annual report 2012

shiree Annual Report 2010

shiree

ANNUAL REPORT2012

2 | S h i r e e A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 1 2

CONTENTS

Shiree 2012 in numbers .......................................................................................................................................... 5

the shiree (economic empowerment of the Poorest) programme .................................................................... 6

Summary of programme objectives ..................................................................................................................... 7

2012 Achievements ................................................................................................................................................. 8

Output 1: Scale Fund .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Output 2: Innovation Fund .................................................................................................................................. 11

Output 3: Lesson learning and Research ........................................................................................................... 12

CMS (Change monitoring system) ................................................................................................................. 12

Research activities (additional to CMS5) ....................................................................................................... 22

SCALE FUND Lesson learning workshops .................................................................................................. 25

Output 4: Advocacy ............................................................................................................................................. 27

Strategy .............................................................................................................................................................. 27

Manifesto for the Extreme Poor ...................................................................................................................... 27

National level advocacy and the APPG ......................................................................................................... 27

Matt 2 .................................................................................................................................................................. 28

District Level advocacy .................................................................................................................................... 28

Media Outreach ................................................................................................................................................ 29

Extreme Poverty Day ....................................................................................................................................... 30

Private Sector Engagement .............................................................................................................................. 31

Health Sector ..................................................................................................................................................... 32

Output 5: NUTRITION COMponent ................................................................................................................. 33

Human Resources Management ......................................................................................................................... 35

Meetings and Reviews ......................................................................................................................................... 36

Financial Management ......................................................................................................................................... 37

Budget reviews .................................................................................................................................................. 37

reporting ............................................................................................................................................................ 41

Procurements & Inventory .............................................................................................................................. 42

Shiree retreat 2012 – Finance team participation .......................................................................................... 42

Value for Money in delivery of the development budget ........................................................................... 42

Annex 1: Financial summary information ......................................................................................................... 45

Annex 2: Summary of Individual NGO Contracts – scale Fund .................................................................... 47

Uttaran ............................................................................................................................................................... 47


CARE .................................................................................................................................................................. 48

Practical Action bangladesh (PAB) ................................................................................................................ 49

DSK ..................................................................................................................................................................... 50

NETZ .................................................................................................................................................................. 51

Save the children ............................................................................................................................................... 52

oxfam .................................................................................................................................................................. 53

caritas .................................................................................................................................................................. 54

Concern worldwide .......................................................................................................................................... 54

Annex 3: Summary of Individual NGO Contracts – Innovation Fund ......................................................... 56

CONCERN WORLDWIDE - invest ................................................................................................................ 56

BOSS ................................................................................................................................................................... 57

SSS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 57

PLAN .................................................................................................................................................................. 58

SAVE THE CHILDREN ................................................................................................................................... 59

GUK .................................................................................................................................................................... 60

ADD .................................................................................................................................................................... 60

Eco-Dev .............................................................................................................................................................. 61

Green Hill ........................................................................................................................................................... 62

Handicap International .................................................................................................................................... 62

HelpAge International ..................................................................................................................................... 63

iDE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 63

PRIP Trust .......................................................................................................................................................... 64

Save the Children - Khulna ............................................................................................................................. 64

Tarango .............................................................................................................................................................. 65

Annex 4: Shiree Revised Organogram ............................................................................................................... 66

Annex 5: operating area map .............................................................................................................................. 67


Acronyms and Abbreviations

APPG All Party Parliamentary Group

DFID Department for International Development

RoI Reflection on the Intervention (CMS5)

BHH Beneficiary Household

CEO Chief Executive Officer

CFO Chief Financial Officer

CHT Chittagong Hill Tracts

CMS Change Monitoring System

DAE Department of Agricultural Extension

DC District Commissioner

EEP Economic Empowerment of the Poorest

EPRG Extreme Poverty Research Group

GoB Government of Bangladesh

HIES Household Income and Expenditure Survey

IAP Independent Assessment Panel

IGA Income Generating Activity

MA Management Agency

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MIS Management Information Systems

MoU Memorandum of Understanding

MSU Management Support Unit

NGO Non Governmental Organisation

NSC National Steering Committee

Shiree Stimulating Household Improvements Resulting in Economic Empowerment

SILPA Simultaneous Impact and Learning Process Assessment

TORs Terms of Reference

WATSAN Water and Sanitation


SHIREE 2012 IN NUMBERS

Total no of NGO Contracts Scale Fund Innovation Round I Innovation Round II Innovation Round III Innovation Round IV

36 9 6 6 7 8

Geographical Coverage Divisions Districts Upazilas Dhaka slums

7

30 107 12

BHH Coverage Target (existing contracts)1 BHH Selection till Dec 12 BHH Received asset/cash support

248,725 235,280 145,708

BHH Targets by NGO

Scale Fund Round I (Phase 1&2)

CARE Bangladesh

DSK

NETZ Bangladesh

Practical Action

Save the Children

UTTARAN

178,850 40,000 25,000 18,000 31,850 37,000 27,000

Scale Fund Round II

Caritas

Oxfam

Concern Worldwide

43,000 10,000 10,500 22,500

Innovation Fund Round I

AidComilla

CNRS

Green Hill

HKI

Helvetas Swiss IC

Shusilan

6,650 1,850 1,500 1,200

450 1,000 1,000

Innovation Fund Round II Action Aid Bangladesh Helvetas Swiss IC MJSKS NDP PUAMDO SKS

5,465 1,200

800 635

1,055 775

1,000

Innovation Fund Round III :

Concern Worldwide

Plan

Save the Children

SSS

ADD

BOSS

GUK

7,160 700

2,500 900 600 700 400

1,160

Innovation Fund Round IV

Eco-development

Green Hill

Handicap International

HelpAge International

IDE

PRIP Trust

Save the Children

TARANGO

7,600 750

1,300 600

1,000 1,000 1,000 1,200

750

1 IF 1 and 2 projects closed down in September 2012, with the exception of Puamdo which closes in January 2013.


THE SHIREE (ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT OF THE POOREST) PROGRAMME

The Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Programme (EEP) is a joint initiative between the

Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and UKaid from the Department for International Development

(DFID). The programme has adopted the title ―shiree‖ which will be used throughout this report. Shiree

is the Bangla word for steps and sums up the basic purpose of the programme which is to enable

members of 250,000 households to climb the ladder out of extreme poverty in a sustainable manner.

The programme commenced in 2008 and is due to continue until December 2015. The total programme

value is £71,457,760 over 99% of which is provided in the form of grant funding by UKaid from DFID.

There are £55m of challenge fund resources within this envelope. International and local NGOs are

challenged to submit proposals for projects that adopt a variety of economic empowerment interventions

with households with the common objective of achieving sustainable graduation from extreme poverty.

The interventions are hence designed by the NGOs and not, as is common with other programmes,

designed by the management agency and imposed in a top-down manner.

The programme Management Agency (MA) is made up of a consortium of partners: Harewelle

International (lead), PMTC-Bangladesh, the University of Bath Centre for Development Studies, the

British Council and Unnayan Shamannay. The Management Agency is responsible for the administration

of the challenge funds including support for the bidding process (selection is via an Independent

Assessment Panel); contracting with selected NGOs, ongoing contract management; and performance

review. In addition the MA provides operational support to sub-projects, and under Output 3 (Lesson

Learning and Research) and Output 4 (Advocacy) conducts other activities including supporting research

into the dynamics of extreme poverty, facilitating learning and the exchange of experience amongst

partner NGOs and with a wider audience, and planning and implementing advocacy events at both local

and national levels. Output 5, the Nutrition Component, commenced in 2012 and involves direct

nutritional support via behavioural change counselling and provision of micro nutrients to all beneficiary

households that include pregnant or lactating mothers, children under 2 years of age or adolescent girls.

The programme can be described as a ―Challenge Fund ++‖ – combining the core functions of financial

management, fund disbursement and monitoring common to all challenge funds with a range of

significant value added elements.


SUMMARY OF PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the programme is to lift 1 million people out of extreme poverty. There are five outputs in the Shiree logical framework.

Output One: Scale

Fund.

Proven approaches to improving the livelihoods of the extreme poor taken to

scale. Target direct engagement with 120,000 beneficiary households.

Output Two:

Innovation Fund

Innovative approaches to improve the livelihoods of the extreme poor tested,

evaluated and successes ready for scaling up. Target direct engagement with

30,000 beneficiary households.

Output Three:

Lesson Learning and

Research

Increasing consistency in the understanding, sharing and application of

approaches to addressing extreme poverty.

Output Four:

Advocacy

Policy and practice at local and national levels shows increasing recognition of

the needs of the extreme poor.

Output Five:

Nutrition

Direct Nutritional Support provided to extreme poor mothers, children,

adolescent girls and family members

This Annual Report is organised according to the above outputs with additional sections covering human

resource management and financial management. The document reports on programme activity and

achievement over the calendar year 2012.

The output level target of 150,000 for direct beneficiary household numbers (120,000 Scale Fund, 30,000

Innovation Fund) is derived from the Programme Memorandum & Log Frame. Shiree has already

substantially over achieved these targets will come close to 250,000 beneficiary households within the

available challenge fund resource envelope.


2012 ACHIEVEMENTS

2012 was Year 5 of the 8 Year programme. During 2012 the programme peaked in terms of the number of

live contracts with 36 active contracts (9 Scale Fund, 27 Innovation Fund) at mid point before the

conclusion of Innovation Fund Rds 1 and 2. As well as core challenge fund operations all other activities

were also performing at full capacity including a dynamic research stream, a comprehensive change

monitoring system and an active advocacy campaign. The nutrition component also came to fruition.

Highlights for the year included:

Contract signing of SF-R1-Phase 2 with six original partners

Selection of large numbers of beneficiaries from Scale Fund Round 2, Scale Fund Round 1-Phase 2

and Innovation Fund Rounds 3 and 4.

Commencement of the Nutrition Component across active Scale Fund projects in the third

quarter of 2012.

Continuing consolidation of the Change Monitoring System (CMS)

CMS-2 pilot to full roll-out with all partners

Continuation of EPRG as a forum for critical discussion on topics related to extreme poverty by

an expanding group of stakeholders.

Publication of 12 Lesson Learning Reports for the IF 1 and 2 projects closing down in September

2012. The reports captured the learning of the projects and the impact on beneficiaries lives using

a participatory method.

SILPA Review process for Innovation Fund Round 3

Annual Review – scoring the highest possible score ‗A++‘, for the second year in succession

Institutional Review on possible design of a Shiree ‗Phase 2‘

Another successful Extreme Poverty Day event, partnering with WaterAid, with over 1500

participants

Further Lesson Learning Workshops and other sharing events took place including local events

involving district government officials

The launch of a dynamic new and highly interactive website

An active press and publicity campaign focussed around the Manifesto for the Extreme Poor

initiative

Increasing breadth and depth of engagement with Government of Bangladesh partners,

including a leading role played by the Project Director (GoB) in pushing forward towards

Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with various government departments

These achievements underpinned by an efficient and responsive fund disbursement, financial

management and contracting process. Over £10 million was disbursed during 2012.


OUTPUT 1: SCALE FUND

The Scale Fund supports 9 ongoing projects with a target beneficiary household (BHH) coverage of

221,850. By the end of 2012, 196,310 households had been selected by NGOs and verified by shiree. These

projects are benefitting a broad range of extreme poor people including indigenous communities,

religious minorities, dispersed rural communities, people with disabilities and urban slum communities.

About 31% of the BHHs are female headed.

Six of the original Scale Fund Round 1 projects (DSK, Uttaran, NETZ, Save the Children, PAB and Care

Bangladesh) completed 3 years of project implementation with their Phase One beneficiaries in March

2012. These six NGOs completed contract signings for a new cohort of Phase 2 beneficiaries.2 between

late March and early April. Scale Fund Round 1 Phase 2 projects have selected 93,609 beneficiaries out of

a combined target of 96,000.3

The contracts for Phase 2 include stipulations for continued targeted support to Phase 1 households.

Hence all Phase 1 beneficiaries are still active participants in the portfolio and able to be provided

supplemental support in whatever form, including assets or follow-up training.4 Since the NGOs have

acquired significant learning and experience from activities conducted in Phase 1, it has been possible to

recruit more beneficiaries in Phase 2 (with similar, and in some cases lower, budget lines) through

accrued learning, efficiencies and economies of scale.

Scale Fund Round 2 NGOs (Oxfam, Caritas and Concern Worldwide) have similarly been continuing

work (e.g. baseline profiling, group formation, initial skills development training) and all have begun to

distribute assets from the last quarter as well as to undertake other key project activities such as capacity

building and group sessions. To date, Scale Fund Round 2 has selected 20,500 beneficiaries out of a

combined Round 2 target of 43,349.5 The box below provides an overview of the Scale Fund. Individual

NGO updates are provided in Annex 2.

2 In line with Shiree‘s strategic vision for protecting and enhancing the initial gains made by beneficiaries in the Scale Fund, an external evaluation was conducted with each NGO during 2011 to assess progress and feasibility for extension into a second phase. All projects were recommended for extension on condition of demonstrating efficiency savings in line with the Value for Money (VfM) principles. Following this, extensive negotiations continued until the end of 2011 in anticipation of National Steering Committee endorsement which was eventually achieved.

3 NETZ completed selection and verification of the remainder of BHHs in January 2013. 4 All beneficiaries in Phase 1, at the very least, will be monitored at regular intervals under the rolled-out CMS-2 mobile phone monitoring system. 5 Concern Worldwide selected, with verification by Shiree, over 9000 beneficiaries in January 2013.


Scale Fund Round 1 (Phase 1 & Phase 2) and Scale Fund Round 2

Funds dispersed 2012 (GBP)

Total (BHHs)6 Total no of BHHs received

assets7

SF

-R1

DSK 864,701 25,000 12,848

UTTARAN 548,771 27,000 16,030

CARE 1,653,320 40,000 24,873

Practical Action 798,576 31,850 23,045

NETZ 1,027,709 18,000 14,537

Save the Children 835,679 37,000 15,140

SF

-R2 Caritas 467,583 10,000 8,692

Oxfam 886,559 10,500 4,512

Concern Worldwide 860,430 22,500 7,830

TOTAL 7,943,628 221,850 127,507

6 Total cumulative target number of BHHs from both Phase 1 and Phase 2 for Scale Fund Round 1. 7 Cumulative - including assets transferred to Phase 1 beneficiaries over lifetime of projects.


OUTPUT 2: INNOVATION FUND

The Innovation Fund has supported a total of 27 projects, across 4 Rounds, with target BHH coverage of

27,025. To date, 26,471 BHHs have been selected by the NGOs and verified by Shiree. Collectively the

Innovation Fund represents a diverse portfolio of projects with varying models, beneficiary groups and

locations, testing new approaches to poverty alleviation with the extreme poor.

During 2012, Round 1 and 2 projects completed three years of economic empowerment project activities.8

In the final year the projects built on the gains made during the first two years to ensure that beneficiaries

received optimal support in order to graduate out of extreme poverty.9 Round 1 and 2 projects

participated in Shiree‘s first set of Innovation Fund evaluations culminating in the publication of 12

Lesson Learning Reports. These reports document 3 years of project activities and the experience of

implementing the projects by the project staff. The reports also incorporate feedback from beneficiaries

through Focus Group Discussions (FGD).

During 2012 Round 3 has matured. The projects continued operations, selecting the remaining

beneficiaries and refining household level engagement. There was a SILPA review (Simultaneous Impact

Learning and Process Audit) of all projects in Round 3 conducted by an external consultant with field

assistance and support from a Shiree YP. Recommendations from the SILPA review process have been

incorporated into the remaining timeframe of the projects to ensure maximum gains for beneficiaries

across this round.

Round 4 projects completed their inception periods; most have completed baseline surveys and have

begun delivering assets and training. Second year budgets have been negotiated and approved by Shiree.

The NGOs represent a wide variety of interesting new models, with two projects in urban areas.

The box below provides an overview of the Innovation Fund. Individual NGO updates are provided in

Annex 3.

Innovation Fund Round Funds dispersed in 2012 (GBP)

Total BHH Total no of BHHs received assets

Round 1- 6 projects 146,227 7,000 6,754

Round 2 -6 projects 136,529 5,465 5,449

Round 3 -7 projects 702,925 6,960 3,168

Round 4 -8 projects 744,456 7,600 2,830

TOTAL – 27 projects 1,730,137 27,025 18,201

8 With the exception of Puamdo from IF Round 2 due to finish in January 2013. 9 The six Innovation Fund Round 2 NGOs had their contracts extended by one year following a comprehensive external evaluation in 2011. The evaluation report recommended that the extensions should be made in order to protect and build on the gains made during the first two years, bearing in mind that their contracts were one year shorter than those for Innovation Fund Round 1


OUTPUT 3: LESSON LEARNING AND RESEARCH

2012 saw significant development in all areas of lesson learning and research. Shiree as a programme has

matured over the year with considerable learning available from the expanded portfolio. The evolving

Change Monitoring System (CMS) has sought to capture household experience thought both quantitative

and qualitative instruments, while various publications and forums have analysed findings and

developed and disseminated lessons.

