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QUALITATIVE MONITORING OF SHIREE INTERVENTIONS: CMS5 INTERVENTION TRACKING

REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERVENTION FOR PIARA BEGUM

Shiree Q2 Research on Extreme Poverty in BangladeshAuthor Yusra Tabassum ChowdhuryInstitution International Development Enterprise (iDE), BangladeshCMS1 Reference

106946340004 (Household ID from CMS1)

Interviewee name

Piara Begum

SexFemale

Age35

Ethnicity/ReligionBengal Muslim

Union, Upazilla and Zilla

Before the Intervention:Habibpur, Uzirpur, Barisal

End of l ROI (1): Habibpur, Uzirpur, Barisal

Dates of Interview

15 August, 2013

Before the intervention Oct 2010

April 2013

Well-being Status

Working extreme poor (2)

Moderate poor (3) (also moderate poor as of August 2013)

Livelihoods before and after the intervention

1. Rickshaw van pulling2. Dependent on agricultural labour3. Housemaid4. Support from neighbours

1. Rickshaw van pulling2. Dependent on agricultural labour3. Vegetables Cultivate4, Housemaid

Productive Asset or IGA owned working capital

1.Van2. Chicken rearing

1.Van2. Vegetables Production3. Duck rearing4. Chicken rearing

Marital status and household composition

Lives with her husband and two daughters.

Lives with her husband and two daughters.

Keywords Destitute, Housemaid, Van pulling, vegetables cultivate

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INTRODUCTION

This is the first reflection on the intervention of Piara Begum, a beneficiary of iDE’s WOTSHAB project. The paper aims to provide a brief narrative of all the major events and changes that have occurred in her life since the start of the intervention. All the economic and social changes are explored as we attempt to provide an analysis of the events leading to her present situation. Piara’s life history is published on the shiree website and is available here: http://www.shiree.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Piara-Begum-LH.pdf

LIFE HISTORY AND RECENT PAST

From her life history, we discovered that Piara seemed to be trapped in extreme poverty, with very little fluctuation in her well-being throughout her life. She was born into a destitute family that faced continuous struggle in generating enough income to feed all household members. It was also difficult for her parents to afford to keep their children in school. Due to extreme poverty, Piara was malnourished and involved in child labour from an early age. She was married to an extremely poor man and since their marriage; the couple struggled with hunger and food insecurity. They soon separated from Piara’s husband’s family, after which they were able to generate a sufficient income for regular food intake and they saw a rise in their wellbeing. However, their improved welfare did not last for a long, as she soon gave birth to a child around the same time that her husband’s health started to deteriorate. As a result, they both could not work for ten days, but were unable to seek help from their relatives, as they were also poor. Although they were extremely poor, the family was unable to get government safety nets due to their lack of political connections.

Piara Begum and her husband lacked sufficient skills and knowledge to enable them to earn an income. Because she had worked since the age of ten as a housemaid she missed getting an education, and this lack of human capital prevented her from getting a better-paid job. She also did not possess any productive assets with which to generate an income. The hope was that the iDE intervention would help her move out of poverty. Here all the changes in her life in the last year will be analysed, with a particular focus on the overall social, economic and political context.

NGO graduation design

This graduation design was based on the concept that without a smooth flow of income extreme poor people cannot lift themselves out of poverty. The program was designed to provide income opportunities through training and conditional cash transfer (CCT), and also provide technology for improved agricultural productivity. The perception of the extreme poor themselves was also considered to be of central importance to successful graduation – it is when poor people believe that they have the ability to graduate out of poverty that they can really change their well-being. The graduation design consists of five stages:

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http://www.shiree.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Parul-Begum-LH.pdf

http://www.shiree.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Parul-Begum-LH.pdf


The program design starts with the selection of 1000 extreme poor beneficiaries, all of whom were female to ensure women’s empowerment is achieved. Though most of the beneficiaries were from male headed households, a few were from female headed households. In the first phase, there was a needs assessment of all the women and girls to see what skills they have and what they can do such as vegetable cultivation, duck rearing, hogla and bamboo product production, fishing, rickshaw van pulling, vegetables

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Selection

Target beneficiaries are selected based on shiree criteria of extreme poorApproximately 1000 extreme poor female beneficiaries will be selected

Phase 1

Address basic needs of extreme poor beneficiaries:Needs assessment of extreme poorProvide first installment of CCT to meet basic needs (approximately 4000 Tk.)Ensure CCT conditions have been met

ImpactIncreased confidence to participate in the project activities through meeting target beneficiaries’ basic needs which will result in their willingness to become active participants in the project activities.

