March 2014 -February 2016 Final Report

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Community- Project

Project Summary Implementing Partner name Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation (CCEC)

Project title Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities (CALS-SRDC)

Project approval reference BAN162/1/1

Grant approved £36,821

Funding period March 2014 – February 2016

Working Area Dacope & Mongla Upazilla

Project Duration 24 Months

Total project Cost 4881970 BDT

Budget Approved by CAFOD 4619370 BDT

Name of the organization Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation (CCEC)

Project stating Date 15 March’ 2014

1. Introduction The Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation has implemented the project on Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of the Sundarbans Resource Dependent Community (CALS-SRDC) supported by Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). The project sites are the two most climate vulnerable and high risk Upazilla (sub district) such as Mongla Upazilla under and Dacope Upazilla under district of south west coastal . The primary objectives of this project are; secure livelihood of the Sundarbans coastal communities especially Sundarbans resource dependent community through climate adaptive practices, community based Sundarbans resource management through capacity building, skill development and policy advocacy. Co-management based livelihood & SME support for poverty reduction, exploitation reduction and increased solidarity of 220 Sundarbans resource harvester families, enhanced climate adaptation knowledge, legal aid support were the key features of the project intervention. The final report BAN162 explore the project success, progress, learning and outputs in the two years period including the last six monthly September 2015 to February 2016 project activities.

2. Problem Statement: The southwest coastal Bangladesh Sundarbans mangroves ecosystems of Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts is a high risk zone due to sea level rise caused by global climate change. Millions of coastal people are vulnerable to inundation threat especially the livelihoods of the Sundarbanss mangrove forest dependant people. Increased salinity, disruption of natural regeneration & top dying in Sundri trees already are the indication and hampers the production of Sundarbans honey, fish & crab resources. Sundarbans region becomes Silent Victims Zone of global warming. Phenomenon of natural disasters changes drastically including the extent of damage. Bangladesh cyclone- Sidr of 15 November, 2007 and Cyclone- Aila of 25 May, 2009 are the recent examples of tropical storms catastrophes that tolls thousands of human and wildlife in Sundarbans region.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 2 The livelihoods and food security of the Sundarbans coastal communities is largely impacted by salinity, tidal surges, uneven rainfall patterns and water logging. Above all the growth and production of SRF products (nypa, honey, fish, crab) is dwindling along with the reduction of fresh water from the north which in turn lowering the Sudarbans resource harvester's seasonal lean period changes seven to four months a year and includes risk of tigers, cyclone, pirates, bribe etc. The fish and crop production of marginalized farmers/fishermen hindered with less rainfall, salinity, lack of irrigation in dry season and lack of crop diversification scope/knowledge/technology. The women headed/tiger-widow (wife of men killed by tiger in Sundarbans) households are being vulnerable due to lack of livelihood security. The helpless Sundarbans resource harvester, the bawali (wood & thatch cutter), the mawali (honey extractor) and the jelley (fish & crab harvester) face threats of tiger on the land and crocodile in the water. Every year a number of resources harvesters are killed by tiger while extracting resources from Sundarbans Reserved Forest (SRF) and the harvester widow are called tiger–widow. Tiger widow is also known as ill fated. The Sundarbans resources harvester is exploited by money lenders & middle man. They don’t have any professional association or cooperative society. Corruptions of dishonest forest staff forced them to pay additional money as bribe besides SRF revenue payment. Piracy becomes great fear now a day for being kidnapped and a threat for the livelihood of the Sundarbans resource dependant communities.

3. Rationale: Sundarbans resource harvesters are the most vulnerable and frontlines of frequent cyclone, tidal surge i.e. climate change impacts. They face threats of tiger on the land and crocodile in the water. There is an urgent need for Alternative Income Generation Activities (AIGA) and addressing climate adaptive livelihood options for the Sundarbans stakeholders. Also the production of Sundarbans Reserved Forest (SRF) resources such as Nypa (golpata), honey, fish are dwindling along with the reduction of fresh water from the Rivers especially mighty River, the Ganges. Again the policy for the Government of Bangladesh (GOB)/Forest Department is to gradually divert the profession of Sundarbans resource dependant bawali, mawali and jelley and engage them for alternative livelihoods. According to the Sundarbans Management Plan, The forest department has decided to limit Annual Allowable Cut thus the FD has limited to issue 12000 (3000 x 4) Boat License Certificate (BLC) for fishermen from all four Range Offices from Sundarbans Reserved Forest (SRF) since 2012-13 FY while there was no limit for issuing BLC in the past. Bangladesh cyclone Sidr of 2007 and cyclone-Aila of 2009 is a cause of concern for climate migration from Sundarbans region. The project communicated and made contact with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) on improving cereal production growth in saline environment of Mongla and Dacope via Khulna hub in Bangladesh. CSISA involves more than 300 public, civil society, and private sector partners in the development and dissemination of improved cropping systems, resource-conserving management technologies, new rice, wheat and maize varieties and hybrids, livestock feed supply chains, aquaculture systems, improved policies and markets, and public-private delivery systems. Strengthening mainstreaming and linking agriculture, fisheries and livestock offices with project beneficiary groups is one of the successes through conducting trainings. Aman-54 and Aman-41 for Rice and Mono sex Tilapia, PCR tested bagda PL (post larvae), crab fattening is one of the major intervention in the saline prone coastal areas of Mongla and Dacope Upazilla. Communication with NGO Caritas was helpful to know some success and failure stories for duck rearing in saline environment.

4. Project Goal: To increase livelihood diversification, food security and climate adaptive capacity change of 7400 vulnerable Sundarbans resource harvesters and their family members.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 3 5. Project Objectives: Objective 1: To support climate adaptive livelihood diversification and food security through an ecosystem based approach Objective 2: To enable community based Sundarbans resource management through capacity building, skill development and policy advocacy

6. Project Area:

Mongla Upazilla, Bagerhat District Dacope Upazilla.