The Extreme Poverty Research Group (EPRG) continued to serve as the main forum for Shiree, its

partners and other stakeholders to engage in focused discussions on extreme poverty research.

A compilation of 12 Lesson Learning Reports for Innovation Fund Rounds 1 and 2 were produced

following a comprehensive and participatory review process. The reports contained Endline surveys

which were completed earlier in the year in parallel with the annual CMS3 Scale Fund survey.

CMS (CHANGE MONITORING SYSTEM) The CMS has continued a process of consolidation through 2012. The system is designed to capture quantitative and qualitative data in a dynamic and timely manner; allowing Shiree and partner NGOs to monitor and enhance programme management in real time, as well as providing outputs for Shiree‘s research and advocacy agendas. Data was used in the Lesson Learning Reports for the 12 Innovation Fund Round 1 and 2 projects.

Significant steps have been made to evaluate and improve existing CMS components, develop innovative

additions (CMS2/CMS 4) and streamline data collection, storage and presentation processes. CMS2 has

received significant focus as it has progressed from a pilot phase to a full roll out.

Through the second half of the Shiree programme more emphasis will be given on Shiree as a facilitator,

providing technical support, while NGOs and projects have more responsibility for data collection, data

entry, analysis and reporting. CMS data collection tools were also revised to enhance the compatibility

between different tools and to broaden the spectrum of analysis (e.g enhanced nutiritional, gender and

disability monitoring).

The CMS has five complementary components each implemented at different points within the project cycle and gathering different types of data to address the following levels of monitoring requirement.


Monitoring Level

Scope Reference Point Example questions?

Contract Monitoring

NGO by NGO – individual contracts.

Individual Logframes, activity plans and budgets

Is an individual contract on track against operational and financial objectives?

Intervention Monitoring

Across different types of intervention or interventions with different client groups (i.e may cut across NGO contracts)

Baseline profile of entire shiree beneficiary population (Scale and Innovation Fund). Poverty benchmarks for entire population (e.g HIES)

How do different types of asset transfer programme compare in terms of their beneficiary impact? How do different beneficiary sub groups compare?

Research Packages

Research exercises targeted to answering questions arising from implementation experience.

Research questions of interest to shiree, NGOs and other stakeholders

How to effectively target the extreme poor? How to enhance the sustainability of income generating activities implemented by the extreme poor?

Programme Monitoring

Across the programme as a whole. Drawn from consolidating contract level information.

Shiree Logframe and budgets. DFID common indicators.

What is the total impact of the Shiree Challenge Fund relative to the resource input? (i.e Value for Money) What is the programme contribution to MDGs or other broader objectives? Is the Innovation Fund identifying scaleable responses to extreme poverty?

An update of component-wise CMS progress is presented below:

CMS 1 is the baseline survey or ‘household profile’ conducted by NGO staff after the BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree (both Scale and Innovation Fund). It must be completed and submitted before any significant project activities take place and is the baseline for final evaluation of project impact.

CMS 1 Progress: more than 125,000 household profiles have been collected and processed. CMS1 went

through a review in 2011 with amendments made in early 2012 to bring it in line with CMS3 as well as

adjusting parts of the questionnaire for improved data quality. A new web-based data entry software for

the questionnaire was developed and all partner NGOs have been orientated and are using the tool for

data entry. Approximately 68,000 households have completed the revised CMS1 questionnaire with entry

using the web-based data entry software.


CMS 2 is a monthly snapshot of all BHHs across the entire Shiree portfolio, collected by NGO staff; tracking changes in household livelihoods and of events (including project interventions) capable of impacting these livelihoods. It will also update information on project interventions feeding contract and programme monitoring requirements at the operations level.

CMS 2 Progress: This tool was piloted with both Innovation and Scale Fund NGOs and the pilot phase

ended in May 2012.10 Following an external assessment the decision was made to expand the tool across

the portfolio in a coordinated ‗roll-out‘ – to develop a revised and updated iteration of the system for

monitoring existing projects across the portfolio for the remainder of the programme. The system went

‗live‘ in Dec 2012 and about 800 field officers have started collecting data using mobile phones. Shiree has

also established a new server exclusively for the CMS.

The following are key CMS2 roll out activities during 2012:

(a) Questionnaire Development

The process of revising the questionnaire was iterative requiring incremental updates to the pilot phase

questionnaire – looking at what questions provided useful data and which questions did not. The

revision process included discussion with partners and pretesting of the questionnaire with real

beneficiaries before finalisation. The revised questionnaire is simple and quick to answer. Field tests

verified that the average time for completing the questionnaire ranges between 10 and 12 minutes. It

contains 34 questions with multiple options. An operational guideline was developed in order to help

staff in collecting information.

(b) Development of software application, data collection and visualisation

Mpower, the technical partner of Shiree, developed the software application based on the revised

questionnaire. The software was developed for use with the Android operating system. Shiree collected

feedback from partners on functional uses of CMS2 with feedback sent to Mpower in designing a web-

based data visualisation dashboard. It will help both NGO managers and Shiree for real time

management purposes. The visualisation will be finalised in early 2013.

(c) Mobile set procurement

With approval from DFID, the Samsung Galaxy Y Android-based mobile handset (smartphone) was

chosen for CMS2 – an upgrade from the pilot phase Java based phone. It was agreed that this model

would provide the best results due to the higher technical capabilities that the smartphone offers

including: larger memory, higher processing speeds, ease of application updates and lower risk of server

disruption. In addition, Shiree will make use of GPS–tagging to geo-code beneficiary location and project

sites (with relevant security and privacy protocols) as part of DFID‘s drive to geo-code aid data. Shiree

plans integrating this into the web-based visualisation in 2013. 843 mobile sets were procured through

Crown Agents and distributed to all the field staff of partner NGOs.

(d) Training

The roll-out of CMS2 necessitated training over 800 field officers who will use the smartphones to collect

data every month as part of their regular field level activities. The decision was made, along with

10 The pilot phase used 100 mobile handsets to collect over 11,000 households data.


Mpower, to use a cascade method of training. Training of Trainers (ToT) was given by Shiree and

Mpower to key project staff (project manager, monitoring and evaluation coordinator and MIS manager)

who in-turn provided training to front line field staff through Field Officer Training (FOT)11. Training

involved the development of three modules – CMS questionnaire application, Mobile Handset

preparation and Trouble Shooting.

Two-day ToTs were conducted with 74 M&E and MIS staff from 9 Scale Fund and 15 Innovation Fund

NGOs during November –December 2012. In addition 9 Research Assistants from 9 scale Fund NGOs

took part in the ToT with the aim of developing additional CMS2 management capacity at little

additional cost. The ToT was conducted in four regions broadly encompassing 4 parts of Bangladesh with

Shiree projects – Dhaka, the north-west, south-east and south-west. Trainers from Mpower along with

Programme Managers and CMS team from Shiree provided the ToT. 774 field staff from these NGOs

were given training by the master trainers. Shiree Programme Managers, and team members were

present during the training in order to ensure the quality of training. Training methodologies used were

Power Point informational presentations, individual practice, group discussion, field visits and one-to-

one coaching12.13

Intelligent livestock Management: Developing in parallel with CMS2 in the last quarter has been the pilot

Intelligent Livestock Management and Monitoring Application through mobile phones. The application

has been tested at MJSKS and NETZ. The aim of the pilot has been to test the use of mobile phones for

real-time data collection on livestock health for remote veterinarians.

CMS 3 is a panel survey conducted annually by Shiree utilising trained enumerators based on a statistically

significant sample of all scale fund beneficiaries. CMS3 involves a detailed socio-economic questionnaire which is

supplemented through the collection of anthropometric data. While currently only undertaken for the scale fund the

CMS instrument has been adapted to allow final impact evaluations of current and future Innovation Fund projects

(using CMS1 as the baseline).

CMS 3 Progress: the annual nutrition and socio-economic impact survey with Scale Fund beneficiaries

was conducted between 26th February and 16th April 2012. Data was collected from 425 households across

the 6 Scale Fund Round 1 NGOs.14 In addition, endline surveys were conducted with households from

the first two Innovation Rounds. The endline questionnaire was developed by partners from Cambridge

University and follows closely the format used for the CMS3 panel survey. In total an additional 768

households were surveyed from Innovation Rounds 1 and 2.

The CMS3 data was reviewed by Prof. Nick Mascie-Taylor, Cambridge University, and analysed in

comparison to all previous surveys. A draft report ‗Monitoring the changes in Socio-Economic &

11 A member of the shiree team also participated in each FO training 12 The CMS 2 training was also used opportunistically to obtain Manifesto for the Extreme Poor recommendations from Field Officers 13 26 staff of Plan International will be given training at a later date. Plan International work with street children. The present

questionnaire does not address their needs and a new application will be developed. 14 This includes an additional 115 households from urban slum (DSK) and Adivashi (NETZ) in 2011 due to higher than expected rate of attrition.


Nutritional status of extreme poor households between March 2010 and March 2012; results from the

seven panel surveys‘ was published in July 2012 via the shiree website.

CMS 4 is a participatory group reflection undertaken quarterly between BHHs and NGO staff on Innovation Fund projects only. It uses participatory group exercises with sample groups to collect qualitative and quantitative data on changes to household conditions, and reasons for those changes. It identifies successes and challenges that feedback into project management decisions which are then followed up with a quarterly self-review workshop facilitated by a Shiree Project Manager resulting in the production of a table of lessons learnt and actions to take. The CMS4 methodology is supplemented by qualitative interviews with a small sample of Innovation Fund Households (CMS5-I)

CMS 4/CMS 5-I Progress: the system has gone through a process of renewal in 2012. Innovation Fund

Rounds 1 and 2 used CMS4 as a tool to build their capacity in the first half of 2012. As these projects

closed in 2012, it was decided that CMS4 would be replaced with the Lesson Learning Review process.

This included FGDs to include beneficiary feedback.

The remaining IF Rounds 3 and 4 have been inducted in to the CMS4 process. As the two rounds of

projects started at different points, a decision was made to realign CMS4 reporting so that all reports, as

well as the collated report, would be collected together. CMS4 reports have been produced for IF Round 3

and IF 4 projects have started receiving training on CMS4 methodology at the end of the last quarter. Plan

International‘s project with street children required a modification to CMS4 to make it more relevant and

child-friendly. Additionally the group-based approach of CMS4 was also not applicable to Concern IF3

working with street dwellers, so CMS5-I was used to collect four-monthly beneficiary feedback.

CMS 5 involves qualitative in-depth tracking studies of a small sample of households, researching the nature and dynamics of extreme poverty. Shiree consortium partner the Centre for Development Studies at the University of Bath is supporting this element for the Scale Fund partners, Research Officers employed by the NGOs conduct the in depth qualitative interviewing with support from the shiree research focal point (YP)

CMS 5 Progress: The six original Research Officers have been working on their second reflection on the

intervention (RoI). This is a much shorter document than the first reflection and emphasizes analysis on

gender empowerment and changes in power relations. They completed the first drafts by the end of May

and were sent to Lucia Da Corta at the University of Bath for review. It was originally thought that these

documents would be summarized into a one pager which would be uploaded onto the website in both

English and Bangla. However eventually it was decided that as they were of a good quality they should

be uploaded in their entirety. After some re-edits, the final versions were completed by December and all

36 ROIs are currently with Lucia Da Corta who is ensuring they are of an appropriate standard for the

website. These will be be ready for publishing on the website by Feb 2013.


Case Studies


Case Study 1

Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB) – ‘Pathways Out of Poverty: Building

Economic Empowerment and Resilience for Extreme Poor Households in

Riverine Areas’

Rangpur, Gaibandha, Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari

Previous Life

Nur Banu (40), a victim of child

marriage was married at the age of 10,

soon after which, the river took their

home. “My father in law had gambled

away all his land. Since then we had

been living in uncertainty as climate

change refugees and had to move

five times because of river erosion. We

never had any land to call our own and

were forced out of many houses.” Nur

Banu now lives on a small piece of

Khas land by the Tista river in

Gaibandha with her 15 year old son.

Nur Banu and her husband worked as day labourers to raise their three children. Six years ago her

husband died; “he was very sick and we couldn’t afford health care costs. There was too much pressure

on me to look after everyone after he died and I married off my two daughters.” Now Nur Banu and her

son are dependent on agricultural labour to earn their living. “I usually got 60/70 taka and my son gets

80/100 taka for a day. But work is irregular; we can work during the harvesting seasons but have almost

no work from August to November. In these months, we do whatever we can to find work.”

Success

“We were all skeptical when the NGO proposed cultivating pumpkins on the unused sand beds. The land

is dry and sandy, we didn’t have any starting capital and since it was not our land the owners could very

easily oust us. So without being too hopeful we started receiving training on how to prepare the soil and

pollinate the flowers” With the help of the NGO, there was a public meeting with the Union Parishad and

local elites, “we convinced them that hundreds from our community can earn a living and eat properly if

given the chance to utilize the land.” After gaining a verbal consent, work was started; within a few weeks

little plants of hope peeked out of the soil.

Nur Banu and her son took turns working in the field. Today, pumpkins are everywhere in Nur Banu’s

house. She stores some of them in a container which takes over half her house. Some of them are lying

under her bed. “I have harvested about 700 pumpkins from my patch. I have already sold 150, given 50

to my friends and relatives and 50 to the land owners.” Nur Banu sees good profit from her harvest. She

states “on average, each pumpkin is about 10 KGs. If I can sell them at a 5 TK per kg, I will make nearly

TK 20000 – 22000 from selling them. I never even dreamed of seeing so much at once my entire life.


Future Aspirations

“I plan to buy a calf as it will be a good asset for future. When the monsoon comes and the land is flooded

there will be no work but we can survive three to four months of the lean period with the money saved up

from selling the pumpkins. I fear that the land owner may ask for their land back but I will share crop with

them so I hope they don’t. If we get good crops for the next two or three years my life will turn out

significantly better. I want to make sure that my son never has to beg or borrow and that we have a home

where we never have to worry about moving again.”


Case Study 2

Centre for Natural Resources Studies (CNRS), Haor (Jamalganj and

Dharmapasha, Sunamganj)

‘Innovative Farming as a Tool of Poverty Reduction and Climate Change

Adaptation’

Previous Life

Rahela Begum is a 53 year-old

widow living in the village of

Rajapur in the Fenarbak union,

part of Jamalganj upazilla,

Sylhet division. Rahela has

seven children: five sons and

two daughters. Her husband, the

late Taher Ali, died three ago.

During her childhood Rahela

was raised by her grandmother.

As she became older it became

more difficult for her

grandmother to look after her,

and therefore decided that she

should get married early. Rahela got married at the age of eighteen and became the second wife to her

husband..

After a few years of marriage Rahela moved to Bianibazar in Sylhet to look for work. Her husband did not

earn enough so she was compelled to work too. She and her husband were both involved in intensive

labour, working long hours in the day. Rahela would work as a daily maid in the day time, and the evening

would push a loaded trolley/cart in the evening. Rahela described her life in Bianibazar as an everyday

struggle; the working days were long and the income too little. The work as a cart –pusher was

particularly tough for her, as it was physically challenging and exhausting, especially after spending the

day working as a maid. Rahela and her husband worked intensively to have enough money to maintain

an adequate intake of food. However, their lives were so unstable that they had to resort to eating wild

roots – locally thought of as hog food.

Rahela lived and worked in Bianibazar for close to 35 years. She came back to her home village a few

years ago with her 5 children, shortly after her husband’s death. When she arrived back, Rahela was

close to starvation and could only provide the bare minimum amount of food for her children during the

transition period. Of her children, one of her daughters got married and the other goes to school. Two of

her sons are also married and live separately from her. Two other sons are studying at school and the

other son works as a day labourer. This son studied up to Class 4 and helps his mother out most of the

time from the income he earns.

Success

Since becoming a beneficiary of CNRS, Rahela has received 50 decimals of khas kanda land (raised land

that is government owned) for agricultural purposes. She also received different types of agricultural


support from the project such as seed input and agricultural tools (machine, power-tiller) on a share-

basis. Through project support Rahela has been able to cultivate mustard, wheat, potato and sesame.

During her first year she produced 3 Mon of pulses along with 12 Mon of potato. She produced 15 Mon

(40 Kg) of wheat in her second year of the project and 10 Mon of wheat in the third year. Currently she

has been able to store 10 Mon of rice for fulfilling her and her family’s food need during the lean monga

period.

Rahela is the only beneficiary in her community living on a house built on Khasland. She does not have

any legal ownership over this land, but has been able, through the project, claim the land. Since then she

has become the leader of landless people within her community. Although she does not have an

electricity connection at her house, she has been able to buy a mobile phone with her saved income, and

uses it to communicate with her children in other parts of Sunamgonj. For Rahela, receiving Khasland

made the biggest difference in her life. With use of Khasland and the inputs she received from the project

she has been able to see tangible rewards to her daily efforts. This has increased her confidence and

status among other people.

Future Plans

Rahela hopes to continue her work on the land and earn enough to provide for her children so that they

may live comfortably.


