UPPRP one pager series

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Programme or the Government of Bangladesh.

UPPRUrban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction

One Pager

The Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR) is executed by the Local Government Engineering Department of the Ministry of Local Governance, Rural Development and Cooperatives. The programme aims to improve the living conditions and livelihoods of three million urban poor and extreme poor, especially women and girls, by 2015. Through a community-driven approach, UPPR works towards achieving its aim by carrying out settlement improvement and socioeco-nomic development activities, forming sustainable partnerships between vulnerable groups and basic service providers and advocating for pro-urban poor policies. UPPR is funded by UKaid through DFID and managed by UNDP with support from UN-HABITAT.

This collection of “one-pagers” gives an insight into UPPR’s activities, communities and best practices adopted to reduce urban poverty in Bangladesh.

The photo on the cover page represents typical picture of congested urban settlements for the poor and extreme poor; seen through the barriers of grill which mimics the hurdle we face for a sustainable development.

Urban Partnerships for Poverty ReductionLocal Government Engineering Department (LGED)RDEC-LGED, Agargaon, Dhaka 1207, BangladeshTel: 88 02 8156435 | Fax: 88 02 9139800E-mail: [email protected] | Web: www.upprbd.org

UPPR

Table of Contents

Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction One Pager

1. UPPR – Supporting the Urban Poor

2. Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh: An Overview

3. UPPR’s Extreme Poverty Reduction Strategy

4. Settlement and Land Mapping

5. Homeless Mapping

6. Settlement Improvement: A Success Story

7. Livelihood Improvement -- Funghi Flourish and Fowl Take Flight

8. Livelihood Improvement -- Generosity of a Grocer with a Grant

9. Supporting the Disabled

10. Why grow food in cities?



UPPR

UPPR – Supporting the Urban Poor

1. In Bangladesh there are two o�cial measures of poverty – the Direct Calorie Intake (DCI) and the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) - and both feature two poverty lines that de�ne absolute or moderate poverty and extreme poverty. According to DCI, a person consuming less than 2,122 Kcal per day is absolute or moderate poor, whilst a person that consumes less than 1,805 Kcal per day is extreme poor. According to CBN, a person who expends between BDT 27 and 33 per day on both food and non-food items is absolute or moderate poor, whilst a person who spends below BDT 22 per day is extreme poor.

IntroductionOf the myriad political, environmental, economic and social challenges that Bangladesh has faced since its independence in 1971, urbanisation is perhaps one of the most pressing. While three quarters of the population still live in rural areas, Bangladesh remains one of the most rapidly urbanis-ing countries in the world. One of the e�ects of this phenomenon has been the growth of the urban poor population and the resultant �ourish-ing of slum settlements.

Extreme Poverty in BangladeshA census conducted in 2005 suggested that of a national population of almost 139 million, about 34 million live in urban areas 43 percent of whom live below the absolute poverty line1. Life for these 15 million people in the slums and on the streets of Bangladesh is harsh. They earn meagre incomes as day labourers, rickshaw pullers and beggars; experience poor health and nutrition; live in unsanitary and unhygienic conditions; lack access to basic services; and face the constant threat of eviction. Women and girls tend to su�er these conditions more than men. And with national poverty reduction plans traditionally focusing on the rural poor popula-tion, the urban poor continue to be overlooked by policy makers.

Urban Partnerships for Poverty ReductionE�orts are underway, however, to tackle the issue. In 2008, the Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR) began, with the goal of lifting three million urban poor and extreme poor people, especially women and girls, in 30 cities and towns around the country from poverty by 2015. UPPR follows a community-based approach to urban poverty reduction, mobilising slum communities into Community Devel-opment Committees (CDCs) of approximately 300 households that meet regularly to determine and prioritise the issues they face and identify ways in which they can be addressed. An Extreme Poverty Reduction Strategy ensures that programme bene�ts are targeted towards the most vulner-able, whilst Settlement & Land Mapping and Homeless Mapping are two of many methods that UPPR has pioneered to identify and target programme bene�ciaries.

Settlement Improvement and Livelihoods DevelopmentUPPR operates two funds through which it funds activities that CDCs have decided are necessary to address the challenges they have identi�ed. The Settlement Improvement Fund (SIF) �nances the construction of basic

infrastructure, such as latrines, tubewells, drains and footpaths that are needed to improve sanitation and hygiene, reduce water logging, �ooding and water- and vector-borne diseases and improve access to roads and markets. The Socio-Economic Fund (SEF) �nances activities that improve livelihoods and social conditions in the slums, such as apprenticeships and grants for small business development, education grants to keep girls in school who would otherwise drop out, and grants for urban food production activities. The SEF is also used to fund activities that address social issues such as dowry, early marriage, domestic violence, disability and child and health care centres.

