CMS 5 ENDLINE OF TASLIMA

CMS 5 ENDLINE OF TASLIMA INTRODUCTION Taslima s household has been steadily and visibly towards a positive and upward pathway to move out of extreme poverty. From the initial stage of Shiree intervention, she moved up from working extreme poor to higher moderate poor. Shiree intervention seems very appropriate considering the seasonal dynamics of income generating activities in building her household resilience. The wellbeing status is moving towards non-poor situation. Regular income round the year, good amount of savings and assets, very good social capital, good use of human capital (skill in crafting fishing traps) in business and institutional support to recover loss strengthen resilience capacity of this household to cope with hazards and shocks such as flood and damage of crops, seasonal storm and damage of house and illness over last one year. Recent turning points in the life of respondent in the last year 1. Crops damaged Taslima s husband leased an agricultural land for one year to cultivate paddy. Farmers of this sub-district of Haor region could not harvest a good amount of paddy last year. The low lying land of this part of Haor had been flooded in sudden and excessive rain in very early of summer which was unanticipated to the Haor people. It was raining ceaselessly and hailing on the crop fields. Moreover, heavy rainfall caused flash flood and paddy fields are also submerged under water. 2. Attacked by diarrhea In April 2014, Taslima fell ill with an attack of diarrhea. However she achieved a full recovery within two days. She does not know the reason of being attacked by 1

diarrhea. Earlier, she and her husband had invested all of their savings in buying raw materials for crafting fishing trap (chai). 3. Storm in 27 April 2014 A strong storm took place on 27 April and it hit Taslima s house. Her house was made of tin and bamboo sheets and looked strong but then fully destroyed horrifyingly in the storm. The house apparently flew away and collapsed on the nearby road. Taslima had no savings in that time as she had reinvested all she had in buying raw materials. Her family bought foods on credit from the nearby shop and did not face any challenge in affording meals during their stay at neighbor s house. Taslima with her family members left neighbor s house and built a new house after only 12 days of the storm. The new house required about 16000 taka to be completely built. To build the house Taslima sold the rest of the stored chai for 10,000 taka and borrowed 6000 taka from her landlady. Institutional recovery support After 3 months of the disaster, Shiree/ESEP project provided Taslima with 6000 taka in mid-july of last year as an emergency support to recover damage of the storm. What is more, Taslima has received 16 sheets of tin in July of this year as relief by the Personal Secretary (PS) of the Member of Parliament of her constituency. The PS is an inhabitant of the same village Taslima lives. There are three more storm-affected households in the same village which received relief for building new house. Neither Taslima nor her husband knows how their names have been listed for the relief. She explained that, she and her husband had a good relation with the PS for a long time since they have been living in the same area. As Taslima states, 'once we requested the PS to recommend my daughter in getting admission in the high School. Schooling is good in that high School. The PS then recommended the School authority to take Tamanna's admission at grade level six'. 4. Event: Skill transfer 2

Taslima, was thinking to make more earning from making fishing traps chai. This is such a job that Taslima can make chai round the year and sell it during the pick seasons. Even though most of the people of her area become jobless during monsoon, Taslima can make more chai and so more profit selling out of those. Taslima started to teach her daughter Tamanna how to make a chai. It was not very difficult for Tamanna to learn since she has been observing her parents are making chai for a long time. Tamanna could able to learn crafting chai very quickly. Her mother Taslima stated, she (Tamanna) is quicker than us in tying threads and weaving bamboo sheets. If Tamanna works regularly with them, Taslima gave an example; they could make almost double number of chais than that of before. Tamanna works with her parents to make 'chai' when she is back home from her School and when she has enough time to spend. 5. Accident of Taslima's husband Taslim's husband had an accident suddenly in December 2014. A bamboo fallen on of his chest while he was carrying a bundle. Eventually, he was attacked by a serious pain in chest and became bedridden for long three months. Born a baby Taslima has given birth to a baby boy named Tasin in the month of May of this year. The baby was born at home. The delivery process was quite normal and both the baby and she were good in health. Hazards Shocks Events 1. Husband's accident (injured on chest) 2. Taslima s Illness due to diarrhoea 1. Heavy rain, hail and flash flood on the paddy field 2. Seasonal Storm 1. Built new house 2. Born a baby 3. Received 6000 taka as recovery support from the project and 16 sheets of tin as relief from GoB 3

