Better Livelihood Through Determination

 Better Livelihood Through Determination

Sarbanu's economic condition was very bad before her VGD graduating period. Her family consists of 9 members with 2 sons and 5 daughters. Her husband was then a rickshaw puller. With this meager income they could not manage two square meals for the family. They would often remain half fed and half clad. One day Sarbanu went to the UP office for a certain work. At that time she hard that the UP authority would select some potentially needy women under a programme for 2 years. She approached her Ward Member to enlist her name as probable card holder. As she fulfills the criteria the member was able to manage a VGD card for her. In the 1st day training session she hard from the programme trainer that through this food support and skills development training they have to be self reliant. The trainer insisted them to be involved in income generating activities at their earliest. Taking to heart this advice Sarbanu determined to do something in this regard. She started to hoard from her monthly ration. Through this practice she collected a considerable quantity of food grain. She sold them and with the proceed along with a small amount of her family savings she purchased a she goat with Tk.2000. The she goat gave birth to 3 kids. Sarbanu sold the goats getting better price of Tk 7000. With the amount she purchased 200 ducklings. Sarbanu received IGA training on ducks which helped her about duck rearing. Now these ducklings are growing up and have started to lay eggs. Her husband instead of rickshaw pulling, now grazes the ducks in the water bodies. Her one daughter reads in class seven and another daughter read in class five. Other children are yet to go to school. Following the life skills training she is now sensitive about day to day behavioral pattern including social aspects. By this time she has managed another 125 ducklings. Now she is the owner of 300 birds. Moreover, she has 10 hens. She is also rearing 2 cows as share cropping. Every day she is getting around 50 eggs whose sale proceeds stand at taka 6000 per month which lead her family a better day to day life. As the egg laying numbers are increasing time to time it is expected that within 3 months she will get 200 eggs per day. The selling price of which will stand Tk. 24000 per month. After related expenditure her net profit hopefully would be Tk 16,000 per month. This example of Sarbanu has created a sense of stir amongst other fellow VGD women who are tempted to follow her.

The story of a confident women

The story of a confident women

The family of  Bolon Bibi consists of 4 members. Besides her husband she has 1 son and 1 daughter, both very young. Her family would have been run on day earning basis by her husband. All on a sudden she became helpless as her husband was missing. However, with courage she started cane work as means of livelihood. She had heard about VGD card. Then she approached to the chairman of her union for having a VGD card. As she fulfils the criteria for VGD card the chairman helped her to get a card. Being a VGD beneficiary she started her life with a greater zeal. Her daughter read in class 3 and the son is yet to go to school. She understood the inherent objective of VGD programme with the help of the NGOs trainer. She decided to participate in all the training sessions of the progrmme to get herself skilled. And she did accordingly. After receiving Life Skills training she started to apply them wherever practicable. This has changed her day to day behavioural pattern. She also took IGA training on poultry rearing and received Tk. 2000 as credit from FIVDB. She purchased 7 chicks and 1 she goat with the money. From the programme the VGD women are asked to adopt individually an income generating activity according to their respective capacity. She then decided to develop a nursery. From the programme her decision was encouraged and provided necessary technical support on nursery development as well. She used to work in a nursery as day labourer and this she has been continuing even after she became a VGD card holder. This working experience gave her an added advantage to be involved in nursery activity. She gradually started to save some food grain after meeting her family's monthly requirement. She later sold them to purchase nursery input, with which she developed a nursery. This has cost her nearly Tk. 1700. Since establishment of the nursery she has sold saplings worth Tk. 3000. She has grown 5000 saplings of different varieties in her nursery. This nursery has become a mainstay of her life and the subsistence of her small family comes from this nursery.

Dreams come into reality

Dreams come into reality

Kulsuma a distressed women of above address has 3 children - two sons and a daughter. The daughter is the eldest among the children and is 8 years old. She reads in class 2. Kulsuma's husband is a rickshaw mechanic who works locally and is physically impaired. He can not work very hard. Kulsuma is a patient of heart disease and has to be on medication everyday. Kusuma and her family lives in thatched house.

Kulsuma got a VGD card for the 2009-2010 cycle, with the help of the local Union Parishad member.

On receipt of the card she has regularly been receiving food assistance from the UP as entitled by the card. Side by side she received life skills training of the programme and has taken Entrepreneurship Development training. She has chosen poultry rearing as her desired IGA and will receive the training in the 1^St quarter of 2010. The training received so far has helped to change her attitude. Following life skills training she has set up a sanitary latrine on the bank of the pond on her homestead.

On being aware at the different aspects of social side Kulsuma decided to make herself a self-reliant person.

