A Study to Assess the Sustainability of Livestock Services Providers under CLP-1

Abstract

The first phase of the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP-1) worked to eliminate extreme poverty on the island chars of North West Bangladesh and successfully lifted 250,000 people out of extreme poverty. CLP-1 ended in March 2010 and the withdrawal of support under CLP-1 provides the opportunity to monitor the progress of CLP-1 and explore issues which could influence programme design of CLP-2. Central to the CLP is the integrated package of support that includes the transfer of an income-generating asset (IGA) to each core participant household (CPHH), the majority of which (95%) select livestock – dairy cows in particular. To ensure the sustainability of this growing population of livestock on the chars, CLP trained a number of Livestock Services Providers (LSPs) to maintain the health of the core and non-core participants’ cattle and strengthen livestock productivity. This study briefly explores the market environment for livestock health services on the chars and reports on the findings from two surveys which examined the sustainability of the CLP-1 trained LSPs following withdrawal of CLP support. The main survey targeted LSPs who were still ‘active’ at the end of CLP-1 and a small secondary survey interviewed a sample of ‘non-active’ LSPs who dropped out prior to the completion of CLP-13