CMS 6 is a standardized monthly reporting format introduced during 2011 that is required from all NGOs across

the portfolio. Shiree is required to report figures about project activities to the Government of Bangladesh on a

quarterly basis, and this system was introduced to streamline the process as well as providing other core operational

monitoring data.

CM6 Progress: NGOs continued to report monthly data during 2012. This was used to meet internal

operational needs and external reporting requirements – including for both regular and ad hoc GoB

reporting and to respond to various requests for programme information from DFID.

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES (additional to CMS5) Recruitment of new Research Officers

Six new Research Officers were recruited at the start of 2012, three for the new Scale Fund NGOs and the

other three in innovation fund NGOs to ensure their representation. The new Research Officers were Alip

Kumar Das (Oxfam), Sayeed Hasan Raza (Caritas), Moshiur Rahman (Concern), Owasim Akram (ADD),

Nikhil Chakma (Eco-Dev) and Lotiful Bari (iDE). Those from Innovation Fund NGOs work on thematic

research across the innovation fund projects. For this purpose, Eco-development selected Green Hill and

Tarango to work with as they are also based in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Mr. Saifuddin Ahmed (Care) left the Shiree research team in August to work on a different programme

within Care. Recruitment for a replacement research officer was under taken by Care and Mr. Mizanur

Rahman was selected as the successful candidate. He has been responsible for writing up Care‘s working

paper. In September Ms. Prokriti Nokrek (Save the Children) also handed in her notice and left at the end

of October, although she committed to finalizing her working paper on disability. Save the Children

recruited Ms. Sonia Jesmin to replace her, and she started in December. More recently, Zakir Hossain

(NETZ) left his position as Research Officer to work on a different project within the same NGO, and

Lotiful Bari (iDE) and Moshiur Rahman (Concern) both resigned and went to work elsewhere.

Recruitment for replacements for these three positions is ongoing.

The Extreme Poverty Research Group (EPRG)

The EPRG is intended to facilitate discussion among practitioners and researchers into extreme poverty,

developing and disseminating knowledge on the topic and informing programmatic, advocacy and

research agendas. The key characteristic of the EPRG, in comparison to other poverty research orientated

groups, is that EPRG activities are rooted in the practical implementation experience of NGOs and other

agencies working with the extreme poor in the field. The group‘s focus and direction is decided

collectively and is therefore NGO partner led.

Through 2012 the group met 4 times, bringing together a range of NGO partners from across the country

as well as, academics, donors and other extreme poverty projects. Full details of each EPRG session,

including presentations can be found via the Shiree website.


EPRG6 took place on Feb 26th 2012 . The agenda included a summary of CMS5 qualitative research

findings presented by both Shiree research officers and Lucia da Corta of Bath University. Kishore Singh,

Deputy Programme manager of UPPR presented an analysis of characteristics of extreme poverty in an

urban context. Khaleda Khanome from BRAC presented findings from BRAC‘s Gender Quality Action

Learning programme and its impact on intergenerational poverty.

EPRG7 was held on May 7th and welcomed a high level of participation from shiree Scale and

Innovation-Fund partners, DFID, and other DFID-funded extreme poverty programmes including BRAC

and CLP. The EPRG focused on Gender and Nutrition. Hossain Masud gave a presentation on

preliminary findings from a randomized control trial with Shiree‘s partner NGO NDP on the impact of

de-worming and micronutrient supplementation on maternal and child nutritional status. Vanessa Rubin

(Save the Children) and Nusha Choudhury (World Food Programme) presented their ―Cost of Diet‖, and

this was followed by a discussion on how Shiree can strengthen the link between research and advocacy.

EPRG8 was held on the 12th of July and focused on health and disability issues affecting the extreme

poor. Several presentations were made including from USAID on their experience in implementing

health interventions among the poor and extreme poor in Bangladesh. Dr. Munir (Save the Children) then

presented an interesting case study on how existing gaps in health services negatively affect the

livelihoods of the extreme poor. BRAC presented their learnings from implementing health programmes

in: ―Health care of Ultra Poor: the BRAC Experience‖. This was followed by a presentation from Md.

Abdul Momin (Chars Livelihood Programme) exploring their experience in health care provision within

this DfID/Ausaid funded programme.

EPRG9 was held on the 8th November and was focused on the main challenges outlined in the Manifesto

for the Extreme Poor, an initiative which was later launched at Extreme Poverty Day. Colin Risner began

the morning by introducing the Manifesto for the Extreme Poor and explaining the process that Shiree is

undertaking to collect and validate recommendations for the Manifesto. He discussed ways that the

EPRG can contribute to the Manifesto, such as by developing the research base of the 5 Manifesto

Challenges through comprehensive literature reviews. Subsequent presentations were based around the

Manifesto challenges and included Professor Syed M. Hashemi and.Dr Maheen Sultan from BRAC

Development Institute (BDI).

2012 saw the EPRG develop as an important forum for discussion among partners and other

stakeholders, with each session being better attended than the last, the forum is evolving as a space for

discussion of critical programmatic issues. The first chair of the EPRG, Dr Munir Ahmed form Save the

Children UK resigned during 2012. Between EPRG8 and EPRG9 a new five member leadership panel was

selected. The first panel is: Haseeb Md. Irfanullah (PAB), Dr. Tofail Azad (DSK), Muzaffar Ahmed (SCI),

Mujibur Rahman (Shushilan) and Md. Manna Rahman (Help Age).

Scale Fund Research

Throughout the year the six original Research Officers (DSK, Uttaran, Care, SCUK, NETZ and PAB) have

been conducting interviews and FGDs for Phase 2 working papers, the topics of which cover health,

disability, the elderly, gender empowerment and the effectiveness of the participatory approach. Data

Collection was completed by the end of June and the Research Officers spent the next few months on


write-up and analysis. By September all ROs, with the exception of Khan Areef Ur Rahman (PAB), had

submitted their first drafts. These were given a first edit and commented on by Sally Faulkner (YP

Research Focal Point) before being sent back for necessary changes. Second drafts were then submitted to

the University of Bath by the end of the year, with the exception of the PAB paper, which is expected to

be finished sometime in January 2013. Due to a lack of academic availability within Bath it became

necessary to hire additional academic support to clear the backlog. Dr. Julie Newton and Dr. Peter Davis

therefore took on the five completed working papers between them, and have so far provided feedback

for three of these (Care, Uttaran and SCI). These three papers are currently being finalised by the

Research Officers and are expected to be ready to publish online by the end of January 2013. Feedback on

the remaining two (NETZ and DSK) is expected shortly ready for incorporation of comments by the

respective Research Officers.

The six newly recruited Research Officers (Concern, Oxfam, Caritas, ADD, iDE and Eco-dev) made a start

on their phase 3 working paper proposals in June. To increase NGO ownership of the research outputs,

all the Research Officers collaborated closely with their project managers and directors to come up with a

research topic that reflected the objectives of the NGO. The six Research Officers then all met with Lucia

Da Corta from the University of Bath during her visit in June and began to formulate methodologies and

proposals. Eventually they decided on the following provisional titles:

ADD - ―Occupational Health, Safety, Public Health and its Relation with Extreme Poverty‖

iDE – ―Making markets work for poor homestead producer: A study of the impact of iDE

collection points on extreme poor female producers in remote districts of Bhola and Bandarban‖

Eco Development – ―Why do extreme poor people in the Chittagong hill tracts rarely adopt

innovative agricultural practices which might help them overcome their extreme poverty? A

qualitative enquiry‖

Caritas – ―Assessing health seeking behaviour among Tribal people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts:

The causes of high morbidity and mortality in Bandarban District‖

Oxfam – ―Assessing women‘s choice in asset empowerment strategies in the south west‖

Concern – ―The politics of ownership and extreme poverty: Understanding rights to water

bodies for the extreme poor in the Haors‖

Uttaran – ―Ensuring sustainable graduation for the extreme poor – A comparative study

assessing the success of ‗Khas land transfer‘ programmes against Government-provided Social

Safety Nets.‖

In order to improve NGO ownership of the research, NGO senior management are given validation

forms which must be signed and submitted before research commences. All of the researchers have now

returned these signed forms and are conducting their field research. First drafts are expected by the end

of February, although the resignation of Lotifal Bari (iDE) and Moshiur Rahman (Concern) will cause

some delays to their papers.


LESSON LEARNING REPORTS

Innovation Round 1 and 2 projects completed 3 years of economic empowerment implementation in

September 2012. Lesson learning reports have been produced for each of these 12 projects with 3 main

purposes: firstly to capture and to make available the significant learning from each individual project,

secondly to provide an impact assessment that can inform decisions regarding the potential scale up of

project activities, thirdly to provide a vehicle for a process of interaction, reflection and appreciative

dialogue between the Shiree team, NGO project staff and beneficiaries, hence generating learning and

helping the formulation of ideas that build on project experience even prior to the publication of the

report. Each report follows a similar structure that reflects the key elements of this intensive and

interactive process that spanned over 6 months.

12 individual reports have been produced rather than a single report with tables comparing NGOs. This

was a deliberate choice. Each project is delivered in a different context, with a different client group

(although all extreme poor), differing geographic, social and economic conditions. Furthermore each

project has faced a range of external shocks (from flash floods to communal conflict) during

implementation. While a similar methodology was adopted in preparing each report it is not possible to

simply rank the projects in terms of impact from most to least successful. Rather the complexities of each

context and the implementation challenges faced by each project need to be considered case-by-case. The

success of any one project was heavily influenced by project design (i.e. the nature of the innovation), but

perhaps to an even greater extent was contingent upon the changing circumstances of implementation

and the success of the project teams, working with Shiree support to adjust, evolve and enhance the

project as it rolled out. Hence each report is quite long and contains a full description of how the project

developed over time as well as the evaluative reflections of the implementing team and beneficiaries.

In all cases the reports were shared in draft, at several stages, with the concerned NGOs, feedback was

received and appropriate adjustments made. In a few cases an additional Annex was included to provide

a space for NGOs to provide an alternative perspective on any specific report findings with which they

disagree. The full reports can be found online at www.shiree.org.

SCALE FUND LESSON LEARNING WORKSHOPS

Caritas hosted the sixth Lesson Learning Workshop, entitled ―Consolidating Lessons from Phase One‖ in

Bandarban from April 22-24. This was a chance for the new partner NGOs to introduce themselves whilst

allowing the Scale Fund Round One NGOs to impart the knowledge they had gained through working

with the extreme poor over the previous years. A number of representatives from NGOs based in the

Chittagong Hill Tracts were also able to give their perceptions of project implementation in the region.

Members of the Shiree team gave presentations on graduation and nutrition. Unfortunately the field visit

element of the programme had to be abandoned due to a national hartal. A significant element of the

programme was a group exercise that initiated the idea of a Manifesto for the Extreme Poor.

http://www.shiree.org/


The seventh lesson learning workshop was organized around the theme of ―Sustainable Exit Strategies‖

and hosted by Concern Worldwide at Hotel Supreme in Sylhet. This workshop gave an opportunity for

the NGOs to discuss their experiences and lessons learnt in relation to ensuring that beneficiaries

continue to progress even after support has been withdrawn. The workshop also encouraged dialogue on

how both the Private Sector and the Government of Bangladesh could be engaged more effectively

through NGOs exit strategies. Mr Khan Md. Belal, Deputy Commissioner of Sylhet attended along with

Ms. Israt Jahan (Assistant Commissioner) and Ms. Tamanna Mahamud (Assistant Commissioner), Dr S.M

Abul Hossain (District Training Officer, DAE), Dr Hiresh Ranjan Bhowmik (District Livestock Office) and

Mr. Nilendhu Paul (Deputy Director, BRDB).

Seventh Lesson Learning Workshop hosted by Concern Worldwide

GENDER MAINSTREAMING

Shiree undertook an internal ‗gender audit‘ to explore the level at which gender issues are sufficiently

integrated across the programme. A working document has been produced analysing these and is the

basis for future work, including a gender review. This process has brought forth several actionable

recommendations brought to the fore by Shiree staff. Shiree will be mainstreaming an enhanced gender

strategy across the programme in 2013.


OUTPUT 4: ADVOCACY

Strong progress has been made during 2012 on pushing key messages related to extreme poverty through

the media, engaging the government at every level – Ministers, government departments, MPs, civil

servants and local stakeholders – encouraging private sector engagement and highlighting issues at the

national level through Extreme Poverty Day.

In order to foster collaboration and learning among other extreme poverty programmes, an Advocacy

Steering Group was formed.

STRATEGY

The revised advocacy strategy has a private sector focus and was developed through a series of

consultations, including with external stakeholders, Bath and Cambridge partners and two rounds of

facilitated discussion with Shiree staff. In addition, a Manifesto for the Extreme Poor has been launched

in the run up to the annual Extreme Poverty Day in the final quarter.

The three major pillars in the advocacy strategy for 2012 were:

Engagement with the Government of Bangladesh: focus on provision of safety nets

Awareness campaigns: Extreme Poverty Day, Media, Extreme Poverty Manifesto

Private Sector Engagement

MANIFESTO FOR THE EXTREME POOR

A Manifesto has been launched by Shiree as a means of raising awareness of 5 key challenges faced by the

extreme poor. It will propose a specific set of recommendations to address them and advocate with those

with the power and resources to carry out the recommendations. A website has been launched inviting

recommendations from NGOs, civil society and the private sector. A number of civil society consultation

workshops on recommendations have taken place.

NATIONAL LEVEL ADVOCACY AND THE APPG

Shiree has continued engaging at the national level with the All Party Parliamentary Group for Extreme

Poverty (APPG) and a number of government departments, who were all briefed on the Manifesto for the

Extreme Poor.

Following an inter-ministerial meeting with the 5 Departments for Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries,

Women's Affairs, Social Welfare and Youth, commitments were made to developing MOUs for bilateral

engagement with Shiree. A focal point was appointed from each department although progress towards


MoU signing has been constrained by administrative bureaucracy. Hence draft MoUs have been sent to

the Ministry of Law for vetting and this process is still on-going.

MP Sohrab Ali Sana, of Paikgacha, who helps Shiree advocate for the extreme poor in the South, met with

the UNO, AC Land on behalf of Shiree-Uttaran beneficiaries to attain Khasland and public services. In

2013 we hope to replicate this for the Shiree-Save the Children beneficiaries in Koira. Seven APPG

Extreme Poverty MPs visited the CARE and PAB projects in the North, making liaisons with the local

government and Policy recommendations were suggested. An Op-Ed based on the experience of this

visit was published in the Daily Star during Jan 2013.

MATT 2

Continuing a regular partnership initiated during 2011, Shiree‘s CFO, Project Director, and Internal

Consultant (YP) facilitated 2 sessions on ‗raising awareness of extreme poverty‘ with participants of the

Managing at the Top (MATT2) project led by the British Council. The Shiree team presented on the

dynamics of extreme poverty, and explored possibilities for the civil service to do more to eradicate

extreme poverty. Each presentation has been followed by an engaging question and answer session. Over

300 senior civil servants have participated in these sessions so far.

DISTRICT LEVEL ADVOCACY

The Shiree advocacy strategy has always emphasised local as well as national level engagement.

Experience is that advocating at local level, especially with district level officials, can have the greatest

impact on issues of concern to direct beneficiaries such as access to government services, safety nets or

Khas Land transfer.

In order to share the learnings from the CNRS project that attained Khasland for 1200 beneficiaries, Shiree

organised a series of workshops and meetings with local government in various partner NGO districts.

Khasland training was organised with the NETZ field officers and meetings were held with ADC

Revenue, ADC General, AC Land and UNOs in Noagaon, as well as DC, ADC Revenue, ADC General,

UNOs and 2 Agricultural Officers in Rajshahi. So far khasland mapping, identification and applications

have taken place for 300 beneficiaries in Noagaon and 500 beneficiaries in Rajshahi. A number of

beneficiaries received Khasland distributed by the State Minister of Livestock and Fisheries.

In Pabna, a khasland workshop took place for field staff of BOSS, as well as a meeting with DC, ADC

Revenue, Union Land Officers and 3 UNOs, to sensitise them to mobilise land for minority female-

headed extremely poor households. BOSS has mapped and identified the land for 50 beneficiaries and

submitted their applications. BOSS also worked with local chairmen, using the Shiree-guide-to-safety-

nets to mobilise safety nets for 100% of their beneficiaries. In Jessore, a khasland workshop and meetings

with DC, ADC Revenue, UNOs, Union Land Officers also took place, with commitments made to give

khasland to Uttaran beneficiaries and initiation of the process of mapping and identifying suitable land.


Following the khasland training of HSI, khasland was attained for 1000 beneficiaries. Throughout 2013, 5

more Khasland workshops are planned to be done in Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Dinajpur and Noagoan.