7. Beneficiary Selection Information about socio-economic aspects of disaster vulnerable Sundarbans Resource Dependent communities was collected by visiting by door to door. Identification of the beneficiary villages, cluster and locations of Sundarbans resource dependent community was done by direct interview, observation and secondary information collection which was the first step of beneficiary selection. At the same time we developed a general information collection sheet for collecting information on Sundarbans forest adjacent Unions of Dacope & Mongla Upazilla. Socio-economic, income level, land ownership, demographic, educational, religious, infrastructural, occupational, knowledge on adaptive livelihood pattern, and Wildlife law, natural resources of Sundarbans were collected from the target beneficiaries. Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 4 Project related information was noted such as occupational, season of Sundarbans recourse collectors, their lean period pass permit etc. Aftermath Cyclone AILA & Cyclone SIDR different NGO worked on relief & rehabilitation with cyclone affected community people but CCEC activity is centered to Sundarbans resource dependent community. Secondary information was also collected from the NGOs and shared with them for learning and feedback. NGOs working in Chila & Chandpai Union of Mongla Upazilla and Sutarkhali and Pankhali Union of Dacope Upazilla were communicated including NGO selected beneficiaries. Beneficiary selection procedure was to escape overlapping of beneficiaries selected by other NGOs and give priority to the most vulnerable and poor people. A structured questionnaire was developed and administered for selecting beneficiaries. The Sundarbans resource harvesters, Poor & Ultra poor, Disaster Vulnerable people, Disable family, School going Children in family, Tiger-widow, Women headed family, ethnic groups were considered as the major criteria. Beneficiary selection survey was carried out at the end of the month May. At least 300 questionnaires were administered for each Upazilla. The project conducted survey of 318 questionnaires in Dacope Upazilla of which 287 questionnaires from Sutarkhali Union and 31 questionnaires from Pankhali Union. In Mongla Upazilla, 315 questionnaires were surveyed during the month of June 2014 of which 203 survey from and 112 Survey from Chadpai Union. At the time of conducting survey information was collected from the Poor and Ultra poor Sundarbans resource dependent community people. Women headed families and tiger widow families were interviewed for selecting 10 women headed/ tiger widow persons in each upazilla. Verification of the collected information was made with insight from the survey of different Government and non-Government institutions responses and identifying actual vulnerable people in the project area. Data entry format was developed and input was given into the Microsoft Excel worksheet. Data was analyzed based on the beneficiary selection criteria. Again crosscheck with the field observation. Interview and opinion were sought from each of the household before final beneficiary selection whether he/she is interested to become CAFOD_CCEC project beneficiary or not. Finally 220 beneficiaries were selected in July 2014.

Final Beneficiary’s Information’s:

Sundarbans Total Tiger Total SL. Upazilla Union Village/Place Resource Family widow/women family No. dependent members headed members 01. Paschim Cila 25 108 4 11 Chila Baiddamari 30 133 - Mongla Kalikabari 25 90 4 14 Chadpai Dakhhin 20 69 2 7 Kainmari Total (110 Families)= 432 Family Members

Sundarbans Total Tiger Total SL. Upazilla Union Village/Place Resource Family widow/women family No. dependent members headed members Sutarkhali 20 95 - Sutarkhali Doyaner Gate 40 220 1 1 02 Dacope Kalabagi 25 130 4 12 Pankhali Hoglabuniya 15 69 5 14 Total(110 Families)= 541 Family Members

Activity 4. Baseline Survey (HH survey using Questionnaires and dada Analysis), 2014 Beneficiary selection was carried out by using and developing a baseline questionnaire. Questionnaires were pretested in the field and corrected. Analysis of the questionnaire was completed in the computer involving colleagues from two field sites. Comparative results from analyzing the data are given below. Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 5 Dacope Upazilla:

Mongla Upazilla:

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 6

Activity 2.14 monthly Groups meeting for Mobilization [Budget code: 5.1]

Group meetings were conducted throughout the project period following the activity plan. In those group meetings, the project team encouraged attending the project beneficiaries as family representatives and ensuring their participation both husband and wife who in turn total project beneficiary is 420 (Dacope 210 and Mongla 210). They were both men & women in 2 Upazilla including 20 women who are from women headed family and Sundarbans resource harvester wife/family. Eight beneficiary groups (four groups from Mongla and four groups from Dacope) were formed. Each beneficiary group formed a 7 member executive committee in order to strengthen and shape the group structure as cooperative model. The group formation system is deviate from the proposal considering the reality of the field. According to the project proposal, it was proposed that the groups are to be formed based on their occupation such as bawali (wood & thatch cutter), mawali (honey extractor) and jelley (catch fish and crab) group. But it was done based on the location where they live because all different category lives together and difficult to make individual category/profession from one particular area/village. It was done for beneficiary gathering, easy communication, conducting meeting, and smooth implementation of project activities. During September 2015- February 2016 reporting period, all monthly meetings was held regularly in each group to address different issue of the project and other related issues correlated with the project. It is a participatory process to follow up all the group activities and keep documentation. We try to build an accountability-transparency-good governance based network through Sundarbans stakeholder’s participation, open information sharing, clear understanding about project goal & objectives, sustainability of the project and others. In the meetings, the beneficiaries collect their monthly savings (not micro credit loan scheme), deposit money into their own bank account, document group works, setup future plan of the project activities, and follow-up their SME & livelihood support activities in order to strengthen co- management approach. CCEC_CAFOD project staffs facilitate the process undertaken by the groups. They also discusses different cross cutting issues and motivate the group members to observe various environmental day observations, disaster risk reduction including oil spill, harmful effect of coal based thermal power plant. Project lawyer attends monthly meeting and discuss about legal awareness and legal aid support. Co-management Organization (CMO) for example Co-Management Committee (CMC), Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 7 People’s Forum, Village Conservation Forum (VCF) of the Forest Department followed by Integrated Protected Area Co-management (IPAC)/Climate Resilient Ecosystems Livelihood (CREL) funded by USAID. The project successfully link with CMC and participate both CMC meetings based at Chandpai FD Range and Nalian FD Range of Sundarbans East Forest Division/Bagerhat and Sundarbans West Forest Division/Khulna/Satkhira districts. Representatives from Union Parishad (Chairman) also present in CMC meetings. Attempts are always taken for establishing link between different organization, project/ programmes and project beneficiaries. Project sustainability is always a concern for individual/group/association discussion. ‘Monitoring and follow-up is needed” is one of the key observation by the group members. If the project will not continue then some local advisors may follow up their group activities for the better use of SME money. They suggest that local school teacher is honorable person. If a teacher is associated with each group as an advisor then it is not easy to misuse of the SME money’. The group members already selected the local teachers as their advisory authority. The role of the teacher as an advisor is given below: - Attend Monthly group meeting - Approve the resolution by singing before withdrawn SME money (considering the purpose of work with majority consent) - Check the amount of money available in the group bank account

7th quarterly monthly Group meeting conduction date and participants; Mongla Upazilla: Conduct Total Conduct Total Conduct Total Group name date Participants date Participants date Participants Paschim Chila 19/09/15 26M 4F 26/10/15 21M 13F 21/11/15 10M 15F Kalikabari 19/09/15 22M 8F 29/10/15 23M 10F 22/11/15 22M 7F Dakkhin Kainmari 21/09/15 20M 9F 24/10/15 17M 5F 18/11/15 15M 6F Baiddamari 22/09/15 24 M 10 F 28/10/15 15M 9F 15/11/15 12M 11F 7th quarterly monthly Group meeting conduction date and participants; Dacope Upazilla:

Conduct Total Conduct Total Conduct Total Group name date Participants date Participants date Participants Kalabogi 22/09/15 23M 16F 17/10/15 27M 17F 18/11/15 26M 20F Sutarkhali 23/09/15 21M 13F 20/10/15 21M 15F 17/11/15 20M 19F Doyaner Gate 20/09/15 44M 35F 19/10/15 34M 25F 19/11/15 35M 36F Hoglabuniya 12/09/15 16 M 15F 18/10/15 19M 19F 21/11/15 10 M 19F 8th quarterly monthly Group meeting conduction date and participants; Mongla Upazilla: Conduct Total Conduct Total Conduct Total Group name date Participants date Participants date Participants Paschim Chila 28/12/15 10M 9F 26/01/16 17M 6F 09/02/16 17M 11F Kalikabari 27/12/15 18M 12F 23/01/16 19M 6F 04/02/16 20M 9F Dakkhin Kainmari 30/12/15 12M 8F 28/01/16 12M 5F 16/02/16 12M 4F Baiddamari 22/12/15 16M 15F 24/01/16 7M 8F 11/02/16 13M 9F 8th quarterly monthly Group meeting conduction date and participants; Dacope Upazilla: Conduct Total Conduct Total Conduct Total Group name date Participants date Participants date Participants Kalabogi 23/12/15 26M 26M 23/01/16 15M 23F 15/02/16 25M 20F Sutarkhali 13/12/15 17M 20F 19/01/16 18M 16F 08/02/16 16M 20F Doyaner Gate 10/12/15 40M 35F 20/01/16 35M 37F 20/02/16 37M 31F Hoglabuniya 20/12/15 11M 16F 24/01/16 9M 20F 23/02/16 14M 8F

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 8 Activity 3. upazilla based Association meeting [Budget code: 4.1] Sundarbans stakeholders association is a large platform for the Sundarbans resource dependent community and it acts as an umbrella organization for the groups as well as the beneficiaries. The main responsibility of the Sundarbans stakeholders association is to reduce exploitation and for increased solidarity of 200 Sundarbans resource harvesters. Each of Mongla and Dacope project area has an association consisting 110 beneficiaries. The association has also a 7 member’s executive committee for performing activity and distributing results. At this last half year (September 2015 to February 2016) of the project all of two (2) Associations per upazilla were held in time. In that association meeting, we discuss about the SME development, strategy, new business plan, day observation, concern about BLC/ pass permit, Sustainability of the project. In those association meetings the project lawyer also presents there and discusses about his legal aid issues. In that meeting intra group activities are sharing and plan in the association meeting. - Sundarbans Stakeholders Association acts as an umbrella organization for the groups. - Association members has the right to monitoring group activity - Association member believes in solidarity and protest against BLC bribe

Bi-monthly Association meeting conduction Date and Participants; September’ 2015: Sl. No. Meeting date Upazilla Venue Total participants

01 21/09/15 Dacope Chalna , Upazila livestock office 31M 4F

02 12/09/15 Mongla Chila market, Cila, Mongla 19M 3F

Bi-monthly Association meeting conduction Date and Participants; November’ 2015: SL No Meeting date Upazilla Venue Total participants

01 22/11/15 Dacope Chalna, Upazila livestock office 23M 10F

02 28/11/15 Mongla Chila Market, Cila, Mongla 19M 5F

Bi-monthly Association meeting conduction Date and Participants; January’ 2016: SL No Meeting date Upazilla Vanue Total participants

01 26/01/16 Dacope Nojrul Molla’s House, Sutarkhali 28M 7F

02 16/01/16 Mongla ChilaMarket, Cila, Mongla 18M 9F

The association negotiate Forest department about the problems of the project beneficiaries, communicate with co-management committee, relation build up with other project stakeholders, follow-up group activity for the smooth implementation of the project. The organization also act for ensuring accountability and transparency of the group activity, protest against providing bribe to the forest department for boat license certificate and pass permit.

Activity 4. Group/SS association formation and meeting [Budget code: 4.1] Eight cooperative groups from two upazilla based Sundarbans Stakeholders Association. Now each upazilla based association consist of 110 Sundarbans dependent community people. Each groups has own bank account and groups are operated by a 7 members executive committee. Each of 8 groups purchased a set of resolution, cash book, laser book etc. according to the suggestions of cooperative departments. The project provided Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 9 capacity building training to the group members with the technical assistance of upazilla cooperative department. The cooperative officer training the groups practically and the group members learn how to document their group work, the rules and regulations of the utilization of SME money. Also there is a good interaction build with the cooperative officer with the groups. The officer gives his contact number for any further inquiry and he promised to follow-up the group activities. The groups maintain transparency- accountability for each group members.

Groups Savings according to bank statement (February 2016):

SL No: Upz Group Name Group savings (Tk.)

01 Sutarkhali (20) 65551 02 Doyaner gate (41) 120901 Dacope 03 Kalabagi (29) 79509 04 Hoglabunia (20) 36436 05 Kalikabari (29) 81318 06 Dakkhin kainmari (22) 81878 Mongla 07 Paschim Chila(29) 62756 08 Baiddamari (30) 50267 Total= 578616

Activity 7. Development of Sundarbans stakeholder’s service centre at Khulna (Budget Code: 2.7) Centre for Coastal Environmental Conservation (CCEC) has developed a Sundarbans Stakeholders Service Centre (SSSC) at Khulna from the 15 March 2014 to present. The responsibility and types of service from the SSSC is fully related with Sundarbans resource dependent community’s betterment, information sharing, legal aid support, conservation awareness, cooperative business and other support . The services already provided from Sundarbans Stakeholders service centre are Boat license certificate support and Documents collection for legal aid support. Also the Staff for service centre conduct some field visit, participate in Beneficiary selection survey, and Data entry from the field feedback. SSSC maintain call book register; provide legal aid support for victims, sharing information’s. SSSC maintain community feedback for legal aid aspects. Collect information about real victim people and collaborate with lawyer to support them.

Activity 5. Diversified livelihood (fish, crab, duck, sheep, vegetable and Rice) support for 220 stakeholders [Budget Code: 4.2] This project promotes resilient livelihood strategies in the face of climate change. As part of the project support for diversified livelihood to the beneficiaries was provided at October to November 2014. At first the amount of money has been transferred to the group’s bank account. Then the groups withdrew the money for purchasing livelihood inputs as their family choice. The livelihoods were selected based on baseline survey. The inputs were provided to the beneficiaries by directly purchased by the group executive committee members with the presence of project staff. Beneficiaries choose their inputs from local market then it was purchased with the presence of the group executive committee members and project staff. In general the types of inputs are Poultry (hen rearing), Pig Rearing , Crab fattening , Goat Rearing , Commodities for Shop / Small business , Duck Rearing , Vegetable Gardening , Fish Culture , Sewing machine & Cloth (Tailoring by women), Pigeon rearing , Atol (Crab gear) business etc. In maximum cases the beneficiary families gain profit from the project support. The project provides 2500 BDT per family for their livelihood. They decided to expense 2000 BDT and added at least 10% own contribution when they purchased their diversified livelihood support. Rest of BDT 500 has kept in their bank account for the contingency period. Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 10 Livelihood Support items - Mongla Upazilla: Sl No. Livelihood Item Number