Her homestead comprises of 7 decimals of land, which she received as inheritance from her mother. She dug a small pond in a portion of land. She cultivated fish at the pond from which she received a sale proceeded of Tk 2500 this year, in November. In the homestead she has cultivated a variety of vegetables with the objective of consumption and sale. She cultivated pumpkin, brinjal, beans, green chilli, tomato, sweet potato and red spinach on her land. By this time she has earned Tk 1500 by sellin^g_ different kinds of vegetable. These are providing to her an additional income. On being motivated she has planted 5 trees with a hope of income in the long run. In the current year besides her homestead land she has cultivated winter vegetable at land of her mother. She has cultivated 10 decimals of land combining both hers and her mother's land. She has also planted sugarcane on the perimeter of her homestead. She has also sold a few chickens, for Tk. 500, which were raised on her homestead. From all her proceeds she has bought a calf for Tk. 5,000. Currently she owns 15 chickens and a goat.

She says that the training from the programme and interaction with other made her into a confident woman. She wants to become self-reliant with all these income enhancement initiatives. For savings she has opened a savings scheme with a local bank, where she saves Tk. 100 every month. She wants to send her children to school for education and hopes that being educated her children will be able to remove poverty from her family permanently.

An Industrious women

Rahima Begum, wife of late Suheal Miah, of village Thanagoan under Usmanpur Union of Balagong Upazila of Sylhet district. She is a VGD card holder of the cycle 2009-2010 and her card number is 30. She had all the positive factors to have a VGD card and accordingly she got it. Her family consists of 6 members. She has 1 son and 4 daughters. Before her VGD membership she would lead a hard life. She did not have 3 meals in a day always. She considered 30 Kgs food grain assistance per month for 2 years is a great support and side by side she determined to do some thing for sustainability for her future life.

An Industrious women working his vegetable garden

On her 1^st day of orientation session she heard from the trainer about the objective of the VGD programme which further emboldened her determination to sustain in life. She was very particulars in attending training sessions and tried to apprehend the messages of the sessions. On receiving Life skills training she started to apply them according to scope. Besides using the learning in her day to day life and she also becomes protestant against the social injustices.

An Industrious women working his vegetable garden

She received IGA training on vegetable gardening. Afterwards of the training she started to cultivate different seasonal vegetable. This year she has earned tk. 7000 by selling different types of vegetable. She made her 1^st capital worth tk. 500 by selling pea seeds. Capitalizing the amount Rahima decided to develop an integrated farming around her homestead gradually through invest-return system. She used to cultivate vegetable even before he was VGD member. After skills development training, she with renewed zeal  involved herself with different agricultural productivity. Being imbued with tree planting motivation she has planted different types of plants around her homestead.

She has a pond of 10 decimals in size. In the pond she dropped different types of fingerling. This year she sold fish from the pond worth tk.3000.

She is rearing poultry birds. She has at present 6 hens and 3 ducks. These lays 3-4 eggs every day. She has 5 goats. All the agricultural assets and output has made her self- reliant.

She expressed her feeling in this way-“ The VGD programme has given me new life. I am naturally industrious. Skill development training and motivation has inspired me very much. I am disseminating the good messages of the programme to my neighbors. I shall remain owe to the programme for ever.”

A true story of Dilara Begum

Dilara Begum is a VGD women who received a VGD card for the cycle 2009-10 with the help of the Member of her local Union Parishad. She had been selected through the prescribed process meeting the criteria of selection. Her husband is chronically ill – an identified disease which renders him too weak to work. As a result she was having to maintain her family with great hardship. Dilara‘s family consisted of nine members, including seven children. The younger three sons and three daughters are going to school. The oldest son discontinued studies during his primary education and has recently engaged himself in learning welding works at a local shop.

Dilara Begum taking care of her nursery

 

Dilara had set up a nursery, with approximately 400 saplings, which also consisted of a small vegetable garden about three years back, even before she had became a VGD member. She set up the nursery and vegetable garden on their own land and they are currently staying with at her brother-in-law’s house. She engaged her husband as caretaker, which did not take too rigorous work and suited his physical condition. However, she was not getting sufficient return from the nursery to maintain her family, because the business was too small. Yet she could not expand the business as she could not accumulate sufficient capital.

Dilara Begum taking care of her nursery

 

After becoming a VGD programme participant she began to receive monthly food grain assistance through the Union Parishad, which helped save some money from her business income after meeting her day to day needs.

Taking it as an opportunity both husband and wife decided to expand their existing nursery. They have invested the savings they accumulated in the last few months to expand the nursery, in April-May 2009, and the nursery now has approximately 4,500 saplings. She has also expanded her vegetable garden. In spite of persistent late monsoon rain which adversely affects the growth and sustenance of saplings and vegetable, she has started to experience a higher cash flow in the short time. She earned 2,500 Taka from sale of summer vegetable after meeting her family needs. She has also earned 7,000 Taka from sale of saplings during the last three months. Among the saplings sold in the last few months there was a substantial share consisting of a local variety (Naga) aromatic chilli, while the rest was from saplings planted before expansion of her business.

Dilara expects her earnings to increase further as her nursery saplings become ready for sale. She has also cultivated winter vegetables which she will start selling in about three weeks time.

Dilara attributes her changed entrepreneurial attitude to the assistance she received from the programme through both food supplement and motivational discussions, which usually occurs during mobilisation meetings and training.

Dilara Begum has learnt about the possibility of IGA training later in the cycle and already has a plan to diversify her business through initiating poultry rearing.