The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday celebrated the successful conclusion of the European Union (EU)-funded Food Security for the Ultra Poor (FSUP) project.
The project, which began in January 2009 and concluded December 2012, supported 30,000 ultra-poor women to become entrepreneurs, raise their incomes and improve their own and their families’ food security.
State Minister of Women and Children Affairs Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh William Hanna, and Executive Chairman of Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman and WFP Representative Christa Räder, among others, were present at the function.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shirin Sharmin said the Vulnerable Group Development Programme, one of the largest social safety nets in the country, addresses the feminisation of poverty through the exclusive targeting of ultra-poor women.
“With assistance from WFP, we’ll formulate a new long-term strategy for pro-active poverty reduction, using experiences from promotional safety net projects, such as FSUP to assist in improving sustainability in graduation out of extreme poverty,” she said.
“You see a great deal of self-confidence which comes from people having self-respect, having some resources, and being respected by their communities,” said William Hanna.
“As Bangladesh explores scaling up its social protection activities, inclusion of such promotional approaches will be important and can serve to strengthen the graduation process and ultimately reach a much wider coverage. This has the potential of making a lasting change to ultra-poverty and food insecurity in Bangladesh,” said Dr Hossain Zillur.
Source: UNB Connect