Phase 2

Focus on capacity development of target beneficiaries:Provide incentives through group trainings of beneficiariesProvide incentive through business planning

ImpactEstablished support connections within a group-based support network as well as provide motivation to become involved in IGAs.

Phase 3

Provide investment support:Second CCT installment to invest in agricultural technologies (approximately 4000 Tk.)Develop group-based support networks

Impact

Active involvement in IGAs; development of their capacity in IGAs; improved nutritional intake through increase in homestead production from the agricultural technologies; improved social status and confidence through active participation in group based support networks; incentive to reinvest in IGAs; and, increased productivity for personal consumption

Phase 4

Ensure consolidation of gains made:Follow-up activities- third CCT for continued investment in IGAs if needed (approximately 4000 Tk.)Business plan revisionMonitor and evaluation

Impact

Additional income earned through IGAs (depending on IGA this will range from 2000-15000 TK./month); increase in production to sell at local market; established connections with market actors; realized worth of investment and IGAs;

Phase 5Ensure beneficiaries transition into sustainable livelihoods:Establish forward business plans

Impact

Seasonal IGAs established without CCTs; future investment opportunity realized and planned for; incentive to plan for future opportunitieseducation; health services; HH improvement; incentive to improve overall state of livelihood


and fish marketing etc. and what amount of money is needed. The beneficiaries then commit to completing the plan and are given money on the condition that it is used for that specific purpose. This process gives beneficiaries’ confidence in meeting their basic needs and will allow them to engage more with the project.

The second phase allows beneficiaries to formulate a business plan before developing relevant skills and motivation through group training and capacity building. In the third phase a second installment of assistance worth around 4000 taka is given for agricultural technologies. A support-based network is also created in this phase which enhances intra-group communication for better management. In this phase beneficiaries become involved in income generating activities, have a better capacity to handle these activities and making nutritional gains their homestead gardening. Through active participation in the group-based support networks they have improved social status and confidence. These will lead them to reinvest in IGAs and they will have improved productivity.

In phase four, follow-up activities are conducted so that gains are consolidated. At the same time further cash transfers are made and the business plan is revised if necessary. At this phase monitoring and evaluation of the activities takes place. The additional production will be sold to the market and linkages with the market actors are made so that they get fair price for their agricultural products. In phase five they will be able to develop more productive business plans which will be sustainable and will be conducted with the income of the beneficiaries themselves. This will result in them planning for their future livelihoods and will push them to invest in health, education etc.

Through involvement with group meetings and support based networks, women like Piara will have more confidence in their abilities. They will have better economic and social status and her well-being will increase. This project design will enable them to sustain their businesses by growing a sense of ownership and skill which will lead them to design business strategies or IGAs themselves. WHAT HAPPENED?

THE INTERVENTION SEQUENCE

The project area is a flood-prone area and so the project was designed to develop climate-resilient livelihoods. Among many agro-based technologies such as pheromone trap and sac bag, the sac bag technology was particularly attuned to addressing this problem as sac bags with required nutrients for vegetable saplings are placed on high land, in which vegetables are grown. This could result into the production of vegetables even in the rainy period when agricultural land is submerged.

The intervention begins with a conditional cash transfer (CCT) with the commitment that the business plan identified by the beneficiaries will be supported by the program through financial assistance which must be used to carry out the business plan. In May 2012 Piara was among the 1000 women selected by iDE and an assessment was made on her situation in order to identify an appropriate IGA. A CCT was given, for starting her business which was a pit with mada (a structure made of bamboo so that crops can grow on that). Her main involvement with this project can be listed as follows:

Preliminary Household/beneficiary selection by IDE. The WOTSHAB project was mainly concerned with providing extreme poor women and teenage girls skill and technologies so that they can engage with homestead farming. Based on

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wellbeing status and livelihood opportunity, these beneficiaries were selected. So the women and teenage girls who were extreme poor and who hadn’t any skill in vegetable farming were selected.

Listing of potential beneficiaries. A database was created on the potential beneficiaries along with their main economic characteristics listed.

Verification selection of beneficiaries. After the potential beneficiaries are selected it is checked whether these individuals conform to the project objective, i.e. whether these women are extreme poor and whether including them in the project addresses local concerns of increased ground salinity, climate change impacts and lack of available land for cultivation, For example, if someone doesn’t face any of these problems, she was excluded from the list.

Introductory planning meeting - In this meeting, the program objectives were shared with Piara Begum along with other beneficiaries. In this meeting each participant was shown how they can graduate out of poverty. Here she was also asked to sketch her ‘stairs of dream’ in light of the project. Her business claims were also collected.