1. Poultry(hen rearing) 38 2. Pig Rearing 18 3. Crab fattening 16 4. Goat Rearing 13 5. Commodities for Shop / Small business 13 6. Duck Rearing 8 7. Vegetable Gardening 7 8. Fish Culture 4 9. Sewing machine & Cloth (Tailoring by women) 3 10. Pigeon rearing 2 11. Rain water reservoir (Earthen ware) 1

Livelihood Support items - Dacope Upazilla:

Sl No. Livelihood Item Number 1. Crab fattening 27 2. Goat rearing 26 3. Poultry (Hen rearing) 13 4. Duck Rearing 10 5. Honey business 10 6. Sewing machine & Cloth (Tailoring by women) 9 7. Rain water reservoir (Earthen ware) 6 8. Vegetable gardening 6 9. Commodities for Shop / Small business 5 10. Shrimp (fresh water) culture 3 11. Rice/ husked paddy business 2 12. Shari (women cloth) business 1 13. Swan (Big duck) rearing 1 14. Crab business 1 15. Atol (Crab gear) business 1 16. Sheep rearing 1 17. Pigeon rearing 1 18. Sewing machine 1 Note: some of 220 families choose more than one item.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 11 CCEC maintain a monthly monitoring register throughout the project period and field officer & project manager filled it and documented by door to door visit. We also discus about the outcomes of the support inputs in group meeting, association meeting for sharing the lessons learnt. We documented the successful stories from the project and encourage others to follow.

Example of a Project Individual support Monitoring sheet: Name Livelihood Project Own Nov 14 Dec 14 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 15 Apr 15 inputs support contribution Sujit Crab 2000BDT 1000 BDT as 10kg Sell 10 Sell 20 Sell 25 Fatteni Profit Mistri fattening, for small net, bamboo Crab kg Kg Kg ng stop 21500 vegetable crab fence Crab crab Crab BDT gardening purchase purchasing Sangkar Hen rearing Hen Built poultry 10 piece 10 hen 12 hen 14 hen 14 hen 6500 poddar purchase farm and of hen BDT 2000BDT purchase food (2000BDT) Note: continuing for the whole project period

Livelihood Inputs create working opportunity for the beneficiaries’ wife and they also contributed in family income. Inputs are provided to the family but the Inputs items are chosen by both men & women of a family. Majority percent beneficiaries’ family achieved at least average profit from this climate adaptive livelihood practice. The beneficiary family’s started to practice diversified livelihood besides Sundarbans resource harvesting. Overall monitoring reports shows that 90% of the total families got profit from the individual diversified livelihood support.

Activity 6. Mangrove based SME (Nypa, honey, crab, fish) supports (net, boat, gear, atol) for 8 groups [Budget Code: 4.3] At first beneficiaries set a business plan according to the group interest. Then it was approved by the group executive committee. After that we as project staff justify the business idea with the field. Then the CCEC director approved their application and projects accounts officer sent SME money to the beneficiary’s group bank account. In some cases one mail group is divided into several sub-groups as per different interest or business plan among the group members. Thus they decided to split the group money between the sub-groups. In total there are 23 sub groups formed by split of 8 groups at the end of the project. That means 23 SME activities is running and also some SME has been closed. Both mangrove based and alternative to mangrove based climate adaptive SME has been practiced by the groups. Types of enterprise/business they conducting are: honey enterprise, pigeon farm, transport & tourist boat, rice storage, betel-nut storage etc. Every sub-group has an operational committee to operate the SME work and in the business plan they set some rules and regulation for the profit and loss distribution.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 12 Example of a SME Monitoring Framework: Name of the Group: Paschim Chila Group Group Members: 10 Name of the SME: Crab Fattening Name of the SME (If any Change): ……. Month May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov- 15 Dec- 15 Jan 15 Feb 15 Support from the 10000 project (BDT) Groups own 2800 contribution (BDT) Total investment 12800 (BDT) Opening Balance 12800 15750 26020 14640 12090 15800 25560 23800 24640 37140 (BDT) Total production - 24340 37190 22900 15850 20700 30150 34500 50989 or Marketing (BDT) Total Profit/ Loss - 8580 11170 8250 3760 4900 4590 10700 13849 (BDT) Remaining asset 12800 8400 - - - 4200 6000 28000 7900 or Money (approx.)/BDT

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 13 SME Activities Dacope: Group & Sub Group SME & group Project Upazilla group SME active period members support members Honey Enterprise (10) May 2015- September 2015 10000 Honey Enterprise (10) May 2015- August 2015 10000 Sutarkhali Rice purchase and marketing November 2015- Running 35000 business (20) Honey & wax enterprise (41) May 2015 – October 2015 40000 Doyaner gate Supari (nut) purchase and November to Running 60000 Dacope marketing business (41) Fishermen equipment Kalabogi May 2015- Running 46000 enterprise (29) Poultry purchase and May 2015- December 2015 5000 marketing business (4) Hoglabunia Crab fattening (6) May 2015- December 2015 7500 Poultry farming (10) May 2015- August 2015 12500 Total project support= 226000

SME Activities Mongla: Group & Sub Group SME & group Project Upazilla group SME active period members support members Fish Depot (29) May 2015- February 2016 29000 Varity shop (rice & others) and September 2015- February 2016 16000 Kalikabari tea stall (8) Tea Stall (5) September 2015- February 2016 8000 1st time: Transport enterprise 1. June 15 – October 2015 (Engine driving boat) (11) 11000 Dakkhin 2. November 2015- Running Kainmari 2nd Time: Fisheries (Gher) Pigeon rearing (11) October 15- February 16 11000 Dacope Pigeon rearing (11) May 2014- August 2015 11000 Crab fattening (10) May 2015 – February 2016 10000 Poultry farm (5) November 15 - Running 10000 Paschim Tea stall (10) May 2015 – February 2016 10000 Cila Fish depot (10) November 15 - Running 15000 Goat rearing (5) December 2015 - Running 10000 Tea stall (9) May-2015 to June 2015 9000 Honey Enterprise and June 15- February 16 30000 Commodity shop (30) Baiddamari Commodity shop and tea stall November 15 - Running 15000 (8) Total project support= 195000

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 14 Calculation from the monitoring sheet shows that 54.09% group members profit more than 10000 BDT from the SME activities, another 32.73% group members gain profit equivalent to 10000 BDT where 13.18% group members gain less than 13.18 % BDT. It is good news that no loss has been found.

