Research Reports (2000): Economic Studies, Vol - XVI

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/13008

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Cumulative environmental effects assessment of BRAC's agriculture, fisheries and poultry Program
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-08) Rahman, Sanzidur; Hossain, Mohammed Zabed; Sharmin, Lammia
NGO intervention and the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This report mainly discusses the perceptions of the ultra poor regarding NGO membership and their future development needs if they join NGOs like BRAC. It also focuses on reasons for membership discontinuation, issues of targeting and suggests some alternative programme interventions useful for them. It was found that at the time of survey 79% of the ultra poor living in BRAC villages did not ever have membership of any NGO. Major reasons for non-participation were poverty and their inability to pay regular installments due to lack of continuous income flow. Age limit and vulnerability conditions also prevent some of them. Fifty-one percent of those who are willing to join BRAC, wants to get some support mainly in asset creation, loan receipt and in getting salaried job/wage employment. Only 12% want to get some donations. Due to heterogeneity even among the ultra poor a single intervention package would not be helpful for all. In designing any development programme for the ultra poor the subsidy element should be necessary for reducing their food insecurity. It also should consider all the elements of human poverty to address their multidimentionality of poverty.
Female-headed households and the ultra poor in Bangladesh
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This report focuses on the magnitude of FHHs among the poorest and examines their socio-economic profile to highlight the distinction between FHHs and the entire sample. Female-headed households (FHHs) are of two types: households without any male adult where female is solely responsible for the well-being of the household and households where a female is the decision maker and receives monetary support from other male members who have migrated out for employment. The first one is defined as de facto and secone one as de jure households. The prevalence of FHHs among the ultra poor is calculated at 35%, of them 78% were de facto households. The de facto households were smaller in size, nearly SO% of them were comprised of one member households, 98% were single parent households, three-fourth of them were educationally dark, one-forth of them did not possess any living houses. One-third of the de facto household heads were either beggars or disabled. The de facto households were economically less well off. Major sources of their income were charity and wage employment. A lower percentage of the de facto households owned any kind of nonland assets, the value of which was also significantly lower than others. On the other hand, the de jure households were relatively more well-off compared to de facto households and on some indicator better-off than others.
The ultra poor in the capital market
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.; Husain, A.M.Muazzam
This paper looks into the issue of accessibility of the capital market for the ultra poor by analyzing the extent of borrowing, their sources and uses of loan. One-fourth had access to any capital sources, and only about 5% received credit from any institutional sources. The landless, female-headed households, households depending only on female income, the wage-employed and the destitutes got less access to any kind of loan. On the other hand, access to loan had increased with increasing land. It was also higher for the households headed by male and for those depending only on male income. Endowment and personal networking with creditors were very important in getting access to any credit sources. Average interest rate paid for credit borrowed, irrespective of sources, was 17.92%. Nearly one-fifth of the total loan obtained from different sources was interest free. A maximum of 150% interest was also charged in Comilla and Jamalpur regions. Institutional loans were mostly used for investment and informal loan for crisis coping. The landless, female-headed households, wageemployed group and the destitutes, in most cases, borrowed to meet their emergencies and paid higher interest rate. Eighty-seven percent loan in Rangpur region were spent for crisis coping whereas in Camilla and Jamalpur a significant proportion of the loan was used for productive purposes.
Food security and the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This paper aims to derive some policy guidelines by analysing factors affecting food security of the ultra poor. Here more emphasis is given on the number of rice meals taken and the sources of rice consumed during the last 24 hours. Results show that only 17% of the ultra poor had the capacity to purchase rice for three meals a day. Twenty percent had to depend on help from others. One-fourth had only one rice meal, managed through any source. Food security was found to be highly correlated with household landholding, adult literacy, household asset base, per capita income and male female participation rate in the labour force. Differences in the level of economic development of specific region also had significant effect on food security. The disabled and elderly people are identified as a highly food insecure group. For ensuring food creation of wage employment opportunities can help those who are capable of working. For the elderly and disabled, there should be some provision of safety nets.
Selected living standard indicators and the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This report aimed to give a clear picture on the nature of their vulnerability and potentiality to cope wit by analysis their non-land asset base, ownership of savings and their level of human poverty. It was estimated that 91% of the ultra poor possessed any kind of non-land assets, 62% owned any productive assets and only 19% had savings. Average value of total non-land assets was only Tk. 3,787 at current price, of them value of productive assets constituted only 26%. Results on human poverty showed that 96% of the ultra poor used tube-well water for drinking, 88% for cooking, 76% for dish washing, 39% for cloth washing and 38% for bathing. Only 14% used slab/pit latrine for defecation. Eighty percent of the adult males and females possessed minimum two pieces of ordinary cloths. Access to winter clothing and footwear for all household members were for only 12% and 30% households respectively.