After these steps, CCT was given and Piara along with other beneficiaries were regularly monitored to see that if they were sticking to their plan or not. The follow-up activities can be listed as follows:

Two monthly sessions conducted by CF. Here technical problems associated with homestead agriculture were discussed.

Regular monitoring by Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. Support from support-group network.

DATE ASSETS/INPUTS CASH RECEIVED

PURCHASED BY

May 2012 Identification of extreme poor (women and girls)

May 2012 Training on agricultural techniques and input use (homestead vegetable production, use of insecticide, pesticide etc.)

0

May 2012 Purchase of seed, fertilizer, bamboo, string, pesticide, spray machine

1300 taka

June 2012

Monthly meeting and discussion on input and output market actors for creating linkage

June 2012 Purchase of medicine 60 taka Piara Begum

July 2012 Creation of support group network

August 2012

Duck rearing 3500 taka Piara Begum

August 2012

Tuition fees for children 700 taka Piara Begum

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October 2012

Bed crop (tomato, peepers) 3000 Piara Begum (seeds, fertilizer etc.)

February 2013

Bed crop 3440 taka Piara Begum

NARRATIVE

Early Stages

The Shiree intervention began on Piara Begum at the beginning of May 2012. Piara and other beneficiaries attended the monthly meeting to raises awareness and gain knowledge about the technologies and market. They were given training on using sac bags, using pesticides, pheromone trap, etc., and also informed as to where they could buy agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers etc. A support group based network was created, composed of beneficiaries and project staff, local businessperson, and influential persons. It acted as a pressure group and Piara Begum was one of the members of this group. She got help from this group in the form of getting information on whom to contact for seed collection, where to go for output marketing, etc.

The project was mainly concerned with providing women with, and hence promoting, agro-based technologies and business planning. It was assumed that they would be able to do these additional or supplementary things for agricultural production, According to the business plan Piara planted vegetable seeds in May and by August and September, the vegetables had grown large enough to sell. She mainly cultivated bottle gourd. Although her total income was only 945 taka against a total spending of 1460 (she invested 160 taka more from her expenses), these activities have had a positive influence on her life. She was able to consume some of the produced vegetables and sold the rest. Another important long-term benefit she got from this is her knowledge and experience in cultivating homestead vegetables.

Middle Stages

As she had invested the first instalment of CCT according to the conditions, she was given the second instalment for purchasing and rearing ducks. She was given 3500 taka for purchasing the ducks, and she was able to buy ten ducks for 1800 taka. With the rest of the money, she bought food and medicine for the ducks. She bought 10 ducks but five ducks died initially due to flu. Another five ducks laid eggs, which she was able to sell for 30-35 taka per four eggs. She does not sell eggs regularly. She collects eggs altogether in four to five days and then sells eggs from which she may be earn 100 to 250 taka, although this varies. She used to raise hens before the intervention and now she has seven hens whose eggs she sells for 30-40 taka per dozen.

In November 2012, she was given another 3000 taka as CCT, which she used for cultivating bed crops such as bottle gourd, sponge gourd, and ridge gourd. She had to employ an agricultural labour to help her cultivation of vegetables, because her husband pulls a rickshaw van and he cannot help her with cultivating. She has two daughters her first daughter’s age is 11, and her second daughter’s, who she takes care of is two and half years old. Although her investment was 3000 taka, she only made a total of 1415 taka from selling the vegetables at the market – a loss of 1575 taka. This was because some damage was incurred to the crops due to her lack of skill in agricultural production.

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Although she was given training on how to tackle insects and prevent crop damage, she was unable to utilize effectively this knowledge. However, when the first training was given on tackle insect and preventing crop damage, she was not able to attend the training as she was staying at her maternal home. Therefore, that time she had no knowledge about insects and crop damage prevention. After this production loss, she got training and now she knows how to prevent crop damage and infestation. In February 2013, she was given an additional 3440 taka for bed crop production, from which she earned 3875 taka.

She did not get any profit from vegetables on June to August in 2013. This time is the rainy season and due to heavy rain fall her vegetables garden and home yard were flooded. She is hoping to cultivate vegetables during the winter seasons.