SME profit and loss: Amount of Profit & Profit More than Profit Equivalent to Profit Less than loss loss by SME 10000 BDT 10000 BDT 10000 BDT Percentage of 54.09% 32.73% 13.18% 0% beneficiary numbers

Brief description of the SMEs: i) Honey enterprise SME operators purchase honey from the local honey collectors at a wholesale price who harvest honey from the Sundarbans. Then sell it in the local markets and get profit except other cost (labor, capital, transport & others). ii) Rice purchase and marketing Enterprise Group members purchase rice and other commodity materials for the regular demands of the community people from the upazilla market/ other large market and sell it as a retail price in the local market and get profit. iii) Honey & wax enterprise SME operators purchase honey & wax from the local honey collectors who harvest honey from Sundarbans. Then sell it in the local markets and get profit. They sell wax to the businessman who has candle business. iv) Betel-nut (supari) purchase and marketing business Betel-Nut is a popular material in the village level and people take it with the betel. Due to the saline area the betel nut is not produced and available in that area. Thus SME groups purchased betel nut with whole sale price and stock it for the rainy season when the price gets higher. By this stock business the groups make profit. The risk of this business is that, field area is disaster vulnerable so the stock room may be destroyed by cyclone and storm surge. v) Fishermen equipment enterprise Project beneficiaries are maximum jelley, bawali, mawali who needs fishing equipments every time. Thus Kalabogi SME operators purchased fisherman equipments from the Khulna market and sell it as a retail price to the communities. Also they are very much concern about government banned equipments. They sell those types of equipments never. vi) Poultry purchase and marketing business SME operators purchase local hen and ducks from the door to door visit in the remote villages and sell it to the local market. It is a profitable business. vii) Crab fattening Small crabs are collected from the Sundarbans by the fisherman’s community. Then some people make a farm to store those crabs. This fattening farm needs some foods (small fish, shell, others) for crabs to make it larger. Generally the big crabs are sold in December & January of every year when the Chinese New Year starts. Because this crabs are exported mainly in the china, Japan and Korea.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 15 viii) Poultry farming Poultry has a large demand of everyday life in Bangladesh to meet the protein needs. Group members established a poultry farm with poultry shelter house, electricity, little chick, food, vaccine and others. Then it needs at least two months to grow up as chicken and sell it to the market. This SME already brings benefit for our project beneficiaries. ix) Fish Depot Fish depot is for purchase fish from the Sundarbans fishermen, Gher owner and other people who collect, produce & supply fish. Then the group members (fish depot owners) sell it with a high price in the upazilla market and even in the district market. x) Varity shop (rice & others) and tea stall Variety shop and tea stall is established in the local market place where people’s gathering is available. Landless people purchase rice from the stall, also communities purchase oil, potato, other dry foods from the stall. At the evening the community people gather in the stall for drinking tea. This type of variety shop was established in Mongla upazilla. xi) Transport enterprise (Engine boat) Engine driving boat is for carrying passengers, tourist, commodities from local area to Karamjal tourist spot/ Mongla upazilla market place and other areas as a rent basis. From the support of the project, the group members repair boat, purchase engine and install other facilities for attracting the passengers. This SME also generate profit for the groups. xii) Fisheries (Gher) Some groups established Gher i.e. fish farm to produce shrimp and other white fishes. It’s a good business where salt water is available. People usually do not success by other businesses in the salinity prone area. xiii) Pigeon rearing Pigeon rearing is now considered as a business in both upazilla in spite of hobby. General people purchased pigeon from the pigeon rearing farm for their hobby. It’s a profitable business. xiv) Goat rearing Black goat is a climate resilient species in Bangladesh. Some group members purchased goat and make medium size goat farm. The goat is used for meat & milk supply.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 16

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 17 Activity 7. Boat License Certificate (BLC) and pass permit support via Association (Camera, Photocopier) for 200 Sundarbans Stakeholders [Budget Code: 4.4] At the last year of the project, the number of beneficiaries who willing to renew their BLC is less in number due to the Bangladesh Government has been planned to implement the Sundarbans conservation plan and it has include that all types of Sundarbans forest resource harvesting will be banned except tourism. This plan has been started to implemented in small scale thus in the year 2015 there was a huge restriction from the forest department to provide BLC. For those reason the number of BLC holders are less from our beneficiaries in this year. BLC (boat license Certificate) support has been provided all beneficiaries Sundarbans Stockholders Service Center (SSSC) collect the BLC notice from the forest department then convey it to the beneficiaries. SSSC provide them beneficiaries passport size photographs, photocopy of old BLC & National ID card, attestation from UP chairman as Sundarbans professionals etc. required documents. Besides project lawyer discussed with them about forest act and rules, regulations in different group & association meeting. Overall 200 Sundarbans stockholders of Dacope and ’s got BLC support.

Total Number of BLC holder for the year 2015-2016 FY: Sl No. Upazila Number of BLC holders from project Beneficiaries 01 Dacope 72 (100) 02 Mongla 35 (100)

Total Number of BLC holder for the year 2014-2015 FY: SL No. Upazilla BLC Holders Pass permit Holders Without BLC/Pass permit 01 Dacope 80 20 - 02 Mongla 26 10 64

At the year 2015-2016 the forest department banned the BLC at first. But at the late season they also permit to go Sundarbans. It creates a huge loss for the resource dependent community people.

Activity 9. Legal Aid Support for Stakeholder via SSSC [Budget code: 4.10] In the month of September’ 2015 to February 2016 the Project lawyer and SSSC conducted some prominent work as part of legal aid support. Lawyer attend several meetings for awareness built up about forest act-1927, Environmental conservation Act -1995, Wildlife (conservation & safety) act 2012, Sundarbans management plan (2011-2020), ban period for resource harvesting, award for giving information about illegal wildlife trading and others rules and regulations. The summary of the legal aid activities are given below: In these meeting CALS-SRDC project lawyer was present there and discuss about the forest laws, rules and regulations of forest resource extraction, which time is the ban period for which types of recourse harvesting, how to get BLC, how can victims release from forest case, how to get legal aid support etc. Sundarbans Stakeholders Service Centre (SSSC) staff Protul Sarkar provides application form to the victims thus they can easily apply for legal aid support to the project lawyer.

Present Number Number of Victim Lawyer Beneficiary Postponed FD Number Status of of involved in existing attend in support from cases due to of the legal Existing cases court telephonic absence of families aid cases (times) communication victim, absence relief support Non Project (times) of witness and from beneficiary beneficiary other reasons. Forest (times) case Number 25 69 3 42 113 17 3

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 18

The results of those cases are still pending. The dates (17) were just postponed due to absence of victim, absence of witness and other reasons.

