ENRICH: 

Three types of special credit services have been designed for the ENRICH households: Income Generating Activities Loan (IGAL), Livelihood Improvement Loan (LIL), and Asset Creation Loan (ACL). All the three credit services can be accessed simultaneously by a household. Under IGAL, eligible household members can take loans for more than one activity and for expansion of an activity to increase their income. In this context, economic activities with potential for productivity growth are selected. Training for skill development and upgrading, marketing assistance, and other necessary services are now routinely provided. As of now the ceiling of this loan is the maximum service charge is 25% on a declining balance method. The LIL is made available for repairing houses, the purchase of necessary household gadgets, and taking other actions related to livelihood improvement including defraying expenses for social functions such as the marriage of a daughter or a son.

ENRICH Health: The ENRICH health component is designed to provide comprehensive primary healthcare services to all the households in the selected unions. Each household is visited at least once a month by a health visitor to collect health related information about all its members. The collected information and data are recorded in the household health-card and also entered into a computer database established for the purpose. The field work is supervised by health officer. The health officer conduct static clinics in the ENRICH office every day to attend to patients, usually advised by health visitors to go there. For patients needing further treatment are advised to visit the satellite clinics held once a week in each ward, with MBBS doctors attending to patients there. There is also referral arrangement with both public and private hospitals and clinics for the patients who need specialized medical services. Costs are substantially subsidized; and for the very poor, services are provided free of cost. Health camps (vision, dental, heart, diabetes, etc) are also organized under the ENRICH as and when required, with specialist doctors attending. In these camps, patients with serious ailments are referred to different public and private hospitals and clinics where their treatment is arranged free of cost or at a nominal cost. The ENRICH has also launched a deworming campaign, giving away free medicine to 100% of its registered households, covering all household members above 5 years of age. A sanitation component to ensure 100 percent safe sanitation has been initiated under the ENRICH. So far, sanitary latrines have been installed in all homes in 11 unions. The same will be ensured in other ENRICH unions in phases. Other aspects of sanitation are also being promoted in all the ENRICH unions.

ENRICH Education:  The ENRICH education component primarily seeks to address the problem of drop-out of children from primary level education. This is implemented in all ENRICH unions; and this service is available to all the households in all the unions. Under this component, at least students up to Class 2 are helped in the educational assistance centers to prepare the next day’s tasks, given that there are no facilities and educational support for many students at their homes. Gradually, these centers will accommodate students up to Class 5. These centers operate from 3PM to 5PM every day except Friday. Children come to these centers after attending their regular schools. Children are not only helped with their studies but also assisted in extra-curricular activities such as recitation of poems, dance, singing etc. Also, the children are treated in a friendly manner. They therefore find these centers very attractive to attend. These centers take special care of the students who are generally slow learners and need the extra help and time to grasp the material taught at their regular schools. Teachers are locally recruited. Anyone less than 35 years of age with a minimum of SSC level education is prima facie qualified to be a teacher; most of the teachers are female. These educational assistance centers also monitor if the children attending the centers go to their schools regularly. The dropout rate among these students, as they move up to Class 3, has, on average, come down to about 0.9%, while it is about 4.04% nationwide. In addition, the PPSS also provides scholarships usually to students at levels after the completion of SSC (Secondary School Certificate), from its Programme Support Fund (PSF). This scholarship component is managed by the ENRICH Unit. Meritorious children of the disadvantaged or low income parents involved in different programmes of the PPSS, who, after successfully completing Secondary School Certificate (SSC) level, are studying for Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) or are at a higher level are eligible for this scholarship.32

ENRICH Beggar Rehabilitation: First of all, genuine beggars are identified in a union through a thoroughly investigative process. It has been found that a lot of motivational work is needed to convince a beggar to give up begging and agree to be rehabilitated into a normal life. In some cases, it takes months of counseling and convincing. Once, a beggar, a man or a woman, agrees to be rehabilitated, the PO officials sit with them to assess their health conditions and other circumstances and what they would like to take up in terms of economic activities.

Once that is settled, the beggar is given a grant of BDT 100,000 but not in cash. The amount is deposited in a Bank Account, operated jointly by the grant recipient and an official of the PO. The recipient is in fact given support in kind, using the money from that account. If the beggar has a place to live, the house is repaired if and as required or if person has land but not a house, a small house is constructed for her/him to live in and also to accommodate the livestock (such as cow, goat) provided as an income earning source. If the beggar has no land, a piece of land is found for her/him in khas land or through donation by a local generous person or from a relative and a house is constructed for the beggar.

