RDRS Stakeholders

STAKEHOLDERS – PROGRAMME PARTICIPANTS

Rationale

The main thrust of the RDRS development programme has been poverty alleviation at the grassroots. The homogeneous `primary groups` formed of member households drawn primarily from the mainstream poor living in the same village or locality have been and will remain the essential ‘social infrastructure’ which is a precondition for further development progress.

In addition to continuing to organise, within available capacity, the existing `target group’ or constituency – landless and marginal farmers - special efforts will also be extended, resources permitting, to serve three other categories of rural poor in addition. In its ongoing programme activities, RDRS already reaches out to this diverse constituency. However, under the Strategy 2001-2005, a more differentiated and targeted approach will be developed to replace the more standardized one currently applied: The five categories of the disadvantaged population which the programme will reach out to are as follows:

	The `Mainstream’ Poor, Landless and near-landless (marginal farmers).
	The `Advantaged’ Poor, Small Farmers (also known as `Tomorrow’s Poor’ through high rates of marginalisation).
	Special Categories of Disadvantaged.
	Riverine/Char populations: people inhvbaiting the fragile and vulnerable riverine belt of bthe river Brhampurta in Kurirgam District.
	Tribal/Ethnic minorities.
	Others (including community health programme users primarily women, recipients of disaster relief and other community-wide initiatives; the Ultra Poor.

In its Strategy 2001-2005, a more differentiated and targeted approach will be developed to replace the more standardized one currently applied. Although the specific details will be developed, it is envisaged that, in broad terms, the approach for the two former categories will focus on social-organisation (group building) and economic promotion while for the special categories a more diver intervention is necessary but this will be characterised by the emphasis on social organisation and awareness. However, other elements will be incorporated according to circumstances; in the case of the Other categories, the continuation of health, periodic disaster relief and other services

Landless and Marginal Farmers

The `Mainstream’ Poor, comprising landless and near landless (so-called marginal farmers) owning less than 1.5 acres of land (and normally less than 1 acre) and who must sell labour for 90 days per year. This category is currently the predominant membership of RDRS-facilitated Primary Groups and, at a reduced scale, they will continue to be incorporated into new Group formation. Over the next 5 years, RDRS will complete the progressive graduation of existing Primary Groups (around 8,500) currently being nurtured and ensure their full accession to membership (as secondary groups) in their respective local Union Federations.

For the new Primary Groups of landless and marginal farmers to be formed, at least 75% will be women’s groups (and up to 100% where feasible), and a different development package will be extended to them (as described above). The main tasks for RDRS for the period 2001-2005 at this level are therefore:

	Promoting the emergence of active, trained, cohesive and sustainable Primary Groups.
	Improving the quality and consistency of group formation and graduation.
	Strengthening existing Primary Groups to complete their multi-year development and graduate successfully as fully-fledged Federation members, capable of continuing as Secondary Groups.
	Institutional development in terms of group cohesion and solidarity, effective group leadership, meeting and record keeping, meaningful participation in RDRS and other programmes (through demand-driven approaches) and effective conflict resolution and problem-solving.
	Strengthening savings and credit schemes combined with selective skills training and extension, where possible..
	Extending selective awareness-raising and opportunities for mass mobilisation on potential social, cultural and development issues for Primary Groups and Group-Member Households.
	Ensuring an improved quality of field level support, training and supervision including participatory and responsive accompaniment, and especially efficient microfinance management.

Small Farmers

The `Advantaged’ Poor, Small Farmers: RDRS has a long association with the small farmer strata or the rural community, owning between 1.5 to 3 acres of land (0.6-1.2 hectares). Though seldom facing acute poverty and tending to possess better educational levels, this category is a victim to the marginalisation process which creates the `new poor’ and is often beyond NGO support networks. RDRS has a historic and limited continuing involvement with this socio-economic group which will again increase.

The development objective is to halt marginalisation and expand their capacity for food production and local employment creation for landless and other destitute families. RDRS’s main involvement with Small Farmers will be based on a self-financing model, except where bilateral projects support additional activities; in fact RDRS’s own self-financing involvement will primarily be extended to areas not covered by any bilateral project involvement.

Over the next five years, RDRS will gradually scale up, from the existing pilot phase, the Small Farmers’ coverage to the extent of 50-60 Small Farmer Groups per upazila (served by 2 field Officers) – at present only 12 Upazilas are covered. The development package will include - group formation, savings and credit, agricultural skill training (in limited scale focusing on technology dissemination), and advocacy to tap better services from the Government. They may be included in certain limited or local social awareness and civic engagement initiatives. Separate staffing will cater for the small farmer groups under the Upazila management also responsible for landless/marginal and federation credit schemes under the self-financing model. The groups will continue as RDRS programme participants. It is not envisaged they join existing union federations for fear they would dominate – however, RDRS will review the need and scope for apex organisational development of small farmers in future.

