Introducing

shireeshiree – Bangla word for steps

stimulating household improvements resulting in economic empowerment

Economic Empowerment of the Poorest

Economic Empowerment of the Poorest

• EEP is a partnership between UKaid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Government of Bangladesh under the Rural Development & Cooperative Division, MoLGRD&C

• EEP aims to help 1 million people lift themselves out of extreme poverty and contribute to UN MDG 1

• Md Asadul Islam (Joint Secretary) – PD shiree• Colin Risner – CEO, shiree

Extreme poverty• 17.6% of our population is extremely poor*

i.e. earn less than that needed to meet just their basic food requirements; on average, that means they earn less than 42 BDT per day rural or 45 BDT urban*

~25 million people

low income linked to lack of employment, low caloric intake, no secured shelter, low literacy-rates, no access to micro finance, inadequately covered by safety nets, low community involvement and decision-making, elderly, people with disability and minority groups are the poorest disproportionately high among the extreme poor, 40% female headed compared to national average of 10%, intergenerational vulnerability, structural inequalities

*Source: Household Income & Expenditure Survey (HIES), 2010, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics

shiree portfolio• Challenge fund: shiree supports 9 scale fund NGOs projects and 27

innovation fund NGO projects across the country• Scale fund: large grants to scale up existing successful projects• Innovation fund: small grants to explore creative new approaches,

technologies and processes to lift people out of extreme poverty• Advocacy, research and lesson learning: shiree generates and shares

knowledge on extreme poverty through in depth research, a dynamic change monitoring system, an interactive website, frequent inter-NGO sharing sessions and Extreme Poverty Research Group

• Number of districts covered 24• Number of households targeted 259,715

117,955 selected as of April 30, 2012

Modus operandi• Shiree is an asset-transfer programme• Shiree partner NGOs provide carefully selected beneficiaries

(bottom 5% of the population) with a means to earn a sustainable livelihood and graduate out of extreme poverty

• Asset-transfers vary from NGO to NGO, and generally include livestock, poultry, land for agriculture, ponds for aquaculture, sewing machines, shops, petty trade etc.

• NGOs also provide holistic capacity building, community mobilisation, social empowerment and nutrition components alongside the asset

Pockets of vulnerabilityHaor

Urban

Chittagong Hill Tracts

Monga

Barind tract

Costal belt

shiree partner NGOsActionAid

SKS

CNRS

IC

PUAMDO

NDP

HKI

Green Hill

Aid Comilla

ShusilianSSS, BOSS

Save the Childrenuttaran

Concern, ADD, Plan

DSK

NETZ

MJSKS

CARE PAB

GUK

CARITAS

Concern

Oxfam GB

Eco-Development

Handicap

HELPAGE

IDE

PRIP Trust

TARANGO

SR2

IR4

SR1

IR1

IR2

IR3

shiree Advocacy• Aims to expand the understanding of extreme poverty and asset

transfer programmes among development partners, GoB and other stakeholders

• Aims to improve extreme poor people’s resilience to shocks, increase the sustainability of graduation, prevent the intergenerational transfer of poverty through advocacy which links the extreme poor to external support mechanisms

• Aims to strengthen local government response to extreme poverty and sensitise national policy makers on extreme poverty

• Focuses on improving policies and practices that effect the economic empowerment of the poorest through private sector engagement

• Nutrition and gender mainstreaming are important components

THANK YOU

For more information, please visit www.shiree.org