Press release

The European Commission will provide a grant of 17.5 million euro (about 105 crore taka) for the Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP) for the next three years. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed today 8 April 2003, at ERD, between Mr A. M. M. Nasir Uddin, Joint Secretary ERD, and Ambassador Esko Kentrschynskyj, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh. Mr John Moore, First Counsellor of the Canadian High Commission, Mr Anthony Goodwin, First Counsellor EC Delegation, and Mr Vianney Labé, Food Security Adviser EC Delegation, were also present at the occasion.

RMP fits very well into the poverty alleviation strategy which the European Commission has agreed with the Government of Bangladesh. It targets the poorest segments of the population while enhancing self-reliance activities and economic growth and strengthening local government institutions.

The Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP) is a nation-wide poverty alleviation programme benefiting approximately 42,000 destitute women in rural Bangladesh through a labour intensive maintenance programme of 84,000 km of rural roads. It is funded by the Government of Bangladesh, the Union Parishads, the Government of Canada, and now the European Commission.

The programme started as a pilot project almost 20 years ago and was initiated by CARE. It has evolved into a nation-wide programme and has been successfully implemented by the Government of Bangladesh together with CARE. The programme provides year-round employment to destitute women, organized by Union Parishads in the form of maintenance crews for rural earthen roads. Life-skill training empowers the beneficiaries (under their own efforts) to move out of poverty in a sustainable way.

Moreover, RMP provides development opportunities beyond its direct beneficiaries by maintaining rural earthen roads of thousands of villages; the programme also contributes to improved access to markets and services for millions of rural people in Bangladesh. In addition, RMP is also a vehicle for improving local government institutions (Union Parishad and Upazila). CARE and the Local Government Division are implementing the programme.

Delegation of the European Commission to Bangladesh
House 7, Road 84
Dhaka 1212
Bangladesh