Overall there has been a very positive direct beneficiary-level impact of Shiree‘s khasland advocacy with

a total of 3300 acres of Khasland attained by beneficiaries:

HSI-Sunamgonj - 1000 beneficiaries

Uttaran - 12,000 beneficiaries

Netz - 1000 beneficiaries

CNRS – 1200 beneficiaries

In terms of safety nets, Shiree has provided substantive support at the NGO level through guidance notes

that suggest how an NGO might help increase their beneficiaries to attain safety nets. In 2013, Shiree

advocacy aims to run 8 district level workshops on safety nets and a national pre-budget campaign for

increased safety net provision and improved targeting.

MEDIA OUTREACH

The BRAC University Policy Advocacy Course visited Aid Comilla and Shiree facilitated learning for 20

Advocacy students through a study tour to Aid Comilla. Several PhD students received support on

extreme poverty related field visits and data.

The Ittefaq and Daily Star op ed campaign continued, with 10 op eds in 2012, and a panel of 7 journalists

were briefed for fellowships on extreme poverty. The Manifesto for Extreme Poverty call for

recommendations and Manifesto statistics was published in the Daily Star and Prothom Alo with an

estimated 350,000 readers, as well as a round table discussion on the Manifesto in the Daily Star with an

estimated 50,000 readers. 10 videos on change makers promoting activities helping the poorest were

broadcasted on national television with an estimated several million viewers.

The Shiree website and facebook continued to be enhanced and the new state-of-the-art website was

launched. Shiree Facebook page and website hits increased significantly over the period of November-

December 2012, especially thanks to links posted to the Manifesto in Prothom Alo and Kaler Kontho daily

newspapers.

The Manifesto e-campaign was launched on website including write ups on the 5 key challenges faced by

the poorest, case studies, expert opinions on the challenges, key statistics and photos. 5 stakeholder

consultation workshops involving Shiree, NGOs, donor LCG, MPs and Civil society took place to

generate interest in the Manifesto and develop recommendations for the government with over one

hundred collected to date. The Manifesto challenges were also discussed during five episodes of a talk

show on ABC Radio FM 89.2. Further, an 8 minute video on beneficiary demands for the manifesto was

developed and posted online. CMS2 training with NGO field officers was used as an opportunity to

collect Manifesto recommendations from over 800 of these front line staff.


EXTREME POVERTY DAY

Extreme Poverty Day was Shiree‘s key national event of the year hosted in 2012 in partnership with

Water Aid, at the Boshundhara Convention Centre with over 1500 guests. Various components of

extreme poverty were highlighted and advocacy outreach initiatives achieved. The 5 Manifesto themes

were discussed during round table validation sessions where 60 high profile panel speakers showed their

support.

In order to facilitate partnerships between private sector and NGOs, Shiree organised an innovative

session called '100 Speed Meets' where 10 private sector companies spoke with 10 NGOs, each for 5

minutes, to explore potential for collaboration to help the poorest. 81 successful private sector-NGO

matches identified, which we will help link up and develop solid partnerships in 2013. Shaheen Anam,

Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, moderated a session bringing together NGO and

private sector employees to examine 2 models worth replicating, highlighting two successful initiatives:

the GUK-APEX combination (created 700 jobs) and Uttaran-Lalteer combination (provided inputs to

12,000 households). In 2013, Shiree plans to follow up to scale up some of these partnerships.

5 local government representatives from around the country received the Shiree Extreme Poverty Hero

award recognised for their outstanding support to partner NGOs in assisting with the viable and

sustainable transfer of khasland resources for the poorest.

The 2012 FOOTY Award was given to the 5 most outstanding field officers out of 40 nominated field

officers, all of whom were recognised for their dedication to their work. This award scheme was


introduced last year and proved very popular amongst the field officers. The Photo Exhibition

―Cascading dreams‖ illustrating the stories of struggle and dreams of extreme poor people was presented

at the event followed by 4 day exhibition at the Drik Gallery.

NGO fair in the Extreme Poverty Day 2012

PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT

Several efforts were made to explore ways of further enhancing private sector engagement in extreme

poverty eradication amongst Shiree beneficiaries and this was also a theme of the 7th Shiree Lesson

Learning Workshop hosted by Concern in Sylhet. Meetings were held with several private sector

companies to explore synergies and scope out interest, including Airtel, AKKhan, IDLC, MTB, CityCell,

G4S, Misami Garments, Lal Teer seeds, IDLC Garments companies - DBL, Suman and Far East. Shiree

will be following up on these linkage opportunities throughout 2013.

Three skills development workshops were held to explore the various options for extreme poor people

hosted by Shiree, CAMPE and IDLC. These provided new opportunities for link up beneficiaries, through

NGOs with UCEP (for children's vocational training), NSDC trainings, the Garments Company, IDLC

and TVET 5 to develop an industry training centre for the extreme poor. A report on the Landscape of

Skills Development Opportunities for the Poorest has been prepared.


Overall, the 2012 focus was on setting up platforms and exploring what works in terms of private sector

engagement. Two successful partnerships were formed: Grameen Phone and DSK formed from speed

meet for teledermatology (or mobile ‗e-health‘), Mutual Trust Bank and GUK partnered for an SME loan.

The plan for 2013 will mainly be to roll out the 3 identified models: 1) direct jobs with G4S (aim to create

500 jobs), 2) training + jobs with Far East/ TVET/IDLC (aim to create 500 jobs) and 3) ―speed meets‖ to

create more jobs (aim: facilitate 1,000).

HEALTH SECTOR

Shiree explored potential partnerships with "Dhaka Urban Comprehensive Eyecare Project (DUCECP)" to

restore avoidable blindness in urban slum areas in Dhaka city. An MOU was signed with DUCEC to link

up with DSK to provide eye care services for free to DSK beneficiaries. DSK beneficiaries attended an eye

screening and patients received cataract surgeries.

Ojufa (56), a beneficiary of Shiree under DSK project in Korail slum got her sight back by a cataract surgery done at free of cost with the aid of Dhaka Urban Comprehensive Eye Care Project.


OUTPUT 5: NUTRITION COMPONENT

EEP/Shiree‘s nutrition component commenced in 2012 and is designed to provide direct support to

extreme poor mothers, children, adolescent girls and family members, for better nutrition. Through the

direct nutrition support to its livelihood project beneficiaries, Shiree hopes to reduce the prevalence of

underweight by 2% per annum, stunting and wasting each by 1% per annum and anaemia by 5% per

annum. Under the nutrition component a proven set of direct nutrition intervention designed in line with

the latest WHO and GoB recommendation will be given to the Shiree‘s scale fund beneficiary households;

moreover an innovation part will deal with evidence-based research conducted to promote protein

uptake. In essence the nutritional programme will, by addressing the nutritional factors that contribute

most to the inter-generational transfer of poverty, increase the probability that Shiree beneficiaries and

their children achieve a sustained graduation out of extreme poverty.

In 2012 nine contract amendments have been completed with Shiree Scale Fund partners to incorporate

the direct nutrition intervention within their livelihood projects. Through these contract amendments

Shiree aims to reach approximately 217,000 beneficiary households by the end of 2013 who will receive a

direct nutrition package targeting mainly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, children under 5 years old

and adolescent girls. As of December 2012, all projects have recruited technical staff and have almost

completed the Community Pusti Karmi (CPK) recruitment. The table below highlights the estimated

numbers of target groups for year 1 of nutrition intervention by NGOs.

CONCERN OXFAM Caritas CARE DSK NETZ PAB SCI UTTARAN Total

Total Beneficiary

Households (BHHs)

15,000 10,500 10,000 40,000 25,000 9,900 31,850 37,000 26,816 20,6066

Pregnant women

990 498 612 2,103 1,033 295 956 758 628 7,872

Breastfeeding mothers with children 0-5 months

990 498 612 2,103 1,033 295 956 893 628 8,007

Children 06 – 23 months

2,700 1,890 1,800 7,200 4,500 1,782 5,622 4,350 4,827 34,670

Children 24 -59 months

6,938 4,319 4,277 13,611 6,907 2,532 4,883 7,268 3,617 54,352

Adolescent girls (10-16 years)

7,259 4,329 4,428 10,159 5,352 2,718 4,551 7,498 4,926 51,219

Family members

25,418 13,075 8,661 53,452 13,015 12,274 95,139 20,859 5,557 247,450


External Coordination: Shiree has been playing the role of facilitator within DFID‘s extreme poor portfolio - during the design

phase of the nutrition intervention - and has been hosting various meetings to resolve issues related to

the management and resourcing, logframes, monitoring and evaluation and planning implementation of

this intervention.

Shiree scheduled twelve external coordination meetings on; monitoring and evaluation, Behavioural

Change Communication (BCC) materials and training planning, and procurement issues with Alive &

Thrive, CLP and UPPR. The achievements of these technical committee meetings include:

(a) Monitoring and Evaluation technical committee meeting

Selection of logframe indicators to be included in extreme poverty programme logframes

Production of draft quarterly and six-monthly reporting format to DFID

Identification of the needs of terminologies in DFID logframe and prepare

recommendations

Draft MIS register and household listing format preparation

Taking steps to support independent impact evaluation team

(b) BCC materials and Training sub-committee meeting

Finalisation of Master Trainers training manual

Inclusion of a chapter of drug regimen in the training manual

Preparation of draft social mobilisation manual

(c) Procurement subcommittee meeting

Supporting Crown Agent in various procurement issues

Providing inputs on finalisation of drug specification

Supporting Crown Agent in deciding pack size of drugs and providing information on

drugs supply chain

Media Dark Strategy Intervention: In September, Shiree with funding and support from Alive & Thrive started conducting media dark

strategy intervention in selected Shiree project areas across the country in villages that are remote and

without electricity (or partial electricity). This supplementary intervention disseminates nutritional and

health related messages. Over a thousand Shiree working villages will be covered under this media

campaign. Alive & Thrive recently did a pilot intervention of media dark strategy in selected villages of

Sylhet and the pre & post results shows positive results in terms of exposure & recall. The intervention is

being managed with support from Shiree partner NGOs by a professional media agency, hired by Alive

&Thrive.


HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

As Shiree has matured with the programme focus shifting more towards impact evaluation, and lesson

learning through 2012 key areas within the organisational structure have been strengthened. 2012 saw the

development of the CMS Implementation Team which is an internal unit designed to manage and

monitor the implementation of the Change Monitoring System (CMS) as well as consolidate findings

from CMS in collaboration with the Management Support Unit (MSU) renamed from the Decision

Support Unit. Also the Nutrition Unit was formed to manage Output 5.

Specific recruitment changes during the year included:

AGEMENT

Within operations a Programme Manager resigned and another one appointed

A Nutrition Programme Manager was appointed within the newly formed Nutrition Department

in October

The Decision Support Manager and two Internal Consultants departed. The Decision Support

Unit was hence reformed as the Management Support Unit (MSU).

Within the Management Support Unit (MSU) an Analyst (YP) was appointed in November

Within Finance two Accounts Managers and a short term Volunteer were taken on

Within Advocacy the contract of two YPs were extended and a Volunteer was taken on short

term.

Within the former Management Information Systems Team (MIS), the MIS Manager resigned and

a CMS Implementation Team was established with the remaining capacity of the MIS team:

Existing IT System Analyst was appointed as MIS Manager and Team Leader, existing Network

Administrator was appointed as Technology Manager, existing Information Services Officer was

appointed as an Analyst, and a YP from the Advocacy Unit was shifted to the CMS

Implementation Team as Information Officer (YP).

Support staff overtime pay introduced in September 2012 for work beyond 48 hrs per week.

Specific HR related actions taken in 2012:

During the first quarter of the year Staff Appraisals were conducted by the HR Manager,

designed to provide internal staff feedback amongst colleagues/line managers via interviews and

feedback forms.

Gender Mainstreaming within all areas of the Shiree programme emerged as a priority, led by the

CEO and Head of Advocacy - from internal staff policies to relationships between NGOs and

beneficiaries. A gender audit incorporating a staff survey was conducted followed by group

brainstorming sessions identifying needs for improvement and practical ways forward.


MEETINGS AND REVIEWS

An annual retreat during September provided space for discussion on Shiree operations and

finances, potential for a Shiree Phase 2 as well as next steps on gender mainstreaming and the

Manifesto for the Extreme Poor.

A 2-day Consortium meeting was held in Cambridge during May including representation from

the Senior Management Team and Consortium Partners.

A Government of Bangladesh Mid Term Review was undertaken involving field visits by 4 teams

of government representatives from the programme National Steering Committee

During the last half of the year an independent Institutional review conducted by a team of

Nicolas Freeland and Maheen Sultan focussed on the possibilities for a Shiree Phase 2. The

process was supported by shiree involving facilitation of field visits and consultation with NGO

partners.

The annual DFID commissioned Independent Review took place during November led by Tim

Bene and involving several DFID advisers as well as a GoB representative. The programme

scored the highest possible rating of A++.

Three National Steering Committee meetings were held during the year – the 8th meeting in

January, the 9th in June and the 10th meeting in November. The key agenda item for these

meetings were approval of Phase 2 contracts (8th) feedback on the GoB Mid Term review (9th) and

DFID Annual Review feedback (10th).

A SILPA review of Innovation Round Three was undertaken

There were several internal strategic reviews of programme operations and finances with papers

submitted to DFID in support of potential SDC co-funding of the programme

Regular business meetings that took place throughout the year included the following:

Meeting How often? (target) How long? Minuted?

Shiree Team Weekly 30—45 minutes Yes

Senior Management Team

Monthly 2 hours Yes

Scale Fund Coordination

Quarterly Half day Yes

Extreme Poverty Portfolio team Leaders

Quarterly 2 hours Yes

DFID liaison Ad hoc 1 hour Yes


FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

During 2012 the Finance team worked with 9 Scale Fund projects and 27 Innovation Fund projects

disbursing a total of 10,017,066 GBP. A major activity through the year was signing the Phase 2 contracts

with the existing 6 Scale Fund Round 1 partners, working closely with the Operations team. The other

major activity following the finalisation of the Phase 2 contracts was adding contract amendments for the

inclusion of the nutrition budget for the Scale Fund Round 1 Phase 2 and Scale Fund Round 2 Grantee

NGOs. A total of GBP 1,730,137 was disbursed to the Innovation Fund and 8,286,929 GBP to the Scale

Fund.

BUDGET REVIEWS

Scale Fund Round 1 Phase 1 and Phase 2

The Finance team were heavily involved, with the Operations Team, in the negotiations of the 6 new

Scale Fund Phase 2 projects – essentially an extension of the Phase 1 projects with a new cohort of

beneficiaries but with refinements and amendments (reflected in the budget) to the original project. From

January to March the joint team reviewed budgets, project memorandums and log frames of the 6 NGOs,

all of whom signed early in the second quarter.15 The remainder of the Phase 1 budget for its final

financial quarter (January to March 2012) was approved early in between January and February.

Scale Fund Round 2 and Innovation Fund Rounds 2-4 The Finance team conducted a budget review with all NGOs from these Rounds during this period. All

Scale Fund Round 2 NGOs have had their budgets revised and approved for the second financial year.

During the period, the Finance Team reviewed one Innovation Fund (Round 2) budget for the NGO

Puamdo on 24th January 2012.

From Round 3 GUK and Concern have received third year approval and the team are in the process of

reviewing the remaining projects from this round. The remaining projects from Round 3 had their

respective second year budgets approved in the first quarter of 2012 and the Finance team are currently in

the process of reviewing all 5 remaining Round 3 projects‘ third year budgets. From Round 4 all of the

projects have received second year approval.

Nutrition Component Amendment The Finance team and the Nutrition Focal Point, in consultation with the COO and CFO, were heavily

involved in the contract and budget negotiations for the Nutrition Component contract amendments for

the 9 Scale Fund partners. Shiree signed the contract amendments with the inclusion of the nutrition

budget for all of the Scale Fund Grantee NGOs on the following dates:

15 A full breakdown of contract signing provided in the Annex.


Grantee NGO Date of Contract

Caritas 2nd September 2012

Uttaran 2nd September 2012

DSK 12th September 2012

NETZ 16th September 2012

Save the Children 17th September 2012

Practical Action Bangladesh 30th September 2012

Oxfam GB Bangladesh 23rd September 2012

Concern Worldwide 16th October 2012

CARE Bangladesh 1st November 2012

A Nutrition Coordination meeting was held on 11th November with the 9 Scale Fund partners. The

respective project accountants attended the meeting and were briefed on the consolidated monthly

financial report, procurement, revision of yearly budget and forecast, feedback on external audit report

processes.audits

Internal audits were conducted for a majority of NGOs and their partners during 2012 and the results shared with the NGOs.