1. WELLBEING STATUS AT ENDLINE Ranks DIETS EMPLOYMENT Status Taslima s household can afford three meals a day even in the lean seasons and in the time of disaster. They eat fishes and vegetables frequently (e.g. four times a week), potatoes, and dal. They also can afford meat three times a month. She gives 1/2 KG of her Cow s milk to her husband to drink as he is not fit physically. She and her daughter also drink milk three to four times a week. Her family also eat eggs as the ducks are laying currently. Crafting/ making fishing traps (chai) Fishing on a regular basis Occasional daily labourer ASSETS (INCOME GENERATING) Sale of Cow s milk occasionally Taslima has one pregnant Cow and 4 Ducks. The ducks are laying eggs now. Cow will give birth to a Calf in December this year. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF VULNERABILITY SOURCES AND LEVEL OF EXPOSURE TO/PREPAREDNESS FOR HAZARDS Crops damaged due to rain, hail and flash flood Neither Taslima nor anybody of her family was prepared to protect and cope with the rain, hail and flood. According to her, she never has seen this excessive rain and flood in this area before. Even, she added, the rain and hail damaged almost every paddy land of that area. Taslima explained the shock that if it would not hail and flood, her household could harvest at least twenty two mounds (880 KGs) of rice out of her leased land. Due to the 'disaster' they could harvest 10 mounds (400 KGs) only. Attacked by diarrhea 4

Taslima was attacked by diarrhea all on a sudden. She does not know the reason of her illness. She predicts that the diarrhea might happen from musty food and unhealthy water. Taslima borrowed 2500 taka from her rich landlady and took saline injection and treatment to get well soon. She stated, it was not a big problem since I was ill only for two days. Even borrowing that money is easy to me. All in the community know well that I am able to repay the amount. House destroyed by storm It was mid-night when the storm hit that area and all of the people were into a deep sleep in that time. They were not prepared for the storm. Taslima and her family members could wake up and ran away just before the storm started. Taslima was pregnant and was carrying a baby boy of nine months in that time. As soon as the wind started blowing strongly, Taslima with her husband and daughter wake up and took shelter in their landlady s house. They could not take stored bamboo sheets and any asset with them while running towards the neighboring house. There was a stock of about 300 pieces of bamboo sheets for crafting new chai kept on the earthen floor of the household. Among these, 50 chai worth 3000 taka have been rotten and damaged in the rain. All of Taslima s family stayed in their neighbor s house for twelve days after the storm took place. She had no savings in her hand to run her family expenses at that time. Husband s Accident Taslima had no savings when her husband had accident. She had invested her all savings in collecting raw materials (bamboo and threads) for making chai. She thinks, borrowing money or buying food was not a big challenge for her since she was able to repay all after selling all of the stocked chai. His injury on chest due the accident was little bit severe. Her husband took homeopathic medicine as he believes that is more effective than any other treatment of doctor. Diarrhea (Illness) 5

Taslima confidently states that the accident of her husband did not affect her wellbeing status much in that time. To keep running a regular income Taslima and her daughter Tamanna together had made a total of 225 chais. She had to then borrow 3000 taka from the Self-help group leader to run her family expenses. Additionally, she bought 80 KGs of rice for 4000 taka on credit from the nearby shop. 3. PROGNOSIS FOR FUTURE RESILIENCE Taslima now cannot anticipate any future disaster and shock. She thinks illness may attack any time and it is unpredictable. She has recovered damages of her assets and house completely in twelve days after the storm. She is now more aware about how to save assets to be damaged. After the storm, she uses to put all her 'fishing traps (chai) on a bamboo made shelf rather than on earthen ground. Even, she has vaccinated her Cow to protect it from disease. Taslima's husband catches fishes in the nearby water bodies and canals which are not restricted and open resources in most of the days a week. He sells those fishes in the local market and he earns about 50 to 100 taka a day. Opportunity of fishing gives him a chance for additional income and diet for his household. Taslima and her husband also stopped leasing land though they can lease without any help of others. Villagers know that Taslima s household is capable of leasing a land. During his illness of her husband, Taslima transferred skill of making 'fishing trap' to her daughter Tamanna who is twelve years old and studying in grade level seven. Her husband is physically weak and cannot work hard. Transfer of skill makes her household income higher. Their skill based income opportunity (making chai) runs well round the year. After recovery from diarrhea Taslima is now more aware and careful in keeping food and water hygienic. She was attacked by diarrhea once couple of years ago and spent 4000 taka. Nowadays, she uses to cover food all the time and drink water from tubewell. She has the confidence to fight against and to do treatment of any illness such as diarrhea as there is a good savings of her household. 6