Field visit by Lawyer (September2015-February 2016):

SL. Date Area Participants Discussion Topic No. Forest law, Punishment of the Illegal trade of Gaus Dhali’s House, 01 20/09/15 79 wild animal and the punishment for killing wild Dacope animal 02 22/09/15 Baiddamari, Mongla 34 Rules and regulation of surrendering pass permit Vobatash mondal’s Legal capacity of boat size, how much Nypa, 03 17/10/15 house, kalabagi, 44 honey, fish, wax, crab can be harvested under dacope legal permission Forest law, Punishment of the Illegal trade of 04 26/10/15 ChilaMarket, Mongla 34 wild animal and the punishment for killing wild animal Chalna livestock Duty and responsibility of the beneficiaries’ to 05 22/11/15 36 office conserve Sundarbans biodiversity and wildlife Punishment of crab harvesting during crab 06 28/11/15 Chilamarket, Mongla 28 reproducing season and the negative impact of this illegal harvesting on Sundarbans Recent Information sharing on crab harvesting Gaush Dhali’s 07 13/12/15 37 ban period (January – February)/ award for House, Dacope giving information’s about illegal trade. How much revenue have to provide for forest Rajen Kha’s house, 08 30/12/15 27 resource harvesting and the rules and regulations Mongla, Bagherhat of extra resource harvesting Why crab harvesting ban period (January – Debudas’ s house, 09 16/01/16 36 February), rules and regulations of Honey Mongla harvesting Information sharing and awareness about ban of Sabina’s house, all types of resource harvesting by the govt. 10 24/01/16 20 Hoglabunia, Dacope published in newspaper (The daily purbanchal, 7 December 2014) Gour Biswas’s How a general people can support forest 11 04/02/16 house, Mongla, 39 department to stop illegal trade of wild life Bagherhat Why crab harvesting ban period (January – Vabatash Mondal’s February), rules and regulations of Honey 12 15/02/16 46 house, dacope harvesting. / award for giving information’s about illegal trade.

Activity 10. Training for Beneficiaries [budget code: 5.3]

In the month December 2014 & January 2015 CAFOD_CCEC Sundarbans project was arranged beneficiary training on diversified livelihood of agricultural, fisheries and livestock’s practice. Beneficiaries got weeding hook, vegetable seeds and fertilizer from the training. We choose the vegetable seeds and fertilizer from the suggestion of Upazilla agricultural department. The vegetable seeds are climate adaptive and salinity tolerant. The result of that training is also achieved in this reporting period. Another seed distribution was held in the month of June 2015 when only seeds are distributed to the group members. That was the perfect time for vegetable gardening. The seeds were purchased from the bank interest of the Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 19 project fund and it was distributed according to NGO bureau’s approval. In the mean time some Beneficiaries starting to get vegetables from the seed plant. In the last six month CAFOD_CCEC Sundarbans project was arranged beneficiary training on diversified livelihood of agricultural, fisheries and livestock’s practice. Beneficiaries got weeding hook, vegetable seeds and fertilizer from the training. We choose the vegetable seeds and fertilizer from the suggestion of Upazilla agricultural department. The vegetable seeds are climate adaptive and salinity tolerant. The result of that training is also achieved in this reporting period. The training and seed distribution were conducted from the bank interest money of the project and it was distributed according to NGO bureau’s approval. In the mean time some Beneficiaries starting to get vegetables from the seed plant. Also we conducted vaccination campaign from the bank interest.

Outcomes of beneficiaries training:  Practical knowledge on agriculture, fisheries and livestock farming obtained  Beneficiaries can clarify their indigenous knowledge by asking questions to the trainer  Relationship builds up with govt. resource persons (Upazilla Agriculture, Fisheries & livestock officers) and beneficiaries. The officers conduct training in some group’s collaboration with Local resource persons.  Got agricultural inputs ( Equipments, seeds, fertilizers)  Both men and women from the Sundarbans dependent family got diversified livelihood training  Beneficiaries already starting to get pumpkin, lady’s finger, papaw, red pumpkin gourd and stalk of a plant

Vaccination Campaign Report’ 2015-2016 In 14 December 2015, a successful vaccination Campaign was arranged in Mongla Upazila in 3 spots. This made a great response to the household families who are more or less involved in livestock rearing. It was the high time to provide vaccination among the livestock’s because at the pre-winter period most of the livestock’s are affected by Torka, Khura, PPR, Duckplague, Ranikhet, diseases. 5 types of vaccine was provided to the livestock’s including duck, hen, caw, goat, sheep and other animals. With the communication and advice of the Upazilla livestock’s officer the campaign was successfully ended in Mongla and Dacope. In Dacope the vaccination programme was held in 04/02/16. Both beneficiary and non beneficiary families get these facilities. At first CCEC discusses about vaccination to the livestock’s in each group meeting. Then the types of problems faced by the community groups has documented and communicate with the Upazilla livestock department about the vaccination needs and disease types what has occurred in the targeted area. Then the livestock officer fixed date on basis of vaccine availability in the livestock department. Then field officer announcing by mike in the whole area for given vaccine to the live stocks at a fixed date, and time and place. People gather in the targeted place with their livestock’s the officer provide vaccine accompany with his assistance. We maintain attendance sheet for the service taken families. Maximum beneficiaries’ feedback is positive regarding vaccination campaign. The vaccine has provided are: Anthrax for Cow, F.M.D for Cow, P.P.R for goat, DP for Duck, and RDV for hen.

SL no. Livestock’s category Number Total number of beneficiary family 01 Cow 9 02 Goat 39 03 Duck 22 32 04 Hen 53 05 Others 11 Total 134 Summary of vaccination campaign in Mongla upazilla

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 20 SL no. Livestock’s category Number Total number of beneficiary family 01 Cow 40 02 Goat 56 03 Duck 171 88 04 Hen 126 Total 393 Summary of Vaccination Campaign in Dacope upazilla

Activity 11. Advocacy, Networking and Dialogue with FD/CMC, Porjotan Corporation, DMC, MOF & DM and Coast Guard [Budget Code: 5.4]

We communicate with Forest department, Co-management committee, Porjoton Corporation, Union Parishad (UP), Disaster management committee (DMC), Coast guard, Mongla port authority for different issues like the vulnerable Sundarbans Stakeholders employment opportunity, more patrolling in the forest, give priority in different schemes of Union Parishad (UP) etc. In the mean more than 40 project beneficiaries or their family members are linked with different Schemes of Union Parishad (UP) work , Mongla port (Silo). It’s a major achievement of the project. The kind s of projects the involved are: Vulnerable group feeding (UP), 100 days work (UP), LGED, Mongla Port (SILO), Widow allowance (UP), Disable Allowance (UP), 40 days work (UP), Old Allowance(UP) and other cash for work projects.

We conducted last advocacy meeting with Forest department, Co-management committee, Porjoton Corporation, Union Parishad (UP), Disaster management committee (DMC), Coast guard, Mongla port authority for different issues like the vulnerable Sundarbans Stakeholders employment opportunity, more patrolling in the forest, give priority in different schemes of Union Parishad (UP) etc. Coast guard increase patrolling and they sent us their contact number in case of problem like abduction by robber, illegal resource harvesting and other coastal people’s security problems. CMC members impressed to see our groups discipline, transparency and accountably. Thus they (CREAL project) send us a proposal to do business with the existing SME groups.

