Overview
Bangladesh has been witnessed to a plethora of anti-poverty innovations, some of which such as micro credit and conditional cash transfers have gone on to win critical global acclaim. While these have contributed to significant transformation of poverty realities, the scrounge of extreme poverty is far from being reduced. Temporary relief such as food and clothing only help for a short period and the actual needy ones often cannot access it. Reducing poverty is not just about temporary relief but more importantly about building sustainable livelihoods. Financial empowerment has been a key strategy in this larger fight against poverty.
Shokkhom project started in a small-scale experimental livelihood program focused on arranging
a sustainable income source for 2 impoverished families whose children were the beneficiaries of our educational program. The project was launched in June, 2016 with the Zakat fund of individual donors. The subsequent study on the use of Zakat funds for sustainable livelihoods of extreme poor in different locations of Bangladesh has been extraordinarily stimulating.
Projects Under Livelihood
SHOKKHOM - A Sustainable Livelihood Project
SHOKKHOM (a Bengali word meaning being skillful or competent in a certain field of profession) is a sustainable livelihood program which aims to demolish poverty and ensure a maintainable life for the disadvantaged and destitute people. In the Islamic community, Muslims are obliged to pay a percentage annually under Islamic law on a particular amount of property they own and use it for charitable and religious purposes. In Bangladesh, with Zakat money, people tend to purchase clothing and food to distribute those to the poor which results in momentary happiness for the people but does not bring any tenable development in their lives. To ensure appropriate utilization of the money, we initiated a Sustainable Livelihood program titled “Shokkhom”.
Our Impact
At a Glance
Eventually the organization started to work with different communities like disable community, transgender community, indigenous community in cluster basis to create a sustainable livelihood and make those communities self-reliant.
In accordance with the process, OBHIZATRIK Foundation initiated an envisioned program named “Shokkhom Model Village”, a self-contained and self-sufficient village. The purpose of the initiative is to eradicate poverty from unfledged villages by creating sustainable livelihood models for every able-bodied inhabitant lying under the poverty line. Every member of the village will be a part of the scheme where they ensure all of the basic facilities to lead a healthy and blissful life with socio-economic and financial stability.
According to a study done by Dr. Kabir Hassan, Prof. University of New Orleans, it has been calculated that each year BDT 25,000 crore of Zakat can be obtained from Bangladesh and if distributed properly, each extremely poor family can get 2 million BDT from this huge fund. Zakat in fact is an opportunity, a possibility for Bangladesh to fight poverty in a sustainable way.
If this system of social security can be utilised effectively like the initiatives taken by OBHIZATRIK Foundation, it will be very possible for Bangladesh to break free the vicious cycle of poverty and be a self-sufficient and prosperous nation.