Taslima says that, the shop owner from whom she often buys food on credit trust her much after the intervention. She mentioned, 'the shop keeper thinks that we have a regular income round the year and we are able to pay'. If needed, Taslima emphasizes that I can buy food on credit from that shop even all the year round. A good asset base A good asset base, income round the year, multiple income earners, a good saving of 26000 taka, good relation with the shop owner and with the personal secretary of Member of Parliament, A good social capital within and out of the self-help group are the positive factors that will enhance the household in building more resilience. Types of hazards Damage of crops due to excessive rain, hail and flash flood Likelihood/F requency* Low Impact* Moderate Strategy used to avoid/moderate impact Sold out young calf at 18000 taka Hired 4 daily labourers. Harvested 10 mounds of rice and dried in the sun for 15 days. Borrowed 2000 taka to pay the hired labour. Sold 1/2 KGs of Cow's milk every day for two months Taslima's husband catches fishes in nearby water bodies and canals and earns about 50 to 100 taka a day from selling those. Trained her daughter up in making fishing traps (Chai). (Skill transfer to daughter) Took shelter in others home (rich landlady) for 12 days Borrowed 6000 taka from the rich landlady and neighbour Storm, damage of assets and house Moderate High Bought food on credit for about 2000 taka from the nearby shop Received recovery support 6000 taka from the Shiree project and the GoB Rebuilt house spending 16,000 taka. Sold the rest of the stored chai for 10,000 taka Illness Low Low Borrowed 1500 taka from the 7

(Diarrhoea) neighbouring rich landlady Took treatment of homeopathic medicine Drunk Cow s milk every day. Keeping a clean living environment Bought 2 mounds (80 KGs) of Accident o and weak physical condition of Taslima s husband. Bedridden for around 2 months Low Moderate rice on credit for 4000 taka from the shop Taslima borrowed 3000 taka from her leader of 'self-help group' Ate 'good food' (eggs) and drink milk *high, moderate, low 4. ANALYSIS Anticipated Cope Recover Duration Not anticipated. Coped well Yes One month Crop damage and flood Not anticipated. Storm and destroy of house Coped well Yes Twelve days Diarrhoea: anticipated Not Coped well Yes One week Taslima s household visibly has been changed it s wellbeing status. She and her family members could able to cope well in all the hazard and shocks over last one year. She borrowed money and used savings in when crops damaged in the field, 8

house destroyed by storm and her husband fall into accident and in the time in her illness. Her household is at higher moderate poor situation which has a very good possibility to reach lower earning and non-poor group. Taslima s marginalized situation now is being declining and credibility within the society seems increased than before. Taslima s coping strategies during and after hazards/shocks are more than to survive which is to make her savings, profit and business bigger. Vulnerability within the households Taslima s household seems little bit vulnerable due to her husband s weak physical condition. Her husband cannot work hard for long time. For that reason he does not work as a daily laborer regularly. Contextual Her daughter is an adolescent and is growing up. A social vulnerability might appear to her daughter to be teased and harassed by the eve teaser of that area. Moreover, physical vulnerability of the Haor context might affect the household again when there is time of flood and storm. SWOT analysis Strength Skill in crafting fishing traps New labourer added due to transfer skill Weakness Husband's Physical weakness and inability to work hard Multiple sources of income (Ducks are laying eggs, sale of Cow's milk and making 'chai') Multiple income earners Multiple strategies adopted to recover shock and hazards A good asset base Income round the year Awareness of the benefit of education of the Children 9

Aware of having a nutritious food to recover illness Awareness of cleanliness Good housing condition Good relation (Social capital) with the shop keeper, land lord and PS of the local Member of Parliament Cow is vaccinated to protect from disease Good savings (26000 taka) Opportunity: Taslima s daughter Tamanna is a very good student Investing more in 'chai' making and catch a wider market To cultivate a larger land To live in this homestead forever Threats: Threat of cow to be theft Flooding may affect homestead Weak physical condition of Taslima s husband Dream: Taslima s dream is to buy a land of at least 1 katha (8 decimal) for her own family in next three year. This size of land will worth around 70,000 taka in this area. She wants to build her house on her own land. She is very determined to educate her daughter up to which level she can. NGO Intervention effect on Taslima's household Concern Worldwide has provided Taslima s household with assets such as; Cow, raw materials (Bamboo and threads) for crafting chai.taslima grew a total 3 calves from her Cow and sold those to reinvest profit in her business of Chai making. Intervention, using skill of chai making has become effective since Taslima s can work and earn even in the lean season. The intervention and selection of IGAs seem appropriate for her household in generating a regular income. In almost all the shocks Taslima had used her savings and financial capital in repaying loans and recovering strategies. Taslima had received a cow from the project intervention along with the materials to make bamboo sheets. After that support Taslima increased number of Calves and sold three of those and reinvested the money in crafting 'fishing traps' from 10

bamboo. Taslima s income raised, assets were protected until the storm hit and she had created a good savings. Social capitals increased within the self-hepl group of the project which she belongs to. She can now borrow money from the self-help group members and group members help her by looking her after in bad times. Shiree intervention makes community people and the shop owner believe that Taslima is capable of repaying loan. The shop owner and the community think that she is doing well in business. A good relation with the shop owner also helped positively in her household s resilience process. Shiree support for building new house after the storm made the financial loss recovery quicker. Taslima s household could recover every shock/hazard of crop damage, flood, and destroy of house in storm and illness very quickly. Her husband s weak physical condition still to recover though this weak condition is not hampering to earn a very good income. 11