Income status of the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This paper reports on income status, major sources of income and determinants of income of the ultra poor Mean per capita income was calculated to be Tk.3,385, per annum that was even less than the estimated lower poverty line income. The contribution of males and females to total household income was found to be 66% and 34% respectively. Variations in the male female contributions were due to differences in the number of economically active males and females within the household, household resource base, and sex and occupation of the household heads. The study came up with the following conclusions. First of all differential income and its sources for different region indicate that the effect of any similar kind of intervention would be different for different regions. To minimize regional variations detail knowledge on specific region would help for its further modification. Secondly, insignificant positive contribution of external capital and NGO presence indicate that micro-credit can not be the only alternative for their poverty eradication. Since 77% of the ultra poor were mainly depended on wage employment, any wage-based development would be more beneficial to them. Thirdly, high dependence on others' help indicated that in any development programme for to the ultra poor, a provision of safety net would be necessary.
Employment and wage status of the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This report looked into the employment status of the ultra poor and factors affecting the extent of employment. Findings showed that 92% of the households were with economically active population. Majority of the rest 8% were female-headed households mostly depending on others' help. Sixty-six percent of the economically active population participated in the labour force. The prevalence of child labour was 12.7% and 2.5% respectively among boys and girls aged 6-14 years. For the ultra poor lacking education and skills, one of the ways of increasing their household income was an addition of household members in the active labour force. This was true for the household having such potentiality. For households without physically acuve members it could not be the option. Secondly, although an addition in the amve labour force was one of the alternatives to increase income the rate of return from such addition was not same for males and females. The income labour ratio for male was higher than female. The existing gender division of labour, discriminative wage variations disfavouring females, limited female employment opportunities were the major reasons behind this. Thirdly, due to significant variations in the extent of employment in different region any development programme would not be equally beneficial for all regions.
Demographic and social characteristics of the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.; Husain, A.M.Muazzam
This report aimed to understand the demographic, social and economic characteristics of the ultra poor. Analysis of data clearly showed that the ultra poor households were smaller in size than the rural average. One-third of them were female-headed households. Twenty-two percent were absolute landless, another 73% owned only homesteads. Average landholding was only 5.6 decimals. Majority of them depended on wage labouring and significant proportion on others' help. The study found some distinctive features of the female-headed households - smaller household size, lower economic and demographic dependency, higher proportion of elderly population, who had to work for survival. It also gave a clear understanding that the characteristics of the ultra poor in Comilla were different from the rest of the country. Among other regions Rangpur and Bogra were in the worst-off condition where proportionately a higher percentage of destitute live. Fifteen percent of the ultra poor were homeless. Another 30% own low cost houses with current value Tk 500 or less, houses constructed by cheapest and non-durable construction materials. Fifty-two percent of the living houses were roofed by corrugated iron sheets.
The educational status of the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.
This report describes the state of education of the ultra poor by considering four indicators namely: net enrollment rate of children between 6-10 years of age, adult and household literacy rates, educational status of the household heads and the rate of "educationally dark" or "enlightened" households. Net enrollment rate was 55%, while the rural national average was 77%. The rate was highly correlated with amount of land, quality of housing, sex, occupation and literacy status of the household heads, household asset base and saving. Increase in income enhances girls' enrollment more positively. About 51% of the households were educationally dark, where none of the family members had completed at least one year of education. The number of educationally dark households was proportionately higher among the landless, femaleheaded households and also among the destitutes. No direct relationship between this variable with household income was observed. Household literacy rate was 28%. It was about twice higher for male than female. Among the female-headed households, male literacy rate was more than four times higher compared to the female literacy rate. Similar trend was also observed for the destitutes and the most well-off. Land was found to be positively correlated with household literacy.
The process of poverty and the ultra poor
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.; Husain, A.M.Muazzam
This report focuses on the poverty process - how they become poor, the reasons for their falling into poverty. Poverty is multi-causal. On average 1.7 causes were identified by the respondents. Major causes of poverty were family break-up and land redistribution caused by higher population growth and scarcity of land, poverty inheritence, loss of income earners, coping with incidental crisis and loss of all properties due to natural calamities. The other less important factors of poverty for all but important for specific regions were some bad habit of household heads, river erosion and dowry payment ..
The extreme poverty in Bangladesh: an overview
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-12) Halder, Shantana R.; Husain, A.M.Muazzam
By reviewing existing literature this report focuses on methodological issues related to the identification of ultra poor in Bangladesh. According to different statistics up to 40% of the rural poor in Bangladesh remains uncovered by any micro-credit initiatives. Extreme poor consists of 30-40% of that population. Extreme poor are of two types. It includes destitutes and those who are physically fit for work but unable to consume more than 1805 kilo calories per person per day. The extent of extreme poverty and its actual number varies depending upon the methods used for calculation. Since there is no universally accepted definition on extreme poverty, it also creates another problem in its measurement. It is revealed from the findings of different studies that a single criterion is not enough to identify the extreme poor. In this regard a combination of variables highly correlated with poverty like household landholding, household head's sex, education and occupation and village level vibrancy can be a better choice.

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