Linkages and PartnershipsFor issues that cannot be addressed through SIF and SEF, UPPR forms partnerships and linkages with government and non-government service providers who then support the communities. These partnerships and linkages also make up the backbone of UPPR’s phase-out and sustainabil-ity strategy. To date, 12 national- and 40 town-level linkages and partner-ships have been made with UN agencies, Government service providers and NGO service providers that are now assisting UPPR to improve the living conditions and livelihoods of the urban poor and extreme poor.

Policy Development and AdvocacyWhile UPPR’s e�orts are aimed at lifting 3 million urban poor and extreme poor people from poverty, there still remain more than 12 million urban dwellers in Bangladesh living below the poverty line. To encourage and inform Government interventions to address the needs of this burgeoning population, UPPR also implements a comprehensive policy development and advocacy strategy that focuses on three key issues facing the urban poor: land tenure security, low-cost housing and eviction.

ConclusionIn adopting a community-based approach to urban poverty reduction, UPPR is not only improving the living conditions and livelihoods of the urban poor and extreme poor, but empowering them to make the decisions that a�ect their lives. By forming linkages and partnerships with service providers around the country and advocating for pro-urban poor policies, UPPR is also ensuring that the impacts the programme produce are sustainable, long-lasting and widely experienced.


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The Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) Project aims at improving the livelihoods and living conditions of 3 million urban poor and extreme poor people in 30 towns in Bangladesh, especially women and girls, during the period 2007-2015. The implementing partners are Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Government of Bangladesh, UNDP, UN-HABITAT and respective Municipalities and City Corporations while the funding is being provided, on a cost sharing basis, by UKaid, Government of Bangladesh, UNDP and the community.



UPPR

Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh:An OverviewIntroductionPeople experiencing severe poverty and multiple vulnerabilities for extended periods of time are identi�ed by di�erent terms, such as the extreme poor, ultra poor, hardcore poor and the poorest of the poor. In Bangladesh there are two o�cial measures of poverty – the Direct Calorie Intake (DCI) and the Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) - and both feature two poverty lines that de�ne absolute or moderate poverty and extreme poverty. Urban poverty and extreme poverty in Bangladesh are high, with a 2005 census concluding that of the total urban population of 34 million, more than 15 million were below the DCI absolute poverty line, 8.3 million of whom were below the extreme poverty line.

Trends in Urban Extreme Poverty In the period between 2000 and 2005, both the DCI and CBN measures indicated a decline in urban extreme as well as absolute poverty. While there was just a marginal decline in DCI extreme poverty, from 25 percent of the urban population in 2000 to 24.4 percent in 2005, DCI absolute poverty dropped signi�cantly from 52.5 percent in 2000 to 43.2 percent in 2005. According to the CBN measure, there was an even greater reduction in urban poverty, with absolute CBN poverty decreasing from 35.2 percent to 28.4 percent and extreme CBN poverty dropping from 20.0 percent to 14.6 percent. These results suggest that while the incomes of the urban extreme poor improved signi�cantly over the period, their nutritional intake did not.

The reduction in income poverty can be attributed partly to the trickle down e�ect of sustained economic growth that Bangladesh experienced over the period. Such a reduction in income poverty among the urban extreme poor challenges the myth that extreme poverty is resistant to change, with the poor trapped in a vicious cycle of low capacity and income. Neverthe¬less, given that 24.4 percent of the urban population in 2005 continued to live in extreme poverty with insu�cient means to meet their daily calorie requirements, the risk of malnutrition remains high and so too the likelihood of inter-generational transmission of poverty.

The HomelessThe most disadvantaged urban poor are generally the homeless who do not live in slums. Pavement dwellers, construction workers, beggars and domestic workers are some of those who represent the dynamic and shifting face of the urban poor. A recent survey in 20 cities and towns identi�ed some 22,000 homeless people living on pavements, in train and bus stations, market places and other public locations.

Targeted Interventions for the Urban Extreme Poor The National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (2004-2008) recognized the growing disparities in cities and urban poverty as an impor-tant policy concern. There are, however, only a number of programmes that support the urban poor. A few social safety net programmes are in place that support both the urban and rural poor1 but most focus solely on

the rural population and there are no programmes that target the urban poor speci�cally.

Traditional Government social welfare programmes support vulnerable urban populations such as orphans, the disabled, adolescents and vagrant women through the provision of shelter facilities, vocational training and rehabilita¬tion centres, and educational centres.

While the urban poor have traditionally been overlooked by poverty reduction programmes, this trend is slowly beginning to change. In recent years the Government and international donors have initiated a number of programmes to support vulnerable children in cities and towns. These programmes include the UNICEF-supported Protection of Children at Risk; Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Working Children; and the ILO-supported pilot project, Urban Informal Economy.

Attention to the extreme poor is also rising. In 2008, DFID launched two major programmes in partnership with the Government – Urban Partner-ships for Poverty Reduction Programme and Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (a.k.a SHIREE), with special emphasis on extreme poverty reduction. A third major programme, the multi-donor-supported Urban Primary Health Care Programme devotes signi�cant attention to the urban extreme poor in 11 cities and towns.