Grant

Round

Name of IF NGOs Period of Internal

Audit

Conducting Date Name of Internal Audit

Team, Members

IF 1 Shushilan 01 Sep'11-5 May'12 7-10 May'12 Tarun

Helen Keller

International

01 Sep'11-30 Jun'12 16 Jul'12 Aman , Tarun and

Shishier

Aid Comilla 01Sep'11-30 Jun'12 7 July , 12 Aman , Tarun and

Shishier

HSI-1 01Sep'11-30 Apr'12 07-08 May , 2012 Jashim & Shishier

CNRS 01Sep'11-30 Apr'12 09-10 May , 2012 Jashim & Shishier

IF 2 HSI-2 01 Sep'11-30 Apr'12 20 May , 2012 Laila and Jashim

MJSKS 01Sep'11-15 May'12 20 May , 2012 Anwar and Aman

NDP 01Sep'11-31 May'12 27 -28 June , 2012 Tarun, Shishier & Nahar

SKS 01Sep'11-31 May'12 24 - 25 June , 2012 Tarun, Shishier & Nahar

ActionAid 01Sep'11-31 May'12 26 June , 2012 Tarun, Shishier & Nahar

IF3 CWW Bangladesh 01 Jan'11-31 Dec'11 11-12 Jan'12 Laila and Marufa

CWW Bangladesh 01 Jan'12-31 Aug'12 11-12 Jan'12 Riffat,Laila and Jashim

Save the Children

Federation, Inc.

01 Jan'11-31 Dec'11 30-31/01/12 Laila , Marufa and Helen

IF4 Green Hill 01 Nov'11-31 Oct'12 18-19 Nov'12 Laila and Helen

Tarango 01 Nov'11-31 Oct'12 18-19 Nov'12 Shishier and Kamrun

Handicap Int‘l 01 Nov'11-31 Oct'12 20 and 26 Nov'12 Shishier , Helen and


Kamrun

HelpAge Int'l 01 Oct'11-30 Sep'12 5-9 Oct'12 Tarun and Kamrun

Eco dev 01Sep'11-30 Jun'12 10&12 Jul'12 Aman,Tarun and

Shishier

IDE 01 Oct'11-30 Sep'12 18-19 Dec'12 Jashim

Priptrust 01 Nov'11-31 Oct'12 30 Dec'12 Riffat and Laila

During the third quarter the external audits of partner NGOs were conducted. External auditors

conducted the audit for the following NGOs based on the schedule of the appointment letter. Most of

them have also submitted the draft for review before final submission.

EEP/shiree external audit committee also approved and selected the Rahman Rahman Huq Audit firm

for conducting the Third year external audit of NETZ Scale Fund NGO.16

16 Concern Worldwide External Audit to take place in February 2013

Scale Fund Round 1

Grantee NGOs Third Year External Audit

(closing)- Phase - 1 - 2012

Audit Firms

CARE 10th June - 12th July Nurul Faruk Hasan and Co.

(Nufhas)

Dushtha Shasthya Kendra

(DSK)

3rd July- 2nd August M J Abedin & Co.

Practical Action 3rd July- 2nd August Hoda Vasi & Co.

Save The Children, UK 24th June- 26th July S F Ahmed & Co.

UTTARAN 8th July-9th August Acnabin & Co

NETZ 15th July Rahman Rahman Huq & Co.

Scale Fund Round 2

Grantee NGOs First Year External Audit –

Round - I - 2012

Audit Firms

CARITAS Bangladesh 18thDecember 2012-6th January

2013

Aziz Halim Khair Choudhury

(AHKC)

Oxfam GB 19th Dec-29th December 2012 ACNABIN


EEP/Shiree external audit committee also approved and selected the 9 Audit firms for conducting the

third year external audit of 9 Innovation Fund 1 and 2 Grantee NGOs for the closure of the projects. In

Innovation Round 3, the external audit committee also approved, selected and appointed the audit firms

for year one for Save the Children-Tanisha and SSS in July. GUK and ADD external audit report received

and shared. Draft external audit report for CWW, Plan Bangladesh and BOSS are in the process of

finalisation.

PMTC (Bangladesh) Limited had appointed S.F. Ahmed & Co for the external audit of EEP/shiree from

25th March–19th April 2012 based on the approved Terms of Reference (ToR) by UKaid and Harewelle

International Limited. S.F. Ahmed & Co has completed the external audit and submitted final audit

report to PMTC (Bangladesh) Limited, UKaid and EEP/Shiree during the last quarter. In Innovation

Round 4 the same external auditor, S.F. Ahmed & Co. Chartered Accountants, was selected for Green Hill

since it was the same organization that audited the Green Hill project from IF Round 1.

IFR 1

Grantee NGOs Third Year External Audit

(closing)- Phase - I - 2012

Audit Firms

CNRS 4th-20th September 2012 Hoda Vasi & Co.)

Aid Comilla 4th-20th September 2012 S F Ahmed & Co.

HSI-Sunamgonj 4th-20th September 2012 J.R. Chowdhury & Co

Shushilan 4th-20th September 2012 M J Abedin & Co.

HKI 4th-20th September 2012 Rahman Rahman Huq & Co.

IFR 2

SKS 4th-20th September 2012 Acnabin & Co

MJSKS 4th-20th September 2012 Nurul Faruk Hasan and Co.

(Nufhas)

NDP 4th-20th September 2012 A.Wahab & Co

HSI-Rangpur 4th-20th September 2012 Aziz Halim Co.

IFR 3


Grantee NGOs First Year External Audit

2012

Audit Firms

Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK) 29th May- 14th June 2012 Nurul Faruk Hasan and Co.

(Nufhas)

CONCERN worldwide

Bangladesh

3rd July - 22nd July 2012 Hoda Vasi & Co.

Action on Disability and

Development (ADD)

24th June - 12th July 2012 Acnabin & Co

Plan Bangladesh 15th July - 2nd August 2012 S F Ahmed & Co.

Bangladesh Organisation for

Social Service (BOSS)

3rd July - 22nd July 2012 M J Abedin & Co.

SC USA 15th July- 2nd August 2012 Rahman Rahman Huq & Co.

SSS 30th July - 23rd August 2012 Rahman Rahman Huq & Co.

IFR 4

Grantee NGOs First Year External Audit

2012

Audit Firms

Green Hill 26th Nov - 17th Dec 2012 S. F. AHMED & CO, Chartered

Accountants

REPORTING

Throughout the year monthly accounts of EEP/Shiree were checked and prepared by the finance team

and the final versions forwarded to Harewelle International Ltd. The Foreign Aided Project Audit

Directorate (FAPAD) audit was conducted from 11th June 2012 and was facilitated by Shiree finance team

and GoB personnel. The team provided detailed feedback to DFID on the FAPAD audit findings for

forwarding to GOB through the official channels.


During this period the finance team communicated with the Project Director and submitted all reports

required by the Government of Bangladesh. GoB Quarterly reports were submitted by the MIS and

administrative office of Shiree. Financial reporting on Contracted Grantee NGOs and EEP/Shiree

budgetary information was provided for all three NSC meetings held during the year.

PROCUREMENTS & INVENTORY

Shiree procured 5 laptops, 2 printers and 2 UPS units for the Shiree office during this period. In addition

the following items were purchased through Crown Agents for CMS2.

The Shiree finance team provided DFID with an updated consolidated asset register as of 31st March 2012

for 36 projects based on their requirements. Shiree internal inventory check up to the period of 30th June

2012 was held on 3rd July. The inventory team consisted of 4 members including the inventory focal

person. A report was published and approved by the CFO. There was an inventory check operated by a

DFID team on 11th July 2012. The team also spot checked Shiree financial management system and they

have given positive feedback about the system. They sent their feedback on the inventory and corrective

actions were taken based on their recommendations.

SHIREE RETREAT 2012 – FINANCE TEAM PARTICIPATION

The Shiree retreat was held on the 19th and 20th of September at Savar TARC. The finance team members

prepared a presentation under the following three categories:

Evaluation of the Shiree finance team for the next three years (justification how the team will

contribute further for EEP/shiree project).

Focus on Shiree as an Institution.

Review the existing Shiree Financial Management System for the next 3 and half years.

VALUE FOR MONEY IN DELIVERY OF THE DEVELOPMENT BUDGET

―Good value for money is the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes‖ - UK National Audit Office

EEP/Shiree considered Value for Money (VfM) indicators through the medium of direct and indirect

delivery. During the time of budget review for all active rounds, the finance team in consultation with the

Operations and Senior Management Team ensured that the Direct Delivery Cost was more than 50%, as

required by prior NSC decisions. In other words, that at least 50% of each grantee NGO‘s budget went

directly to beneficiaries.

Item Suppliers Value in BDT Value in GBP

Smart phone Transcom Electronics Limited 3,223,710.00 25,092.88

NAS, UPS &

switch Global Brand pvt. Ltd. 408,000.00 3,175.84

Server and router Flora Ltd. 369,500.00 2,876.16


Other areas where Shiree has been active on VfM during the year are listed below:

INGO contributory funding

Following negotiations with the shiree team, some Grantee NGOs, specifically Practical Action, NETZ

and Save the Children, have contributed from their own resources under the budget heads of Human

Resource, Travelling Cost, Operational Cost, office rent and utilities and indirect deliveries. This

negotiation of contribution from other sources added value to the projects and reduced programme costs,

helping to sustain the value of direct delivery to beneficiaries. This strategy of promoting matched

funds, especially for INGOs, will continue to be pursued through the remainder of the programme.

Applying Best Practice in Procurement High importance was placed towards purchasing inputs of appropriate quality at the best price to

maximise the impact of all expenditure. Shiree follows DFID Best Practice in procurement and the entire

procurement system is based on rigorous attempts to drive down the costs, while sustaining the

appropriate level of quality, at the vendor level for all items procured.

Shiree shares a common procurement policy with all PNGOs to ensure the best value for money for all

costs of procurement at the programme level as well as project level. Shiree shares its procurement policy

with all partners to ensure the best VfM at procurement level especially in procuring inputs which are

direct deliverables to beneficiaries. Shiree is open to learning from other organisations and is also sharing

its models and systems with all the projects, influencing partner VfM strategies and practices.

Driven by VfM, EEP/Shiree has created a competitive environment in which companies compete to

supply inputs to Shiree. This has resulted in the procurement of the same quality goods at lower costs.

The competitive quotation and comparative statement process has seen cost savings of 20 to 30% on

many items such as arranging events like Extreme Poverty Day, printing materials, vehicle servicing,

appointment of External auditors, CMS related materials and equipment, hiring vehicles on urgent or

short-notice cases, materials purchase for office maintenance, servicing of equipments and field trips in

working area. These are just some of the areas that Shiree has been proactively ensuring value for money.

Crown Agents Procurement Vehicles, computers and related computer equipment, office furniture and other office equipment

exceeding GBP 5,000 are passed to Crown Agents for procurement. As they are a DFID approved

procurement agent, Shiree ensured all large procurement of the programme went through Crown Agents

and thus following DFID Best Practice in procurement. Shiree has the right to access all the documents on

procurement processes of Crown Agents and give the final approval for making the payment to the

vendor. The procurement process has seen cost savings of 10 to 20 % on the items they procured.

Efficient Use of Procured Items Shiree strives to ensure efficient use of procured items and maintain a strong inventory system. A recent

example of this in 2012 is when shiree transferred all motor cycles and cameras used by the Grantee NGO

in Innovation Fund Round 1 and 2 (closed projects as of September 2012) to the Scale Fund NGOs. These

items will be used by the nutrition project staff under the nutrition component. This resulted in the

nutrition project achieving 90% cost savings under this budget head. All other vehicles and equipment in

Shiree projects are running efficiently without any disruption in the operational activities. All Scale Fund

projects extended for Phase 2 with the same vehicles and equipments from Phase 1.


Cost Reductions Through Partnerships Where appropriate and where cost savings may be likely, Shiree ensures working with partners and/or

outsourcing to implement core strategic activities. In 2012, Shiree partnered with WaterAid in arranging

Extreme Poverty Day and achieved cost reductions of 50% in doing so. Shiree contined to work closely

with its technical implementing partner Mpower in the roll-out of CMS2 which has resulted in reduced

costs. Continued monitoring of procurement and implementation costs will assist Shiree maintain VfM.

Shiree is building partnerships in other areas such as linking beneficiaries with the private sector where

appropriate and feasible. For example a number of GUK beneficiaries will join Apex to work in garments.

Dialogue and consultation with project partners is on-going. This will ensure maximum impact of the

projects.

Applying Best Practice in Budget Negotiations: Shiree has continued to ensure value for money during approvals of annual or new budgets for any

Shiree funded project. During budget reviews, Shiree mainly focusses on possible improvements, in 2012

particularly for Scale Fund Round 1, Phase 2 including the following:

Reducing costs for the same outputs

Reducing inputs for the same outputs

Obtaining greater outputs with improved quality for the same inputs

Checking the rationality of budgeted amount under each budget head

Improved outcomes or improved quality in return for marginally increased resources

Under these guiding principles Shiree has achieved significant savings for each project in both the Scale

and Innovation Fund Rounds. More significantly, Shiree has ensured that all Grantee NGOs allocate a

major part of their overall budget (at least 50%) for direct delivery inputs for beneficiaries to maximise the

outputs of the project against their logframes.

VFM Going Forward In order to document the savings Shiree is working to develop an improved budget review format and

auditing process from 2013 onwards as recommended by the Annual Review team. Shiree is currently

exploring other options for conducting future VFM assessments for its portfolio. A potential method is in

introducing an ‗Integrated Financial and Output Reporting‘ system which integrates financial and output

reporting to provide information on the cost of interventions per unit for all key performance indicators

across the portfolio. It is possible to examine how much it costs each intervention to uplift a BHH from

extreme poverty.

Shiree has already had discussions with the team leaders of other projects within the DFID extreme

poverty portfolio with a view to sharing lessons and adopting common approaches to value for money

reporting and, more importantly, methods of continually driving up Impact for Money.


ANNEX 1: FINANCIAL SUMMARY INFORMATION

Sl#

Description of contracts Contract Value (BDT.)

Contract Value (GBP.)

Total disbursement upto

Dec'11 in GBP

Fund Disbursed in January, 2012

Fund Disbursed in February, 2012

Fund Disbursed in March, 2012

Fund Disbursed in April, 2012

Fund Disbursed in May, 2012

Fund Disbursed in June 2012

Fund Disbursed in July, 2012

Fund Disbursed in August, 2012

Fund Disbursed in September, 2012

Fund Disbursed in October, 2012

Fund Disbursed in November,

2012

Fund Disbursed in December, 2012

Total SF Fund disbursed during January '12 to December'12 in GBP

Total disbursement upto

Dec'12 in GBP

1 Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK)

- Moving from extreme poverty through enhancing economic empowerment (capacity building, voice and rights) of extreme households 964,86772,982090,869,1984,158,3850,326,673 812,201 737,404 864,701 2,832,791

2 UTTARAN

- Sustained and Expanded Effort to Make the Ultra Poor Out of Extreme Poverty by Transferring Assets, Cash and Skill in an Integrated Approach 682,22181,27416,284,2214,061,3887,374,903 967,58 535,863 548,771 3,031,385

3 CARE-Social and Economic Transformation of the Ultra Poor 226,034585,372231,563,3715,265,4196,546,644 118,855 203,093 1,653,320 5,018,452

4 Practical Action

Pathways from Poverty: Building Economic Empowerment & Resilience for Extreme Poor Households in Riverine areas of Bangladesh (PFP) 104,58902,65244,020,3459,218,3349,116,673 595,752 173,993 798,576 3,819,018

5 NETZ

Advancement of Marginalised Adivasis Deprived of Economic Resources (AMADER) 605,022239,99730,433,2016,250,3228,062,103 093,116 188,59 1,027,709 3,361,746

6 Save The Children, UK

Household Economic and Food Security of Extreme Poor in Khulna and Bagerhat Districts 529,79203,621241,230,3221,921,4554,204,704 468,012 885,004 835,679 3,867,821

7 CARITAS Bangladesh

Ensuring Sustainable Livelihood of Ethnic of CHT 380,95556,781877,765000,055,2000,052,392 813,19 725,921 467,583 1,035,3618 Concern Worldwide

Economic and Social Empowerment of the Extreme Poor (ESEP) 384,391737,08000,008,2000,000,223 377,294 356,982 860,430 941,167

9 Oxfam GB

043,271937,972050,581000,050,2000,057,532EUS LLAC_EER mafxO 589,35 594,083 886,559 1,071,609

Nutrition Intervention all 9 NGOs 39,796 85,061 62,092 156,652 343,601 343,601

401,969,92dnuF elacS latoT dnarGsOGN 9 17,036,022 543,969 99,932 934,462 274,081 220,506 662,045 656,446 611,390 1,121,204 1,658,292 157,973 1,346,629 929,682,8 25,322,951

Scale Fund Disbursement for the year 2012


Sl#

Description of contractsTotal

disbursementupto Dec'11 in

GBP

FundDisbursed in

January,2012

FundDisbursed in

February,2012

FundDisbursed in March, 2012

FundDisbursed in April, 2012

FundDisbursed in

May, 2012

FundDisbursed in

June 2012

FundDisbursed in

July, 2012

FundDisbursed in August, 2012

FundDisbursed in September,

2012

FundDisbursed in

October, 2012

FundDisbursed in

November,2012

Fund Disbursed inDecember, 2012

Total IF Fund disbursed during

January '12 to December'12 in

GBP

Totaldisbursementupto Dec'12 in

GBP

1 Aid-ComillaAlternative Livelihoods Options (ALO) 382,21576,312 13,661 25,944 239,619

2 Center for Natural Resource Studies (CNRS) Innovative Farming Practices as a Tool of Poverty Reduction and climate Change Adaptation 640,5741,781 5,137 10,183 197,330

3 Helen Keller International

Making Markets Work for Women (M 2 W 2 ) 200,894 27,949 27,884 55,833 256,7274 Intercooperation (IC),

Agricultural Innovations for Eliminating Extreme Poverty (AIEE) 035,8317,31875,712 22,243 239,821

5 ShushilanAdapting Natural Resource Management To Climate Change and Increasing Salinity 890,7233,222 12,468 19,566 241,898

6 Green HillImproving Markets and Poverty Alleviation through Cash Transfer 221,603 12,458 12,458 234,061

7 Intercooperation (IC),Integrated Approach to maximise the benefit of livestock value chain 489,6737,792 4,535 11,519 309,256

8 Mahideb Jubo Somaj Kallayan Somity (MJSKS)

Artificial Insemination in Dairy & Beef Cattle Project296,5086,5085,362 11,372 274,952

9 National Development Programme (NDP)Improved Nutrients Intake through Crop Variety and Supplements Project 933,01604,5195,672 15,745 292,336

10 SKS FoundationPromotion of Fruit Production Cluster Project 648,4147,6915,972 11,587 291,106

11 ActionAid BangladeshPARIBARVITTIK JEEBO-BOICHITRO GRAM(EXTREME POOR HOUSEHOLD BASED BIODIVERSITY CENTRES) 308,689 7,349 7,957 11,178 699,3 30,480 339,169

12Panchbibi Upazila Adibashi Multipurpose Development Organisation (PUAMDO)Hog Rearing by the Adivasi Women with Improved Accesses to Land 178,002 16,800 21,395 9,040 195,8 55,826 233,828

13 Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK)

Reducing extreme poor by skills development on Garments. 793,91 956,69 29,813 411,13 80,324 176,98314 CONCERN worldwide Bangladesh

InvESt: Investment for Economic Empowerment of Street Dwellers 33,901 33,828 29,495 092,12 802,36 147,821 181,722

15 Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha (SSS) -Four Ideas For Poverty Alleviation and Climate Adaptation

597,91483,01326,08 196,15 277,83 120,642 201,26516 Save the Children Federation, Inc.

