Author: AKM Ahsan Ullah
AIT Library Call Number: AIT Thesis no.RD-02-17
Year: 2002
Academic Program: Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP)
Type: Thesis (M. Sc.) – Asian Institute of Technology, 2002
Examination Committee: Jayant Kumar Routray (Chairperson); Reidar Dale, Soparth Pongquan (Examination Committee Members)
Abstract: The poverty situation of Bangladesh remained almost unchanged since 1971. Between 1989 and 1996 the number of population below poverty line reduced to only by less than one percent. The issue of poverty has become a matter of grave concern of the government, NGOs and the donor agencies as well. The NGOs hand in hand with the government have been implementing a wide range of development activities with a major goal of alleviating rural poverty. The purpose of the study is to analyze the current poverty situation and trend of pove1iy, poverty alleviation efforts of two NGOs (BRAC and Proshika) with emphasis on the impacts of their activities in two villages in Barisal district. These two biggest NGOs in Bangladesh adopt a holistic approach in their operations to bring about the improvement in economic, social and institutional well being of the rural poor. Data were collected for this study through household survey during the early 2002. A variety of secondary data and information are also used. The findings of the study show that the economic condition of the poor in the study area has not improved when judged against some indicators namely, income, food and non-food expenditure, productive and non-productive asset, food security, and employment opportunities. The Foster Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) index shows that the majority of the beneficiaries remained below the poverty line in terms of income and the overwhelming majority of them remained below the underemployment line (less than 260 days of work in a year). The regression analysis shows that the income of the households is determined by landholding size, family labour, days suffered from morbidities and the employment opportunity. This finding is also strongly endorsed by the perception of beneficiary members on the causes of poverty. Improvement in the social well being of the household members by almost all indicators is evident. Improvement in housing condition is visible, which is supported by the key informants’ interviews and observation. Knowledge on hygi
Scholarship Donor(s): Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
Note: A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science
Advisory: Full-text is available at https://library.ait.ac.th/ (accessible to local ip address only)
