QUALITATIVE MONITORING OF SHIREE INTERVENTIONS: CMS5 INTERVENTION TRACKING – ‘top up’ ROI (2)

reflections on the intervention (2) for bakkar Ali

Shiree Q2 Research on Extreme Poverty in Bangladesh
Author / Khan Areef Ur Rahman and Imran Reza
Institution / Practical Action Bangladesh
CMS1 Reference / 090152(Household ID from CMS1)
Interviewee name / Bakkar Ali / Sex / Male / Age / 42
Union, Upazilla and Zilla / Upazilla: Hatibandha, District: Lalmonirhat
Dates of Interview / 17/10/2011, 25/10/2011, 5/1/2012, 20/1/2012 and 21/03/12/2012 / 18/4/2012 and 22/5/2012
Livelihood before and after the intervention / Before the intervention Oct 2010 / April 2012
1.Rickshaw puller and mechanic / 1. Rickshaw/Van mechanic
2. Rickshaw//motor cycle repair shop owner and selling parts and old bikes
Wife
1. Local Birth attendant
Well-being Status / Working extreme poor (2) / Middle elite (5)
Marital status and household composition / Married and lives with wife and 4 kids (3 sons, 1 daughter) / Married, and lives with wife and 4 kids (3 sons, 1 daughter)
Keywords / River Erosion of land and proletarianisation, Agricultural labour, Sickness, Migration, dowry, Agricultural land eroded, exclusion from safety net, victim of fraud, Vocational Training, over burden of loan, Rickshaw/van mechanic, downward mobility, rural to rural migration, Flood, rickshaw repairing training, relation with market actor, diversifying business.

Introduction

This is the continuation of Bakker Ali’s tracking study that started one year after the project implementation which intends to identify all the changes in his life. It covers the third year situationand captures all life events up till April 2012. Bakker’s life history and more comprehensive firstreflection on the intervention are published on the Shiree website ( and

From his life history we learn that Bakkar Ali is a forty-year-old rickshaw puller in Dhaka. For the last 9 years Bakkar has been using his entire income to repay a series of loansthat were incurred after being the victim of a con. The con was perpetrated by a group of men a rich man, a member of local government and members of the police force who defrauded a poor rural rickshaw driver. The fact of this trinity is disturbing, pointing to the inexperience of the extreme poor rural dweller; the depth of corruption in local government and police force and the need for reform. The consequences of the con were deep; Bakaar could only service the loans taken with his rickshaw driving in Dhaka. As a result, his wife and children were entirely dependent on the income from his father- a butcher and labourer- and his wife who is an earth cutter and traditional birth attendant. At one point, his father separated from Bakkar’s family due to extreme poverty. His wife and father live on Khas land alongside of the irrigation distributing canal of Teesta River barrage. Bakkar’s wife and children were severely undernourished for a period. Even if you see them now they are extremely thin.

Bakkar and his wife hailed from lower earning non-poor families and Bakkar is a hardworking man and so is his father and wife. Unfortunately however they encountered a series of asset losses as a child and had to spend a lot of money on medical treatment. As a result Bakkar was sent to work as a live-in domestic servant at the age of 12. The family were also subjected to devastating floods from the Teesta River, and in 2001, Bakkar was the victim of a conman. All these problems pushed him into extreme poverty. Whilst paying his loans back, Bakker’s family suffered greatly and the children were severely undernourished for a period. It points desperately to the inexperience of the extreme poor rural dweller; the depth of corruption in local government and police force and the need for reform.

From the first reflection on the intervention (ROI (1) from October 2009 to July 2011 we find a tremendously upward mobility in Bakkar’s life. He reached a non-poor category from the extreme poor status through a combination of:

  1. Appropriate selection of livelihoods activities
  2. Hard work
  3. No major liabilities and sickness
  4. Intelligent business strategy
  5. Long experience of rickshaw pulling and repairing that gives him a sound understanding of the market and relationships

As there was no flood or any other natural disaster Bakker was able to build his business and his confidence and skills developed, allowing him to earn more.

In this top up ROI (2) – e.g. July 2011 to April 2012 - we find that that Bakkar Ali has continued to improve his situation and the growth of his business means that he has moved totally out of the poor class. He expanded his cycle repairing business and diversified the business portfolio to include van making, buying old bicycles to repairand sell at a low cost, making and selling vans, by shallow machine assembling and selling, and so on. The key reason for his tremendous success are his market linkages, innovative business ideas, constant reinvestment in profitable and low risk business and his own conviction and expertise.

