Speakers at a discussion said formulation of time-fitting plan of action is needed for freeing the poor and extreme poor communities and other slum dwellers in the city from poverty and hunger.
They said the existing problems and prospects of the underprivileged community should be incorporated in the proposed action plan so that desired results are achieved in this regard.
Rajshahi City Corporation and Urban Partnership for Poverty Reduction Project (UPPRP) organized the discussion at the city bhaban seminar hall to mark the oath-taking ceremony of the office-bearers of UPPRP’s Community Development Committee (CDC) on Sunday.
More than 173 CDC members, City Corporation and UPPRP officials and others concerned attended the event.
Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has been implementing the UPPRP in the metropolis in association with UNDP and UKAid in order to improving livelihood condition of around two and half lakh poor and extreme poor people, especially women and girls.
Mayor Mosaddeque Hossain Bulbul addressed the programme as the chief guest while Panel Mayor Anwarul Amin Azob, Ward Councilors Mustaque Hossain, Ruhul Amin, Tahera Begum and Belal Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer Ajahar Ali, UPPRP Town Member-Secretary and its Town Manager Mahbubul Alam spoke as special guests.
Mayor Bulbul reiterated that the city needs more anti-poverty schemes to eradicate urban poverty in the city alongside eliminating other poverty linked social problems like child marriage and drug addiction as those are mounting in the wake of escalating slum, poor and extreme poor people.
He urged the public representatives and others concerned to think up ways and means on how to formulate a joint action plan to free the poor and extreme poor communities from the vicious cycle of poverty and hunger.
Under the project, the beneficiary communities identify and prioritize the environmental, social and economic challenges they face as well as the required actions to address them, said Town Manager Mahbubul Alam.
More than 33,000 households from slum and underprivileged areas across the city have come together in an anti-poverty savings scheme to raise more than Taka 11.5 crore.
Through the savings and credit programmes, the communities now can operate their own savings schemes and create a revolving fund from which credit operations are being managed by themselves.
Under socio-economic fund, more than 9,200 households receive block grants worth Taka five crore while Taka 4.2 crore were disbursed among 10,400 dropout school children for restarting their institutional education.
The programme promotes household and community level urban food production technology demonstrations and provides small input supports especially high yielding variety vegetable and fruits seeds, saplings, ducklings, chick and poultry vaccination.
It also provides business start-up grants to extreme poor women for poultry, goat rearing, beef fattening and agri-business allowing them to have access to regular income.
Besides, the ongoing apprenticeships and vocational training improves the likelihood of youth giving them an opportunity to have decent jobs and regular income.
Various other settlement improvement facilities like 11,000 pit latrines, 2,300 tube wells, 57,000 square-metre footpath and 9,000 metre drain were developed for ensuring improved water and sanitation among the poverty-prone communities.
The access to improved water sources makes the lives of community members healthier while the constructed toilets and bathing facilities leads to improved hygiene practices.
