In the past SDI had partnered with International NGOs like CordAid, Netherlands,
CARE/USAID,OXFAM (Australia; Hongkong), Cofcon/DFID, GiZ, Germany, Govt. of Netherlands, Embassy of Japan. The main objective of all these partnerships being
creating community resilience against disaster shocks like food and livelihood insecurity, women empowerment, accessing institutional resources, forging working linkages with Govt. serviceproviders. In sum working to contribute to achieving MDG goals for Bangladesh.
In the past SDI had implemented; Integrated Rural Development Project with CordAid,
Netherlands partnership; SHOUHARDO Project with CARE/USAID, GoB and
Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project and REECALL Project with OXFAM GB partnership; Rehabilitation Program for Fisher Folk Community with partnership of COFCON/DFID; SDI had partnership with GiZ for promoting fuel efficient stove and solar powered lamps in rural areas as well as in slums of Dhaka city jurisdictions. SDI had implemented a project to rehabilitate the rickshaw-pullers ofDhaka city and their family members in alternate livelihood vocations.
Since 2015 SDI is incrementally investing its own resources corresponding to
reduction in external donor dependency for achieving the programmatic targets. The past two and a half decades SDI had acquired experience and insight and competencies to build up community preparedness and resilience as well as post disaster response and rehabilitation. SDI has achieved core competencies for community preparedness, resilience and mitigation against disaster shocks.
Community development and women empowerment Initiatives:
Between 1996-2008 SDI had implemented projects and programmes with
comprehensive human development agenda for alleviating the food and livelihood insecurity of the vulnerable communities, MH&N, women empowerment, early childhood development, community development (VDC) and creation of a cadre of community volunteers, linking the community organization with LEB and GO service providers, market access, IEG, Cash and Asset transfer. SDI had facilitated participation of community representatives in different standing committees of the
LEB, constructed special shed for business women and toilets for these business
women in the market. SDI had also constructed community latrines in various locations under different union porishods Food distribution management and civil construction works: SDI has experience and expertise of maintaining, managing and logistics of food and commodity depots, distribution of commodities among pregnant mothers, mothers with lactating child. SDI had experience of implementing programs of Food Security and Livelihood (EFSL), Health Hygiene and Nutrition (HHN), WASH, Economic Development Activities and disaster preparedness, Response and Rehabilitation and Climate Change Adaptation Activities Cash for Work (CFW) and Food for Work (FFW):
SDI had experience of FFW program (cash and kind) in order to provide food security
during the lean periods. The communities would identify distressed families and their
needs. The interventions were in the form of collective initiatives for improving
community infrastructures and or raising of homesteads above flood level. Immediate
income generation thru FFW or CFW for the distressed members of the communities.
The Village Development Committee (VDC) being the vehicle for identifying various
infrastructure projects for improvement, like raising of homestead plinth area, earth
filling of school ground, mending of flood/monsoon rain damaged earthen roads,
raising of the ground of market place for the ease of the traders to do business.
Comprehensive Homestead Development (CHD):
CHD project were taken to address the food security for the vulnerable communities.
The CHD scheme includes series of training for the target beneficiaries followed by
supplying of inputs. The scheme had facilitated sustainable crop production and pest
management. The CHD had components like poultry, livestock rearing, beef fattening,
milk and derivative produce, training on net making, dress making using sewing
machines, bamboo/cane sitting tool (mora) making, borrow pit or small pond fisheries.
The purpose was to enable a food insecure family to earn a sustained income. The
families were also made aware of homestead and environmental sanitation, as well as
personal hygiene through family approach.
MCHN:
The MCHN component focused on ensuring nutrition with two fold benefit i.e. food
security for the mother and ensuring proper mental and motor development of children.
The food insecure were sensitized about their rights on GO resources, improved KAP
and family level sensitivity to the high and acute need of nutrition by a lactating mother
or a pregnant women.
Village Development Committees (VDC):
Formation of Village Development Committees (VDC) were facilitated and
Community Volunteers [CV-H&N)] were trained to support the VDCs. The CV-HHN
raised community awareness regarding the energy and nutritional needs of the pregnant
mothers’ and lactating women. The traditional birth attendants (dai) were trained to
become TBAs. The main purpose was to encourage the pregnant women to avail
service from GO service providers in the first place.
Disaster Knowledge Fair:
SDI celebrate the national Disaster preparedness day. The major objective being
exposing the fair attendees to the climate change phenomenon and related disasters and
the need for adaptation of shelter, livelihood, agricultural practices with the changing
clime.
Simulation:
SDI has a program of enhancing community resilience against disaster shocks
including the slowly unfolding disasters like intensified erosion of coastal lands,
increased salinity, change of seasonal pattern, rise of water level etc. The simulation
drill team depict or enact the scenarios and show the proper advance measures needed
to adapt to changing climate.
Edutainment :
SDI has developed Durjog Joyer Ludo a game board based edutainment product. It
targets primary level school children. The children learn through the game, the causes
and effects of climate change, greenhouse gas emission, global warming, disaster
shocks, response strategies etc.
Major Micro Finance Programme of SDI:
From its very beginning, SDI has been consistently trying to fill up that gap
with the partnership of PKSF. The fund borrowed from PKSF as short /long
term is channeled into its working areas through its 69 branches. SDI provide
loan to the landless and the poor with no or very little material possessions.
BUNIAD ( Buniad Including the Excluded for Ensuring Human Dignity)
SDI had started Ultra Poor Program (UPP) as a mainstream microfinance
service in 2004 with PKSF support. PKSF has renamed the UPP as ‘Buniad’.
The main objective of Buniad is to support the ultra-poor people to become
capable to create sustainable income opportunities and can lift out of extreme
poverty and achieve human dignity .