Although Piara has been continually earning, she has also incurred regular losses which has meant she has been unable to save money every day. Piara’s husband brings in the main income. He is a rickshaw van puller and earns 50 to 250 taka per day. In rainy season, his income goes down to 50 or 60 taka per day but in the winter or festival season like EID or Durga Puja his income increases to 100 to 2150 taka per day. He also worked as an agricultural day labourer in August to September and earns 100 to 200 taka per day as additional income. He does not go for rickshaw van pulling when he works as agricultural day labour. She has also not been able to achieve a better living condition and state of wellbeing, or invest in any new productive assets, as her profit margin is not high enough. She is worried about buying further livestock as she considers this venture to be a risky one as livestock are very much prone to diseases and death. To generate her income three months ago she bought 280 kgs (seven mon) rice for 3000 taka which she will sell when rice prices increase.

SUMMARY OF CHANGE IN KEY INDICATORS SINCE INTERVENTION

Piara Begum consumes three meals per day. Before the intervention, she had to work as a housemaid and her husband’s income would support their expenses. However, after the intervention, she continues because she cannot ignore it if her neighbour or relatives call her to work for them. Most of the time she is in sick because she suffers from headaches, stomach-pain and if she feels better then she goes to work as a housemaid. She is paid 50-60 taka per day for housemaid work but she is not willing to go to this work and does not like it but she has to do it because it helps her to earn money. If she fails to go to work as a housemaid then her relatives and neighbours insult her using harsh words. This situation remains same before and after intervention. Piara has gained some skills in agro-based technologies, which she will use for her next vegetables farming harvest, and she is interested in doing that. Indicator Just before the Shiree

interventionEnd of ROI (1)

Well-being category ofSocially designated Head malePiara’s Husband Working extreme

poor (2) Moderate poor (3)

Piara Working extreme poor (2)

Moderate poor (3)

Diets* Two meals per day. They have three

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Lean period they have one meals per day and occasionally they have three meals per day

meals per day and lean period they have two meals per day.

Household Livelihoods ranked in terms of contribution to that years’ income :

Head (Husband)

Piara

1. van puller

1. Housemaid

1. Agricultural farming.2.van puller

1.Livestock rearing2. Housemaid

Productive assets ranked in terms of value (who is key owner)

2 hens 5 ducks and 7 hens

House and homestead:Ownership or tenure and condition of house.

Own house, tin roof, and straw/hogla leaf wall with 15’X 12’ room space.

Own house, tin roof, and straw/hogla leaf wall with 15’X 12’ room space.

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INTERVENTION MAP FOR PIARA BEGUM (35) FROM LIFE HISTORY TO DATE OF INTERVENTION JUNE 2013

9

4

3

5

5

5

Wealthy elite

Middle elite

Lower earning

Moderate poor

Working Extreme poor

Destitute

1983 1998 2002 2011 S 2012 May July September November 2013 (January) February S June

Training on agricultural input use

First installment of CCT for purchase of seed, fertilizer, bamboo, iron, pesticide, spray machine

Second installment of taka 3500 for purchasing ducks

Sold vegetables grown using first investment

Third CCT of 3000 taka for bed crop production

Vegetables sold and incurred profit

Crops did not grow well due to rainy season

Bought 280 kgs rice for selling

Fourth installment of 3440 taka for bed crop production

Piara was born in an extreme poor family with vulnerable income earners

Piara got married (without dowry payment) to Siddique who was also from an extreme poor family

Husband was ill and bothtemporarily stoppedworking, their incomefell with their wellbeing

Piara and her husband started work regularly and can afford 2daily meals for four people

Training on output market and regular monthly meeting

QUALITATIVE MONITORING OF SHIREE INTERVENTIONS: CMS5 INTERVENTION TRACKING- ROI (1)

DISAGGREGATED ANALYSIS

MATERIAL EMPOWERMENT: CHANGES IN ABILITY TO COMMAND MATERIAL WELL-BEING

Unfortunately, on her first attempt Piara was unable to grow the expected output from vegetable farming. Many of her crops died due to excessive hot weather and from worm attacks, but also because she did not put enough effort into looking after them. She sold most of these vegetables at the market and with the money bought rice and lentils. At that time, she would sometimes take three meals a day, but most of the time could still only afford two meals. For the last two months (March 2013-April 2013), Piara has been able to consume rice three times a day with slight fluctuation in this intake. After the iDE project started, her daily meals wavered three times per day.