This involvement with small farmers will not divert scarce resources from poorer sections of the rural community in the northwest since, after the initial loan capital enabling this involvement is repaid, it is intended to be self-financing or supported by specific bilateral projects seeking to assist this category.

Special categories of disadvantaged

Beyond the coverage of most NGO networks in the rural areas of the northwest (and throughout the country) lies a disparate category of various disadvantaged communities, households and individuals. These include some of the char (river island) communities and inhabitants of the riverine belt (displaced people living on the embankments), tribal and ethnic minorities, not to mention a broader groups characterised as ultra poor the individuals such as the elderly, destitute and others. RDRS programmes, past and present, have extended assistance to these groups – in relief, rehabilitation and also included them in both regular and special development programmes. Some special surveys have also been conducted periodically over the past 10 years to examine their condition and circumstances. However, the dominance of the microfinance model throughout Bangladesh increasingly appears to exclude these vulnerable or marginal categories – indeed some NGO programmes now reach into more privileged categories (such as middle class traders). The three broad categories are in themselves very diverse – and the third category is really a miscellaneous one:

Riverine/Char Populations: those living along the riverine belt of Kurigram District, among the poorest and most vulnerable in the country, especially those inhabiting river islands and sandbanks have been the focus of specially designed RDRS programmes. This is diverse group ranging from destitute environmental refugees (such as embankment dwellers or char people having to move home freq1uenly due to changes in river course) to small farmers on stable chars. Conventional definitions of poverty may only partially apply (since some own more land which may be flood prone or sandy and unproductive; in some cases stable chars offer better economic opportunities than the mainland) but the vulnerability factor to the impact of natural disaster is much higher.

The RDRS development interventions for these group has been a modified version of its mainstream programme involving group formation and conscientisation, a stronger social awareness element (including primary schools and adolescent education no longer required in other areas of the mainland), and a range of economic initiatives. The disaster preparedness and organisation building component obtains in including some flood proofing works such as highlands.

Tribal/Ethnic minorities: the main RDRS core programme includes some clusters of aboriginal (adibasi) populations when they Bangladesh an estimated 1.5 million indigenous people (1.2% of the total population happen to fall within that geographic area and a recent survey indicates that RDRS coverage among the tribal groups is higher than other NGOs. However, recent research and improved understanding highlight the necessity to address this group with a targeted, special intervention which responds more effectively to their circumstances. In) unevenly distributed. The Santals are the major group but others including Rajbangshi, Oraon, Pahari, Malpahari, Koch and Munda are found in the northwest - the Rajbangshis being the largest within the RDRS working areas. The same recent survey shows 42% of indigenous peoples are landless so that only 31% are now economically dependent on agriculture, the remainder engaged in day labour. In general, those this category is also widely differentiated, indigenous communities tend to be economically deprived, with limited access to resources (including NGO programmes), suffer continuous loss erosion of land, endure social and cultural discrimination and are fighting a losing battle for their identity and survival. RDRS envisages a type of empowerment approach, using the tools of group organization, and social mobilisation, formal and informal education, with emphasis on health and rights, and elements of economic support (skills training and credit) matched with efforts to assert land and other rights and cultural identity.

Other/Ultra Poor: Microcredit-dominated NGO programmes (including the RDRS programme) are increasingly neglecting an extensive strata of ultra-poor in the rural community. A proportion of this group – due to age, destitution and other reasons – may be difficult to incorporate into development programmes, and require a service or welfare approach which RDRS can only extend when it engages in post-disaster relief distribution but also through extension of its Community Health Programme and other similar community-wide initiatives (the CHP alone serves 100,000 each year at present) which also extended to other undifferentiated members of the rural community. RDRS will seek to continue its community health and post-disaster involvement on the basis of need but, where specific bilateral project funding permits

Therefore, although RDRS is compelled to pursue a development approach at Primary level in future in which microfinance is important, it also wishes to recognise the separate and special needs of these disadvantaged special categories, and to reach out to involve them through a targeted and customised development approach. Unlike interventions for the other two categories (Landless/Marginal Farmers; Small Farmers) working with special category groups does not envisage self-financing per se. in addition, effort will be made to mobilise further bilateral project funding in order to begin or expand its involvement in extending support to these special categories.

RDRS BANGLADESH STAKEHOLDERS

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