Growth of Development

No of families covered under THP
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No of branches covered under THP
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Targeting the Hard Core Poor(THP)


Background

The poorest of the poor section is said to be bypassed by microfinance. Even if credit facility is extended to them, they are reluctant to accept it. They lack the basic confidence of utilizing the credit facility towards any income generating activity. They are not sure whether they will be able to successfully repay the loan. As a result, they stay out of the preview of microfinance services.

In order to reach out to such hard core poor, Bandhan exclusively designed a grant based program for them with an objective of uplifting them to mainstream finance. This unique initiative started in 2006.


Target group

This program aims to reach out to the hard core poor who are bypassed by microfinance. It targets the extremely destitute women having no asset base or alternative sources of income, are highly vulnerable to shocks, deserted by husbands, and mainly dependent on begging, wage labor, etc.

Objectives

  • To bring in economic, social and inspirational changes in the lives of the hard core poor families
  • To help the hard core poor families graduate to mainstream finance at the end of 24 months intervention (via grant support)
  • To form effective village committees that will act as guardians of the hard core poor families after the completion of the program

Program Description

This program of 24 months duration has been so designed that the initial tasks involved are tracking these hard core poor through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), wherein the village community collectively select the needy women. Thereafter Bandhan helps to identify a feasible enterprise, which is easily manageable by the beneficiary and trains her on enterprise management and simultaneously engages in her confidence-building. Once the beneficiary is identified as capable of managing such an enterprise, the relevant asset is donated to her (in kind, not in cash) via an asset transfer ceremony.

Regular training and hand-holding support is provided to her, both technical and with respect to consumption, till the enterprise starts generating surplus. She is also trained to reach a stage of basic literacy and is educated on certain issues of social importance. Bandhan also provides the beneficiaries with sanitary latrines and encourages them to use it.

It is expected that the beneficiaries would graduate to mainstream finance within 24 months and henceforth embark on a sustainable human development path.

Components of the Program


  • Selection of beneficiaries
  • Enterprise selection
  • Training
  • Asset transfer
  • Additional support
  • Follow up and monitoring
  • Graduation
Process for upliftment of poorest of the poor

Selection of beneficiariesEnterprise selectionTrainingAsset transferAdditional supportFollow up and monitoring             Graduation           
Selection of beneficiaries- The poorest of the poor are identified through the following methods.

An extensive Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercise is conducted including the following steps.

  • Rapport Building
  • Social Mapping
  • Wealth Ranking
Thereafter Questionnaire is conducted following which verification and final selection takes place.

Funding and Research

In terms of funding, the Program has received grant support from the following institutions.

  • CGAP
  • The Ford Foundation
  • The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA has been associated with the research of the CUF-THP Program in Murshidabad district of West Bengal ever since its inception.


Program Highlights

Performance of the hard core poor program has been mentioned below. These data are all as of December , 2011.

No Particulars Total
1 States 4
2 Districts 18
3 Branches 45
4 Villages 785
5 Beneficiaries 5,023
6 Graduate beneficiaries 2,701
7 Staff 73

Case Study

Arfa Bibi and her family were living in extreme poverty for decades. She lived with her husband who was a daily laborer and used to work in agriculture lands. However, he used to remain unemployed for the greater times of the year. Times were extremely for Arfa as she did not know how to provide for her three children. Finally, she decided to resort to begging to support her family.
However, her plights were soon answered as she was selected as a THP beneficiary by the Bandhan Team in Beldanga, Murshidabad. Her village community identified Arfa as hard core poor through the Participatory Rural Appraisal conducted by Bandhan team. After verification by the Bandhan team, she was finally selected as a beneficiary of the THP Program.
She received four goats from Bandhan as her primary enterprise. Thereafter there was no looking back; her asset basket (number of goats) has increased to 11. She sold three goats and used the sale proceeds to start a small poultry enterprise. She bought 10 chickens and reared them .After the chicken laid eggs, she started selling them in the neighbourhood and local markets every day. Presently, she earns on an average Rs.90 through sale of eggs each week. She also ensures that her daughters are fed on eggs each day. At present, she has around 15 chickens.


Gradually, Arfa was gaining confidence to sustain her family on own- this was soon manifested in her desire to further diversify her income options. She further sold 3 goats and leased in 5 kathas of land. She commenced vegetable cultivation on the land. She cultivated cauliflower on her land and reaped a profit of Rs.2400. Later, she again sold 4 goats and leased in another 10 kathas. Today, she ensures vegetable and paddy cultivation on her 15 kathas of land.
Recently, Arfa took the first step towards her economic emancipation by taking her first microfinance loan of Rs.3000 to expand her agricultural enterprise.
"My life changed entirely within 24 months and I owe it all to Bandhan" -says Arfa on a concluding note.