NGOs and civil society organisations are also beginning to focus their activities on the vulnerable sections of the urban poor. Two notable programmes in Bangladesh are Concern Worldwide’s Amrao Manush programme that supports pavement dwellers and CARE Bangladesh’s PRATIRODH that supports sex workers and injecting drug users.

Key Gaps Poverty reduction e�orts in Bangladesh have traditionally focused on the rural poor, partly because many policy makers believe that 1) the develop-ment of rural areas will lead to a reverse in the rural to urban migration trend and 2) that improving conditions for the urban poor only encourages more rural poor to migrate to urban areas. Thus, while understanding of rural extreme poverty has improved in recent times, understanding of urban extreme poverty remains fragmented and policy responses inadequate.

The OutlookThe current policy and programmatic initiatives are grossly inadequate to address the core issues of the estimated 8 million urban extreme poor. These issues include land tenure insecurity and shelter for homeless with basic services; low-cost housing; eviction; livelihood generation; and social protec-tion. Addressing these issues will require informed debate and action as well as closer coordination among key stakeholders. As the urban population continues to grow, so too will the urgency to address urban poverty.


1. i.e. Vulnerable Group Development grants, allowances for the elderly and allowances for widowed, deserted and destitute women.

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UPPR

UPPR’s Extreme Poverty Reduction StrategyUPPR recognises that di�erent groups of extreme poor are often excluded from poverty reduction programmes unless they are systematically targeted and interventions are designed and delivered suitably. Thus, based on documented best practices and extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders - including the urban extreme poor - UPPR has formu¬lated a three-tiered strategy that improves the focus on the extreme poor in micro (settlement), meso (town) and macro (national) level activities.

Settlement-level Strategies In order to target, enable and track programme benefits at the settlement level, UPPR carries out a number of important activities. Firstly, the programme enables slum communities to conduct a well-being analysis of the various households within their CDCs that determines whether they are extreme poor, poor or non-poor. The activity is not only empowering, it also enables the community to identify and target extreme poor individuals and households for programme bene�ts. UPPR further empowers communities to take charge of their own development by training them to conduct a mapping of the homeless people living in their wards and the disabled people in their CDCs. Secondly, UPPR strengthens the focus on the extreme poor in programme implementation and management systems. In this regard, UPPR encour-ages extreme poor people to participate in community organisations and community-based coordination committees and adopt extreme poor focused community action planning. The programme also tailors the provisions and delivery mechanisms of the Settlement Improvement Fund, Socioeconomic Fund and programme budgeting, monitoring and knowledge management systems to focus on extreme poor households and individuals. Thirdly, UPPR strengthens the focus on the extreme poor by holding CDCs and ward councilors accountable for institutional capacity building.

Town-level Strategies To ensure the sustainability of UPPR interventions and a focus on the extreme poor in town-level activities, UPPR strategically carries out three

main activities. Firstly, the programme develops linkages between CDCs and town-level government and non-government service providers and monitors these linkages to ensure that the services bene�t the extreme poor. This strategy addresses the various needs of the diverse vulnerable groups of extreme poor.

Secondly, e�orts are made to deepen understanding of extreme poverty amongst municipal and city corporation sta� and develop their capacity to plan interventions that will improve the living conditions and livelihoods of the extreme poor in their towns and cities.

Thirdly, UPPR ensures that town-level stakeholders focus on the extreme poor by encouraging the participation of extreme poor representatives in town-level decision-making forums such as the quarterly Town Level Coordination Committee meetings.

National–level Strategies UPPR also implements a strategy to create an enabling policy environment for urban extreme poverty reduction initiatives. In this regard, the programme forms strategic partnerships and linkages with social safety net programmes supported by Government, other UN agencies, interna-tional donors and NGOs.

To raise awareness, inform policy makers and build capacity of national level stakeholders, UPPR supports and facilitates national level policy initiatives for urban extreme poverty reduction, such as urban extreme poverty media fellowships; tool kits on urban extreme poverty for MPs, Mayors and council¬ors and gives awards to towns that have been successful in carrying out initiatives to reduce urban extreme poverty.

ConclusionBy planning and implementing a three-tiered strategy that systematically targets the extreme poor in settlement, town and national level activities, UPPR is ensuring that its urban poverty reduction activities are having a deeper and sustainable impact.


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UPPR

Settlement and Land Mapping

Settlement and Land MappingUPPR is charged with the mission of improving the living conditions and livelihoods of three million urban poor and extreme poor people, especially women and children, in thirty cities and towns around Bangla-desh. Accurately identifying and targeting such a large number of people poses a formidable challenge. To meet this challenge, UPPR has developed a comprehensive framework of data collection methodologies, the most advanced of which is Settlement and Land Mapping (SLM).