Rearing ducks and hens helped her offset her poor vegetable production by selling eggs. The family also consumed some of the eggs, which helped them afford two to three meals per day. She has also saved from bed crop production such as peepers and tomatoes. She deposits 1000 taka to her sister-in-law and another 5000-taka to her mother-in-law, which she collects from vegetables cultivation, and her husband’s earning. This savings meant she was unable to buy any new assets, but she was still able to consume rice and vegetables regularly. As vegetables take some time to grow and vegetate, her wellbeing further stabilized with the selling of these vegetables every three or four months. She has not taken out any loans from moneylenders since the start of the intervention and so does not have any liability. She still lives in the same house, which is built on her father-in-law’s land, and she has invested 5000 taka into the house in 2006 when cyclone ‘Sidr’ affected their house. To repair the house she borrowed 5000 taka from her brother that, she is paying back in instalments from her income and savings. She did not tell her husband that the money was borrowed from her brother because her husband did not like that it hurts in his self-respect. She told her husband that she took the money from her savings.

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Seasonal livelihood map - diversification

JAN FEB MAR

APR

MAY JUNE JULY

AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC.

Available labour opportunities

Harvesting and collecting aman paddy

Lean season Collecting IRRI paddy

Sowing aman paddy

Lean seasonHarvesting and collecting Aman paddy

earning 100-200 taka daily

earning 120-140 taka daily

Before the Intervention

No homestead agriculture (ha)

No vegetable farming

Housemaid work and receiving 3 meals a day and half kilo rice

Housemaid work and receiving 3 meals a day and half kilo rice

Lean Period

Shiree PE agricultural production

Preparing sac bag for above ground vegetable production

Sowed bottle gourd. No income in these two months as crops are growing

Selling vegetables at 945 taka

Sowed peppers, with 2000 CCT taka

Sold eggs for 575 taka.

Selling eggs for 230 taka.

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HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE: WHAT DID SHE SPEND HER SAVINGS ON?

Here rank expenditure and investments according to amount, e.g.

Purpose of expenditure Amount/Year (in Taka)

How financed Who is the primary decider?

Food 14,400 Income from selling vegetables and eggs and left-over paddy which her husband collected from agricultural land

Piara Begum and Siddique Mollik

Treatment (They consulted doctor as her new born baby was suffering from fever and her husband’s health was deteriorating)

4,000 Earning of Siddique Mollik and income of Piara from selling vegetables and eggs

Siddique Mollik and Piara Begum

House improvement 5000 Borrowed from her brother

Piara

Total 23400/=

Who is responsible

Piara is the secondary decision maker in her family after her husband. Most of her and her husband’s earnings are spent on buying foods and she has not bought herself any new clothes over the last year, although she has bought some for her two daughters. Now they have shifted upwards to moderate poor with most of their income being spent on feeding household members and for treatment.

Wife’s earnings

Piara earns from vegetables and eggs. However, she cannot earn from vegetables throughout the whole year. Mostly she earns from vegetables in the winter seasons in 2012 and her total earning from vegetables was 4820(945+3875) taka. In 2013, she earned a total of 385 taka from eggs. She has saved some of the money has and spent the rest on food, medicine and other household expenditures.

Husband’s earnings spent

Piara’s husband is a rickshaw van puller and seasonal agricultural day labour. From rickshaw van pulling, he earns 50-250 taka per day. If he gets a number of good passengers then his income increases. However, most of the time, he only gets a low number of passengers, which makes it difficult to earn a good amount of money. In the harvesting seasons, he works as a day labourer in the field and earns 100-200 taka per day. It depends on the landowner’s wish and how much time he works for. He uses the money for the household needs and expenditures.

RELATIONAL EMPOWERMENT: CHANGE IN POWER IN SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RELATIONS

When the intervention began, Piara was pregnant and her family size increased after the birth of her second daughter. Piara had another daughter who was her second daughter and died of fever four years ago. Now she lives with her husband and two daughters. Her

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elder daughter’s is 11 years old and she is studying in class 4. Her younger daughter’s is two and a half years old.

Envy of her relative success breeds contempt from employer

Piara has good relationships with most of her neighbours. However, one of her relatives who lives nearby Piara’s house does not like her and is jealous that she suddenly has changed her wellbeing status. Piara sometimes works for them as a housemaid and her employers are afraid that if Piara changes her wellbeing status then she will not work for them as a housemaid. They never help Piara by giving her money or food. Even in the festival season like EID, they never invite her and never give her any kind of support to celebrate the festival. In fact they never ask her how she manages her livelihood. Before this project started, she had no experience vegetable farming and some of her neighbours did not have this knowledge or skill. Now that she knows something, which they do not know, it has made them angry.

Despite this Piara has another good neighbour who takes care of her. They support Piara with food. In the festival, they give Piara various food items for cooking like ‘Samayee’ (Bangali food looks like noodles prepared with milk and sugar), milk etc. Besides, they sometimes come to Piara’s house and gossip with her.

