Climate Action Bangladesh Project #26943

Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation

by Poverty Eradication Program (PEP)

Project Report | Jul 6, 2017
Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation-45 Kilometers

By Mujibur Rahman | Executive Director

Tree caretaker Shobura

GlobalGiving Project Appeal/Report Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation—45 Kilometers Bonus Day July 12 from EDT 9:00:01 Dear Friends, Thanks so much to all of you for your previous contributions for our project on GlobalGiving “Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation—45 Kilometers”. We have set a goal of establishing 45 kilometers of new roadside tree plantations for this project. As of June, we had received donations totaling $10,869 or about 16.5% of the amount we need. Since it is now the rainy season which continues through September, we are beginning the plantations for a canal and three short roads of one kilometer each. The canal is 11 kilometers in length, but requires only about 9,000 trees. 12 of the poorest women will receive employment for three years, with their monthly salaries paid from the donations. This will help their families improve nutrition, pay costs for children’s education and begin building economic assets for strengthening their families. Initially these assets may only be a few chickens or ducks, but over the 36 months employment, they may get goats, a cow or begin a small grocery business. The photos show Shobura, who has been hired to care for the newly planted trees on the 1.5 kilometer road from Mandail village to near Panishara village. 1,320 saplings have been planted on the road and the two photos show Shobura caring for them. Her husband Idris works as a day laborer, but does not receive regular work or good payments. They have a teenage son named Shobuj who occasionally earns some income by driving a bicycle-van. Shobura’s monthly salary will allow the family to improve nutrition from two meals per day to three meals and to begin purchasing some livestock. GlobalGiving is sponsoring a “Bonus Day” on July 12. They will have $110,000 in matching funds for donations made on that day. The official start of the day is at EDT 9:00:01 and matching amounts of 30-50% will be given to donors, until the fund is used up. PEP is a partner of GlobalGiving and is learning how to maximize benefits; presently, it is likely that we would get the 30% matching amount for donations, if they come early enough on the 12th. To get such matching amounts, it is most important to get funds donated within the first hour or two of the day to ensure that the matching amounts are still available. Thanks, in advance, for any help you can provide for us to get the bonus amounts!

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Jun 12, 2017
Bangladesh Roadside Tree Plantation--45 kilometers

By S. M. Mujibur Rahman | Executive Director

Dear Friends,

On March 11, 2017, Poverty Eradication Program (PEP) published its first ever crowdfunding project on GlobalGiving. Rie Makita of Japan had made this suggestion to us and we are very grateful to her and to her friends who contributed, together with many friends in the USA.

In our project proposal, we proposed to plant 45 kilometers of roadsides in rural Bangladesh, needing $66,015 over three years. PEP (formerly named IIRD) has previously planted over 550 kilometers of roadsides with timber tree saplings and a couple hundred kilometers of mulberry saplings for a silk industry in order to provide employment and regular income to poor rural women.

For each kilometer of roadside timber tree plantations, PEP signs a legal agreement with the local government unit which owns the road and with 15 poorest families who live along the road. PEP receives government permission to use the road for 20 years to nurture and develop the timber saplings. When trees are pruned or eventually harvested, the income is divided in three ways; 60% income is distributed among the 15 poorest families in each kilometer and 20% each goes to support the local government unit and PEP. Since 1989, the poor have received over $1 million, with more than 8,000 families sharing this amount.

Although $9,918 has been raised for this project till now, which is 15% of the total needed over three years, we are planning to plant 12 kilometers in Bogra, which is 26.67%. Of this amount, 9 kilometers will be on both sides of a recently constructed government canal and the other three kilometers will be on three separate roads in Sherpur upazila of Bogra district. We will purchase large tree saplings from government and private nurseries and plant them along these 12 kilometers of canal and roadsides at the end of June, after completing the legal agreements with the government and the 180 poor families who will own 60% of the tree wealth.

We will hire 12 women from the poorest families, who will be paid a monthly salary to help support them and their families; they will have this employment for three years. In most cases, the women can save some fund each month so that they can purchase economic assets over the three years to allow their families to move out of the poorest level of poverty. They might begin a small grocery shop, purchase livestock or poultry, a bicycle rickshaw or van for their husbands or sons and so forth.

We are very grateful to our almost 70 donors who have made this important environmental and poverty eradication project possible. We will continue to send reports every three months or so to keep you informed of the progress on these 12 kilometers of plantations and any additional plantations we can establish through donations. We hope to include some pictures in the next report and include background of at least one of the women tree caretakers.

Warmest regards,

S. M. Mujibur Rahman and the PEP Team

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