Using GIS maps printed by UPPR, slum community members mark the low income settlements and plots of vacant land in the wards in which they live. Once the settlements and vacant land have been marked on the maps, trained community members assess the poverty level of each settlement they have mapped. Using a set of sixteen indicators - such as access to water, electricity and roads - it can be determined whether the settlement is extreme poor, very poor, poor or non-poor. The details of the vacant plots of land - such as size, topography and potential use - are also recorded.

With this information in hand, UPPR can then accurately target the most vulnerable and poor settlements, wards or towns for infrastructure and livelihood development. The data produced can also be used to accurately target settlements, wards or towns according to one or more of the sixteen indicators. The data that SLM produces on vacant lands is stored in case a slum settlement is destroyed or evicted and alternative living space is needed.

Publication and EndorsementThe �ndings of the SLM are kept at town centres, allowing the public and stakeholders to easily access them. By encouraging the Town Mayors to endorse the �ndings, SLM also raises the awareness of senior o�cials and decision makers on urban poverty in their own towns. The SLM process also identi�es the number of risks and vulnerabilities that a settlement faces.

The table provides an example of the level of vulnerability in the 711 settlements identi�ed in Tongi.

To date, SLM has successfully been carried out in the towns of Gopalganj and Tongi. The SLM process in the remaining towns and cities is being carried out by a partner NGO and will be completed throughout the

remaining cities and towns by December 2010. By linking the latest technology with the in-depth knowledge that the urban poor have of their own settlements and communities, UPPR is making sure that the poorest and most vulnerable are the �rst to bene�t from the programme’s poverty reduction e�orts.


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No. Risks # of Stl. % # of HH %1 High risk 78 11 5736 132 Medium 211 30 14209 313 Low risk 409 57 24472 544 No risk 13 2 700 2 Total 711 100 45117 100

Table: The vulnerability of Tongi slums

ð

%

ÆcB

Æc

B

ðÆck

Bî

BB

G

ð

ï

Æc

W

ð

ð

Æc

ð

ÆcB

îò

ð

í

õ

Æc

Æc

G

Æc

B

Cherag Ali Road

Asad B

akery

Ro

ad

Shofiu

ddin

Road

Sho

fiudd

in Ro

ad

Sur Taranga Road

Squib Road

Co

tton G

odow

n Ro

ad

Tong

i Tha

na Ro

ad

Taltala RoadSat Rang Road

Mar tyr Kakuli Road

Jasimuddin RoadPa

ga

r Tek P

ara

Roa

d

Station R

oad

Now

alg

aon Sta

tion

Ro

Megh na Road

Pubail Roa

d

K2

Factor

y Ro

ad

Mar kun Godara Ghat Road

G odara Ghat Road

Jam

burar Te

k R

oad

Bep

ary

Para

Road

Muri F

actory Ro

ad

Shilmoon Road

Jog bari Road

Al -A

ksa Mosque Road

Ker a

ni r T

ek R

oad

Dr.

Sha

hidu ll a

h Road

No

agaon R

oa

d

Anwar SIL K Road

Fah ish and Road

Meg

hna R

oad

National Tube Road

Sye

d M

ridah R

oad

Sa

yad M

ri d

ah

SK Mannan Road

Slaughter house road

Hafizu

ddin R

oad

Kala

bag

an R

oad

SK

Mann

an

Road

Maol a

na

Bha

shani R

oad

Sye

da F

at e

ma R

oad

Koch im

u ddin R

oad

Churi Factory

AmtoliNoagoan

Bank Math

Pond

Pond

Pond

Pond

Pond

Pond

Churc h

Temple

Sc hool

Sc hool

Madrasha

Orphanage

T&T Bazar

K2 Factory

T&T Colony

Ansar Camp

Tongi Thana

Vest Factory

MridahBazar

Publ ic Sc hool

Tista FactoryWashing Factory

Dhum ketu School

Oxford KG School

Capri Cinema Hal l

Gofur Haz i Market

Pond ofAbbas Ali

Golden Li fe School

Tek Para Grav ey ard

Monno Tex tile Mi lls

Bengal Carbide Factory

Shilmoon Primary School

Baitu l Karim Jam e Mosque

Morkun Govt. Primary School

Ward No. 10

Bat T

ala Ro

ad . Ward No 4

Ward No. 11

Markun Maddhaypara-1

Markun Maddhaypara-2

Cocola Factory

Ward No. 9

Settlement and Land Map of Ward 9 – Tongi





UPPR

Homeless Mapping

IntroductionHomelessness is a state of acute deprivation and extreme vulnerability and the numbers of homeless people have been increasing in many cities and towns across Bangladesh. To date there are only a limited number of programmes and projects that address the specific needs of the homeless. UPPR, however, is identifying the homeless in its programme towns and developing speci�c initiatives to address their needs.

In the absence of reliable statistics on homeless populations in its towns (except Dhaka), UPPR has pioneered a survey method that maps and enumerates the diverse populations of homeless poor. The mapping engages the active participation of several town-level stakeholders, includ-ing community residents, ward councilors, municipal sta� and NGOs.