Political leaders: Unfortunately, her relationship with political leaders has not improved, as she is still unable to get a VGF card. Although she tried to get a card, she was told that there were too many poor people demanding cards for the number of cards available. The support-based network is not fully-fledged yet.

COMMUNITY GROUPS EMPOWERMENT

Original theory of change /Design of NGO

One major aspect of the project design is developing market linkages through the creation of group-based support networks and creating a platform for shared learning and knowledge dissemination through stakeholder meetings. It is this support network, which sustains and grows the women’s micro-business by developing market linkages throughout the value chain.

Impact on Household/individual

This network consisting of IDE beneficiaries and CFs is helping Piara bargain and get a good price for her agricultural produce. It has also given her a sense of community involvement. During the network meetings, she is able to interact with others and they discuss any topic related to the market with each other.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT

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Piara Begum feels that the skills and knowledge gained from the training and meeting help her to cultivate vegetables from which she can generate income. With the training and meeting on horticultural techniques, market and business plans, she is confident that she can now manage a business of her own given enough capital. In her words,

“It requires courage to do vegetable farming and business; we have to increase income by investing the profit gained from business. In this way, humans can expand their business and make profit. I will also do that. I will invest my savings in my next vegetable harvest and after making some profit I will reinvest it in another business.”

Piara thinks that one day she will be able to attain her ‘stairs of dreams’ which she dreamt when the project started. Piara dreams that she will give her daughters a better education and that they will stand on their own feet in the future. She also expressed that ‘people are seeing that she is now changing her wellbeing and they say it good for her’. She also dreams that one day she build a house on her own land. She wants to mortgage land on which to cultivate vegetables. However, she has not done it yet due to her husband’s illness, but now she is prepared to do this. She is afraid of natural calamities, and infection or diseases that would affect her hens and ducks.

GENDER EMPOWERMENT

After the intervention, she has been able to contribute in her family income, which her husband has praised. Her husband supports her in vegetable farming. To purchase anything for the household she discusses it with her husband and after getting his permission, she buys the item. However, in the case of buying agricultural product she can buy these on her own.

According to Piara, the relationship between her and her mother-in-law is good enough. If her husband tries to scold, her then her mother-in-law protects her and tells her son not to do that. Her mother-in-law will get her opinion on who her sister-in-law will marry. Piara thinks that her in-laws will give priority to her husband’s opinion in her sister-in-laws mirage because he is their son and he is a man. This indicates that the project does not ensure enough gender equality deeply.

Piara can spend and save money from vegetables and eggs according to her own wishes. Her in-laws never interfere in her decision to spend her income and savings. They encourage her to cultivate vegetables and to do business.

Piara never goes to market to buy products or her necessities; she tells her husband to buy things for her. Piara feels shy to go to market. She never attends the village “Salish” (a Bangla term for village Judgment, where community leaders organize a panel to punish village crimes) and in her words “Village women do not go in front of male outsiders, that it is not our culture”.

Piara never goes to her maternal house without permission from her mother-in-law. She said that, “We have to abide our respective elders”. If she is permitted then she goes to her maternal house.

The training she received in this project enabled her perception of her own skill to grow, and this confidence and developed capacity will help her run her own business even when the project ceases to support her. Her mobility has increased as she regularly

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attends monthly meetings and goes to the local market for marketing her agricultural produces. In reference to her newfound influence over her own life she said,

“As I can earn better than before and as my husband considers me as a contributor to the household, I can now take decisions in many family issues. Four months ago my two daughters fell ill and I took them to the doctor and bought medicines for them.”

INDIVIDUAL’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: OTHER FAMILY MEMBER’S EXPERIENCE OF THE INTERVENTION

Mother-in-law: Piara’s mother-in-law is happy that Piara is trying to change her livelihood through this project. She encourages Piara and her other daughter-in-laws to carry out projects inspired by Piara. Piara’s two sister-in-laws are also beneficiaries of this project. Her mother-in-law is interested in becoming a beneficiary and says that if there is any chance to be a beneficiary then she will give her name to be enlisted.

Piara’s neighbours: Piara said that when she was poor some of her neighbours did not like her. They never invited her in festivals or occasions. They never called her to work on their house as a house cleaner. If they sometimes called her to work as a house cleaner, they used to behave badly with her. Now they have changed their behaviour with Piara. Piara thinks that her improved wellbeing helps her to gain public attention positively as her neighbours now respect her, which she did not experience before.

