The Haor Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Project (HILIP) was undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh with financial supports from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Spanish Food Security Co-financing Facility Trust Fund.

 

Project Description: The project had implemented in 28 Haor Upazilas of the following five districts in north-eastern Bangladesh: Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria, and would target about 688,000 households living in the Haor Basin, mainly (i) smallholder farming households with less than 2.5 acres of land; (ii) small fishing households deriving a major share of their income from fishing; (iii) women from poor households; and (iv) small traders and market intermediaries in local markets. The goal of the project is to contribute to the reduction of poverty in the Haor Basin. The objective of the RIMS and Baseline Survey (RBLS) was to obtain adequate information to address, the following subjects:

 

1. Status of crop production, productivity, yield, input level, cropping intensity, farming patterns including homestead gardening, status of technology transfer, adoption rate of HYV/hybrid crop varieties and improved farming technology, and losses resulting from flooding; 
2. Livestock mortality and vaccination;
3. Fish production by species; 
4. Socio-economic profile of the households/farmers by category (landless household, small producer household with <2.5 acres, small fishing household, and women-led household), including their employment status, productive assets, food security, consumption pattern, traffic volume, marketing and storage systems of farm produces; 
5. Knowledge/education level of the farmers by gender and their access to information, technology, markets and financing services; 
6. Households’ Income sources and structure, income generation activities (IGA), and financing capacity; 
7. Nutritional and health status of under-five children;
8. Women’s role in decision-making; 
9. Capacity building and service needs of the farmers by gender; 
10. Volume of traffic on the upazila and union roads planned to be built.

Tasks carried out by Mitra and Associates:

 

Methodology (sample design & tools): Survey data had been collected from a random sample of 1200 households drawn in 40 clusters from the five project districts: Kishoreganj, Netrakona, Sunamganj, Habiganj and Brahmanbaria. A cluster was consisting of 250-350 households, formed with one or more villages or part of a village. The sample was drawn in three stages. At the first age, 40 unions were selected with PPES method from the list of unions arranged by districts. Villages (clusters) were selected at the second stage, randomly picking one village from each of the selected unions. Households were selected at the third stage, including 30 households from a selected village to yield the sample of 1200 households.  The way the households from a village were selected is described below.

 

• Reaching the village, first the interviewer team was locate a central point in the middle of the village.
• At the central point, the team supervisor or an interviewer had spin a pen and noticed the direction indicated by the pen after it had stopped spinning.
• Moving in the indicated direction, the team conducted interviews with consecutive households, one after another, until having 30 households interviewed for the village.  
• If the team could not had completed interviews with 30 households even after reaching the end of a line, the team had taken a right turn to move to the next line to continue interviewing for the remaining households.
• If it was not possible to interview a ‘to be interviewed ‘household, the household had marked as ‘non-responsive’, noting the reason it could not be interviewed for.

 

Questionnaires: Mitra had prepared in English the first draft of the baseline questionnaire in consultation with the PMU and by consulting the questionnaires used in similar surveys, also make limited adjustment in the RIMS questionnaire to make it more fitting for the HILIP. Thereafter, the final draft had been translated into Bangla.  Development of the other instruments: Interviewers’, supervisors’ and editors’ manuals, Interviewers’ and supervisor’s assignment sheets, Vehicle Enumeration Form (for enumeration vehicle movements). 

Training: Interviewers/enumerators had been trained for 7 days by the key personnel of the survey, at the Mitra office.

 

Pre-test: Mitra had done pre-test the final draft questionnaires and the vehicle enumeration form in one purposively chosen rural area near the city of Dhaka.

 

Data collection& quality Control: One month was spending to complete the fieldwork for the survey. Quality control checking was designed to physically verify whether the interviewer had completed the questionnaires by interviewing the right respondents in the right households by asking the right questions. Quality control checking was undertaken in both presence and absence of the interviewing team.

 

Data Processing:After receiving questionnaires at the office, they registered in the registration book.Data from the questionnaires was entered into computer, using data entry software CSPro 3-3. Data entered with double entries. Data editors had included checking of range, structure and a selected set of checks for internal consistency. 

 

Analysis and report writing: A tabulation plan developed for the analysis of the data. Following this plan the tables of findings was generated for the preparation of the report. The report was jointly prepared by the team leader and project manager and the consultants.  

 

Client reference:Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), LGED Bhaban, Level-6, Agargoaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207.

 

Contact Person: A.K.M. Harun-ur-Rashid, Project Director, Haor Infrastructure & Livelihood Improvement Project (HILIP), LGED Bhaban, Level-6, Agargoaon, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka-1207, Telephone: 880-2-9116647 (Off.), Facsimile Number: 880-2-8181657, E-mail: akmharun60@gmail.com.