Summary of Change in key indicators since intervention

Indicator / Just before the shiree intervention / Last interview (July 2011) / March 2012
Well-being category / Lower Working Extreme Poor (2) / Lower Earning Non-Poor (4) / Moderate Non-Poor (4)
Diets / 2 meals but sometime only one meal. Only rice and vegetables rarely fish and dal / Three meals a day with vegetable and dal. Fish, meat or egg 2/3 times a week. / Three satisfying meals a day, One vegetable curry, fish or meat curry almost every day. Dal in every meal. Sometime the family has rick food like polau (fine rice) with chicken curry of meat. Food is no longer a problem for this family.
Livelihoods now) in terms of contribution to that years’ income
For other principal adult member / Principle member
  1. Rickshaw puller
Spouse
  1. Domestic servant
  2. Post-harvest processing of rice, maize, tobacco
  3. Agriculture labouring – wage based mainly doing weeding, plucking tobacco leaf
/ Principle member
  1. Rickshaw and van mechanic
  2. Repairing shop and spare parts business
Spouse
  1. Birth Attendant
/ Principle member
  1. Rickshaw and van repairing shop
  2. Rented bicycle
  3. Rickshaw/van/motor cycle/shallow machine spare parts business
  4. Sell bicycle after repairing old cycle
  5. Van selling
  6. Motor cycle repairing
  7. Shallow machine selling
Spouse
Birth Attendant
Productive assets ranked in terms of value / None / Rickshaw/van repairing shop
8 cycles for rent / Machinery and tools shop
House and homestead: ownership, condition of tenure, condition of house. / One unit of house roof made by tin and wall made by local materials / Two unit of house
One unit of house roof made by tin and wall made by local materials
Another unit made from tin / Two unit of house
One unit of house roof made by tin and wall made by local materials
Another unit made from tin

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QUALITATIVE MONITORING OF SHIREE INTERVENTIONS: CMS5 INTERVENTION TRACKING – ‘top up’ ROI (2)


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QUALITATIVE MONITORING OF SHIREE INTERVENTIONS: CMS5 INTERVENTION TRACKING – ‘top up’ ROI (2)

Narrative

Livelihoods Activity

We have seen in the first reflection of intervention how Bakkar Ali attained a quick upward mobility in the economic ladder by using his skill and effective business strategy after getting training and input from project as a rickshaw repairer.

Bakkar started his rickshaw repairing business under the open sky and consequently set up a repairing shop in a newly started market near to his house. At first he only repaired rickshaws on credit. That enabled him to accumulate a handsome amount of money (31000 taka) during the book closing day of last day of Bengali year. With this money he added bicycles in his shop for rent. He also made relationships with the supplier of spare parts of rickshaws and got those on credit to sell in his shop.

We have seen a tremendous uprising since than in his business. He took different strategies to expand his business in last year (April 2011-April 2012). Now he is no longer just a petty rickshaw repairing shop owner and rather has many businesses. These include:

Selling old rickshaws after repairing - In July 2011, Bakkar Ali started buying old rickshaws and repairingthem to sell. In the beginning, he bought five old out of order rickshaws for 3000 taka. He invested another 3500 taka for parts. He sold those for 10000 and made 3500 taka profit.

Selling cycle by assembling - From the success of rickshaw repair and selling he decided to build bicycles and sells them. He had good relationship with the distributors of upazila markets and they agreed to give him rickshaw parts to assemble on a trial basis; if he made regular repayments they would continue with him. He assembled 10 cycles and all of those quickly sold out. With confidence he grew this venture and has now assembled 40 bicycles and sold those a total of 70000 taka.

Van making - In addition to the cycle making he also made 10 vans in his shop. For this he spent 28000 taka and sold them for 55000 taka.

Repairing and selling shallow pumps - In January, 2012, he expanded his business by selling shallow pumps. For this he bought old shallow pump, repaired them and sold them. In January alone he sold 8 shallow pumps, four for a total of 22000 taka and the rest for 12000 taka. He invested only 25000 taka and made a profit of 9000 taka in a month.

Selling new shallow pumps – As clients developed a faith in his craftsmanship they gave orders for buy shallow pump from him as he gave them free servicing for one year. He first takes 5000 taka as down payment. He bought one shallow machine from the distributor 17000 taka by investing rest of the money after a down payment and sold each machine for 18500 taka that made him profit of 1500 taka per shallow machine. By the date of the interview he had sold 5 shallow pumps. He now also sells spares parts for shallow pumps and does repairs.

Bought a motorcycle - Bakkar Ali bought a motorcycle by 25000 taka and after riding it for 25/26 days he sold out it for 28000 taka. This gave him the idea of starting motor cycle servicing in his shop.

Charging Battery – As another new idea he started a battery charging business. He installed a battery charging unit in his shop at a cost of 7000 taka. On average he could charge 10 batteries per day and earn 300 taka. For charging he got an illegal electricity line from a dishonest electric official by paying 100 taka per month. He installed the battery charging unit in April 2012.

These are all new business he doing along with his old business. It is really an amazing success and Bakkar Ali says he couldn’t imagine doing all he has achieved even one year back. His business has grown so much that he now employs two employees for his shop and pays them 200 taka per day.