ENRICH Youth Development: A youth development component has been specially designed to help the youth acquire skills in accordance with their respective aptitudes and, at the same time, be imbued with human and social values. That is, the purpose is to equip them to find employment on the one hand and help create healthy social environment in their locality by getting rid of such social ills as child marriage, teasing of girls, and violence against women, child labor, dowry taking and drug addiction. At the same time, they will also help raise awareness in favor of ethics, minority rights, and fairness. Regarding employment, efforts are made to create both self-employment and wage or salary-based employment opportunities. Those who choose self-employment opportunities are assisted with market information, access to appropriate technologies, and marketing of their products. For salary-based employment, the job linkage initiative within the framework of the ENRICH youth development component maintains liaison with different employers and organizes job fairs by bringing potential employers to interact with unemployed youth. Job fairs assist the young unemployed to find jobs. Through such intermediation, a total of 1,093 young individuals of different ENRICH unions have, as of June 2018, found employment opportunities in G4S, PRAN-RFL, The ACME Laboratories Ltd, etc. The PKSF has developed a training course entitled ‘Right Decision Making Magical Skills’ to help the youth make the best possible and informed decision when looking for jobs.

ENRICH Home:

From the ENRICH focus on the best utilization of the existing resources of each household, the concept of establishing ENRICHed homes has emerged. The idea is to utilize the homestead land to the best extent possible through proper planning, taking into account the amount of land available. An ENRICHed home contains house(s) for the members of the family to live in and also to use for relaxing and entertaining. There is a sanitary latrine and, usually, a tube-well for drinking water. Economic activities conducted at the homestead include livestock, poultry, and pigeon rearing; cultivation of vegetables, and lemon, sajna, fruit and other trees, and medicinal plants. Flowers are cultivated to create an aesthetic environment. There is also either a solar home-system or a biogas plant. An improved cooking stove for cooking without being affected by smoke is used. Environment-friendly fertilizer vermi-compost is produced by the household for own use and/or for sale. Of course, all ENRICHed households are covered by the ENRICH education, health, and all other components.

Uplifting the Quality of the Lives of the Elderly People Programme:

PPSS pursues a life-cycle approach to human progress, catering to the appropriate needs at all stages of life — from the conception of a child and to the death of a person. As a supplementary intervention of its multidimensional poverty alleviation programmes, PPSS has introduced the ‘Uplifting the Quality of the Lives of Elderly People Programme’ in line with the government’s elderly policy.     

PPSS aims to help in reducing miseries of the elderly people through the programme. The programme assists elderly people to access social safety services, financial benefits and primary health care services of the elder person. The Source of fund for the programme is the Special Fund and Programmes-Support Fund of PKSF.

The following activities are being implemented under the programme.   

• Establishing social centers for the elderly people in every Union,
• Providing old age allowances and assistive materials (walking sticks, commodes, blankets warm cloths, wheel chairs, umbrellas etc);
• Provision of Special Savings and Pension Fund;
• Recognizing the contribution for the society made by the elderly persons’
• Awarding children for looking after their parents,
• Providing appropriate credit and IGAs-based training facilities to the poor elderly people,
• Offering physiotherapy services & geriatric nursing to the elderly by organizing training for the Physiotherapy Aide.
• Rehabilitation of poor and distress elderly in community.

OLD AGE ALLOWANCE

To cover the basic needs of the elder people, provision of Old Age Allowance has been made for the underprivileged elderly people. With this allowance many elderly people are being able to buy necessary medicines and avail treatment of their old aged complications. PKSF has provided TK 3. 85 crore (monthly BDT 600/- per person) as Old Age allowance to 8000 elderly people up to June 2018.

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE

This programme offers different assistive materials to ease the lives of the elderly people.  Organizations distribute umbrellas, walking sticks, raised commodes, blankets and warm cloths to elderly people.

ASSISTANCE TO COVER FUNERAL EXPENDITURE 

In the same manner, PPSS are making every effort to meet the needs of the people from birth to death. In some circumstances it is found that people are even unable to bear the expenses of funeral of deceased. PPPSS ensure proper funeral of every deceased elderly people. As of BDT 2,000/- per person has been provided to bear the funeral expenditure of 1178 deceased. 

AWARDING ELDERLY PEOPLE

Recognizing the contribution of the elderly people towards the society is a key component of the Elderly programme. It also bestows award to the sons and youth for their support to the elderly people. 809 elderly person and 368 young people have been awarded for their noble work so far. 

HEALTH AND CARE FACILITIES

The programme has provision of health and care facilities for the elderly people. PKSF has provided training to one male and one female on physiotherapy and posted them at Elderly Social Centre for delivering services to the ailing elderly people.   

SUPPORTS FOR HELPLESS & SHELTERLESS ELDER  

Under this programme, there is a provision rehabilitate vulnerable elderly to a family in his/her locality. Arrangements have been made to provide support to helpless elderly people. Till 150 helpless elderly people has been rehabilitated to a new family of his/her own locality.