WIDER CONTEXT – CHANGES SINCE THE INTERVENTION

When the project was going to be implemented a problem was that Muslim women did not want to come outside their home and talk to outsiders. But project staff made them aware of the project, their rights, business, and they also encouraged them to bring themselves out of poverty. Gradually women became aware about the project and they were able to understand that to use the knowledge and skills gained from the training will help them out from poverty and it is good for them. The project staff told beneficiaries that they have to keep the profit themselves and the beneficiaries did this. Their husbands disliked this, leading them to beat their wives. Then the project stuff had a meeting with their husbands and tried to make them understand that if they help and encourage their wives to work according the interventions then they would be able to change their livelihood and bring them out of poverty. Now the condition is being changed. The project makes links among beneficiaries, markets or buyers and seed sellers. Thus helps the beneficiaries to collect right seeds and get a good price for the products. The women who are not able to go to the market buy inputs from their fellow group members who are able to go to the market or buy inputs from the sellers and sell products to the buyers who come to their house.

In the case of Piara, she sells products to the buyers who come to her home and her husband brings seeds from the market that she has informed her husband about. Sometimes she gives produced crops to other beneficiary for selling who usually goes to market.

But Piara faces some external challenges to her wellbeing. There is an increasing price of agricultural inputs in the area, such as seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. This increasing price means that her investments are worth less in real terms, and will reduce her productivity. Besides geography and soil of the area where Piara

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lives is not suitable for vegetables farming. For this reason many crops do not grow well and many plants died before they were ready to harvest.

Piara also said that cultivating vegetables by using the technologies which are provided by the project is not so ‘female friendly’. Women are not able to cultivate vegetables and make vegetables alone. They have to have help from male. Women cannot make a pheromone trap, pit, sac bag and prepare land for cultivation alone.

SUBJECTIVE BENEFICIARY UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT CONSTITUTES GRADUATION

Piara said that she thought being able to secure three meals a day for all family members was a sign that a family had graduated from extreme poverty. She also thought that having a secure income source, which would enable a household to bear treatment costs, is also important, as poor health is a big problem in extreme poverty.

Piara wants to do vegetable farming but she thinks that rickshaw van pulling is more profitable then farming. She wanted a new rickshaw van for her husband but they did not give her the van. She also said that CF told her that they will give her husband the cost of repairing the van but this amount was never given. She thinks van pulling will increase her income.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

SUMMARY

The intervention is women focused. It ensures women’s access to, and adoption of low cost, simple technologies for increased agricultural production even on marginal land. These enhance women’s food and nutritional security and hence graduate them out of poverty. Piara was extremely poor women who had a lack of both human capital, in the form of agricultural skill, and working capital for investing in agricultural inputs. This excluded her from the market and she did not have the necessary information on where she could find agricultural inputs such as seed, fertilizers, pesticides etc. This project has addressed these through:

Giving CCT for starting business. This has enabled her to have capital for starting a business which was impossible before due to the lack of money or capital.

Helping her to develop her own business plan through her own assessment of businesses most effective for her according to the perception and/or ranking of profit and risk.

Giving her training or knowledge on agricultural technologies and hence increasing her skill. This has given her opportunity to use her skill for agricultural production even when the project ends.

Linking her to both the input and output market. This has resulted into getting better input and marketing her product at fair prices.

WHAT HAPPENED WITH REFERENCE TO THE GRADUATION PLAN?

As a result of the intervention, Piara has with moderate success adopted a new technology and is still reaping the benefits. She was able to select a business and run it by herself accordingly with the project design. She had difficulty in the first phase in implementing her lesson gained from the workshop and meetings, and it needs to be seen whether she can increase her income from homestead agriculture to the point of

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profit. Her regular presence in monthly meetings has increased her belief in herself and she feels that she can move out poverty.

It is to be noted that she has still not been able to see any profit, be it from bed crop production or from ducks and hens. She does not have any land of her own to cultivate vegetables. After beginning the intervention most of the time she was ill; when the project started she was pregnant and after giving birth of her second daughter she had to take care of her so that she was not able give much time on vegetables cultivation. Due to this she did not lease any land for cultivation but her daughters are growing and her health is now ok that she is hoping that next winter she will lease land which will help her to grow more crops and enhance her income. The geographical area where she is living is not suitable for cultivating vegetables. This is an important problem in this area.

It cannot be said that the project has a lot of impact in her life because she did not make much profit. Her bargaining power in markets has also not increased because she never goes to market to sell or buy the product. It does not seem that she is interested in going to the market to buy or sell products. In most of cases her husband takes all important decisions, though he discusses them with Piara, he is still the main bread winner. It means that though the project was intended to ensure female empowerment, Piara is far from empowered. Therefore, it can be said that the graduation plan has not been worked on Piara effectively.

ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD’S SUSTAINABILITY

Piara doesn’t have many productive resources and normally uses her savings and CCT to run her business as well as using her husband’s income from van pulling. She now has confidence in the fact that with her acquired skill and experience she can continue her business with just her savings. For Piara, getting an exit from poverty seems sustainable given some conditions. If she is sincere enough and if there is no major outbreak of life threatening diseases to livestock along with her husband’s continuous income, she can graduate out of poverty as envisaged in the project. Additionally the efficient existence and continuation of the support group network remains to be seen. Piara Begum’s and her husband’s sudden poor health or any accident can precipitate this household falling downwards the poverty line. Piara’s failure in vegetable production made her realize that income security will improve her household’s wellbeing, and she knows that as this is a very technical area, a little negligence from her part could result in big losses.

INDIVIDUAL SUSTAINABILITY

Piara’s sustainability: Piara said that if the project were over then she would still be doing vegetable cultivation as she thinks that it will help to generate her income. Still her economic condition is not very stable given that she did not make a large profit from vegetables cultivation.

Child sustainability: Piara’s elder daughter Afsana who is just 11 years old studies in class four. Piara said that, at any condition she would never stop her daughter’s education. Her second daughter Ahona is two and a half years old. Piara is now able to give nutritional food to her daughter and treat them if they become ill.

NORMATIVE CHANGE AND SOCIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE

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She does not face constraints in attending the meetings but it cannot be said that her mobility is increased. However, Piara is now bringing vegetables and other produces such as eggs to the market by taking help from other beneficiaries thus resulting into retailers’ increased profit, their perception of women have also changed. These retailers now also look at them as agents for increasing their business net and thus benefit. Local elites (even one of her husband’s uncles, and) especially neighbours think that Piara is in a better state, and value the fact that she can earn money supporting her household.

PROGRAMME AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Sufficient land is problem for Piara’s improvement as she has only two decimals of land which is flooded during the whole rainy season and the soil quality is low for a high rate of vegetables cultivation. In rainy season the whole area is flooded thus it is a key reason for her loss. So if she is given other type of IGA instead of vegetables production that would be profitable for her income. For example, she bought ducks with her CCT which is more resilient than vegetable production. Fishing as IGA would be profitable because the area is water logged for a long time which can be used for aquaculture. Besides a big canal is by her house which can be used for fishing.

The intervention does not involve male members of the family supporting women’s income generating activities. Her husband totally excluded from her pathway of improvement. If her husband is involved or if the intervention is implemented as a household approach that would be helpful for her resilience as she is not able to carry all the workloads of the intervention. She has two daughters who need much of her attention.

The support network group should be established as soon as possible in that area.

KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEW

Name: Jomuna Banu

Occupation: Housewife

Date of interview: 2/10/13

Place of interview: Key Informant’s House

KEY REASON WHY YOU ARE INTERVIEWING THIS PERSON

While taking Piara’s interview for CMS5 she said that one of her relatives (who is her husband’s uncle and his family) neglect or disrespect her as she is poor as well and because their social statuses do not match. So Jomuna who is Piara’s husbands’ aunt was interviewed to trace the changing relationship since the intervention.

FINDINGS

Jomuna said that Piara is a garrulous women and talks relentlessly. They are poor and before the intervention, Jomuna told Piara several times to do any income generative activities to change her livelihood status but Piara did not take her words seriously. Neither Piara and nor Jomuna went to each other’s houses as Jomuna said that she has no time to go to Piara’s house. Sometimes Piara and she quarrelled with each other

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before the intervention and Piara used slang language with her but now she has not been going to Piara’s house since the intervention. She thinks that Piara also does not have much time to talk with her. Now their relation is mundane as when they pass away keep exchange normal greetings. However, Jomuna thinks that getting the intervention has been good for Piara as she is a hard working person and Jomuna saw that she cultivated vegetables that made her income increase. Jomuna said that Piara is her nephew’s wife so she had not any personal hostile relation with Piara. If Piara could change her livelihood status, Jomuna and her family will be happy for that.

Jomuna said that Piara does not have any conflict with other people of their community. They all are more or less poor. Therefore, they can help them in their bad time. However, when she was asked if she helped Piara in her bad time, she replied that Piara never wanted help from her as she has other relatives to help her.

Jomuna said that Piara never borrowed money from her but Piara’s husband borrowed money from them which was returned in due time.

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