
Heavily dredging of all rivers, haors and bils and building the embankments can support employment for huge number of extreme poor and poor people round the year in agricultural production and marketing related activities for years after years. (International NGO)
Concentration should be given for the construction of dams, embankments, infrastructure development especially in south western region to protect from water logging and salinity intrusions. (International NGO)
Roads, access to electricity, improved communications and other government services will have an immediate impact on livelihood opportunities and economic activity in an area. Government should be encouraged to put a premium on infrastructure in those areas which can lead to improved economic activity and additional livelihoods. (Government Donor Agency) |
| People with Disabilities |
| Among the extreme poor, persons with disabilities face a particular lack of economic opportunities. Persons with disabilities themselves, families, communities, employers and government and non-government organisations often perceive people with disabilities to be incapable of being productive economically. Livelihood stakeholders, such as service providers, employers and public authorities need awareness raising and training activities to change behaviour and practices. With suitable access to education and training, provision of reasonable accommodation and increased accessibility, persons with disabilities are capable of participating in productive activities either independently or with assistance. Economic activity is one pathway towards developing participation, dignity and confidence. (International NGO) |
| Decentralization |
| Initiatives for decentralization for working opportunities that lead to reduced migration from rural to urban areas should be taken on a priority basis. (International NGO)
Decentralization of industries from Dhaka city. (National NGO)
On social enterprises – they should be getting tax breaks to encourage and inspire local economic growth. (International NGO) |
| Cooperatives |
| Getting the extreme poor involved in the value chain as consumers and producers is essential. The Government can ensure that producers come together as a group so they can attract market actors. It is very difficult for the extreme poor to come together as a group or join other groups. In India, producers can form their own company. We could do something similar in Bangladesh where producers can form their own group or company that gets them access to financial services. (International NGO)
In the CHT, for future sustainability we need to look at local agricultural production using organic farming methods, which is popular in Dhaka. Support should be provided to establish cooperative producer groups in the CHT and link them to Dhaka. (National NGO) |
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