Tanisha: Improving Income & Advancing Social Identity of Rural Adolescent Girls 76,138 5,659 47,568 814,22 75,645 151,783

17 Action on Disability and Development (ADD)From Margin to Mainstream: A Drive of Challenged People for

Economic Empowerment 453,56068,64435,4526,27 551,22 138,903 211,52818 Plan Bangladesh

Brining Economic Empowerment to Street Children (BEES) Project. 558,21836,62332,85 24,099 849,32 87,540 145,773

19 Bangladesh Organisation for Social Serice (BOSS)Mainstreaming Marginalised Communities(MMC) 025,22775,31571,74 734,11 615,4 52,050 99,225

20Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECo-Development)Economic Empowerment of Jumiya people through Medicinal Plant Cultivation: 8,556 58,048 429,55 981,33 165,5 152,722 161,278

21 Green HillMicro-insurance for the extreme poor in Khagrachari 8,833 091,23 280,91 079,83 857,44 135,000 143,833

22 Handicap International

Socio-Economic Empowerment of Disabled Extreme Poor: 5,659 394,5 734,8 906,71 37,198 37,19823 HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL (HAI), Bangladesh

Accelerate Livelihood of Left-behind Older Workforce: 19,211 4,122 602,5 914,11 175,63 432,89 155,552 174,76324 International Development Enterprises (IDE)

Women Onset Technologies for Sustainable Homestead Agriculture in Bangladesh (WOTSHAB) : 18,148 966,64 - 457,8 435,42 79,957 98,105

25 PRIP TrustEnsuring Sustainable Livelihood for Female Construction Workers: 15,494 223,6 945,93 45,871 61,365

26 Save the Children UKChildren focused reduction of urban poverty: 8,244 51,635 59,879 59,879

27 TARANGOEstablishing Fair Trade Handicraft Business for IndigenousCommunity in Bandarban : 20,289 254,61 477,72 150,43 78,277 98,566

232,324,3dnuF noitavonnI - latoT dnarG 98,363 139,456 267,743 82,269 70,379 128,467 235,535 157,366 77,821 195,093 60,251 217,394 1,730,137 5,153,369

Innovation Fund NGO's Disbursement for the year 2012


ANNEX 2: SUMMARY OF INDIVIDUAL NGO CONTRACTS – SCALE FUND

Scale Fund Round 1 (Phase 1 and 2)

UTTARAN

Uttaran are delivering the ‗Integrated Approach to Transferring Khas Land, Skills and Assets Transfer‘

programme to a total of 27,000 BHHs by providing Income Generating Supports (IGS) and facilitating the

transfer of government owned land and water bodies to the extreme poor for cultivation in 8 districts of

Satkira and Khulna districts of south-western Bangladesh.

Phase 1 covered 12,000 BHHs and Phase 2 is covering an additional 15,000 BHHs. In 2012, Phase 1

beneficiaries completed 3 years of economic empowerment activities on 31st March 2012. All Phase 1

BHHs will be monitored in Phase 2, but the larger emphasis has been on selecting new BHHs. A survey

was completed during the first quarter taking data from a sample of BHHs on Khasland possession and

graduation from extreme poverty. 31 new staff members were recruited and 3 project induction and

orientation sessions conducted in 3 new working area Upazilas. As part of the Nutrition component

Uttaran recruited 1 Nutrition Manager, 3 master trainers and 170 CPKs in the last quarter. The CPKs have

received training and orientation and household listing of 15,000 BHHs for determining nutrition clients

was accomplished.

As of December 2012, all 15,000 BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree for Phase 2. An

additional 184 households have been selected as beneficiaries since Uttaran did not select their full targets

in Phase 1 so they have been incorporated into Phase 2. A total of 4,241 BHHs have received IGAs from

the project in 2012. CMS-1 baseline survey has been completed for 5,890 BHHs out of which 3,981 have

been entered on the web portal up to December 2012. A further 5,913 individual household micro plans

have been developed in the last quarter bringing the total to 7,345 developed household micro plans in

2012. 2,359 BHHs applied for Khasland (1,959 BHHs from Phase 1 and 400 BHHs from Phase 2) of which

1,685 BHHs received 287.29 acre of Khasland in 2012. During this period a vaccination programme

provided support to 750 BHHs livestock assets, including goat, sheep and cattle. 202 vaccination camps

were held in 2012. 2,526 cattle and 16,262 birds received vaccines. A total of 20,566 BHHs from both

phases received vegetable seeds. Phase 2 BHHs made savings of BDT 510,768 in the last quarter with total

savings deposited in BDT is 8,038,863. 42 fisher folk groups from Phase 1 have been registered with the

Cooperative Department (they can now bid for water bodies at Upazila and District level) and 536 Phase

1 BHHs received safety net support this year.

The greatest challenge continued to be the politics of land transfer. Uttaran has continued its local level

advocacy efforts in 2012, with increased support from the Project Director of Shiree. In Jessore, PD-EEP

attended a khasland workshop and met with DC, ADC Revenue, UNOs, Union Land Officers, who made

commitments to give khasland to Uttaran beneficiaries. A total of 26 union level advocacy workshop held

with 22-25 participants in each workshop including Upazila Nirbahi Officer, Upazila Cooperative Officer,

Upazila Livestock Officer, UP Chair, and union level civil society members. 60 court cases related to


recovering possession of Khasland were lodged for supporting BHHS of which 5 are in the high court

level

High level visits to Uttaran field sites included EEP/Shiree Institutional Review Team which visited

BHHs in the project areas and met with senior management of Uttaran. Mr. Jamal Khetran, COO Shiree,

also visited the project during the last quarter.

CARE

Care Bangladesh are implementing the 'Social and Economic Transformation of the Ultra Poor‘ (SETU)

project to work with a total of 40,000 BHHs in Gaibanda, Rangpur, Nilphamari, and Lalmonirhat districts

of Bangladesh.



BHHs will be monitored in Phase 2, but the larger emphasis has been on selecting new BHHs for Phase 2.

A final 'Annual Reflection and Learning Workshop' of SETU Phase 1 was held in January. As part of the

Nutrition component Care recruited 1 Nutrition Manager, 5 Community Facilitators and 250 CPKs in the

last quarter. A 3-day long "Capacity Building Workshop" for 24 new SETU staff was held from 17-19

September at ESDO Training Centre in Lalmonirhat. The workshop was organised and financed by ESDO

and facilitated by technical persons of SETU.

As of December 2012, all 20,000 new BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree for Phase 2. CMS-1

baseline survey has been completed for 7,034 BHHs in the last quarter bringing the total completed CMS-

1 surveys for Phase 2 BHHs to 12,502. A total of 4,873 Phase 2 BHHs have received IGAs from the project

in 2012 including small business generation, livestock and agricultural inputs. Input support was

provided to a total of 4,034 BHHs of which Phase 2 covers 3,860 BHHs and the amount distributed at BDT

32,341,425. In addition, around BDT 1,598,027 was distributed to cover 174 Phase 1 BHHs. A total of 429

skills analysis session were conducted which included 206 within the Phase 1 communities and 223 in the

new Phase 2 communities. A total of 176 Community Action Plans (CAPs) have been developed at new

communities while 98 old communities also reviewed their CAP. A total of 90 community based savings

groups (dubbed fistful savings groups for saving rice) were formed with 2,099 BHHs. The groups have

deposited BDT 251,626 during the last quarter. During the last quarter a total of 849 BHHs were involved

in 45 cash-for-work schemes involving earth work and a total of BDT 2,638,300 was paid as wages. In the

last quarter 96 communities achieved 100% sanitation coverage of which 94 communities are under Phase

2 and the remaining 2 under Phase 1. It was achieved as part of collective action triggered by community

mobilisation.

Dialogue with local and national governments has continued in 2012, and Phase 2 has benefitted from the

learnings from Phase 1 activities. The project conducted a number of training and dialogue workshops

including a ‗Capacity Building Workshop for UP Members‘, a ‗TOT for Staff on UP Vision Setting‘, a

‗Workshop on Community-managed Savings Model‘, a ‗Union level UP vision setting workshop‘ and an

‗Open Budget at Union level‘. A day long workshop was organized to support SETU‘s local governance

(political empowerment) related works, conducted in 3 batches on "Roles of Natural Leaders in


Reviewing, Implementing and Evaluating Budget of Union Parishad" from 9 to 11 September at RDRS

Rangpur. An Assemble Market was established at Saptibari Union through process facilitation where 26

SETU Project participants have their business in this market. The market is now performing as a major

source of social, political and economic empowerment of the peoples of the respective area. The market

was inaugurated on 30th December 2012 by The UP Chairman.

The project had a number of visitors including a number of MPs from the APPG in the second quarter.

The project was visited by Ms. Jups Kluyskens, a consultant for UK-aid along with Mr. Anowarul Haq,

Impact Director of CARE Bangladesh in the third quarter. In the last quarter a field visit to SETU project

site was made by the GoB and donor including the Joint Secretary of the RDCD. In addition an annual

review team of Shiree, including an external evaluator and GoB official visited project intervention sites.

PRACTICAL ACTION BANGLADESH (PAB)

PAB are implementing the project ‗Pathways from Poverty: Building Economic Empowerment &

Resilience for Extreme Poor Households in Riverine Areas‘ to work with a total of 31,850 BHHs in

Gaibandha, Rangpur, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts of Bangladesh. Kurigram, a new poor district

in the north was included for extension of project activities.




Staff recruitment for the project‘s second phase was conducted and finalised in the second quarter. As

part of the Nutrition component PAB recruited 5 Nutrition Officers and 190 CPKs, the latter recruited in

the last quarter all of whom are being trained in Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices.

As of December 2012, all 15,000 BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree for Phase 2. CMS-1

baseline survey has been completed for 13,248 BHHs out of which 7,687 have been date entered onto the

web portal. In total 6,225 BHHs from Phase 1 and 2 received assets from the project up to December 2012.

Of this 4,851 BHHs were supported with sandbar cropping (2,760), floating gardens, homestead vegetable

production, sheep, cattle, chicken and duck rearing, cage and community based fish culture (10), food

processing(106), Light engineering (139) rickshaw van and diesel engine repairing and small trade

(295).This also includes 59 BHHs with social and physical disabilities. Additionally 1,374 BHHs were

supported with training and other inputs like orientation on sandbar cropping (1,000), goat and duck

rearing (349), small enterprise (6).

PAB has continued local level advocacy campaigns and disseminated learnings. A total of five news

stories were published in national and local newspapers, including The Daily Star and The Daily

Karotaoa concerning sandbar pumpkin production. BTV broadcasted a programme on sandbar cropping

based on PAB‘s experiences. A research project was conducted with Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science

and Technology University (HSTU), with whom a MoU was signed on sandbar cropping. The

Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) provided 95 Pheromone traps for 25 sandbar farmers in

Kurul sandbar spot in Lalmonirhat district. There were a number of visitors to the project during this

period including the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, an Ethiopian Government Delegation


and the All Party Parliamentary Group of MPs. The project has closely monitored the high risk of

flooding in the region and is prepared to face emergency situations.

DSK

Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK) is running the ‗Moving from Extreme Poverty through Enhancing

Economic Empowerment (capacity building, voice and rights) of Extreme Poor Households‘ programme

to work with a total of 25,000 BHHs in the slums of Karail and Kamrangir Char in Dhaka.




As part of the Nutrition component DSK recruited one Nutrition Coordinator and 62 CPKs so far. The

nutrition training is on-going and 3 master trainers have been trained. Binayak Sen, a respected local

economist and researcher, conducted an empirical review of the project‘s Phase 1, highlighting the

significant gains made by DSK beneficiaries, presenting the findings at a workshop in March.

As of December 2012 all 15,000 beneficiaries have been selected and verified by Shiree for inclusion in the

project in Phase 2. In 2012 a total of 17,250 BHHs have been selected – this is in excess of the 15,000 BHHs

target reflecting Phase 1 learning where the project experienced a high attrition rate, common in the

urban context. In the last quarter 7,563 CMS-1 baseline surveys were completed bringing the total CMS1

surveys completed in 2012 for Phase 2 at 12,303. During 2012 a total of 5,958 micro-plans have been

developed for Phase-2 beneficiaries. In the last quarter 2,952 BHHs received assets from the project. A

total of 9,485 BHHs have received basic training and 3,905 BHHs have received training on Enterprise

Development and Business Management. During 2012 over 500 savings groups have been formed

covering 15,000 Phase 2 BHHs and a total of 148 CBOs have been formed in 2012. Over 3,000 BHHs

received old age and disability stipend in 2012. Earlier in the year 6 community water points were built as

well as 4 community latrines.

DSK has faced a number of challenges in 2012 affecting beneficiaries in both slum areas. Two recurring

external shocks have been breakouts of fire and slum evictions. In April there was large scale eviction in

Korail slum. Nearly 800 BHHs lost their assets, livelihoods and many had homes destroyed. DSK

provided emergency relief to more than 300 BHHs, and has continued to track and work with these

households, and has also been part of the campaigns to prevent further evictions. A detailed report on the

impact of the eviction can be found on the shiree website. In addition two fire explosions occurred both in

Korail and Kamrangichar. A large fire occurred in Korail in October affecting around 150 to 200 BHHs

who lost everything they possessed. DSK provided extra support to those affected and set up a satellite

clinic in the area for first aid assistance. A large fire occurred in Kamrangichar in November affecting

over 200 DSK BHHs who lost all of their assets. One beneficiary died as a result of the fire.

DSK welcomed a number of visitors to their project including the DFID Annual Review team who visited

in November 2012. The Annual Review team members visited BHHs, and were able to see the satellite

clinics, static clinics, community latrines and interventions run by CBOs for disabled and old aged BHHs.


The team was also able to see Phase 2 BHHs who had not yet received project support in order to

compare the gains made and the graduation status of Phase 1 BHHs.

NETZ

The project ‗Advancement of Marginalised Adivasis Deprived of Economic Resources‘ (AMADER)

operates in districts of the Barind tract: Rajshahi, Naogaon, Chapai-Nawabgonj and Dinajpur where they

are contracted to target 18,000 households.


beneficiaries completed 3 years of economic empowerment activities on 30th April 2012. All Phase 1 BHHs

will be monitored in Phase 2, but the larger emphasis has been on selecting new BHHs for Phase 2.17 A

survey was conducted by NETZ and its PNGOs in October 2011 with Year 1 BHHs to measure

graduation with NETZ reported studies showing around 90% of BHHs have met Phase 1 graduation

criteria. Staff orientation on beneficiary selection process was conducted with 3 PNGOs as NETZ

recruited new staff as some field officers departed following Phase 1. As part of the Nutrition component

NETZ recruited all senior staff members. 150 CPKs have been recruited as of December 2012 and all

eligible households for the nutrition component have been identified.

