Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement Project

active

The proposed Resilience, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Improvement Project (RELI) aims to improve livelihoods of the poor and extreme poor, enhance their resilience and support rural entrepreneurship in project areas in Bangladesh. The recent disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic and recent climate-induced events such as cyclone Amphan have compounded the vulnerability of poor and extreme poor rural communities in Bangladesh. The proposed project provides immediate livelihood support for rural communities, while contributing to building back better in a greener, sustainable, and resilient way. The project will build on the Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project (NJLIP, P149605), which showed great success in reaching the poor and poorest and will tailor livelihood opportunities in order to respond to the following urgent needs: (i) Respond to the impact of the crises on the livelihood of vulnerable rural households and support recovery and resilience building; (ii) Help rural households graduate out of poverty through income-generating activities (IGA); (iii) Support NJLIP’s current beneficiaries who had graduated from poverty pre-crisis but have fallen back into poverty because of the crisis; and (iv) Support rural entrepreneurship for sustained post-COVID-19-crisis economic recovery. Under Component A – Community Institutions and Livelihood Development activities include support to developing and strengthening community organizations and financing community plans; providing technical and financial support for livelihood improvement and income-generating activities, small-scale infrastructure development, and health and nutrition support. Under Component B – Business Development and Institutional Strengthening activities include increasing livelihood opportunities of the poor and extreme poor by organizing them in producer groups (PGs), cooperatives or federations, improving their market and business orientation, and developing linkages and partnerships with market actors and service providers; supporting rural entrepreneurship to enhance livelihoods and resilience; establishing Nuton Jibon Community Societies (NJCS) to ensure the sustainability of village institutions; and providing meaningful skill development training and sustainable employment for the un/underemployed youths. In addition, awareness raising and support to address climate change and climate-induced risks will become an integral part of the proposed activities, thus strengthening beneficiaries’ climate resilience.