Katalyst

With significant success in poverty reduction (from 40% in 2005 to 31.5% in 2010) Bangladesh’s vision of achieving middle income status by 2021 seems to be realistic and is accompanied by a structural transformation away from a mainly rural and agriculture based economy towards a more services/manufacturing oriented economy. With a growing population, increasing land scarcity and a growing demand from an increasing urban population, investments into increased productivity and commercialization of agriculture and of related sectors are crucial to support Bangladesh’s future development path. In doing so, the creation of inclusive, strong market systems which create incentives for the private sector to invest into agriculture/agribusiness and opportunities for market access to small and marginal farmers are a key challenge. The market development project Katalyst has been successful in tackling this challenge since 2002 and will be able to further leverage results in a significant manner until 2017. It is the final phase of the project and will lead to sustainable and self-propelling changes in poverty relevant sectors of Bangladesh.

The overall goal of the last phase of Katalyst remains the same as in the previous phases, namely to contribute to sustainable poverty reduction in Bangladesh. This will be achieved by “...contributing to increased income of men and women in rural areas through improved competitiveness of farmers and small businesses in key rural sectors.” In terms of impacts and outcomes, Katalyst aims to contribute to an additional net income of USD 286 million for an additional 1.63 million farmers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by the end of the project. These targets can be extrapolated to USD 366 million in 2019 and more than 2 million farmers and SMEs. Whereas women farmers will benefit in many ways indirectly from Katalyst interventions, the project will contribute to an increase of direct access of women farmers to services by 375’000.

• Economically active poor involved in market systems as producers, labourers and/or consumers
• Private sector: SMEs, lead firms, associations, business membership organisations
• Public sector: Extension Agencies, Ministries, Local Government Institutions
• Academia and Think Tanks
• Donors and major NGOs

Risultati fasi precedenti:  

The competitiveness of 2.3 million farmers/SMEs will have improved by March 2013 and an additional accumulated net income of USD 280 million will have been generated across 16 sectors, such as for instance fisheries, vegetable and ICT (information and communication technology). Impact assessments applying the Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI) show a high likelihood for 75% of Katalyst’s target group to live below the upper poverty line of USD 2.5/day, whereas around 30% are estimated to live below the USD 1.25/day poverty line. Key Insights: in order to reap its full potential and achieve sustainable systemic changes in the long-term, Katalyst needs to rationalise its sector portfolio (fewer sectors), focus on deepening systemic changes in its key sectors and work towards a better capitalisation and anchoring of its work within Bangladesh.

Fase 4 16.03.2013 - 31.03.2018   (Completed)