Bandhan-Konnagar doubles target to empower ultra poor by 2020

Bandhan-Konnagar, a non-profit organisation of the Bandhan group, today said it aims to empower 1,00,000 'hardcore poor' families by 2020, from its earlier target of 55,000.
"From the present figure of 55,000 families coming under Bandhan-Konnagar initiative, by 2020 we will scale it up to one lakh families," Bandhan bank CEO and founder-mentor of Bandhan-Konnagar Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said here.
The initiative, called THP (Targetting the Hardcore Poor), provides livelihood security, builds confidence and uplifts the 'ultra-poor' to help the most marginalised women attain financial independence through various avenues of micro-entrepreneurship since 2006, Ghosh said.
The selected women are provided with livelihood assets free which include poultry, handicrafts, vegetables, flower, fruit, fish vending, tea stall, sewing machine, grocery shop and stitching readymade garments.

The USAID, ITC ltd, Indigo and Axis Bank Foundation have extended financial support to the project which has also got the backing from several state governments, government agencies and panchayats.
"There is a strong desire among these women to transform their lives and that of their children, as many of them are highly vulnerable single mothers, dependent on meagre or insecure livelihoods," Director-Livelihood, Bandhan-Konnagar, Debashis Ray Choudhuri said.
Bandhan-Konnagar currently works with local communities across nine states in the country -- West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.