As of December 2012 all 5,600 beneficiaries have been selected and verified by shiree for inclusion in the

project in Phase 2. The CMS1 baseline survey has been completed for 5,254 BHHs in 2012. Individual

family plans (equivalent to micro household plans) have been developed for 5,368 BHHs until December.

4,724 BHHs have received assets in 2012 including Phase 1 and 2 BHHs. This includes 4,195 households

receiving vegetable seeds and cultivating vegetables in their own homestead. A total of BDT 58,731,566

was spent on assets and direct delivery in 2012. BHHs have already started receiving support from

government safety nets with the number currently receiving up to December 2011 at 1,717 BHHs. In

addition 2,173 BHHs have had sanitary latrines installed in 2012 and are 5,600 BHHs now have access to

safe drinking water.

Local level advocacy initiatives continued in 2012 and a series of Khasland workshops took place in the

project areas involving ADC Revenue, ADC General, AC Land and UNOs. Khasland mapping and

identification has taken place and applications for Khasland submitted. The State Minister for Industry

distributed land title deeds for those BHHs who have received Khasland including 9 BHHs who have

received upto 396 decimals of land. NETZ participated at Extreme Poverty Day and 2 staff won the Field

Officer of the Year Award. A number of visitors went to NETZ‘s working areas including the Annual

Review team. In addition, Mr. Naved Ahmed Chowdhury, Social Development Adviser, DFID/UKaid

visited Tanore unit of Sachetan working areas. He interacted with the group and federation members and

shared his views on social inclusion and violence against women.

17 4,800 BHHs from AMADER Phase 1 will be included in the EU supported STEP UP project under NETZ livelihoods programme –

focusing on assets, a revolving capital fund and a flexible savings fund.


SAVE THE CHILDREN

Save the Children International (SCI) are implementing the project ‗Household Economic and Food

Security of Extreme Poor in Khulna and Bagerhat Districts‘ working directly with 37,000 BHHs. The Save

the Children merged country office and is now Save the Children International. SCI operate through two

PNGOs: CODEC in Bagerhat and PRODIPAN in Khulna, Bangladesh.


beneficiaries completed 3 years of economic empowerment activities on 31st March 2012. SCI conducted a

survey to measure graduation status in 2011 as per their log frame indicators and found 74% graduated

according to their findings. All Phase 1 BHHs will be monitored in Phase 2, but the larger emphasis has

been on selecting new BHHs for Phase 2. As part of the Nutrition component SCI has recruited 250 CPKs

in the last quarter of which 74 have received training on IYCF.

As of December 2012, 22,825 BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree for Phase 2. An additional

825 households have been selected as beneficiaries since SCI did not select their full targets in Phase 1 so

they have been incorporated into Phase 2. The CMS1 baseline survey has been completed for 21,851

BHHs up to December 2012. SCI has begun to transfer assets to Phase 2 BHHs as of the last quarter. 5,525

BHHs have had household microplans developed and a total of 2,261 BHHs received assets in the last

quarter. A total of 6,164 BHHs have received social safety nets support. Regular courtyard sessions have

been conducted in the last year – over 15,000 sessions were held covering the following topics: health,

hygiene and nutrition, water and sanitation, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation

related issues to community members. SCI has been ensuring that staff capacity is continually improved

and organized 2 training courses on Household Economic Assessment (HEA) and output analysis of

HEA data and Cost of Diet (CoD). SCI and PNGO staff attended these.

Local level advocacy initiatives and sensitisation efforts continued in 2012. 4 Upazilla Inception meetings

were held in 2012. The goals, objectives, stakeholder‘s status and implementation strategy of the project

were discussed in the meetings. This is important for SCI in order to be able to implement the project

with assistance from local government. The project received a number of visitors including the DFID

Institutional Review team. The Shiree COO visited BHHs in the Bagerhat district. Mr. Alex Rees - Head of

Hunger and Livelihoods, Mr. Nick Hall - Head of DRR and Climate Change and Ms. Nicola Hypher -

Social Protection Advisor from Save the Children UK London office visited HEFS/Shiree Project sites.

The team observed the situation of the BHHs both from Phase 1 and 2. The team attended the sharing

meeting with Union Parishad representatives and other stakeholders.


Scale Fund Round 2

OXFAM

Oxfam is implementing the ‗Resilience through Economic Empowerment, Climate Adaptation, Learning

and Leadership‘ (REE-CALL) project working with 10,500 extreme poor beneficiaries in 4 Upazilas of 3

Districts – Pirojpur, Borguna and Pataukhali.

As of December 2012, all 10,500 BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree. Also the CMS1 baseline

survey has been completed for all 10,500 BHHs, of which 8,571 have had data entered. It is expected that

all data entry will be completed by January 2013. The first Oxfam produced draft of the baseline report

will be available by March 2013. Oxfam have been involved in capacity building for its PNGOs. A

training course was conducted for both Oxfam and its PNGOs on Economic Empowerment. Based on

Oxfam‘s experience, this training was designed to develop an understanding on IGA selection and how

to develop HH level business plans. Participatory Capacity and Vulnerability Assessment (PCVA)

training was also conducted for PNGOs staff. Moreover, orientation on CMS1and CMS2 organized for

staff of Oxfam and partners was conducted. As part of the Nutrition component Oxfam has recruited a

Nutrition Coordinator and 120 CPKs have been selected from the community level. The Master trainers

have also been trained. The Training of trainers (ToT) has been conducted with 45 CPKs in the last

quarter and all CPKs will be trained by the end of February 2013.

IGAs and assets have been distributed to 4,512 households. More than 57% of households have received

poultry (duck and chicken) and livestock (cattle and goat) and 26% of households are involved in small

businesses. The remaining 17% of BHHs received rickshaw/van, agricultural inputs, boat and fishing

nets, fish culture, sewing machines, etc. It is expected that IGAs will be distributed to all 10,500 BHHs by

the end of March 2013. The BHHs that received poultry and livestock inputs received technical skills

training on livestock rearing. A total of 159 extreme poor households have been identified for cash

stipend support as they contain elderly and single headed members who are not capable of managing

any IGAs on their own. A total of 286 CBOs were formed, representing all selected beneficiaries against

an overall target of 400 CBOs. Out of 286 CBOs, executive members of 97 CBOs received organisational

development training; 18 CBOs opened bank account to deposit savings and 56 CBOs developed their

Annual Development Plan (ADP). 32 Participatory Capacity Vulnerability Assessment (PCVA) sessions

were conducted at a village level, attended by representatives from the Union Parishad, local decision

makers, teachers and religious leaders. The focus was on assets and household protection from disasters.

Oxfam has been engaged with local level advocacy efforts in 2012. The project has succeeded in enrolling

2,111 BHHs in different social safety net schemes such as VGF card, 40 days employment, elderly

allowance, etc. A total of 150 cash-for-work schemes were completed during the reporting period where

2,943 beneficiaries were involved in alternative employment opportunities.


CARITAS

Caritas is implementing the ‗Ensuring Sustainable Livelihood of Extreme Poor of CHT‘ working with

10,000 extreme poor beneficiaries in 5 Upazilas of Bandarban district in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region

of Bangladesh.

As of December 2012, all 10,000 BHHs have been selected and verified by Shiree. CMS1 baseline surveys

have been completed for all 10,000 BHHs, of which 9,590 have had data entered. It is expected that all

data entry will be completed by January 2013. The first Caritas-produced draft of the baseline report will

be available by February 2013. As part of the Nutrition component Caritas has recruited a Nutrition

Coordinator and 180 CPKs have been selected from the community level. The Master trainers have also

been trained. The Training of trainers (ToT) has been conducted with 45 CPKs in the last quarter and all

CPKs will be trained by the end of February 2013. Caritas has ensured that field facilitators and

organisers have been well trained, and organised different government resource persons to facilitate

training covering vegetable, cash crop and rice cultivation, poultry and livestock rearing and small

enterprise training.

IGAs and assets have been distributed to 8,692 households on four different horticulture models. Out of

8,692 BHHs, 1,718 BHHs received livestock (cattle and goat) and 71 BHHS are involved in small

businesses. It is expected that all IGA and asset distribution to all remaining households will be

completed by the end of June 2013. Additional support like education materials has been distributed to

2,000 students of extreme poor households. A further 48 unemployed young boys and girls have been

provided vocational training. A total of 79 BHHs have been provided support for land settlement process.

Caritas supported 600 BHHs for cash-for-food support in Lama, Alikadam and Thanchi Upazilas, in

response to damage of horticulture plots during the monsoon season which caused landslides.

Through strong lobby and advocacy at local level the project has also succeeded in enrolling 622 BHHs in

different social safety net schemes like VGF card, 40 days employment and elderly allowance. An anti-

tobacco seminar was organised with government and non-government officials for awareness raising

among people on bad effects of tobacco, since tobacco is grown as a cash-crop and also consumed

extensively in the region. An annual review and planning workshop was held in September 2012 to

review the progress of project activities – and learning and constraints faced in implementing first year

interventions was considered. Caritas also hosted the cross-shiree Scale Fund lesson learning workshop

during April 2012.

CONCERN WORLDWIDE

Concern World Wide (CWW) are delivering the ‗Economic and Social Empowerment of Extreme Poor‘

(ESEP) Project working with 22,500 extreme poor beneficiaries in six upazilas of Kishoreganj, Habiganj

and Sunamganj Districts of Bangladesh.

As of December 2012, 12,849 BHHs have been selected and verified by shiree out of a total target of

22,500. CMS1 baseline surveys have been completed for all 10,092 BHHs. Additionally 90 front line staff

of Concern‘s PNGOs received 5 days training (for ToT) on tested cropping patterns, homestead vegetable


cultivation and IGAs. As part of the Nutrition component Concern have recruited 215 CPKs from the

local community. 7 staff in the Concern project have received the master training on nutrition.

IGAs and assets have been distributed to 8,042 BHHs. 678 BHHs have received leased land for cropping.

Over BDT 616,000 has been distributed for small business activities. In total over BDT 39,451,888 has been

distributed in asset transfers to selected beneficiaries. Concern has encountered some delays in their

project activities but are still on track to meet project goals. The project has continued to hold quarterly

progress review and reflection workshops and monthly progress meetings are held at the PNGO level.

Concern hosted the 5th Scale Fund Lesson Learning workshop in Sylhet during September 2012. The

three day programme included a full day of field visits through which Concern received expert feedback

from peers, as well as extensive plenary discussion around the theme of sustainability strategies.


ANNEX 3: SUMMARY OF INDIVIDUAL NGO CONTRACTS – INNOVATION FUND

Innovation Fund Rounds 1 and 2

Innovation Fund Rounds 1 and 2 projects ended in September 2012. As part of an evaluation process, 12

Lesson Learning Reports were produced detailing 3 years of project activities. Detailed accounts of 3

years of project activities can be found online on the Shiree website:

http://www.shiree.org/research/lesson-learning-reports/

Innovation Fund Round 3

An review (SILPA review) of innovation Round Three was undertaken during mid 2012 involving an independent consultant (Khairul Islam) in partnership with a member of the shiree team (David Jackman). The report includes a critical analysis of all IF 3 projects.

CONCERN WORLDWIDE - INVEST

Concern‘s ‗InVest‘ project is developing a social business which sells hygienically produced snacks under

the brand ‗mojar khabar‘ from food carts and through hand carriers around Dhaka City targeting 700

street dwellers as Cart Managers.

A total of 280 BHHs have received IGA and skill training on confidence building, entrepreneurship

development, food business management, good hygiene practice and food processing. Two central

kitchens have been established and are in operation in Malibagh Chowdhurypara and Mirpur. Snacks are

being produced for the 28 mobile food vans, 60 hand carry boxes and via 2 food distribution vans that the

project has procured and are operational to date. This intervention is engaging 280 beneficiaries and is

operating in 5 locations around Dhaka University and Bangabandhu Stadium.

The project has received technical support from several figures within the private sector including

Coopers Bakery and Transcom Foods Limited. An MOU has also been developed with the FAO‘s

Bangladesh Food Safety Project to use their training materials and an application was given to the

Business Innovation Facility for technical support. The project team held meetings with office personnel

of Zone-2 office of North Dhaka City Corporation and Palton Police Station in Dhaka on Mojar Khabar

business and InvESt project. As part of the project‘s brand promotion strategy, 20 Mojar Khabar

advertisement boards were set up in the Bangla Motor circle to Eskaton Jono Kantha Bhaban area in

Dhaka city, and 51 Mojar khabar logo printed umbrellas were distributed among traffic police at Mirpur

and Malibagh.

A number of challenges emerged through the year, which prevented beneficiaries from operating their

business on the streets of Dhaka. These included political shutdown (hartal), the local police security

policies during Ramdan ordered to keep the road clean to minimize traffic jam as well as this winter

season‘s excessive cold and foggy weather. Further, one food cart was stolen by a beneficiary. The InVest

http://www.shiree.org/research/lesson-learning-reports/


Project organized the Annual Progress Sharing Workshop during December‘12 during which

achievements and challenges were shared with CWW senior management and Shiree.

Further review of project implementation progress will take place in early 2013 with a view to enhancing

the model to address the significant challenges that have been experienced so far.

BOSS

BOSS are delivering the ‗Mainstreaming Marginalised Communities‘ (MMC) project with 400 beneficiary

households in Pabna district. The project combines a number of activities to reduce social exclusion

including community led total sanitation (CLTS), khasland advocacy and IGAs.

As of December 2012 the project reached its initial target of 400 BHHs, who have been verified by Shiree

and completed household profiling. All 400 BHHs have received assets of BDT 17,000 taka and all of

them have at least 2 income generating activities to date. In 2012 all BHHs received both 1st and 2nd

rounds of IGA asset transfers (incl. land access, rickshaw vans, livestock, bamboo for handicrafts, capital

for small business). One asset is designed to bring longer term income while the other is designed to give

immediate income. 80 female beneficiaries were linked with and are now employed by a local cotton &

jute mill.

A khasland workshop in Pabna took place to sensitise local duty bearers to mobilise land for minority

female-headed extremely poor households. BOSS has mapped and identified the land for 50 beneficiaries

and submitted their applications. 16 vaccination camps for livestock (incl. cattle, goats) to beneficiaries

and their communities were arranged throughout the year in the project areas. Moreover, 385

Deworming injections were provided to cattle. A total of 12,234 BHHs installed their own sanitary latrine

during 2012.

25 groups opened and are still maintaining savings accounts with Grameen Bank. A number of dialogue

sessions on safety nets were held with Upazila and Union level government in Pabna district and as a

result safety net coverage had increased. 328 BHHs out of 400 received safety nets support in the last

quarter and a total of 35 BHHs are receiving long term safety nets (incl. VGD, old age allowances, widow

allowance and disabled allowance).

SSS

Shidhulai Swanirver Sangstha (SSS) are delivering the ‗Four Ideas for Poverty Alleviation and Climate

Adaptation‘ project in Pabna, Rajshahi Division, introducing three tiered farming working with 800

extreme poor households.

As of December 2012, the initial target has been reached and all 800 beneficiary households have been

selected, verified by Shiree, had their household profiling completed and have received IGA training.


During the past year a number of training sessions were conducted by the project on a range of subjects

including: 30 sessions on immunisation, health services, water and sanitation, diet and nutrition; 13

sessions on production techniques, business plan, quality inputs and services, private enterprise etc; 17

sessions on high value crops; 16 sessions on savings accumulation and income management; 8 sessions

on market analysis, marketing, price negotiations; 12 sessions on risk management and coping

mechanism; and finally 28 educational sessions on poverty reduction strategy, flood resistant crop

production, solar lantern, etc. Further, a total of 75 units of floating fish enclosures are prepared, and 368

beneficiaries have received on-board training.

A number of transfer of input support were completed during this year, including homestead gardening

seeds (sweet guard, bottle gourd, papaya, cucumber, spinach, garlic etc) with 56 beneficiaries, flood

resistant sugar cane cultivation with 360 beneficiaries, boro rice seed and mustard oil seed cultivation

with 200 beneficiaries. 40 units of surya hurricane solar lanterns have been manufactured and are ready

for delivery to beneficiaries. 1,680 units of fodder have been distributed amongst beneficiaries, ducklings

are expected to be distributed to 560 households in the first quarter of 2013.

Scientists from the Bangladesh Sugarcane Research Institute, with Upazila fisheries and livestock officers,

visited sugarcane fields in SSS working areas and provided advice on field problems. They arranged

training to the project staff at their institution in October 2012 which included practical sessions on new

improved technology.

PLAN

PLAN are delivering the ‗Bringing Economic Empowerment to Street children‘ (BEES) project, targeting

2500 children in Dhaka City. The project utilises PLAN‘s existing ―drop in centres‖ (DIC) which provide a

range of services giving a safe space for children to sleep, eat and play. The project target has been met

and to date 2500 children have been selected and verified by Shiree for involvement in the project,

household profiles for 576 of which have been completed.

One project intervention is supporting street children with safer employment opportunities and increased

income generating capacity (IGC) via skills training and an internship programme. Up to 2012, a total of

1,114 children have been trained in 119 batches. Following 6 meetings conducted with Employers, Civil

Society, different departments for the promotion of the children‘s internship programme, so far a total of

259 children have been selected for internships and 230 have already completed these with employers.

