Department for International Development
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UK to help Bangladesh's poorest people fight rising food prices and rising tides
Over a million of the poorest people in Bangladesh are set to benefit from a £70m UK-funded programme that will put food on their plates, money in their pockets to buy rice and protect them from rising river levels.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander today gave his backing to the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) which protects the livelihoods of thousands of families living on the remote and isolated Jamuna river (char) islands in North-West Bangladesh.
The new scheme will provide islanders, many of whom live on less than 35 cents a day, with the chance to help themselves by investing in cattle, goats and seeds that will deliver long-term dependable sources of food. Today's announcement builds on the success of the programme's first phase which saw a doubling of income for half a million island dwellers and help for even more to grow and buy food, particularly during the "monga" or hunger season.
Chars are sandy islands that are established in the middle of major rivers as a result of erosion and silt build up. The UK's support will also help fight the impact of climate change in a part of the world particularly very vulnerable to flooding. The scheme will help raise homesteads, vegetable gardens and cow shelters onto plinths above flood levels to ensure people can eat when the waters rise.
Douglas Alexander said:
"Rising food prices affect everyone but the impact is particularly bad for those whose lives are dependent on the shifting sands of Bangladesh's rivers and coasts. The funding I'm announcing today will give the poorest people in these areas a chance to grow vegetables, raise cattle and work for food during the hunger season and, in the longer term, insure themselves against the effects of the annual floods.
"I have seen first hand the chaos caused by the recent cyclone and the challenges that Bangladesh faces in the future. As more and more people inhabit the river islands our support will give them the tools to escape the cycle of poverty."
Around 60% of the CLP funding will go directly to women-headed households to help them buy cows, other animals and seeds for food crops. A further 5-10% will go into social protection cash payments for the very poorest to ensure that they can survive in the period before their plants and animals produce food.
The rest will go into:
i) veterinary support and food for the
animals
ii) community groups that bring poor women villagers
together to share ideas, resources and knowledge.
iii) A
scheme that provides cash for earth-lifting work to raise the
homes and possessions of people on the chars.
One beneficiary of the CLP scheme is Jahanara Begum who lives in one of the char villages on the Jamuna River. She said:
"The monsoon floods came but I did not lose my cow as with CLP's help we raised the straw and jute house where I live onto an earth mound [plinth]. The waters did not reach us. In the past I have had to hold my baby and my bundle on my shoulders during the night. With the additional food allowance I have been able to buy some food. Soon the monga season (hunger season) will start. But my cow will soon start producing some milk for my child. With any extra money from selling milk and vegetables, I plan to buy tin for better roofing."
For more details on the Chars Livelihood Programme go to:
http://www.clp-bangladesh.org/
- ENDS -
For DFID news visit http://www.dfid.gov.uk
DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the British government's fight against world poverty. One in five people in the world today, over 1 billion people, live in poverty on less than one dollar a day.
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