Before the mapping is carried out, programme sta� from each town are trained to further train community leaders in the mapping process, which includes a) dividing each town ward into smaller blocks and thus ensuring full coverage of the area; b) surveying the locations in the late night and early morning to capture and recapture homeless populations; and c) verifying the sampled data in each ward after the survey. The findings from each ward are shared with ward-level stakeholders and the results sheet is signed and endorsed by the ward councilor. The �nal step in the process is completed when a town map presenting where the homeless congregate and their numbers is endorsed by the Mayor and kept in a public place.

The FindingsTo date, the mapping has been completed in twenty cities and towns with a total population of 5.6 million people and produced data on the gender, approximate age and obvious disabilities of homeless populations in these towns. Almost 22,000 homeless people were found residing at 2,555 di�erent locations. Of the total homeless population 83% were able adults, 12.5% were children and 4.5% were disabled. On average, most of the adult homeless were male (75%), however, in Khulna and Dinajpur, women comprised almost 50% of the homeless.

Rajshahi had the highest number of homeless people (3,257) with Tongi, Khulna, and Mymensingh having slightly more than 2,000 each. The lowest popula¬tions of homeless, about 300 each, were found in the small towns of Chapai, Nawabganj, Noagaon, and Comilla.

Smaller towns such as Gazipur (1.4%), Gopalanj (0.8%), Tongi (0.6%), and Sirajganj (0.6%) had the highest percentages of homeless people compared to their total populations whilst Comilla (0.1%) and Khulna (0.1%) registered the lowest. On average, children comprised only about 13% of the total homeless population, in some towns their percentage was significantly higher, such as in Gopalganj (29%), Rangpur (23%), Dinajpur (21%) and Barisal (20%). Similar to the data on adults, boys (68%) were more prominent than girls (32%), but this gender ratio varied considerably. Girls made up almost 50% of the homeless in Kustia, Hobiganj, Gajipur and

around 40% in the cities of Rajashahi and Khulna. In comparison, girls made up less than 10% of the homeless in Comilla and Rangpur.

Women represent a relatively high proportion (40%) of the disabled. Again this ratio varied from a high of 78% in Savar and a low of 13% in Chapai and Nawabganj. Most of the disabled homeless population recorded came from the three cities of Khulna (29%), Rajashahi (13%) and Barisal (7%). The remaining towns contributed 6% or less each to the total.

The largest concentrations of homeless populations were found at railway stations, bus stands, market areas and religious establishments. The home-less, especially in small towns, were found at scattered locations; 43% of the homeless were found at 75% of the locations having concentrations of less than 25 people. There were a few locations that had higher concentra¬tions of homeless. For example, three locations had more than 300 home¬less people, five locations had more than 200, and thirty-four had more than 100 homeless people. With this valuable information at hand, UPPR is raising awareness amongst government o�cials and the public at large on the issue of homelessness and developing targeted interventions that are improving the living condi-tions and livelihoods of this vulnerable group.


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AreaRajshahiTongiKhulnaMymensinghGajipurBarisalRangpurJessoreGopalgonjSirajgonjBograKustiaNarayangonjDinajpurTangailHobigonjComillaSavar NoagaonChapai

Total3,2572,0832,0712,0201,9171,2051,1941,0881,050906729723648626520372367367346317

Male2,4461,7051,06215071738876953903814656588551472337459245265318278265

Female811378

1,00951317932924118523625014117217628961

127102496852





UPPR

Settlement Improvement: A Success StoryRishipara slum is a large slum located to the northwest of Narayanganj Municipality and it is home to some 2,250 people. Most of the residents of this mainly Hindu community moved to the slum 35 to 40 years ago when natural disasters, such as �ooding and riverbank erosion, destroyed their livelihoods and forced them from their villages. The residents of Rishipara eke out a living as house servants, day labourers, rickshaw pullers, cobblers, cooks, barbers and garment workers, earning average monthly incomes of about 3,000 Tk. There are also close to 50 beggars living in this slum. Interestingly, the slum is home to �ve musical troupes who perform at local festivals throughout the year. The land that the slum settlement is located on is owned by the Municipality but the residents continue to live there with the strong support of the Mayor.

In partnership with UPPR, the community has made infrastructure invest-ments and constructed latrines, tubewells, footpaths and drains. In addition to the UPPR-assisted settlement improvements, the Municipality has also invested in the settlement by constructing a large drain, encom-passing Rishipara slum, into which the community-constructed drains run. Due to insu�cient maintenance, however, 3-feet of sediment had built up and severely blocked the Municipal drain, resulting in water logging and �ooding of the community. Water-borne diseases spread, especially a�icting children, and the stagnant water became a breeding ground for mosquitoes, increasing the threat of diseases like Dengue Fever and Malaria. To enable the community’s drains to allow stagnant water to �ow and to reduce the threat of water- and mosquito-borne diseases it was deemed necessary to unblock the Municipal drain.

