Impact of char livelihood program (CLP) of char land dwellers around the char areas in Sirajgonj district of Bangladesh

Abstract

In an attempt to address the impact of Char Livelihood Program (CLP) of Char land dwellers, this study is carried out to examine the livelihood and income generation activities of the people of Bangala Char in Sirajgonj District, due to intervention of Char Livelihood Program (CLP) by the DFID of United Kingdom (UK). The research question of the study was whether and to what extent the Char Livelihood Program (CLP) brings any changes in the livelihood and income generation activities of the people of Bangala Char. Two areas have been studied, one area is under the intervention of the project (Bangala Char as program intervention area) another is not under the program intervention (Sonatoni Char as control area). Both areas have been chosen of the vicinity of similar characteristics and geographical location for the ease of addressing the problems and analytical comparison. The study uses semi-structured questionnaire for household interview both for the program intervention and the control area as random sampling basis. This study a total of 96 households’ interviews conducted of the study areas among them 48 households from Bangala Char and 48 households from the Sonatoni Char (control area). Primary data collected from house hold respondent and secondary data were used from published and unpublished sources. Four variables are access to land, income and assets , food security and vulnerability identified and the analysis shows that access to land resources among the char dwellers has established legal ownership and entitlement of land and resolve the crisis of permanent settlement which bring change in livelihood in terms of access to land resources to some extent. The islands of char dwellers are in general disadvantaged with respect to their mainland counterparts in terms of physical isolation and vulnerability to flooding and erosion have created seasonal migration and higher dependency on traditional money lenders for accessing credit supply which bind them to fall into the vicious cycle of debt and poverty. In absence of technical support and inability of non-government organizations to reach the poor people, the food security, and income and assets generation level of the project intervention area have not brought any significant change compared to their counterparts. The dwellers of chars use of drinkable water supply system has increased by sinking of tube well but in case of health and environmental issues, preventing disease and combating climatic hazards both the areas are more or less vulnerable.