Pidim Foundation has been involved in development of life and livelihood of poor and marginalized community in various regions and places in Bangladesh since long. The activities carried out under different projects and programs fall under two categories. One is donor funded projects and the other is micro finance. There were four donor funded projects viz. PUSM (Promotion of Universal Safe Motherhood), ECD (Education for Children with Disability), SIDEP (Strategic Initiatives for Development of Extreme Poor) and ALLOW (Accelerate Livelihood for Left-behind Older Workforce), implemented by the organization between July 2013 and June 2014. Whereas, the first three projects were funded by Cordaid of the Netherlands, the forth one was by Shiree, a joint project of UKAid and GOB. PUSM was initiated in October 2012 for tenure of two year, in three Upazilas of Khagrachari district of CHT. The primary objective of the project is to reduce mother and child mortality rate through establishment of a functional referral system connecting people living in the remote upland of CHT with government hospitals and clinics. ECD, on the other hand was mounted in September 2014 in Jhenaigati Upazila of Sherpur district, for promotion of inclusive education for children with disability. SIDEP, the other Cordaid supported project had a long history. It was initiated in 2002 with the purpose of development of health and nutrition of the most poor and marginal people living in the flash-food prone area of Jhenaigati Upazila through development of knowledge, health seeking behaviors and livelihood skills. Besides, the project helped local community galvanize their efforts towards building resilience to natural hazards like flash-floods, elephant incursion etc. and thereby reduce loss of human life and properties. The project was finally phased out on 30 December 2013. On the other hand, ALLOW was initiated in October 2011 for a period of three years in Roumari Upazila of Kurigram district. The focus of the project is to help rebuild livelihood of older people along with access to healthcare and other facilities essential for leading life with dignity. The preparations were underway for phasing out of the project on 30 September 2014.
Micro finance program is the largest in terms of volume of activities and financial involvement. The program included 37953 households organized into 2153 SCG (Savings and Credit Groups) in 1060 villages of 176 Unions under 16 Upazila in Gazipur, Narsingdi, Narayanganj and Sherpur district. Pidim Foundation disbursed BDT 958.10 m among 31392 SCG members under different categories of loans and at the same time recovered BDT 884.55 m against loan, yielding a total net income of BDT 26.36 m during 2013-14 fiscal year. The recovery rate was 99.04%. Pidim took a number of measures in order to improve the quality of its micro finance program. They included strengthening supervision and monitoring systems, compliance of policies and procedures, computer automation of ‘portfolio and accounting’, introduction of performance based benefit package for field staff, providing special treatments to group members coming for loan etc. All those initiatives contributed towards Pidim’s capacity to serve the people through micro finance program. Besides, there was Enrich program being implemented in Losmanpur Union of Sherpur Sadar, district of Sherpur. It is one of many programs of PKSF being executed by its partner-NGOs outside conventional micro finance operation. The program is designed based on inclusive development underpinning eradication of poverty. In total 6438 households benefitted from the various program interventions. Among the various program components were – coaching of school students, delivery of various health services, promotion of agriculture production, employment generation, development of rural infra structure, providing alternative livelihood for beggars etc. The program contributed to overall development of the people living in the target area.
Pidim Foundation, as an NGO has been implementing many projects and programs for the development of poor and marginal people living in different regions and areas of the country with donor’s fund and loan from PKSF. This report relates progress of different activities of various projects and programs during fiscal year 2013-14.
Pidim along with two other Partners- Hamari and Ananda embarked on Promotion of Universal Safe Motherhood (PUSM) project in three Upazilas of Khagrachari district in CHT in October 2012 under a partnership agreement signed by them. Among the Upazilas are Ramgor, Manikchari and Dighinala. The aim of the project is to reduce mother and child mortality rate in the remote hilly land of CHT where no government health services are available. The rugged terrain and hazardous road communication prevent people from getting health services from government hospitals and clinics. Three delays- the delay in decision making, the delay in reaching and the delay in getting, contribute to such a high rate of mother and child mortality in the area. The first and second delay are associated with people failing to read danger signs in pregnancy and transporting women with obstetric complication to government hospital in time. On the other hand the third delay is caused when patients fail to get emergency medical treatment even after arrival at hospital.