UPPR’s Community Development O�cers mobilised the community to design a strategy. The �rst meeting was held on March 1st 2010 with frustrated community members visibly determined to resolve the problem as soon as possible. In that meeting the community decided to clean the Municipal drain themselves with labour provided free of cost by volun-teers. One week later, another community strategy meeting was held to decide what support was required from the Municipal authorities and to identify which section of the drain needed to be unblocked and where the sediment was to be disposed of.

Altogether 139 community volunteers assembled to unblock almost 1,000 feet of the Municipal drain in six days, with both the Municipality and the community contributing rakes, wheelbarrows, baskets, spades and crowbars. The Mayor of Narayanganj paid a visit to the worksite and gave her thanks and encouragement to the volunteers and expressed her hope that such activities and displays of innovation will continue in other CDCs. Sediment taken from the blocked drain was dumped in low-lying sections of land in the slum to prevent those pockets from collecting water during the monsoon. The entire process, from community mobilisation, to procurement of resources, to unblocking the drain, was completed in just more than three weeks. The threat of water- and vector-borne diseases has been reduced signi�cantly and the settlement smells better too.

Arguably the greatest achievement from this community-led event, however, is the evidence that if a community is united it can be empow-ered to not just make but also act upon decisions that a�ect their lives.


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UPPR

Livelihood ImprovementFunghi Flourish and Fowl Take FlightThe room directly next to Nasrul Islam Kokon and his wife Jahanara’s house is very dark. It is also damp and extremely humid. At first glance this is not a place where one might expect anything to be growing, let alone any great development work to be happening. But then, first glances can be deceiving.

In this small, dank and low-roofed room, this family is forging an income from an unexpected source: in the middle of Mymensingh town, Kokon and Jahanara are growing mushrooms. As we enter Kokon is spraying the small packets of dirt and mushroom spores that line the raw-wood racks with water, a task he carries out three times a day. Over 200 of these little brown and white packages sit on the shelves. One kilogram of mushrooms fetches 200 taka at the local market and with each packet producing a small harvest every seven days, this small dark room right in the heart of town is proving to be a very handy urban agriculture income source. Kokon buys the packets for 15 taka from the mushroom center in Savar, Dhaka, and each packet contains enough mushroom spores to last over six months. While it is not enough to provide for the family’s entire needs, it is providing a necessary and much valued supplement to the income of this family of four, and it is one that is being taken up by more and more of Kokon and Jahanara’s neighbours.

Having completed a training session almost two years ago, the layout costs of this enterprise were remarkably low. All that was needed to start was a dark, damp space and a small amount of startup funding. In this case, the dark space is provided through the old cement bags and hessian sacks that line the walls and roof of the room.

Another low-cost enterprise that this family runs is in the form of the 12 pigeons that swoop and coo from the edges of the low roof of their house. Jahanara runs this side of the family business, looking after the birds and establishing the coops in which they nest on the roof of the house. From a start of one pair, bought with a loan from her UPPR primary savings group, she now owns 20 birds, each pair earning between 120-150 taka at the market. Again, while such activities are not enough to sustain her entire family, they are providing a diversified income that sustains the family living in northern Bangladesh.

It is this diversification and the clever utilisation of resources readily at hand that is helping to ensure families like Kokon and Jahanara’s can meet the challenges of everyday life. From the rooftops of family homes, and from dark, dank and humid rooms, local people with support from UPPR and their local Community Development Committees are proving that great development outcomes and great improvements in everyday life can indeed come from the strangest and least expected of places.


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UPPR

Livelihood ImprovementGenerosity of a Grocer with a GrantNot so long ago, it was fairly common for Asea Begum, her husband and their three children to eat once a day if they were lucky. These meals of plain rice and a few pieces of chilli were not enough to provide for their most basic nutritional needs, let alone satisfy the hunger of her growing children, or her husband after a day of pulling rickshaws. Asea would get for her family whatever she could, but often this was not enough.

