2. Poverty Alleviation and Debt Program
Unemployed youth live in poverty due to resource constraints. Because they have no resources and employment of their own, it is not possible for them to meet basic needs like food, nutrition, health and education. The main purpose of the poverty alleviation and credit program is to reduce this standard of living and provide a happy life for the unemployed youth through skillful training and easy-to-provide loans. This activity continues in all the upazilas of Bangladesh.
A) Family based employment programs
The aim and purpose of family-based lending activities is to strengthen self-employment by strengthening family bonds and providing skillful training and credit for the socio-economic development of the unemployed poor. A total of 258 upazilas of the country have been approved for implementation of micro-credit program but the program is being implemented in 236 upazilas due to lack of manpower. Under this program, the traditional occupation of the family will be used to reduce unemployment and promote family harmony and harmony by expanding activities, establishing family-saving habits for the development of living standards, and empowering women, education, health care, sanitation and promoting the environment. Under the family-based loan program, a 5-member group was formed with dependents from the same family or near relatives or neighboring families. A center was formed with groups of 8 to 10 such permanent residents of the same village. Loans are given to each member of the Center at the rate of Tk. 10000/ -, 15000/ - and 20000 / - respectively on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd stage. Apart from this, there is arrangement for providing loan to enterprise lenders by following the principle of self-service loan to a maximum of 5 persons from a center, considering the socio-economic status of a successful lender. The employees of the department collect loan at village level and collect installments of loan from the center. The loan period is collected in weekly installments after the grace period has passed. No beneficiary is required to come to the office to borrow and pay the installment. Service charge is deducted at the rate of 10% (decreasing) on the capital payout. Here, the average service charge rate at the end of the term stands at 5% as no further service charge is charged on the original paid in weekly installments. However, it is important to note that those who pay weekly installments on time only get a 5% chance of being mentioned in the service charge. No formal training is required to obtain this loan. However, centrally oriented orientations are arranged at the village level on the 5-day socio-economic development and credit management system of the nominated members. The cumulative loan collection rate for family-based loan is 97%.
B) Youth training and self-employment programs
Under this program, there are activities in 64 districts and 496 upazilas (including 10 metropolitan unit police stations) in the country. Under this program, the office of the deputy director at the district headquarters provides training in various subjects. The duration of these training courses is from 1 months to 6 months. Apart from this, there are short-term informal mobile training facilities in five upazilas to provide short-term training in different trades based on local needs. Self-employment and income-generating activities of youth run by the nation-wide are contributing remarkably to solving unemployment problems and poverty alleviation. Under this program, unemployed youths are loaned to a single person for institutional / informal trade for self-employment. Loans ranging from Rs. 50,000/ - to Rs. 1,00,000/ - are given to a trained youth / youth in institutional trade and Rs. 30,000/ - to 50,000/-Rs. Institutional and informal loans were approved through two committees in the district and upazilas respectively. To obtain a loan, a borrower has to secure 2 guarantors and training in institutional / informal trade is mandatory. Loans are paid in monthly installments for a specified period of time for different trades after the grace period has passed. Service charge is deducted at the rate of 5% (decreasing) on loan granted. Here, the average service charge rate at the end of the term stands at 5%, since there is no further service charge on the monthly paid installment. However, it is important to note that those who pay monthly installments in a timely manner have a 5% chance of being mentioned in service charges. The cumulative debt collection rate of this program is 93%.