Time : June 2011-June 2015

The SIPP was regarded as a successful project both by the Government of Bangladesh and World Bank in overcoming the hardcore rural poverty. After successful completion of the SIPP the second phase, a five year project titled Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement “Notun Jibon” Project-II (SIPP-II) came into being with a budget to the tune of US$ 115 million/BDT 912 crore in July 2011 and was scheduled to be completed in June 2016 extending coverage to 9 additional districts bringing a total of 16 districts under the project with an additional component on Second Generation/tier Institutions with a view to helping the communities take advantage of economies of scale associated with access to economic, social and financial services through aggregation of community institutions. Since the inception of SIPP-II SDF has been able to implement all planned activities in line with the project development objectives as laid down in the project appraisal document and financing agreement. SIPP-II was implemented in a total of 3262 villages in 51 upazilas and successfully reached out to around 6 million beneficiaries in 16 districts.

Project components

Component A: Community and Livelihood development at village level

Subcomponents
Development and Strengthening of Community Organizations
Village Development and Risk Reduction Fund (VDRRF)

Component B: Institutional Development and Livelihood Promotion at the Inter - Village level

Subcomponents
Development and Strengthening of Inter - Village Organizations
Business Promotion, Livelihoods and Market Linkages and Partnerships
Creating Conditions for Employment Generation

Component C: Capacity Development and Partnership Building from Cluster to National Level

Subcomponents
Capacity Building of SDF and other Relevant Agencies
Supporting Innovations

Component D: Project Management and Coordination

Subcomponents
Coordination and Management
Monitoring, Learning, Evaluation and Communication

Coverage
Bagherhat, Barguna, Gaibandha, Jamalpur,Sirajgonj, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Kurigram,Dinajpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh, Barisal, Sylhet,Naogaon covering 51 Upazilas, 266 Unions and 3,262 villages.

Objectives
Social Investment Program Project –II or ‘Nuton Jibon’ Project was the legacy of the successful and widely acclaimed Social Investment Program Project. It was a part of a long term approach to support holistic village development that integrated vulnerability risk reduction, including adaptations to climate change.

Core objectives of the project were the followings -

To empower the poor and strengthen local governance by developing sustainable, participatory and accountable rural community institutions;

To reduce vulnerability of the poor to risks, in particular those associated with natural hazards and climate variability;

To increase employment opportunities by enhancing skills, supporting the start up or expansion of income generating activities, and strengthening access to markets and financial institutions.

To support small-scale demand-driven community investment sub-projects that are prioritized, implemented and managed directly by the rural poor.

Achievements
In October 2013, the World Bank Team carried out a Mid-Term Review (MTR) and mentioned in the Aide Memoire that “the project is on track to achieve the project development objectives and progress towards achieving the PDO is rated satisfactory”. A mid-line independent impact evaluation study conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) revealed that out of the 3 Project Development Objective (PDO) level indicators, one indicator target for end of project has been exceeded whilst the remaining two indicators are about to be achieved by the end of June 2015. It may be mentioned here that the study categorically mentioned that 58% beneficiaries of the project areas have already surpassed the poverty line and 35% of the households increased their income by 40-50% which is very close to the project end target.