Poverty needs to be addressed from multiple directions so that those who are poor in the society can be empowered to take their rightful place, speakers at a programme said on Saturday.
Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) launched a new project named “Creating Opportunity for Poor and Excluded (COPE)” to improve the conditions of around 1.1m people who are “excluded” from society.
Addressing the launching of the project, Gawher Rizvi, international affairs adviser to the prime minister, said: “The tragedy is the people who are at the bottom of the social and economical hierarchy, their voices remain unheard.”
He also said the poor were in poor health, had poor education, poor access to jobs and poor access to political participation, adding that the only way to eliminate poverty was to target the poverty from multiple directions.
The 24m pound, three-year project is aims to give support to 215,000 poor families through social safety net programmes, provide legal aid and health support to 95,000 oppressed women and distribute 23,550 acres of government land among the landless.
The COPE project will also provide support to 100,000 workers, train 10,800 people who want to go abroad, and rehabilitate 20,000 children aged 14-17 who are engaged in risky jobs.
The programme, funded by the UK government’s DFID and Australia’s AusAID, will be executed through 120 organisations all over the country.
Speaking as the chief guest, DFID Country Representative Sarah Cooke said: “We can never end poverty until we begin to challenge inequality and discrimination.
“Men and women, girls and boys must have the same opportunity to flourish. For all the progress Bangladesh has made, too many people have been left behind.”
Priya Powell, Counsellor, Head of Development Cooperation at AusAID, said the programme would accelerate growth and reduce poverty.
The foundation will provide financial and technical assistance to its 120 associate organisations, which are working in fields of human rights and governance under the COPE programme, said MJF Executive Director Shahin Anam.
The COPE project is being launched at a time when statistics say one in five of Bangladesh’s 160m people are ultra poor and of those, 11m have very bleak prospects for development.
About 36% of children are under weight, while 61% of children under five years’ physical growth is not up to par.
