With the pledge of transforming the world by 2030, the UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015 has finished.After successful negotiations, the summit has adopted the sustainable development agenda formally named “Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development.”
The 17 goals and 169 targets seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete the unfinished business, seeking to eradicate malnutrition and poverty, reduce child mortality, and ensure universal secondary education by 2030.
The world leaders recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. It is only possible when all countries and all stakeholders act in collaborative partnership to implement the plan.
Bangladesh has already made commendable progress when it comes to eradication of all forms of poverty. Over the past 40 years since independence, Bangladesh has cut the poverty rate by 60%.
In spite of the progress in eradication of poverty, it is estimated that 47 million people here are living below the poverty line. A significant proportion of the 47 million people live in female-headed households, and consist of socially excluded and other vulnerable people.
In 2002, BRAC initiated its Ultra-Poor Program which is now demonstrating a proven model to fight back extreme poverty.
By targetting the underprivileged women who are entrapped in extreme poverty, BRAC is working with a unique set of interventions with its different approaches, including a grants-based approach and a grant-plus credit approach, for the eradication of all forms of poverty by 2030.
BRAC acknowledges that poverty is not a homogenous issue and different factors such as inclusive growth, livelihood and employment, access to basic infrastructures and services, food security, nutrition, health, education, equality etc need to be addressed to put an end to poverty in Bangladesh. BRAC has found that basic entrepreneurship, when introduced together with other measures, can transform the economic lives of the poorest.
One of the targets of the SDGs is to ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land, and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology, and financial services, including micro-finance by 2030.
BRAC’s model to eradicate poverty includes proper targetting, life-skill based training, asset transfer, weekly stipend, regular home visit, health care, and social integration to fulfill the target.
BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Program has an approach named Addressing Climate Change Destitution (ACCD), targetting to build resilience and reduce exposure and vulnerability of the poor to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters by 2030.
This program meticulously addresses the vulnerability issues of the ultra-poor people who are affected by climate change and natural disasters.
Although significant progress has been made to eradicate poverty, development has not reached all the most vulnerable and rural regions.
With the mandate of poverty eradication, BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Program has been covering significant part of the globe including Bangladesh.
Governments and NGOs in nine countries - - Ethiopia, Honduras, Peru, Yemen, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ghana, and Haiti have drawn significant inspiration from the ultra-poor program and replicated the model in their countries.
Currently in South Sudan and Pakistan, the program has been adopted and running successfully.
BRAC is heading towards the valiant and transformative path of global development which is urgently needed to change the world to a sustainable and resilient planet.
Being a role model of international collaboration and knowledge exchange, BRAC believes that all countries and all stakeholders acting in collaborative partnership can absolve the human race from the tyranny of poverty.