Finally a total 93 children were enrolled in 9 different vocational training courses. In the reporting year,

among 176 children, a total 168 have been graduated and 99 graduated children have been involved in

jobs through utilizing the new skills acquired from the training.

A further intervention involves supporting street children in developing responsible financial behavior

through sustainable asset generation. An innovative ―ATM Booth‖ style money depositing system has

been developed for children, enabling children to deposit money in any DIC and take out from any other.

Up to December 2012 81% of BEES project children saved BDT 1,425,620 with 13 DICs and non-DIC

sources. The average savings was BDT 802 per child. BEES project children can save with and withdraw

money from any DIC within Dhaka city with their unique ID number. Apart from that BEES project also


monitor the savings of BEES project‘s children who save with other institutions or persons (e.g.

employers). A total of 355 children received financial education during this quarter.

Financial and life planning profiles were done for 1,046 children, and a total of 817 children have received

Assets. To perform the activity in a systematic and transparent manner BEES project has completed the

following activities: developed the asset transfer guidelines, formed 7 member Asset transfer committee

in all 13 DICs with representation from street children, DIC, DMC, PLAN/BEES, reviewed the

purchasing policy of PSTC and ensured that procurement would follow legal procedures, organized asset

transfer events with the presence of selection committee members, local elites, DCC, Plan and PSTC

representatives.

Street children are supported in accessing basic literacy, rights awareness, health and disease prevention

through basic services, and increased protection and security in the community. In 2012, a total of 1,705

children have received basic literacy and numeracy training, and 455 children participated in 259 basic

rights awareness sessions. Several Work Place safeguarding meetings were conducted to identify relevant

employers and work places and a total of 40 employers have been implementing the child safeguarding

standards. A relationship has been developed with Qubee, who are planning to donate computers and

internet access to each Drop in Centre (DIC).

The project was faced with various challenges, such as difficulties of ensuring child safeguarding

standards through awareness raising of employers‘, promoting working discipline amongst street

children who enjoy their freedom, children discouraged from working on the street due to political unrest

(hartals) and frequent staff turnover has delayed project implementation.

CMS 2 TOT has been completed, however, a new child-friendly revised survey is being developed and

new Field Officer Training will be conducted in early 2013. All project staff have received CMS4/CMS5

training. New child-friendly pictures have been developed by BEES Children at DIC and CMS 4 & 5

surveys are scheduled for early 2013.

SAVE THE CHILDREN

Save the Children are implementing the ‗Improving income and advancing social identity of rural

adolescent girls‘ (also called TANISHA) project in Patuakhali, Barisal Division. The project has a target

beneficiary number of 900 extremely poor adolescent girls and their households, developing their

community leadership and life skills and building IGAs for economic empowerment.

To date the project has selected, verified and completed household profiles for 870 BHHs against a target

of 900.

As of December 2012, 630 primary beneficiary girls received assets e.g. goat, pigeon, chicken, sewing

machine and inputs for small business. Secondary inputs/support such as vaccination and necessary

feeds/treatment were also provided. All peer groups in Cohort 1 have completed their Peer Education

curriculum and all Cohort 1 girls have graduated from the Peer Education phase of the project. At the 64

Safe Spaces, a total of 758 beneficiary girls participated in several peer education sessions (approx. 12 per


safe space) discussing topics on adolescent development, adolescent life skills, marriage, disaster risk

reduction, health and hygiene, education, savings and attendance difficulties.

The project has faced major resistance from local communities some of whom believed that the project

intended to convert them to Christianity. As a result a staff member from Save the Children was attacked

and activities subsequently temporarily suspended. Project activities are now continuing though the

project is struggling to identify a sufficient number of extreme poor adolescent girls in the area who meet

the selection criteria and will therefore need to expand its working area.

GUK

Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK) are implementing the ‗reducing extreme poverty by skills development on

garments‘ project in Sadar Upazila, Gaibandha District. With facilitation from Shiree the project

developed a partnership with Apex Footwear, signing an MoU in July 2011, committing Apex to

employing 800 shiree-GUK beneficiaries from Gaibandha in their factories. The project organises a 2-

month long ‗internship course‘ which provides skills training to beneficiaries in Apex‘s factory at

Shakipur, Gazipur. The project provides free accommodation near the location for a few months, and

supports IGAs with the households in Gaibandha.

Throughout 2012 the project has selected and verified 854 beneficiaries, and household profiling (CMS-1)

has been completed for most of these beneficiaries. To date, four rounds of month long training courses

on sewing machine operation have been conducted with 448 beneficiaries and 178 beneficiaries have

completed the two month long internship program. To date, a total of 482 BHHs have received small-

scale IGA support from the project (BDT 2000/BHH) and 280 Family Development Plans (FDPs) were

facilitated and prepared. To complement the intervention and reduce attrition, the project organised 89

parent meetings in the different villages involving needs based activities, 14 awareness sessions for the

training participants and the family members of the targeted beneficiaries. The project is also developing

links to ensure beneficiaries receive government safety nets where possible, currently 36 beneficiaries are

receiving.

Approximately half of the trainees do not continue with the jobs but drop-out of training. Some have

found it difficult to adjust to the urban life and have returned to their villages while others have moved to

other factories which they perceive as offering a better livelihood.

ADD

Action for Disability and Development (ADD) are implementing the project ‗From Margin to

Mainstream: A Drive of Challenged People for Economic Empowerment‘ with 700 extreme poor

households in Dhaka City.

To date ADD has provided Assets to a total of 441 BHHs, most of whom are making good progress. ADD

has established a total 6 PANAH Centres which are fully equipped with Garments Sewing Machines and


all other logistic supports. In the PANAH Centres, 254 beneficiaries received the 24-day Training on

Garments Machine Operations. The most significant achievement of the project is that 220 BHHs have

received jobs in different garments units in Dhaka City. Most of these beneficiaries have been performing

well and got promotions from helpers to operators. In addition, a total of 454 BHHs received the 3-day

training on Small Business Entrepreneurship training.

A successful event on ―creating employment opportunities for poor people with disabilities in RMG and

beyond‖ was held with multiple stake holders, including the Minister of Industry, the Ambassador to the

EU, BKMEA representative, DG-Youth Department, American chambers of commerce, as well as several

businesses, NGOs, Shiree civil society, with coverage by the Daily Star. Furthermore, a round table

discussion on ―Disability Inclusive National Budget 2012-2013‖ was organized by ADD which Mr.

Enamul Haque Mostafa Shahid, Ministry of Social Welfare attended.

The project has faced a number of challenges which have hindered progress this year. Fire Hazards,

eviction and frequent displacement of the BHH enterprises, such as small tea shops, from the streets

caused great distress. The DFID Annual Review team visited ADD during November 2012 and the

Institutional Review team visited ADD during October 2012. These visits included presentations,

discussions and field visits including PANAH centres, observations of different IGAs and interactions

with the BHH.

Innovation Fund Round 4

ECO-DEV

Eco-Dev implements the ‗Economic Empowerment of Jumiya people through Medicinal Plant

Cultivation‘ project working with 750 extreme poor households in the Bandarban district of the

Chittagong Division.

During this reporting year, beneficiaries of Eco-Dev continued to receive support from the project.

Maintenance costs of vegetables garden, medicinal plots & fertiliser were provided to 400 BHHs. Eco-Dev

selected another 350 BHHs for the 2nd year of its project life who have been verified by Shiree. CMS1

baseline surveys have been completed for 400 BHHs; the remaining 350 BHHs will be completed by Feb

2013.

Eco-Dev established contact with pharmaceutical companies and listed companies which are willing to

buy medicinal products from the producers. A formal workshop with the market network group of 20

BHHs was held with the potential buyers in November to share knowledge on market linkages with

different buyers and to formulate a marketing strategy for the BHH products. A total of 160 day-long

awareness raising meetings were held with 400 BHHs to discuss medicinal cultivation management

issues. An annual progress review meeting was held in September between Eco-Dev and Shiree members

to discuss project activities and issues emerging during implementation of 1st year intervention. Some

agricultural plots were damaged by heavy rainfall and landslides.


Eco-Dev produced a brochure on medicinal plants for market promotion of products which was

distributed to different stakeholders including Herbal and Pharmaceuticals Company for wider publicity.

Eco-Dev has also created a page on market promotional activities for medicinal products on their website.

GREEN HILL

Green Hill implements the ‗Poverty Reduction through Agricultural Sustainable Advancement

Knowledge Transfer and Insurance‘ (PRASAKTI) project working with 1,300 extreme poor households in

the Bandarban and Rangamati districts of the Chittagong Division. During this year continuous support

from the IFR 1 project has been extended to the IFR 4 project, including support from project staff.

A total of 650 BHHs have been selected and verified for PRASAKTI project as 2nd year beneficiaries. Plot

establishment, seed, fertiliser and vegetable distribution has been completed for 50 beneficiaries. A total

of 181 beneficiaries have reinvested in IGA purpose by renting a combined total of 4,978 decimals of land.

A number of training sessions have been conducted including group based awareness sessions on

education, immunisation and malaria prevention, as well as gender and nutrition training covering 650

participants. A total of 552 BHHs have received skills development training and 98 BHHs on livestock

training. Pre-season planning sessions and Market linkage workshops have been conducted among 12

groups with 288 BHH in Bandarban Sadar and Kaukhali Upazila involving Bepari, seed retailer and

various fertiliser buyers.

Conditional cash transfers have been on-going, following beneficiary needs, and the 3rd Conditional

Cash Transfers have been distributed in Kaptai and Kaukhali Upazila for 331 numbers of beneficiaries

among 19 groups. The total amount of CCT distribution to date is BDT 1,450,900. A one-time emergency

disbursement of BDT 20,500 was given to BHHs who lost their crops due to heavy rainfall. Review

sessions have been conducted for 650 1st year beneficiaries of the project.

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL

Handicap International implements the ‗Socio Economic Empowerment of Extreme Poor People with

Disabilities‘ project working with 600 extreme poor households in Sitakunda upazilla in the Chittagong

disctrict.

To date, 478 BHHs have been selected, and the CMS1 baseline profile completed for 469 BHHs.

Individual household micro-plans for 204 BHHs have been completed, and a rehabilitation plan (based

on the type of disability and appropriate IGA) completed for 397 BHHs. IGAs have been distributed to a

total of 194 BHHs

In order to facilitate mainstreaming of disability specific needs, 48 community awareness courtyard

sessions were held with 40 groups of BHHs and community members to increase awareness on issues of

people with disabilities, their rights, the right holders, and to identify ways to increase access to services


and participation in society. During these sessions, information about availability of health services in the

union and upazilla level was shared to participants through courtyard sessions.

A total number of 247 disabled people in 220 households received rehabilitation services including home-

based primary rehabilitation therapy, activities for everyday living practice, user and caregiver education

on use and maintenance of support devices. 280 BHHs received basic training on Fund Management for

the IGA project cycle.

HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL

HelpAge International implements the ‗Accelerate Livelihood of Left-behind Older Workforce‘ (ALLOW)

project working with 1,000 extreme poor households in the Kurigram and Laxmipur districts of

Bangladesh.

As of December 2012, HelpAge has selected 1,000 beneficiaries in two Upazilas of two districts and these

have been verified by Shiree. CMS1 data was collected for 778 BHH. During 2012 HelpAge has been in

the process of developing mechanisms for cash transfers. A needs-assessment of age-friendly IGAs was

conducted in 9 working unions, Community Support Centres (CSCs) were set up and awareness sessions

were held with beneficiaries at the CSCs. 40 Community Support Centre (CSCs) were organised and

management committee members were trained in four batches in basic accounting methods, resource

mobilisation and access to local resources. CSC meetings are regularly organised, to date 254 meetings

were held. With assistance of the Health Department 20 health camps were organised in the CSCs and

878 beneficiaries were given health support based on prescriptions.

Individual household micro plans have been developed with BHHs to determine what IGAs are suitable

for the elderly and which asset transfers will happen in the next quarter. A cash transfer guideline to

procure assets and pursue age-friendly IGAs has been prepared and is followed in the field where cash

transfers, business plans and agreements have been completed for 500 BHHs. Skills development training

on needs-based IGAs was provided to 15 groups of BHHs. Further, burial support was provided to 22

BHHs who passed away.

The project faced some challenges providing timely distribution of direct and indirect deliveries to the

beneficiaries to benefit them at an early date. Further risks were encountered as a number of livestock (1

cattle, 5 sheep, 5 chickens, 1 duck) died due to various ailments, and as per recommendation from Shiree

and the Department of Livestock, actions are being taken to contain preventable livestock deaths. The

cold wave in December 2012 affected the beneficiaries severely and was responded to with the

distribution of warm clothing.

IDE

IDE implements the ‗Women Onset Technologies for Sustainable Homestead Agriculture in Bangladesh‘

(WOTSHAB) working with 1,000 extreme poor households in Barisal district of Bangladesh.


During the reporting year IDE selected total targeting of 1,000 BHHs and verified and approved by

Shiree. IDE completed CMS1 for 488 BHHs, while data collection of 512 BHHs is on-going.

As of December 2012 total 488 BHHs received CCT for basic needs and IGA interventions. A total of 488

BHHs received various types of training on planning, vegetable production technologies, intercultural

and pest management, nutrition and poultry rearing. 10 demonstrations have been carried out on new

technologies and varieties of crop. IDE conducted an assessment of basic needs and provided 431 BHHs

with de-worming support. 110 children were provided support for education through CCTs. In addition,

special winter IGAs have been procured for 488 BHHs. Beneficiaries are given a choice of IGAs based on

comprehensive needs-assessments.

PRIP TRUST

Prip Trust implements the ‗Ensuring Sustainable Livelihoods for Female Construction Workers‘ project

working with 1,000 extreme poor households in Dhaka City. The project works exclusively with female

construction workers in the city.

In 2012 all major foundation activities were completed and the project selection target was met. A total of

1,000 beneficiaries were selected and then verified by Shiree. CMS 1 profiling was completed for 550

BHHS. These selected beneficiaries were divided into 50 groups as per the project plan.

550 BHHs received a day-long basic orientation on the project intervention, attended opinion-sharing

meeting with FCWs on the possibilities of introducing insurance schemes and received training on

Constitutional Rights, Labour Rights, health & hygiene.

The project has faced a number of challenges and delays in 2012 mainly due to a lack of coordination

between staff and senior management. The Project Manager left very suddenly in the middle of 2012,

prompting Prip Trust to hire a new Project Manager. Prip Trust also faced a critical issue of over-lapping

selection of beneficiaries with Scale Fund partner DSK working in the same slum areas. The issue took

some time to resolve as the list of over-lapping beneficiaries had to be prepared and further field visits to

sensitise beneficiaries of the projects. Shiree will provide stronger supervision in 2013.

SAVE THE CHILDREN - KHULNA

Save the Children implements the ‗Out-of-Poverty-Graduation-Model for Urban Extreme Poor: A Child

Focused Innovation‘ project with 3,600 extreme poor households (1200 direct beneficiaries and 2400

indirect beneficiaries) in Khulna town of Khulna division. In 2012, 1,200 BHHs were selected and verified

by Shiree. 700 BHH CMS 1 profiles and 650 BHH micro plans were completed.

IGA training was provided to 495 BHH and assets were delivered to a total of 496 BHHs. A total 705

working children were enrolled at the Learning and Recreation Centre (LRC) and other educational

institutions.


SCI-IF4 organized a Regional Workshop on the role of stakeholders to reduce poverty of BHHs and their

children at the CSS Ava Centre, Khulna, involving KCC Counsellors, various NGOs and Government

officials from the Department of Youth, Department of Postal Service, and Department of Social Welfare.

TARANGO

Tarango implements the ‗Establishing Fair Trade Handicraft Business for Indigenous Community‘

working with 750 extreme poor households in the Bandarban district of the Chittagong division.

In 2012, Tarango selected 352 BHHs who were verified by Shiree and received day-long project

orientation training. CMS1 baseline was completed for all these BHHs.

15 craft based groups were formed and 55 types of traditional craft have been collected throughout 2012.

A total of 134 BHHs received 55 days handloom training, waist loom training and bamboo training, and

350 BHHs received goat, hog, poultry etc as secondary IGAs. The craft emporium location has been

chosen, entailing the rental of two floors in a building in Bandarban. Overall, the project has been beset

by a number of issues including heavy monsoon and high staff turnover, but is continuing to push gains

made for existing beneficiaries as well as preparing to select remaining BHHs in the second year.


ANNEX 4: SHIREE REVISED ORGANOGRAM


ANNEX 5: OPERATING AREA MAP

shireeHouse 5, Road 10, BaridharaDhaka 1212, BangladeshPhone: 88 02 8822758, 88 02 9892425E-mail: [email protected]

www.shiree.org

annual report 2012

Documents

r e p o r t

contents shiree

innovation fund

national level advocacy

district level advocacy

shiree annual report

shiree economic empowerment

poorest programme