SPOTLIGHT:

GRADUATION OF EXTREME POOR ENGAGING IN BUSINESS AND FINANCE (GEP-EBF) PROGRAM

 The GEP-EBF enables households in the Haor region of Bangladesh to move out from extreme poverty and ensures that graduated households sustainably stay out of poverty through accessing microfinance, expanding their productivity, increasing their assets, and sustaining income and savings.

The program connected over 700 families to microfinance and other financial institutions. Every beneficiary received education about savings and asset expansion, and after three years every program beneficiary had opened a mobile bank account. The program also worked with local government and women’s groups to increase women’s participation in decision-making structures, and by the end of the project, involvement in local representative structures and community institutions by women had increased from 1% at baseline to 18%. At the end of the project, FIVDB engaged carefully with government authorities and community institutions to transition the project to sustainable community ownership.