Annual Report & Financial Statements 2007
Islamic Relief Worldwide & Subsidiary Undertakings
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS
We work to help ensure people in some of the world’s poorest countries have the skills and support to make a decent living. This can help people access basic services such as education and healthcare, and can ensure a better future free from poverty for them and their families.
One of our most successful projects that help people access employment opportunities are our micro-finance programmes. Through these programmes we provide individuals and community organisations with interest-free loans which they use to start or expand their business. We also provide business support and training to ensure people have the skills they need to make their business a success.
We provide people with the training, tools and support they need to make an income, whether it is setting up a shop, running a business or growing vegetables.
Income generation in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh we have been working for many years
in Rangpur and Sunamganj, to support community organisations to start income generating activities. Community organisations, or samities, are provided with loans and are also encouraged to set up savings schemes. These are used to start small scale businesses in areas such as poultry rearing, fishing, vegetable cultivation, boat making, tailoring and shop keeping.
Many of the groups that are formed are made up entirely of women, helping to empower them within their communities. We provide members with skills training to help them increase their outputs as well as education in topics such as hygiene and sanitation.
26-year-old Tanzim and 30-year-old Al Amin run a mobile servicing shop in Dhaka, Bangladesh. They both gained training and business support through our vocational training programme which provides people with the skills to start their own business.
Before he started vocational training, Tanzim lived on the streets. He had little education and no way to make a decent living. Now he is able to make enough money to support himself and his family.
Al Amin on the other hand came from quite a well-off family. His father was a business-man, but when Al Amin was still quite young he lost everything. This meant Al Amin had to stop his education. However, by joining our vocational training programme he was able to gain the skills necessary to run a successful business of his own.
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