Economic Empowerment of the Poorest Challenge Fund (EEP)
The Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP) programme is a £65 million Challenge Fund designed to channel UKAid - DFID funding to the NGO sector in Bangladesh, lift one million people out of extreme poverty, and support the Government of Bangladesh in achieving Millennium Development Goals 1 and 2 by 2015. Harewelle International, with the support of its local subsidiary, PMTC Bangladesh, leads a management team including British Council, the University of Bath and Unnayan Shammanay.
EEP is responsible for the disbursement of considerable amounts of money through the allocation of competitive grants, and as such, takes into consideration financial accountability and transparency both within EEP and the organisations it funds. The management team within EEP has established a comprehensive management and due diligence system to effectively monitor how EEP grants are spent, managed and implemented. Specifically, the management team reports to a National Steering Committee, containing representatives from the Government of Bangladesh and DFID, Bangladesh. The team manages the process of soliciting and assessing proposals for small and large scale grants from NGO's through 2 separate competitive tendering streams:
- A Large Scale Fund
- An Innovation Fund
The nature of extreme poverty in Bangladesh means that the main concentration of EEP’s work is in rural areas. The extreme poor are asset less households that are often reliant on seasonal manual work and are often the worse hit by the effects of Monga. By helping the very poorest people in society to improve their economic situation, it not only directly benefits themselves but also local economies and businesses, which in turn will stimulate further economic growth. EEP recognises that it is women and children who are often the worst affected by extreme poverty and therefore special attention is being made to support projects that are gender sensitive. EEP is providing substantial funding for these projects and by making sure that the funds reach the beneficiaries it will give a massive stimulus to rural development in Bangladesh.
By channelling funds through NGOs, EEP provides significant economic stimulus to targeted communities, which in turn strengthen local economies. This process is being carefully managed by the project management team who are working with the participating NGOs to ensure that this investment meets the needs of the beneficiaries. This process incorporates both direct asset and financial transfers that support the foundations for sustainable and long-term economic development. The financial stimulus that EEP offers is considerable, and it is estimated that it will benefit considerably more than one million people directly and indirectly.
The management team is responsible for monitoring and evaluating progress of all funded projects. It gives priority to lesson-learning, communications and experience-sharing across the Government of Bangladesh portfolio for the extreme poor, and with other development programmes. In addition, through an Extreme Poverty Research Group, it facilitates a framework to ensure that a multi-dimensional understanding of extreme poverty is fully developed both within the Challenge Fund partners themselves and to the wider extreme poverty alleviation arena. By providing this support EEP through its Advocacy initiatives establishes long term sustainable improvements to the way in which development organisations undertake extreme poverty alleviation programmes in Bangladesh, ensuring that those in need receive the support that they need.
EEP is an economic development programme, and its main purpose is to stimulate long-term sustainable economic development for some of the poorest sections of Bangladeshi society. Working through implementation partners, EEP is providing the investment, the training and the confidence to stimulate economic growth and create new jobs, particularly in rural areas. Rural job creation has a major impact on reducing extreme poverty and helps reduce factors that lead to further urbanisation. (2008 - 2015)
Specific information regarding programme developments and news can be found on the EEP website
