1. The Sustainable Livelihoods Approach Works! (But…) All the evidence collected by CLP shows that CLP’s Sustainable Livelihoods approach has worked.  Graduation data – tracking a range of vulnerability metrics to illustrate the movement out of extreme poverty – shows that 90% of CLP’s participants have ‘graduated’; i.e. they are on the right journey out… Continue Reading

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Since April 2010, the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) has been working with extremely poor inhabitants of the riverine islands in 10 districts of north-west Bangladesh.  But all projects have a start and end – and the end of CLP is nearly upon us! Situated in and among the mighty course of the Jamuna river, which… Continue Reading

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Background The Chars Livelihoods Programme is a livelihoods programme focused on the extreme poor in the riverine islands of north-west Bangladesh – people that live far below the poverty line.  Because they are so poor, their needs and vulnerabilities are greater even than people who are ‘only poor.’ Because these needs and vulnerabilities cover many… Continue Reading

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As I looked through my LinkedIn updates recently, I realised that I’ve published a few posts on various aspects of the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) without actually explaining what it is in any detail.  This post is designed to remedy that and answer the question, “What is the CLP?” Simply put, it’s a livelihoods programme… Continue Reading

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The Chars Livelihoods Programme is coming to an end very soon.  It’s been going for 11 years this April, and March 2016 will be the final month of its technical activities. As one of our close-out activities, the CLP team and DFID have been putting a lot of effort into learning lessons from CLP’s long… Continue Reading

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After far too long stuck behind my desk in RDA’s (admittedly lovely) campus just outside Bogra, I recently managed to get out on a site visit to have a look at the Chars Livelihoods Programme’s markets projects. We’re running two separate but complementary markets-based initiatives, one of which focuses on milk, the other aims to… Continue Reading

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Over the last few weeks, the CLP’s Innovation, Monitoring, Learning and Communications (IMLC) Division has been busy preparing reports and analyses for a variety of purposes.  One of the areas that they have looked at is lessons learned from CLP, which is partly as a result of an external Operations Review / Lessons Learned study… Continue Reading

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I recently posted to LinkedIn some links on research into women’s empowerment carried out by the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP).  It provoked some fascinating comments and insights from around the world which really got me thinking about CLP’s approach and results.  For some background, CLP is a UKaid- and Australian Aid funded programme that works… Continue Reading

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At 16 I was unsure what to do as a career, was it to go to sea and spend a life on the ocean waves, or was it on the land in farming working with livestock and crops. As I was raised next to the sea and spent a large part of my youth on… Continue Reading

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Hi!  My name is Alex Barrett (I’m the chap stepping off the boat), and I am one of the Young Professionals currently working in the Innovation, Monitoring, Learning and Communications Unit of CLP.  For the last year and a half, I have been out here in Bangladesh and this time has been a fantastic experience… Continue Reading

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