Rural Employment Project

Over 24,000 poor women benefit

8 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Staff Correspondent

About three years ago, Chandra, a 35-year-old woman from Satkhira, had been struggling with two children after her husband left for another woman. "There was barely enough food in the plate," she recalls. "My children also dropped out of school." However, her fate has now changed, thanks to a project titled 'Rural Employment Opportunity of Public Assets (REOPA)'. The government is implementing the project, funded by the European Commission, in cooperation with the UNDP and partner NGOs. Chandra got an opportunity to work under the project, which had been employing destitute women to repair roads in her village. Under the project, she learned how to restore earthen roads, received training on how to raise poultry along with education on health and human rights. Most importantly, she learned to save her money as 30 percent of her daily Tk100 wages goes directly to a bank account, which gave her a savings of Tk 22,000 in two years. Chandra now has a cow, three goats and 40 chickens and ducks. Like Chandra, about 24,440 women in Narsingdi, Habiganj, Feni, Barguna, Satkhira and Sirajganj districts were benefited from the project, said Project Director Akmol Hossain at a seminar at Biam Auditorium in the city yesterday. "Basic idea of the project is to empower ultra-poor women with confidence, provide them with a sustainable livelihood and give them a chance to create savings, which they can invest efficiently," he said. Addressing the seminar, experts stressed the need for developing sustainable safety net programmes in the country, which would assist the ultra-poor in generating steady livelihoods. Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, chairman of Palli Karmo Sahayok Foundation (PKSF), said, "The country now has 73 short-term safety net programmes. It is not a sustainable solution, as with the end of each project, the ultra-poor goes back to their original status." Shamsul Alam, member of the Planning Commission, Goran Johnson, international team leader of REOPA project, Gobinda Chakravarty, REOPA project coordinator for Uttaran, also spoke.