Project Name: Sustainable Enter Prize Project (SEP)
Sub-project: Title: Promoting Sustainable Metallic Utensils’ Micro-Enterprise in Shariatpur District.
Sub-project objectives:
a) To introduce environmental practices in the metallic utensils’ micro-enterprises.
b) To improve the metallic utensils products quality.
c) To create linkage with the premium market for the metallic utensils’ micro-enterprises.
d) To develop the capacity of the metallic utensils micro-enterprises.
Project Goal:
The Goal Of the Project is to scale up and upgrade the quality of cottage industry (Brassware craft) for premier market maintain environment friendly practices of cottage industries in the cluster.
Project Brief:
The Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP) will support microenterprises in agribusiness and manufacturing clusters with a focus on areas that are environmentally stressed and/or vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. The project aims to support microenterprises through environment friendly investments (energy, water and resource efficiency) in the agribusiness and manufacturing sectors to promote environmentally sustainable technologies and practices among microenterprises in environmentally vulnerable areas, induce changes in the micro-lending ecosystem, and support the adoption of basic operational safety norms in project-supported enterprises.
The project will consist of three components: (a) enhancing services and enabling systems, (b) strengthened access to finance for commercially viable environmentally friendly and resilient microenterprises, and (c) project management, knowledge management, and monitoring and evaluation. The project will prioritize (i) a selected number of polluting microenterprise business clusters, that can reduce emissions and increase resource efficiency and (ii) the expansion of innovative economic activities that contribute to environmentally friendly clean and green business and climate resilience.
The role of PKSF in promoting environmental issues in microenterprises is crucial. PKSFs Microenterprise Program extends financial services to the progressive clients of its POs for undertaking micro-enterprises. PKSF has been facilitating women empowerment in microenterprise sector by provisioning more opportunities of loan financing for women entrepreneurs. Currently, more than 77% of the total ME loan borrowers of PKSF are women. With the help of the Government, the PKSF is implementing the World Bank financed ‘Sustainable Enterprise Project (SEP)’ for the microenterprise sector to improve its environmental sustainability.
The objective of SEP is to increase the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices by targeted microenterprises. SEP has selected 30 lead districts as the project working area to demonstrate the project impact on different sub-sectors. The project will prioritize a selected number of polluting microenterprise business clusters and will support the expansion of innovative economic activities conducive to a more sustainable environment.
To facilitate the support to the Microenterprise (ME) clusters and the MEs through the selected POs, the project will be following a stepwise process beginning with an awareness workshop for POs to appraise them about the project and its objectives. The POs would be encouraged to collect information from the clusters they are familiar with and submit cluster level Sub-Project Concept Notes (SPCN). The SPCNs may have a combination of required initiatives for cluster level common service areas for better environmental management and climate resilience and the specific technical support and financial needs of the cluster MEs to improve their environmental performance and business development and transit to a more sustainable business practice. The objective of the SPCN is therefore to assess the needs of the cluster and cluster members, the feedback and support of the local community for the SPCN and SEP and the capability and experience of the POs to address these needs and implement the proposed sub-project.
Working Area: Sadar, Shariatpur.
Beneficiaries:
All Brassware Value Chain Actors in Shariatpur sadar Upazila, Total target beneficiaries- 60.
Major activities:
a) Proposed Interventions for Revenue generating common service facilities development-
– Brassware polishing Unit Development
– Brassware common display Centre
b) Proposed Interventions for Non-revenues generating physical activities-
– Demonstration of Model Brassware factory
– Establishment of brassware design development centre
– Consultant hire for Designing
c) Proposed Initiatives to Increase Eco Labelling and Access to Premium Markets-
– Arrangement of environmental certification training/workshop with the respective authorities
– Awareness development, motivating and linkage with respective agencies (SGS, ITS, BV etc.) through workshop for Product Certification.
– Linkage development workshop with MEs and legal authority.
– Increasing bar bargaining power, knowledge sharing etc among producers
d) Proposed Interventions for Capacity Building of the POs-
– Staff recruitment
– Office Equipment purchase
– Baseline survey
– Exchange visit
– Upazila and district level linkage development workshop
– Staff training on project management and module development
e) Proposed Interventions for Capacity development of MEs-
– Training to MEs on respective enterprise development
– Inception meeting
– Market linkage workshop
– Participation in the fair
– Worker’s capacity development
Web Site Link: https://sdsmetallic.org/
