孟加拉：改變貧民窟居民的人生

Shabdi D’Costa was in her forties， barely surviving with her three daughters on her husband’s Tk 1，800 (US $22) salary， when she decided to find a way out of poverty by taking charge of the family finances.

“We barely had enough money to feed and clothe ourselves，” said Shabdi. “I needed to learn to manage our money so that we could plan for our rainy days.”

This was four years ago.

Her husband was an assistant at a textile factory in Narayanganj – an industrial town on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka – and the sum of the family assets consisted of a bed.

Shabdi’s family is among roughly 10 million people in urban Bangladesh who live in slums or shanties， facing the threat of eviction and deprived of access to basic services.

Desperate for a break， Shabdi turned to UNDP’s Urban Partnerships in Poverty Reduction (UPPR). Working in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh and UN Habitat， the programme offers poor urban communities resources， knowledge and skills to increase their income and a space to mobilise and create community development committees. Shabdi was selected by her peers to represent the poor households of her neighbourhood， as the \"Didi\" or \"elder sister\" whom local women seek out for advice and arbitration.

“I was very excited when I got this opportunity because as a committee member I could receive training in savings and credit management in exchange for the unpaid work of helping other poor households – specifically families of single or abandoned women，” says Shabdi.

Small cash transfers from the programme have so far put more than three million people in urban areas on the path to a better future. Modeled on Brazil’s highly successful Bolsa Familia (family grants) scheme， it offers education stipends， apprenticeships， block grants and access to safe water and sanitation， with women holding 90 per cent of the office bearer posts.

“I am not very educated， but I know enough to understand that education is the ticket out of poverty，” says Shabdi.

“I want to ensure that my daughters get all the opportunities that I was denied because of my poverty，” she adds.

For two years Shabdi witnessed families from her slum transition from poverty to small business owners.

“I watched and learned a lot in those two years – about how to prepare applying for a grant， and how to use this money wisely，” she says. “I learned from the families that found happier days – and I learned from the ones who spent unwisely.”

Shabdi did so well as a community leader that she was offered a teaching job at a preschool in her slum， and now earns Tk 1，000 (US $12) a month. As modest as this sounds， she now has savings of over Tk 2800， along with a steady income.

Her story is an example of the country’s great progress in reducing poverty. In the past 20 years， Bangladesh has nearly halved its poverty in terms of the national poverty line.

Shabdi一家生活在孟加拉的一個貧民窟，他們與貧民窟中近一千萬的居民一樣缺乏基本的生活服務設施，面臨著被驅逐的威脅。四年前，Shabdi D'Costa四十歲，她有三個女兒，全家只能依靠丈夫每月22美元的微薄薪水度日。她希望能通過妥善管理家庭收支的方式擺脫貧困。于是，她求助于聯合國開發計劃署的“城市合作脫貧項目”，該項目與孟加拉政府和聯合國人居署合作，建立社區發展委員會向貧困的城市居民提供資源，知識和技術，幫助他們增加收入。Shabdi被同伴推選為委員會中貧困家庭的代表，向社區內需要指導和仲裁的人提供幫助。Shabdi說:“我沒受過什么教育，但我清楚教育是走出貧困的唯一途徑。”計劃實施兩年間，Shabdi目睹了貧民窟中一個個貧困的家庭發展為小規模生意的擁有者。由于工作出色，Shabdi得到了在社區幼兒園任教的機會，薪水為每月12美元。她現在有著穩定的收入，并逐漸有了存款。Shabdi的故事是脫貧項目執行過程中的成功案例之一。在過去的20年間，孟加拉處于國家貧困線下的人口幾乎降低了一半。

[http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/successstories/bangladesh--how-to-transform-life-in-the-slum.html]