Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation’s (PKSF) Pathways to Prosperity for Extremely Poor People–European Union (PPEPP-EU) project has made a significant contribution to improving the incomes, assets, nutrition, financial inclusion, and resilience of extremely poor people living in climate-vulnerable and hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh.
Through an integrated approach combining livelihoods, skills development, financing, nutrition and healthcare, women’s empowerment, and climate resilience, the project has significantly reduced extreme poverty among participating households, while the prevalence of stunting among children has declined by more than half.
Speakers made these observations at the closing ceremony of the four-year PPEPP-EU project (from October 2022 to September 2026), funded by the European Union.
The event held today at PKSF Bhaban in Agargaon, Dhaka, was chaired by PKSF chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan.
Michal Krejza, head of development cooperation of the European Union Delegation to Bangladesh, graced the event as special guest.
PKSF managing director Md Fazlul Kader delivered the welcome address, while Salina Sharif, general manager of PKSF and project director of PPEPP-EU, presented an overview of the project.
The speech of the chief guest, Nazma Mobarek, secretary, Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Finance, was read out at the event.
Mobarek said extreme poverty is a multidimensional reality and is not merely a matter of insufficient income or assets.
She said: “An important lesson from PPEPP-EU is that the ultimate goal of poverty reduction is not dependence on assistance, but capability and self-reliance. When financial support, skills, market linkages, health and nutrition, social protection, and climate resilience are addressed in an integrated manner, even an extremely poor person can gradually become a producer, entrepreneur, and active participant in the economy.”
Michal Krejza highlighted the European Union’s contribution to the project and stressed the importance of building on its achievements and outcomes.
He said: “A project should not end when the project funding ends. The ultimate measure of success will be whether the gains achieved by these households can be sustained — whether their businesses and livelihoods continue to grow, whether their assets continue to increase, whether their children remain better nourished. We are therefore encouraged by PKSF’s commitment to mainstreaming PPEPP participants into its regular credit programmes, and by the continued engagement of its Partner Organisations.”
PKSF chairman Zakir Ahmed Khan said: “The greatest achievement of PPEPP-EU lies not only in its specific project outcomes, but also in creating opportunities for people to strengthen their capabilities and confidence and move forward on their own path to development.”
He further noted that there had been considerable doubts about whether members of the extremely poor population could become eligible for and effectively use credit. The project, however, has demonstrated that with appropriate support, extremely poor people can develop the capacity to access credit, which can contribute to sustainable poverty reduction in the long term.
PKSF managing director Md Fazlul Kader said that over the past four years, more than three-fourths of the extremely poor households targeted by the project had moved above the extreme poverty threshold, with a significant proportion becoming microentrepreneurs.
In addition to a grant of EUR 22.81 million from the European Union, approximately Tk3,217 crore in affordable loans was disbursed among project households through PKSF and its partner organizations.
A presentation on the project revealed that integrated services were provided to approximately 860,000 people from 215,000 extremely poor households through 19 partner organizations across 145 unions in 34 upazilas of 12 districts.
The proportion of extremely poor households among project participants declined from 62.7% to around 22%.
The prevalence of stunting among children under five fell from 48% to 22.8%, which is lower than the national average.
The prevalence of wasting also declined from 17% to 12.4%.
