Assessment of Cooperatives in the Poultry Industry - 2013.pdf - Seda

Research Report: Addressing the Needs, Opportunities and Challenges of Cooperatives
and Collectively Owned Enterprises in the Poultry and Related Industries
INFO BOX: IMPACT Case Study, Bangladesh
The Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP) challenge fund supports a demand-driven conditional
cash transfer project called Improving Markets and Poverty Alleviation through Cash Transfer (IMPACT).
IMPACT seeks to enable agricultural and enterprise investment for the extreme poor by satisfying primary
needs through cash transfers.
Part of the challenge addressed in this study was the psychological barrier faced by those in poverty.
Many individuals in poverty rely on hand-outs and think that they are unable to escape their situation.
Through a ‘menu’ of options that a recipient could choose from, they were able to make a choice about
the type of projects they would undertake to improve their own situation. This gave individuals a sense of
agency concerning their future. In addition to this, they were told that if they did not use the cash as was
stipulated by the choice they had made, they would not receive any further cash transfers. This created a
strong sense of responsibility amongst recipients, which resulted in the outcome of decreasing
dependency as recipients felt that they were in control of their own future.
Example transfers from the IMPACT project transfer menu
Area Activity Transfer Condition
Health De-worming. 300 BDT The whole household completes a deworming
course of
ts.
Health Visit to doctor. 500 BDT Doctor is visited.
Education One-off cost of text books. 500 BDT (per child) Buys text books and stays in school.
Livelihood
enablement
Livelihood
enablement
Livelihood
enablement
Livelihood
enablement
Off season-stipend for
unproductive individuals (60+,
disabled).
400 BDT/month (3 month
lump sum) (per individual)
Cash is spent on food and maintenance of
unproductive household members.
Cash for field crops. 3,000 (per transfer) Some visible investment. Attendance of
training.
Non-agricultural enterprise
investment.
Relief/reconstruction in case of
disaster (elephant stampede,
flood).
2,000 (per transfer) Some visible investment in productive
enterprise.
1000-2000 BDT Cash is spent on recovery and
reconstruction.
The study notes that poverty is as much a psychological as an environmental problem. While it may be
possible for educated individuals to envisage means of poverty alleviation and business development for
poverty stricken South Africans, it is not as easy to understand how to escape the particular situation they
are in. Due to this there is a large need for individuals to take ownership of their situation and means of
improving that situation.
Thus, the project was successful through two factors. Firstly, by imposing conditionalities,
beneficiaries used the money for its intended purpose so that they could obtain further capital.
And secondly, through allowing participants choice of the intervention they wanted to receive;
“Rather than satisfying needs imposed from the outside, this individualised approach meant that people
felt that they could address the needs that they felt most needed addressing”.
Results from this project included 60.9% of participants graduating out of extreme poverty and 81.3% of
participants now reporting their agricultural investment as their primary source of income (up from 0%).
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