The European Union (EU) and the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) today signed a grant Agreement worth around 23 million EUR to implement a new project styled “Pathways to Prosperity for Extremely Poor People (PPEPP)-European Union”.
The contract of EUR 22.81 million was signed at the PKSF Bhaban in Agargaon in the capital by PKSF Managing Director Dr. Nomita Halder and Head of Cooperation, EU Delegation to Bangladesh, Maurizio Cian.
According to a news release, the PPEPP-EU project will assist 215,000 of the most vulnerable extremely poor households (or roughly 0.86 million individuals) in 145 unions of 12 districts with greater poverty rates than the national average.
The project’s explicit goal is to give the target population a chance to escape absolute poverty and make major strides toward wealth.
The project will be implemented in the northeast haor region (Kishoreganj), the flood-prone river basin area of the northwestern region (Rangpur, Kurigram, Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Nilphamari, and Gaibandha), the cyclone- and saline-prone southwestern region (Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat, Patuakhali, and Bhola), and some ethnic minority clusters in the north.
The project will focus on developing livelihoods and small businesses, improving nutrition and primary healthcare, increasing access to services through community mobilization, including people with disabilities, enhancing climate resilience, and empowering women.
Women-headed households, single mothers, the elderly, families with children, individuals with disabilities, transgender people, and intersectional groups like racial minorities will all be targeted.
Pathways to Prosperity for Extremely Poor People (PPEPP), the legacy initiative of PPEPP-EU, was first introduced by PKSF in 2019 with support from the EU and the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO; formerly DFID).
Following FCDO’s exit from the project after four years of successful interventions, the EU signed separate grant contracts with the Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, GoB, and PKSF to continue the project for the next three years.
