The government and Non-Governmental Organizations have taken initiatives to improve the quality of life of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
For this reason, a project titled ‘Rehabilitation and improvement of living standards of neglected, underprivileged and unemployed communities in the context of global epidemic’ has been proposed in the Planning Commission.
An official of the Planning Commission said the total cost of implementing the project has been estimated at Tk 24.39 crore. It will be implemented by June 2025 after approval following processing, he added.
Mohammad Ashraful Islam, Joint Head of the Socio-Economic Infrastructure Department, said in the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting that the project has been proposed to provide limited government aid to projects undertaken in the socio-economic sector by private efforts to rehabilitate and improve the quality of life of the underprivileged and unemployed people in the context of the global pandemic.
The initiative was jointly taken by the Department of Social Services and the Non-Governmental Organization Women’s Development Forum, he mentioned.
He said that a feasibility study has been done on the project through a private organization. Two posts have been recommended by the Finance Department’s Development Project Manpower Selection Committee. The Ministry of Finance has the MTBF certification and bank statement of the prospective organization regarding financial capacity.
The project is included in the revised ADP for the financial year 2022-23 under a slightly modified name. However, it is not included in the ADP of the current fiscal year 2023-2024.
AD Shaukat Hossain, President of Women's Development Forum, said that it is proposed to implement the project to make the rural very poor people self-reliant by creating entrepreneurs for employment, providing agricultural machinery, rearing advanced breeds of cows, and increasing the capacity of hand-to-hand pens in demonstration farms.
He said that the project will be implemented in 14 upazilas of 6 districts under Dhaka and Khulna division. Through this, an opportunity will be created to become self-reliant through income-generating programs to improve the quality of life of three thousand poor people, he added.
The programs are lease of land and ponds, supply of agricultural inputs as grant, cattle rearing, and supply of sewing machines and so on, he mentioned.
