Thousands of poor people, living in remote char areas on the Brahmaputra basin, have achieved laudable success in the fields of economy, health,
hygiene, sanitation and safe drinking water in recent years.The char families have achieved the success under the comprehensive the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) by bidding a permanent good-bye to seasonal ‘monga’ through eradicating abject poverty and improving livelihoods.Agriculture and Environment Coordinator Mamunur Rashid of RDRS Bangladesh, one of the implementing organisations of CLP,said the char people lived in utter poverty for decades together in the pasts.”They are now leading meaningful life as the CLP has been providing all necessary assistances to improve their livelihoods after raising plinths of their houses in the remote char areas since 2004 in ten northwestern districts,” he said. The UKaid through the Department for International Development (DFID), Australian Government through Australian Agency for International Development (Aus AID) and Bangladesh Government have been funding implementation of the CLP. According to CLP sources, 900,000 people of 55,000 poorest households were benefited under CLP phase-I during 2004-2010 and 60,000 more households out of 67,000 so far under phase-II (2010- 2016) to improve livelihoods of 1.9 million extremely poor char
people by 2016.Under the programme, plinths of the beneficiary families have been raised, grants, assets, training and other assistances provided to improve their life standard by making them self-reliant through income generation activities.The achievements were possible following the effective
assistance, inspiration and motivational work being conducted by the field level officials and employees of different NGOs under the comprehensive CLP activities in the char village.Like in the other char villages, some 108 CLP beneficiary families have set up sanitary latrines and 12 others tube wells at their homesteads in Kawniar Char village under Roumari upazila with their saved money from their income generation activities.Inhabited by 643 families, the CLP initially selected 120 have-nots group hardcore poor families there as its beneficiaries in 2008 to assist them in attaining economic self-reliance and improving life standard in the remote char village. The beneficiary families have now achieved economic self-reliance through animal husbandry, milk production, rearing poultry, homestead gardening and farming, handicrafts and other works under the CLP assistances. Among the successful beneficiaries Rita Khatun, Anju Ara,Mahfuza and Anwara Begum said the other char people are now following their footsteps in building a healthier char community driving away various diseases. Beneficiaries Farida Begum, Rohiton Nesa and Jholmoli Begum said appearance of the waterborne diseases have also been reduced to the minimum since they started using sanitary latrines and drinking safe and pure water. “We were inspired by CLP activists to set up tube wells and other people in the village are now also getting pure drinking waters from those,” said beneficiaries Noor Banu, Farida, China, Monwara and Sabana of the char village. Former members of local Dantbhanga union Monwara Begum, Nur Islam and Abdul Aziz told BSS that the women of Kawniar Char have set up a shinning example in the field of sanitation and pure drinking water in the char village.Similar success has been achieved by the people in Dhushmara Char under Kawnia upazila and many other char villages in the other districts on the Brahmaputra basin through improving their overall health, hygiene, sanitation and safe drinking water. Chilmari upazila chairman Shawkat Ali Sarker, Bir Bikram, said the char women have also been working to ensure female education, birth and marriage registrations, family planning and ensuring child rights and reproductive health in remote char villages.BSS, Rangpur