Now however, her children – one boy of 18, and two girls aged 15 and nine respectively – are looking healthy, happy and full of energy, and can now attend school. Now the people of her community come to her for their food, thanks to the small grocery shop that Asea is now running in Mymensingh town. It is dark inside Asea’s one-room house, the front of which doubles as her shop. Immediately beside the door stands a fired-clay cooking stove and next to this, shelves lined with plastic jars of pulses and grains, spices and dried biscuits and other goods. As we stand crowded into the room talking with Asea about her journey to where she is now, a young girl of no more than four or five walks through the door. After a second’s pause in which she registers the six strangers standing in the house, she quietly but firmly holds out a small plastic bottle and asks Asea for two taka worth of oil. Still talking to us, Asea takes the bottle and pours a small amount in. The young girl leaves, the transaction over in no more than 20 seconds. Asea started her shop with a grant of 5000 Tk from her local Community Development Committee. These Committees are supported by the Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction (UPPR) project, and are proving to be a highly e�ective way of facilitating precisely the kind of development work that local people want. In Asea’s case this was the small shop that she works from the front of her house, the benefits of which are now clear. As well as purchasing the goods needed for her shop, Asea used the grant to purchase a number of goats and she now owns four goats which she will raise before selling o�. Her shop is also proving busy. On an average day she tells us that she sells around two bags of rice, and after expenses, she makes a profit of around 1000 Tk every month. It is clear that Asea’s life remains far from easy. The corrugated iron roof and walls of her house are baking hot when we visit around midday, and the one fan hanging from the ceiling sits idle without the power to run it. Two beds lie squashed beside one another in the corner with only one mosquito net to cover all five members of this family. Yet, Asea tells us, all this is an improvement. With the money she is saving from her shop and her goat-rearing business, she has been able to repair her house, replacing flimsy bamboo walls with sturdier material. And, as she tells us with a smile at least twice during our visit, now she and her family eat three meals a day, all including rice, vegetables and often fish. Her changed situation is also having an impact on the community around her. In the time she has been running her shop, she has inspired two others to take up similar ventures. Yet she appears unworried by the potential

competition, as she says with a grin, her shop is better, and her customers: “they come from far around.” She is also able to use to her improved financial position to help those in need, providing some small amounts of food to her poorest neighbours free of charge. Later in the day on our way to another meeting, the image of the young girl asking for two taka of oil springs to mind. Two taka seems like such a tiny amount – once poured, the oil barely covered two inches in the bottom of her plastic bottle. This tiny amount barely seems worth the trip. Yet, reflect¬ing on Asea’s story, the value of this small amount becomes a little clearer. Two taka of oil, can with a little thought, provide the basis for a number of meals that will feed a family a number of times over. The oil lends taste, some nutrition and helps to stretch out meagre resources: it is not the sole ingredient, but it is one of the most important. Similarly, Asea’s success is not due to simply one ingredient. Her hard work, dedication, resourceful¬ness and business acumen have combined with her CDC grant to create a situation in which she and her family can now save for the future, attend school and eat three times a day.


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Asea Begum at her shop





UPPR

Supporting the DisabledIntroductionIn 2009 UPPR began increasing e�orts to support the disabled poor in slum settlements in the 23 towns and cities the programme is operating in. Collectively, 692 urban poor with physical and mental disabilities in 9 towns and cities were supported through a range of interventions that included provision of material support and training and education, the development of institutions to assist the disabled and forming partner-ships with NGOs and service providers.

Support to the Disabled PoorOne CDC Cluster in Narayanganj has taken steps to establish a school for 25 disabled children. The main objectives of this initiative are to improve the mental development of children; sensitise the community to the needs of the disabled; provide education to children that is tailored to their needs; to procure equipment such as walking frames and wheelchairs and distrib-ute to the disabled and to assist the disabled to register with the Social Welfare Department and enable them to access the government disability allowance.

To date, the school has supported 14 children and employed 1 disabled teacher and one attendant from an extreme poor household to assist the children. Future plans for the school include ensuring regular attendance zof the children; continuing to provide support equipment to disabled people within the community; developing linkages between CRP and the disabled so as to provide necessary treatment and ensure longer term support; train resource persons to better support the disabled and assist the disabled to undertake skills training and �nd employment.

With guidance from UPPR, communities in Khulna have supported 2 male and 47 female disabled people through four community contracts that were initiated in 2009. To date the initiatives have included apprenticeship programmes, block grants for urban agriculture activities and education and socio-psycho development support for the disabled through partner-ship with a local NGO.

UPPR in Rangpur has initiated cataract surgery for 50 visually impaired urban poor and this kind of support will continue into the future. During the cold wave in December last year, the Rangpur team also assisted 36 disabled poor by providing blankets and warm clothes.

A total of 50 male and 39 female urban disabled poor in Sirajganj have bene�ted from support in the form of education support, wheel chairs for

the physically and mentally disabled, white sticks for the visually impaired and crutches to the physically disabled. These interventions have improved the capacity of deaf and dumb children, reduced the burden on families with disabled members, provided better employment opportuni-ties for the disabled and strengthened their positions in society. Urban communities in Bogra have initiated plans to assist 181 disabled urban poor through the provision of material support, such as wheelchairs, crutches, white sticks for the visually impaired, earphones for the hearing impaired, vans to transport the physically disabled, beds, disabled friendly chairs and income generating activity equipment. There are also plans to link the disabled with apprenticeships and block grants to start up small businesses and to make linkages with a local school for disabled children.

UPPR communities in Barisal have supported 49 male and 41 female disabled urban poor through educational, cultural and sporting activities and technical training to produce handicrafts. Some 24 male and 26 female disabled poor in Kushtia have bene�ted from material support in the form of wheel chairs, white sticks for the visually impaired, crutches and spectacles and eye treatment. Finally, 10 blind, 9 mentally disabled and 10 dumb urban poor in Rajshahi have been economically empowered through technical training on production of furniture, bamboo handicrafts and tailoring.

