Sustainable Development, Human Dignity and Choice: Lessons from the Enrich Programme, Bangladesh

The Enhancing Resources and Increasing Capacities of Poor Households Towards Elimination of their Poverty (the ENRICH) programme is being implemented by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), which is a government-established Foundation and implements its programmes through Partner NGOs. The efforts are concerned with the perspective of eradicating poverty, aiming at enabling individuals to live a life that is humanly dignified. In doing so, the ENRICH programme focuses on creating opportunities for them to exercise freedom in determining their choices. The approach based on this understanding, i.e. poverty reduction/elimination and economic improvement strategies, coupled with interventions that ensure access to universal human rights, should promote freedom of choice leading to a dignified life and has shaped the programme contents and implementation framework.

The ENRICH programme has been conceptualized and promoted by the current Chairman of PKSF, Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, who was appointed to the position in November 2009. In essence, the ENRICH programme is innovative, integrated, human-centred, taking into consideration the multidimensionality of human life and living, involving socio-economic and environmental dimensions. It focuses on human capability, both individual and collective and social capital formation to facilitate the way forward, the ultimate goal being humanly dignified living of all those who are deprived of this fundamental call of humanity.