The delay factors cause untold suffering to mother and children often putting their life at risk. Addressing the problem Pidim with its partner- NGOs set up health delivery systems in 227 hamlets connecting local community to government hospitals and clinics. The total number of households covered under the project was over 10 thousand. There are 90 (PHW) Para Health Workers engaged in delivering routine ANC and PNC in those hamlets. They were recruited locally from among young women with VIII to X grade education. Project set up 9 Base clinics in three upazila to develop an effective referral system with government hospital. Base Clinic is located in the target areas alongside rural road connecting Upazila and district head quarters. BC is jointly run by a Paramedic and a Nurse under the supervision of a committee called BCC (Base Clinic Committee) headed by a chairperson.
Pidim along with two other Partners- Hamari and Ananda embarked on Promotion of Universal Safe Motherhood (PUSM) project in three Upazilas of Khagrachari district in CHT in October 2012 under a partnership agreement signed by them. Among the Upazilas are Ramgor, Manikchari and Dighinala. The aim of the project is to reduce mother and child mortality rate in the remote hilly land of CHT where no government health services are available. The rugged terrain and hazardous road communication prevent people from getting health services from government hospitals and clinics. Three delays- the delay in decision making, the delay in reaching and the delay in getting, contribute to such a high rate of mother and child mortality in the area. The first and second delay are associated with people failing to read danger signs in pregnancy and transporting women with obstetric complication to government hospital in time. On the other hand the third delay is caused when patients fail to get emergency medical treatment even after arrival at hospital.
The delay factors cause untold suffering to mother and children often putting their life at risk. Addressing the problem Pidim with its partner- NGOs set up health delivery systems in 227 hamlets connecting local community to government hospitals and clinics. The total number of households covered under the project was over 10 thousand. There are 90 (PHW) Para Health Workers engaged in delivering routine ANC and PNC in those hamlets. They were recruited locally from among young women with VIII to X grade education. Project set up 9 Base clinics in three upazila to develop an effective referral system with government hospital. Base Clinic is located in the target areas alongside rural road connecting Upazila and district head quarters. BC is jointly run by a Paramedic and a Nurse under the supervision of a committee called BCC (Base Clinic Committee) headed by a chairperson.
A consortium of three NGOs- HAI (HelpAge International, Bangladesh), Pidim Foundation and BITA (Bangladesh Institute of Theater Arts) launched the project in October 2011 with GOB & UKAID fund, channelized through Shiree. Two Upazilas viz. Roumari of Kurigram district and Ramgoti of Laxmipur district were selected for implementation of the project. Whereas Pidim Foundation was selected for Roumari and BITA for Ramgoti, HAI being the lead organization singed contract with Shiree and continued to play intermediary roles like channelization of project fund, performing other supportive roles like project coordination, monitoring of activities carried out by its partner-NGOs etc. The activities of ALLOW revolved around development of livelihood of extremely poor older people belonging to families affected by migration of the principal earning members to distant places. They were selected from among landless households having no cultivable land and their per-day per-capita income was no more than BDT 28. In total 500 older people including both men and women are being supported under the project. They were given cash grant of BDT 15,000.00 each for undertaking IGA (Income Generating Activities) of their own choice.
The most favored IGA was cow rearing. The other activities carried out with grant money are sheep rearing, running small business, bamboo work etc. Acquiring livestock alone was not good enough to make profit and sustain IGA. The area is remotely located and prone to seasonal floods, which contribute to high rate of animal mortality. So, the project arranged series of training in animal husbandry coupled with livestock vaccination against most common but dreadful diseases like Foot and Mouth disease, Anthrax, Black quarter etc. All these efforts eventually started to bear fruits. A large number of the beneficiaries could increase their stock through breeding and earn money by selling milk produced by the livestock.
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Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.