The government has undertaken an integrated rural employment assistance project for poor women in the second phase to improve the socio-economic conditions.
Besides, this project will help to reduce poverty and inequality.
If this project is implemented, the average annual per capita income of the beneficiaries with training and loan assistance will be increased to Tk 10,000 by June 2025. The project has been taken to develop per capita income for poor women, a planning commission official said.
“It will be presented at the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC),” he mentioned.
“If approved, it will be implemented by Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) from this year until June 2025,” he said adding, “The total cost of the project has been estimated to cost Tk 346.55 crore.”
The project will be implemented in 472 unions of 59 upazilas in 16 districts of Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Rangpur divisions.
Zakir Hossain Akanda, a member of the Agriculture, Water Resources and Rural Institutions Division of the Planning Commission in charge of the project said that the proposed project would make significant contribution in alleviating poverty and inequality and improving socio-economic conditions of the people of Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Rangpur divisions.
In this regard, the Project Director, Engineer Rashid said, “The Integrated Rural Employment Assistance for Poor Women, the first phase of the project, has created employment opportunities for rural poor women.”
“As a result, many have been able to escape poverty,” he said adding that the second phase of the project has been proposed based on the success of the first phase.
The main activities of the project are selection of beneficiaries through conducting surveys, formation of women's groups with female beneficiaries and formation of adolescent groups picked from school-going adolescents.
In addition, capital formation and its proper utilization through small savings, awareness training for adolescents, saving incentives, training of women beneficiaries and project related staff would be done.
Apart from this, construction, expansion, renovation and modernization of physical infrastructure and legal aid and social development will be provided including ICT activities, purchase of necessary equipment for capacity building of Noakhali Rural Development Training Center.
According to sources, when the Prime Minister had visited Jessore in 1996 she had announced a special initiative for job creation and empowerment of women in the region.
In view of this, a project titled, “Self-Employment Program for Poor Women” was implemented in 21 upazilas of four districts of Greater Jessore between July 1998 and June 2003.
Subsequently, the first phase of BRDB integrated rural employment assistance project for poor women was implemented in 59 upazilas of Khulna and Barisal divisions between January 2012 and June 2018 at an estimated cost of Taka 156.88 crore for the recommendation of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department.
