Char Development and Settlement Project is designed to link the poor char people to mainstream development. Through five local NGOs, the project commenced a series of interventions such as group formation and provision of credit, extension with regard to economic activities, and provision of health, legal and education services. BRAC has taken the role of monitoring and supporting the institution of those local NGOs. This midterm evaluation aimed to review the progress of the project to date and to determine the likelihood of achieving results at the outcome level. The study shows a different economic stratum in the char areas, 47% of the study population is identified as very poor which is quite high compared to the national average. The project covered 83% of the total eligible households of the sample areas who can join the VO. The activities of the project are likely gender sensitized. The expected outcomes, in the very small sample, visited for this evaluation, appear to be generally positive in improving the socio-economic condition of the project participants. The increased access to NGO credit, which the women’s participation created for their husbands, has improved the status of women at the household level. At the community level, the opposition voiced by the male section to women’s participation in income earnings was reported to be gradually declining over time, as women’s contribution to household material well-being becomes evident. The likelihood of achieving expected outcomes for the institutional environment of the VOs is generally considered to be quite high. Sustainability at an individual level, in which VO members carry on the benefits of the project throughout their lives, is appropriate for the current phase of BRAC-CDSP.
Author: Banu. Dilruba
Type: Report
Year: 2002