Summary of Advocacy meeting (September 2015- February 2016):

Conduction date Total Male Female Venue participants Kamarkhola union 7/12/2015 32 27 5 parishad auditorium

Outcomes of Advocacy, Networking & Dialogue:

 More than 40 Project Beneficiaries & their family members involved in the local govt.’s employment opportunity and Mongla port (Silo)  Secondary stakeholders of the project (FD, CMC, Coast guard, Porjoton Corporation, DMC, MOF & DM) committed to help Project beneficiaries from their own sectors.  Forest department facilitated CREAL committee willing to do cooperative business with the CCEC_CAFOD beneficiaries.  Coast guard increased their patrolling and sends emergency contact number to the beneficiaries is case of any problems.  Beneficiaries introduced with the Govt. officials and removed their inertness.  Govt. and non govt. organizations known about the project.

Activity 12. Equipment for handicrafts [Budget code: 4.7]

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 21 We have trained 20 women headed family members of Mongla from which 10 persons are our project beneficiaries. They got training on the Sundarbans handicraft making by an expert who have expertise on Sundarbans Handicraft Making and Marketing. We also provide them the equipments of Handicraft from the project Budget. We have distributed each trainee by needles, scissors, cloths, colors rope, and frame and show case etc. CCEC helps them for the marketing of the handicraft product. At this last six months (September 2015 – February 2016) we also support the skilled handicraft groups by purchasing and handover the equipments like needles, scissors, cloths, colored rope, frame and show case. The women’s are already made more than 150 products at this whole project reporting period and expect another 50 products still ongoing.

Activity 13: Monitoring & Evaluation (Director of CCEC with Project team) [Budget code: 3.2] Mowdudur Rahman, Director visited two project sites several times throughout the project period and played a vital role in selecting the beneficiaries, questionnaires preparation for base line survey, opening eight bank accounts ( 4 in Mongla and 4 in Dacope) for the beneficiary groups, participating Group/Association/Staff meeting and smooth execution of the project. He discussed with the beneficiaries before/after handover SME support. His Communication and linkage with different government and Non Govt. Organizations creates several new opportunities for the projects beneficiaries. At the last six month (phase out period) his innovation to include eight local teachers for eight groups was an innovation making the project sustainable.

Activity 13. IEC materials (Reports, Poster and Leaflet) [Budget code: 4.9] At the end of year-1 we published two types of ICE materials from “CALS-SRDC” project. One is calendar, in which project activities, project objectives, picture of successful story, environmental days, Sundarbans professions, which time is ban period for which kind of resource harvesting etc. are included. Also we published another Sundarbans seasonal calendar at the end of year-2. Another is booklet where short briefs of the project, case stories, cooperative activities of the groups, Sundarbans oil spill, legal aid information are included.

Activity 14. Monitoring and Documentation by the project The project has documented its progress activity by different types of monitoring tools, and documentation process. It’s include diversified livelihood support monitoring, SME monitoring, Baseline survey, Bank statement, Application by the beneficiaries, beneficiary feedback, field visit, project matrix and other components.

Activity 14. Monitoring and Evaluation by CAFOD and Field visit CAFOD team sometimes conducted direct field visit and sometimes monitor the project by using different monitoring matrix which are very helpful for the project. CCEC also monitor and evaluate the project using monitoring sheet and questionnaire survey for each objectives and indicators. CAFOD has also special plan

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 22 to visit fields, main office, documentation, reporting criteria. And different online forms which is very efficient to smoothly run the project.

Activity 15. Monthly Staff Meeting [Budget code: 3.5] CCEC arranged monthly staff meeting regularly.. In this meeting we share about the monthly progress of the project. Also discussed on monthly activity plan and job responsibility of all project staff. We discusses the progress of the project, give suggestions, and also take some session about the Accountability session, communication Guidelines, accounts updates, monitoring frame work etc. We CAFOD_CCEC Sundarbans Project arrange all monthly staff meetings in the 7th quarter and 8th quarter. Sometimes other project related stakeholders like lawyer, beneficiaries’, other NGO staff, trainer, local people’s representative also present in the staff meeting.

Others: 1. CCEC Accountability Framework:

Commitment What this commits CCEC to

Participation - CCEC works with communities participate in the project design, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation throughout the project cycle. -The participation is achieved through community meetings, interviews, assessments and a participatory approach. Transparency and Open Information Policy about information sharing -The organization, its vision/mission -Governance and management -Organizational policies -Relevant project information -Outcomes of Project evaluation reports. Partner data base -Feedback/complaints mechanisms. Complaints and -Maintaining a Complaint Register for complaints Response Procedure -Complaint handling mechanism established in CCEC office

International Affiliation with National Level Inter-Agency Round Table on Child Protection in Standards Emergencies and other initiatives. National Standards CCEC will continue to actively engage in advocacy with different Government and non-government stakeholders in developing and adhering to Minimum Guidelines

2. Changes of beneficiaries: During the close monitoring of the project activity, CCEC along with CAFOD project evaluation team found that some beneficiary people are not interested to the group work. They are irregular in group meeting don’t put regular savings to the bank account. In a total sense they hamper group activity as well as discourage other people’s interest. The main causes of their apathy are:  Some beneficiary family’s income level getting high with large investment through lending money from money lender (mohajon) /relatives and they always prefer their own business rather group activity Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 23  Some beneficiary feel that the group activity kill their valuable time  Amount of project support is not enough  Some get more profit from other works After indentified those finding the group member along with the association members decide to call a meeting about this curtail issue for the sustainability of the project. Some of the irregular member’s willing to resign from the group. Some people take some time. Considering all those issues with flexibility for the irregular and ill motivated persons the groups decided to remove them from the group. According the cooperative manual they get 80% savings from their total saving if they adjust all accounts from the project period.

3. Facebook page on CAFOD_CCEC Sundarbans Project: Develop “CAFOD_CCEC Sundarbans Project” Facebook page for the vast sharing of the project activity. Different level of Sundarbans stakeholders are joined with this Facebook page. Project stuffs, beneficiaries and others can easily look at the project activities and comment with this.

4. Days Observation: We published calendar which marked with different environmental day like world environment day, world tiger day, world wetland day, world water day, vulture conservation day, Sundarbans day, biodiversity day and other important day’s with the beneficiary groups and discussed in their group meetings to grow up awareness to keep the environment safe. CCEC also observed different environment day from the general funds as an environmental conservation NGO.

