The purpose of this collaboration is for IFPRI to help CARE improve the design of SHAHAR's activities and make them more effective through operations research, program evaluations and special studies.
| Staggering growth of cities in developing countries has contributed to widespread urban poverty. Within these cities, many of the urban poor live in unsanitary environments, have uncertain incomes, and lack necessary financial and health care services.
Within Bangladesh these conditions exist, with prospects of worsening conditions. The populations of the cities in Bangladesh increase by more than 1 million every year. Many cities are growing at more than 8% per year, and they will double in size in less than 10 years. In 1997, CARE-Bangladesh undertook a livelihood security assessment of slum households in three cities in Bangladesh: Tongi, Khulna and Bogra. Based on the findings of that study and a review of secondary literature, the SHAHAR ("city" in Bangla) project was created. This project is a component of the Integrated Food Security Program (IFSP) of CARE-Bangladesh, launched in mid-1999 and financed by USAID. The goal of SHAHAR is to improve livelihood security in the major secondary cities of Bangladesh. The major activities of the SHAHAR project are:
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| IFPRI has provided a substantial amount of research and technical assistance in helping CARE with SHAHAR's program approach and training. IFPRI staff helped SHAHAR plan and institute strategies for Institutional Learning and for Monitoring and Evaluation. IFPRI staff also organized and facilitated lessons learned exercises and workshops for the surveys and for overall program operations. | 
IFPRI's James Garrett and Wahid Quabili (left) |
- Despite the overall level of livelihood security in both cities is poor, households in Tongi are more vulnerable across a range of basic needs. This may be due to the fact that the intervention area in Jessore consists of a mixture of rich, middle-class and absolutely poor households living together, whereas in Tongi (a densely crowded suburb of Dhaka), the residents are purely slum dwellers. Also, a few sites in Jessore are located on the fringes of the municipality, which has a complex mix of urban and rural lifestyles, including extensive crop agriculture.
- Most men were employed in both cities. In comparison, only about 20 percent of women in Jessore and 30 percent of women in Tongi had paying jobs outside the home. The average monthly income from employment for females is about one-third that of males in Jessore. Total income declines significantly during the rainy season.
- Although household composition and demographics were similar in both cities, health, hygiene, and nutrition were worse in Tongi than in Jessore, even though income levels were higher in Tongi.
- Female-headed households are smaller than male-headed households. Divorce, separation, abandonment and being a widow are high in female-headed households in both cities.
- Food security is poor in both cities. Many women skip meals each day to make ends meet. Families also have a poor intake of protein-rich foods and little dietary diversity. Overall, intake of protein-rich foods (such as meat, fish, and eggs) is lower in Tongi than Jessore.
- A higher percentage of children under 5 years old are malnourished in Tongi than in Jessore, although rates in both cities are alarming. Thirty-six percent of children have low height-for-age (stunting) in Jessore, as do 45% of children in Tongi. Illness among children 1-59 months old is high in both cities, compared to other age groups. About a third of all women in both cities are malnourished.
- Hardly anyone has access to a registered physician in Tongi, perhaps due to economic reasons. Prenatal and postnatal health care practices are poorer in Tongi, indicating greater risk and consequently poorer health security.
- The living environment is very poor, even hazardous. SHAHAR sites are not served by proper sewer systems, forcing the residents to make their own provisions to dispose of waste.
- Despite these challenges, social relations appear good. About 70 percent of respondents in Jessore and 60 percent of respondents in Tongi said they could rely on relatives to help them through difficult periods.
- However, very few residents expressed a significant degree of trust in community leaders.
- Changing the way in which SHAHAR entered a community, paying greater attention to understanding the community and using a more participatory approach. CARE reduced the number of beneficiary households, the number of community partners, and the number of sites in each city;
- Placing a major emphasis on having guidelines for project components ready prior to starting implementation;
- Launching a qualitative community survey to understand the community and the place of the interventions in the community;
- Streamlining performance indicators.
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The initial conditions surveys in Jessore, a secondary city whose primary economic activities revolve around trade with India, and Tongi, a "suburb" of Dhaka, revealed the following:
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As SHAHAR moved to the next phase of the project entering into the cities of Dinajpur and Mymensingh, CARE made some adjustments, based on lessons learned in Jessore and Tongi. These included: IFPRI staff also worked with CARE staff to develop an institutional learning strategy and a framework for monitoring and evaluation. IFPRI also created a library for SHAHAR of over 400 items on urban livelihoods and urban programs. Further changes in SHAHAR programs are expected as a result of continuing CARE/IFPRI examination. |
- CARE-Bangladesh
- CARE-Bangladesh
- US Agency for International Development (USAID)
- Living in the City: Challenges and Options for the Urban Poor. IFPRI Issue Brief No. 9. Washington D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute. 2002.
- Bangladesh -- The SHAHAR Project. IFPRI Issue Brief No. 9 Addendum. Washington D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute. 2002.
- Community Profile Report: Livelihood Analysis of 30 Vulnerable Urban Communities- Dinajpur and Mymensingh Pourashaves
Sanzidur Rahman
CARE-Bangladesh. September 2001 - Shahar Project History: Learning from Experience in Urban Programming
Sanzidur Rahman
CARE-Bangladesh. 2001 - Urban Vulnerable Households
Jessore and Tongi Pourashavas
SHAHAR/IFPRI
Baseline Report. SHAHAR Project, CARE-Bangladesh, December 2000
Executive SummaryBaseline ReportAppendices - Urban Livelihood Security Assessment in Bangladesh
Edited by Phil Sutter and Chris Perine
CARE-Bangladesh. 1998
- Bangladesh: Baseline Data of SHAHAR Project. CARE-Bangladesh, 2000 -- Slum Areas of Tongi and Jessore Municipalities.