Future PlansUrban poor communities in 13 UPPR towns and cities have plans in place to support the disabled poor through a myriad of interventions. Such plans include: the provision of material support (i.e. wheelchairs, white sticks, crutches, etc); education and establishment of educational institu-tions for the disabled; socio-psycho development; vocational training, livelihoods support and apprenticeships; block grants to start small businesses and urban agriculture; �nancial support; community awareness raising; facilitating access to disabled allowances provided by the Depart-ment of Social Welfare; cataract surgery; renovation of houses and local infrastructure to facilitate access for the disabled; establishing linkages with local service providers and facilitating access to medical services. Finally, in a blind colony in Chittagong, plans are underway to redesign the layout of the slum and carry out settlement improvement activities that make the settlement more disabled-friendly.


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UPPR

Through its Urban Food Production (UFP) component, UPPR is supporting its urban slum communities to make best use of their local resources and sustainably increase food security, improve nutrition, and supplement their income.

The bene�ts of urban food production are many and include improved environment, when urban food producers use vacant land and derelict ponds that may otherwise become dumping grounds; self or wage employment, when the urban poor sell their produce, skills and labour; supplemented food security; reduced food expenditure as households consume what they produce; and improved nutrition as they consume fresh produce.

UPPR’s UFP StrategyThe aim of UPPR’s UFP component is get more households to produce food, increase food quantity and nutritional quality, and stimulate demand for urban produced food. To do this UPPR has adopted a seven-part strategy that is being implemented across all programme towns.

First, baseline surveys identify existing land and pond resources that are suitable for food production, as well as existing food production practices at the town, community and household levels. As of August 2010, the surveys have covered over 80,000 households across 286 Community Development Committees, or CDCs, in 15 towns and found that 35,000 households, or 42 percent, are involved to various extents in one or more traditional food production activities.

Second, UPPR raises the level of community awareness of urban food production through stakeholder workshops and orientations, exchange visits to other CDCs and towns, and special events to observe World Food Production Day.

Third, communities use Community Action Plans, or CAPs, to identify and prioritise the most pressing living and socioeconomic issues they face. If urban food production is an area that the community feels will improve living and socioeconomic conditions, they prioritise it and identify the UFP activities.

Fourth, UPPR upgrades skills and stimulates concrete action by households and CDCs by supporting ‘one house, one farm’ projects, distributing small amounts of high yield variety seeds, saplings and young poultry free of cost, and supporting community demonstrations of food production activities.

Fifth and simultaneously, UPPR provides grants for the poor and extreme poor to initiate small UFP enterprises, such as growing vegetables, �sh, fruit trees and traditional foods or purchasing and raising young livestock, such as poultry, goats and cows for consumption or pro�t at a later date.

Sixth, to ensure the sustainability of UFP activities and to encourage wider community interest, UPPR supports communities to link and partner with local service providers that can o�er assistance into the future. Private, government and non-government agencies are engaged and provide a variety of services, including training, inputs and technical support, vaccines and marketing assistance. Finally, best practices and case studies are documented and published to inform current and future UFP interventions.

Progress to dateWhile it is still too early to measure the impact that UPPR’s UFP activities are having on urban poor communities, the initial �ndings are proving positive. Since early 2010 when UPPR began actively promoting UFP activities, more than 15,000 people across 15 towns have bene�ted. In particular:

• More than 5,000 slum dwellers have been trained in homestead vegetable production, poultry rearing and animal husbandry;

• Some 500 houses have “one-house, one-farm” demo projects that have raised awareness and interest in household vegetable produc-tion and livestock raising;

• Almost 30 CDCs have shown how unused land in schools, public areas and government o�ces can be used for growing vegetables, or how unused ponds can be used to farm �sh;

• Some 9,000 households have started producing food after receiving a grant of seeds, saplings, ducklings or chicks; and

• More than 800 extreme poor women and some men have received block grants of up to BDT 5,000 (£45) for food production activities.

Future PlansIn 2011 UPPR plans to introduce bee keeping and honey production; cat�sh farming and small-scale agro-business value chain development to its UFP component. It will also promote nutrition education as well as advocate, organize and observe a National Urban Food Production Day on the 31st of January.

ConclusionUFP activities are by no means a silver bullet that will eradicate urban poverty. Poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon – it is exposure to multiple vulnerabilities. By improving food security and supplementing nutrition and incomes, UPPR is taking a huge step towards addressing one of the key vulnerabilities that the urban poor and extreme poor experi-ence. As seeds take root and livestock begin to grow, UPPR is giving the urban poor the tools they need to dig themselves out of poverty.


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Why grow food in cities?



UPPRP one pager series

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Transcript of UPPRP one pager series