Under ‘Buniad’ distinctive flexibilities have been allowed to the ultra-poor
borrowers in deposit, withdrawal of savings, loan repayment, attendance in
group meetings and minimum savings requirement for a fresh loan.
SDI has been implementing ‘Buniad’ for the ultra poor people. Under
‘Buniad’, SDI is providing flexible microcredit to the ultra-poors. In addition
to the financial service ,SDI is also providing different non-financial services
like primary health care, technical services for implementing income
generating activities, capacity building support to cope with disaster shocks,
training, awareness building on nutrition and sensitization on social issues.
‘Buniad’ targets the following category of the ultra poor population:
Have less than or equal to 10 decimals of land (a tenth of an acre).
Earn livelihood through selling their labor.
Households with no permanent residence like slum-dwellers, live in
and around areas affected by river erosion, live besides dam.
Beggars, mobile sex workers, domestic help.
Widowed, divorced, abandoned and distressed women.
Female headed households dependent on others assistance.
Households dependent on child labor.
Old, physically challenged people and acid burnt women who
have no permanent source of income.
Households face severe food crisis in a particular season of the
year especially in the lean period
Main Features of ‘Buniad’:
Component Features
Savings
Regular deposit of savings is mandatory but the amount
of savings is flexible and as per their capacity. They can withdraw their own savings whenever they needed. They receive interest on their savings as per MRA policy. Group meeting is mandatory but the frequency of
organizing the group meeting is
weekly/fortnightly/monthly as per the group members’ convenience.
Group
meeting
Each ultra-poor borrower will have maximum loan
amounting to taka 10,000/-in the 1 st year. The 2nd and subsequent loans will be sanctioned considering the type of the income generating activity, capacity of using the first loan and repayment of the first loan
Size of loan
Duration and mode of
repayment
The ultra poor borrowers have to repay the
loan within one year by weekly/fortnightly/monthly installments as per their own convenience.
Service charge(rate) The rate of service charge is 20% which is
calculated by declining method of balance.
Transaction cost of
borrowers Nill
JAGORON (A credit instrument to initiate household based enterprise
development)
SDI extended its financial services for the rural poor through this programme.
Borrowers are encouraged to undertake family-based income generating
activities. SDI had also extended this financial services for the urban poor also. AGARSOR (A Programme for Enterprise Development) SDI launched its Micro Enterprise financing programme to extend its financial
services to the progressive members of other credit programmes of SDI, for
undertaking ventures that require bigger amount of capital. The program is now renamed as Aggressor. An individual micro-entrepreneur can take loan up to BDT 1.0 million for his enterprise under the Agrosor Program. SDI provides financial services to its Partners micro entrepreneurs for
expediting employment generation. Any business activity that has investment
up to BDT 1.5 million (excluding land and building) is considered as microenterprise. Beside financial services, the micro-entrepreneurs also receive technical and technological support. Promoting Agricultural Commercialization and Enterprises (PACE) IFAD funded PACE was launched to expand ME development program. Entrepreneurs have been receiving financial and non-financial technical
services and technological support to enhance their productivity and income.
The PACE project aimed at expediting poverty reduction through the expansion of farm and non-farm microenterprises. PACE project is making value chain interventions and extending technological
supports for the development of various potential economic sub sectors.
Under the financial services for microenterprises component, currently micro entrepreneurs are receiving financial services from SDI. The micro entrepreneurs are investing the credit fund in various enterprises of trade, farming, processing and service sectors. Different proven technologies were transferred to the farmers. Agricultural technologies like artificial insemination for improving cow breed, sex pheromone trap technology and other bio technologies for producing safe
vegetables, perch method technology for goat rearing, prawn and carp fish
mixed culture technologies, high value fruit cultivation technologies have been extended to increase productivity of the respective sub-sectors.
SUFOLON (A programme to promote agriculture and livestock) Since 2008 SDI has been providing Seasonal Loan (now known as Sufolon). This has become a prominent core programme of SDI. Since its inception, this loan product has served investment need of different IGAs such as crop
cultivation and processing, livestock, fisheries, agro-forestry agro-processing
etc. The provision of the loan repayment in a single installment after the sale of the product being the important feature of the loan product. The product has huge appeal among the farmers engaged in beef fattening and crop cultivation. Sufolon offers comprehensive training program for the farmers. SDI gives stress on dissemination of high-yielding seed, management of irrigation, mechanized and technology-based farming, and vocational education to produce skilled human resources and increased productivity.
Other services provided to the ultra poor member:
SDI provides Disaster Management Loan, Land Lease loan for the ultra- poor people under ‘Buniad’. Through the Land Lease Loan program the landless and marginal ultra poor households (HH) who lives in char areas and engaged in agriculture, can acquire temporary land ownership rights by taking lease of cultivable land for crop cultivation. SDI will also provide Disaster management loan to the ultra poor borrowers affected by disaster shocks due to natural causes and or human actions. Through ‘Buniad’, SDI is providing financial support to the income generating activities of the ultra poor with lower service charge and considerable flexibilities. With this support, ultra poor members are now getting involved in sharecropping, small enterprise, food processing, tailoring and various types of income generating activities, resulting secured income and improved livelihood. Value Chain Development Project
SDI is implementing value chain development projects to trim down the
existing stumbling blocks in value chain and to create employment and income opportunities in these sub-sectors. During FY 2013-14, four value chain project titled ‘SAJINA cultivation on AIEL’ being implemented by SDI in SAVAR Upazila, 2 project of Cultivation of non-toxic vegetable in Savar & Dhamrai Upzila. One Befoul Milk production project at Uriorchor
-Sandwip.