Output of Project Matrix:  Total 633 number of beneficiary selection survey has been conducted from Dacope & Mongla Upazila in order to select 220 beneficiaries.  220 baseline surveys were conducted on selected beneficiaries.  8 Sundarbans stakeholders group and 2 associations were successfully formed based on location instead of their professional variety.  7 members executive committee has formed for each groups and association according to beneficiaries’ choice Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 24  Money savings by project beneficiaries continue in a cooperative system through maintaining pass book, cash book, and ledger book.  Eight (8) individual STD bank account has opened for 8 groups by their own group name which is used for project supported money transaction, deposited group savings, SME activity conduction.  Sundarbans Stakeholder Service Centre (SSSC) is established with necessary informative documents for the Sundarbans community people, Set up field signboard for legal assistance with lawyers and CCEC’s contact number, maintain beneficiaries feedback register.  Project beneficiaries willingly contact with SSSC staff and lawyer for getting different information’s and suggestions.  BLC support has been provided to be project beneficiaries’ by photocopy of old BLC, National ID card, UP chairman’s certificate, printing photographs and necessary information’s.  Two cooperative training was arranged for the groups (8) capacity build up with the technical assistance of Upazila cooperative department.  21 sub groups started to operate small and medium Enterprise (SME) on Fishermen equipment enterprise, Honey & Wax Enterprise, Local poultry Marketing, Crab fattening, Poultry Farm, Fish Depot, Small Shop, Engine driving boat transport, Pigeon rearing and others.  More than 10% own contribution was added by the beneficiary groups with the SME & individual project support.  Nearly 100 % groups/sub groups have been earned profit by each SME business.  Poultry, pig rearing, crab fattening, goat rearing, small shop, duck rearing, vegetable gardening, pigeon rearing, honey business, sewing machine & cloth and others inputs has been provided to increase 220 families household income.  90% beneficiary family’s got profit from that climate adaptive diversified livelihood inputs which is documented by individual monitoring.  Two days long handicraft making training has been arranged with 20 tiger widow for skill development and another follow-up training also arranged to refresh their knowledge & skill.  About 100 high quality handicraft products has been made by the tiger-widow/ women headed group and get small amount of profit by marketing to CCEC because the products are actually less in number.  Establish link to tourism authority, koromjol tourist spot, Ritu Riju, Daliya Butics, relief international for the sale of beneficiary’s handicrafts but the handicraft product is less in number thus no financial benefit achieved.  Lean period support was merged with the SME support to increase business capital.  Advocacy with Co-management committee (CMC), Mongla port Authority, Local government, Bangladesh tourism corporation for employment opportunity of the Sundarbans stakeholders beneficiaries and already 40 plus beneficiaries got short term employment in different project of Union Parishad and Mongla port area.  Establish link with coast guard for Sundarbans stakeholder’s security and they committed to increase patrols. Also they provide us their emergency contact number in case of any security problems.  A main training session on climate adaptive agriculture, fisheries, livestock & forestry was arranged with the technical assistance of upazilla agriculture, fisheries, livestock officers, Local resource persons, and NGO trainers.  Agriculture, fisheries and livestock follow-up training also arranged.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 25  Agricultural materials and equipment has been distributed three times among the beneficiaries with training and non training sessions.  Saline tolerant vegetable seeds (pumpkin, lady’s finger, papaw, gourd, stalk of plant, tomato); organic fertilizer and equipment (Spade, weeding hook) was distributed to 220 beneficiary families  Maximum beneficiary families get at least two months vegetable support from the production  25 cases are supported by lawyer in which 72 victims are included  34 times field visit has been made by lawyer to provide information on Forest Act,1927; Environmental conservation Act,1995; Wildlife (conservation & safety) Act, 2012; Sundarbans Management Plan (2011-2020), ban period for resource harvesting etc. rules and regulations.  Lawyer and SSSC staff provides legal aid advice and information support over phone to who are interested to know.

Challenges:  Government of Bangladesh/Forest Department is planning to ban on resource harvesting for all types of resources from Sundarbans and it will make vast impact on the Sundarbans dependent community without considering alternative livelihood options.  In 2015-16 FY, the forest department ban Nypa harvesting initially (November) but the FD provide BLC/pass permit at the end of the season (January) which creates a huge economic loss of the Sundarbans Nypa harvesters (bawali).  Drinking water scarcity.  The amount of individual support and SME support is comparatively less to run a medium level business or practice alternative livelihood  Although at the month of January and February the crab harvesting is banned but Sundarbans resource harvesters collect small size crab by issuing fish collection pass permit.  Installation of Coal based power station at Rampal Upazilla under Bagerhat district, 17 km away from the SRF will have a long term negative impact on the flora and fauna of Sundarbans mangrove ecosystems so is the livelihood of the Sundarbans resource dependent community.  Transportation of water vessels between Mongla- Dhaka-Chittagong naval route using SRF Rivers and canals is a significant threat to biodiversity of Sundarbans. Ignore UN recommendation followed by Oil Pollution at Passur River of Sundarbans dated 9 December 2014 when 350 sq km water area was contaminated with furnace oil. Aquatic animal especially endangered Irrawaddy dolphin. Oil pollution is a cause of concern for the livelihood not only the resource dependent communities but also the Sundarbans coastal communities.

Initiatives taken to overcome the Challenges: . Medium and large level SME can be promoted by increase the amount of SME support. . Emphasizes on Climate Adaptive Agriculture practice (Salinity tolerant vegetable, Rice practices). . More climate fund can be added with the beneficiaries cooperative based activity . Accountability, transparency and good governance should be practiced within the government as well as local Sundarbans communities. . Drinking water reservoir supply or excavation of pond may be a solution of drinking water problem. . Participation in human chain and meetings such as Sundarbans March (10-13 March, 2016) held at Khulna. . Beneficiary group discussion on save Sundarbans from destructive project and activities

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 26

RECOMMENDATION o There is a need to extend the project by involving the existing beneficiaries because two years is short period for showing success for livelihood options. Also a need to increase the number of project beneficiaries as the project sites are the concentration villages of resource harvesters in the Sundarbans buffer zone. o There is a great need to address similar co-management activities and interventions in two other forest range based locations (Burigoalini/Satkhira Range in Shyamnagar Upazilla under and Sarakhola forest range under Sarakhola Upazilla under Bagerhat district because Sundarbans Reserved Forest is a unique ecosystem and livelihood security is a concern/demand for all four forest range stakeholder communities (map attached). o Joint recommendation by both CCEC and CAFOD is urgent for making an appeal to the Government of Bangladesh especially to the Bangladesh Climate Change Resilient Fund/Community Climate Change Project of PKSF (www.pksf-cccp-bd.org) in the face of climate change because Sundarbans resource dependent communities are the most vulnerable to sea level rise caused by the global warming. They are the one who deserve the fund with priority (meeting photo attached). The project should emphasize more on advocacy along with the livelihood interventions. Undertake projects on advocacy on migration.

Climate Adaptive Livelihood Security of Sundarbans Resource Dependent Communities 27