The PPEPP-EU project mobilises the extremely poor people through its different social platforms, such as the Prosperity Village Committee (PVC), Mother and Child Forum and Social Development Center (SDC) and sensitises them on issues like rights and entitlements, social safety net programmes, and social and behavioural changes.
The project builds and strengthens relationships with public and private service providers to ensure smooth access of its members to various services. PPEPP-EU establishes linkage with local government and non-government organisations through grassroots advocacy and awareness of community people and relevant stakeholders to ensure participant households’ access to government services, training, income-generating activities (IGAs) and other opportunities.
PPEPP-EU’s Community Mobilisation interventions contribute to the demand for local government agencies to allocate existing resources more equitably and push the central government for greater resource allocation.
The project works closely with local government institutions like the Union Parishad (UP) and sub-district level government departments such as the Department of Youth Development, the Department of Women Affairs and the Department of Social Services to ensure that people from different intersectional groups such as the elderly, persons with disabilities, Dalits, pregnant and lactating mothers, widows and single-headed households, are identified as eligible for and benefit from the government’s social safety net programs.
Technical staff support eligible household members in document collection, application preparation, and online submission for the registration with GoB services. They also follow up with the relevant government departments to expedite the post-application process for inclusion in the desired SSN program.
PPEPP-EU’s advocacy with the Union Parishad has helped 514 women from the extremely poor community become members of Union Parishad’s different standing committees and 24,242 members enrol in their desired SSN programmes. At the same time, project staff have assisted 24,116 members currently awaiting inclusion in the safety net in applying for inclusion.
Access to Resilient Livelihood Services
PPEPP-EU organises various off-farm and vocational training such as artificial insemination (livestock) and caregiving for members to develop a skilled workforce, help community people find gainful employment and alleviate poverty.
In addition, the project’s advocacy efforts with relevant regional government departments at the grassroots level help include its extremely poor members from all regions in the government’s vocational skill development programmes for livelihood development.
They provide hands-on training to the project participants on developing technical know-how and skills for agriculture and vocational activities. PPEPP-EU members establish model IGAs with their support and encourage others in the community to learn and replicate similar IGA models.
Until December, 3,026 members have participated in skill development training ranging from one to three months on various livelihood opportunities, including cow fattening, mushroom cultivation, beautification, tailoring, motorcycle mechanic and catering.
PPEPP-EU’s implementing partners organise meetings with upazila-level livestock, fisheries, and agriculture extension officials and local market players to provide their technical services and input materials and ensure smooth value chain operation for project members.
The government officials provide information on the latest agricultural technologies and suitable cultivation techniques and offer solutions to participants’ technical issues, such as vaccines and deworming tablets for cattle and poultry, pesticides for farm products, building cowsheds, managing fodder, and preparing and maintaining fish ponds.
The connection with local service providers helps participants to avail necessary inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and medicines free of cost or at a fair price from local agricultural extension departments or private entrepreneurs and to be informed about the availability and prices of the required inputs in the local market.
Nutrition and Primary Healthcare
To ensure primary healthcare, nutrition and WASH services for the project’s members, PPEPP-EU creates awareness at service seeker and provider levels. Priority target groups for these services are intersectional groups such as pregnant and lactating mothers, newborns, under-5 children, adolescent girls, the elderly, and persons with disabilities.
The project directly works with local healthcare facilities, for example, the community clinic (CC), Community Group (management committee of CC), Union Health and Family Welfare Center (UH&FWC) and Upazila Health Complex (UHC), to activate the management committees and increase their scope of services and service quality for extremely poor people, the intersectional groups and other community.
12 out of 19 implementing partners of PPEPP-EU have obtained membership in the Upazila Nutrition Coordination Committee (UNCC) as a result of PPEPP-EU’s advocacy effort while the inclusion process of other POs is underway.
At the grassroots level, PPEPP-EU collaborates with local government institutions and service providers, actively supporting various health and nutrition campaigns such as Vitamin A Plus, Measles and Rubella, Deworming, Breast-feeding Week and Nutrition Week campaigns. The project also sensitises local religious leaders to disseminate the message about these campaigns to mass people after their daily prayers.
Moreover, PPEPP-EU organises day-long orientation and training for the local healthcare service providers such as Community Health Care Promoter (CHCP) and Community Group (CG) members to enhance service delivery capacity.
Disability Inclusion
PPEPP-EU engages in separate advocacy meetings with the Union Parishad and other government institutions to create a disability-inclusive local government and provide access to government services, social safety net, skills training and healthcare for persons with disabilities. With the support of the project, 2,048 PWDs have obtained disability identification cards- the ‘Suborno Nagorik’ card, 72 PWDs have received vocational skill development training and 3,144 PWDs have received assistance from the social safety net programmes of GoB. Besides, 642 PWDs have become members of the Union and Ward-level disaster management committees.
Furthermore, these advocacy efforts have earned the inclusion of a dedicated budget allocation for persons with disabilities in the annual budget of the Union Parishad, which is expected to transform their social and economic conditions and include them in mainstream development. This initiative has seen 120 UPs under the PPEPP-EU’s working area earmark a specific budget for persons with disabilities in their yearly UP budget.
Disaster and Climate Resilience
PPEPP-EU sensitises participants and the larger community about the climate-smart livelihoods and various disaster-related warnings, flags, signals and shelter homes, as well as the greater responsibilities of individuals, households and communities before, during and after the disaster.
The project supports the Union Disaster Management Committee (UDMC) and Ward Disaster Management Committee (WDMC) in making these committees active, organising their meetings, and advocating for the inclusion of extremely poor members in these committees. PPEPP-EU also works to develop the capacity of CPP leaders and assists them in devising plans for disaster management. So far, 1275 community leaders, along with 385 UDMC leaders and CPP volunteers, have received capacity development training on household and community-level integrated disaster risk reduction and preparation under the PPEPP-EU project.
Aruli Begum (45), a person with physical disabilities, lives in Meerganj Union of Jaldhaka upazila in Nilphamari. Due to Aruli’s physical inabilities and her family’s financial crisis, she was married early to a young, unemployed man, Ahidul Mia, now 53. However, she was not well accepted by her husband’s family, and her struggles continued.
Mother of four, Aruli never lost hope and fought her life through it. Growing up, all of her children got married and lived separately but her day labourer husband could not work regularly or earn much due to his chronic heart disease. Aruli and her husband were living from hand to mouth for years. Then, she received three months of tailoring training under the Department of Women Affairs of Jaldhaka in coordination with the PPEPP-EU project. Now, she earns 6-8 thousand BDT monthly from home tailoring.
Subsequently, she purchased two goats with her monthly savings and received two additional ones from the project. She raised them, sold a few and increased her herd. Now, she owns six goats and two cows and operates a cow-fattening farm. She cultivates vegetables on a patch of Khas land in front of her house. She receives input and technical assistance from the local livestock and agriculture extension offices, where she was introduced by the project staff of PPEPP-EU. With PPEPP-EU’s direct support, Aruli also obtained her Subarna Nagarik card and receives her disability allowance regularly.
She is a member of a disability forum under PPEPP-EU and has also become a member of the standing committee of her Union Parishad. Aruli raises her voice to advocate for including persons with disabilities in different services and opportunities by participating in and representing them at these meetings.
“Had PPEPP-EU not stood beside me and engaged me with all these activities, I could never come this far and made this progress in life”, says Aruli with a big smile.