In summary his gross income is:

  • Sold 200 pieces of bicycle with a total value of 300000 taka
  • Sold 20 vans at 90000 taka
  • Sold 4 old shallow machine at 98000 taka
  • Sold 8 new shallow pumps at 80000 taka
  • Sold one motorcycle for 28000 taka
  • Rents 12 bicycles and gets 200 taka daily
  • Daily income from shop an average of 500 taka
  • Earns 300 taka daily from battery charging

Analysis disaggregated by material, Relational and psychological empowerment

Here we analyse the changes since July 2011:

Material EMPOWERMENT: changes in ability to command material well-being

In regard to material empowerment, Bakkar Ali had achieved a sustained economic condition. He is no more extreme poor and can instead be assessed as moderate non-poor. His family now has good food at every meal time and their food intake has significantly changed in terms of quantity, quality and diversification. They now occasionally have rich food and high value fruits like apples and grapes etc. His average monthly income is around 20000 taka. He runs his own machine and tools shop with a cycle, van and shallow pump repairing section as well as doing van making and selling and shallow machines selling. He also has a battery charging unit and 15 cycles for rent in his shop.

Bakkar still lives on government khas land along the protection side of the Teesta barrage irrigation canal. Although he now has the ability to a build new house he has not done so as he intends to buy land in the village and build a homestead. As a businessman he does not prefer to keep money idle and instead quickly invests the profit. The total market value of his stock is now more than 100000 taka which he considers as savings. He has no economic liabilities now but he is looking after his father and mother as they are not capable to earn money. He enrolled his daughter in a Government High school, and as she is a brilliant student she managed to get a stipend. In the past, she was reading in a Madrassa. One of his sons is reading in primary school and the other, who is mentally challenged, works with him in the shop. He has a life-insurance policy and bank account. We can conclude that the life of Bakkar Ali is now very smooth and he has faced no big problems during the last year.

Relational empowerment: Change in power in SOCIAL, economic and political relations

Bakkar Ali is now living a moderate non-poor life with his wife, two sons and one daughter. His social, economic and political relationships havechanged significantly with this rise in income. He has a good relationship with the market actors especially suppliers and distributors of Upazila level. He has gained trust and is now able to get goods on credit. He has also gained a good reputation socially as he provides arepairing service on credit. His wife has developed her own social relationships as she attends births to help the pregnant women almost without any substantial money and sometime for free. Although currently he does not need any external support, he has friends who have the ability to provide help if he needs for any difficulties or if he has run out of cash.

The market where his shop is located was developed by an influential family of the locality. One of the sons of this family is close childhood friend of Bakkar Ali and he mainly looks after the market and is a leader of the marker committee as well as a local political leader.

Bakkar Ali expressed his disappointment about his status in the larger society as they always see embankment dwellers as ‘losers’ and ‘identity-less’people. They have no property at all. This indicated that economic success is not necessarily enough to be accepted within a wider community and it takes time to be included. It reflects the enduring discrimination of embankment folk.

psychological empowerment

When asked to express his feelings on the changes in his life he was emotion choked. He said, he endured a hardship and rejection for a long time and his only target was to repay the loan, return to a normal family life and maintain his family with his skill that is Rickshaw pulling. The project gave him the opportunity to go far beyond this and change his life. He believes that the project really works for the extreme poor and thinks that more diverse skill training should be included in the project package. He has observed that many young people have potential but lack opportunitiesfor proper training and so move to urban areas for work. If they have the opportunity to have skill training than they would not prefer to live their place even they would do better wherever they live whether it is urban or rural area.

A significant psychological change has been observed in Bakkar Ali’s mind-set, attitude and appearance. Before,his ambitions were very limited and he only considered a limited number of livelihood options including wage labouring and rickshaw pulling. Now he has identified many new ventures himself and has been able to make them successful. He now has the self-esteem, maturity and confidence to do his business profitability.

  • Relatedness – He is an influential member of the market committee which has heightened his status and decision making power in business affairswhich means he can influence them in his favour (and in the favour of other extreme poor people who do not have the same influence).
  • Autonomy in decision making and power: He has full autonomy to make decisions about his business as well as to with employees, spouse and children. He also has control over decision-making of his extended family now.
  • Hope and Vision – he hopes to extend his business and buy homestead land in the village in the near future and build a secure and safe house. He also hopes to continue his daughter’s education and has aspirations for her to get an honourable position by doing a job like other educated females. He also hopes to educate his son but is not ashopeful about it as he said “He is more interested to work in the shop than attend school.” He therefore has a plan to send him for vocational training provided by private institutions as government vocational training institutions require a certain level of education.
  • Competence– Bakkar are already proved his competence by successfully running a growing business and in the past he showed his endurance by paying back a series of loans.
  • Safety/security–For him, the only fear is of a devastating flash flood that could at any time damage his house, although he does live on the protected side of the embankment.

Gender empowerment

This is an area which we could not thoroughly understand as although both Bakkar and his wife stressed their good relationship, the expression of their children and Bakkar’s father suggested otherwise. Bakker’s father hinted at a strain in their relationship but did not totally disclose it. Bakker’s wife is an empowered women because she is educated (grade 9 passed), hailed from a wealthy middle class farmer family, and maintained the family for a long time single handily without financial help from her husband. She alsostruggled to continue her kids’ education during that time. Despite her social status (that comes from her father status in the mainland society) he did not help when his daughter was involved in earth cutting and tone lifting by unearths the surface of the land.