RCC of Belkuchi (RCC ID:79378) In 2007 a devastating flood and cyclone namely ‘Sidr’ hit many parts of Bangladesh and caused immense loss in every aspect of life. American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh ‘AmCham’ as part of their corporate social responsibility in association with the Rotary District 3280 agreed to start a jointly sponsored project for the most affected weavers who lost everything due to the devastating flood and cyclone at Belkuchi, Sirajgonj under the supervision of the then District Governor Rtn. Rafiq Ahmed Siddique. A team comprising delegates of the AmCham and Rotary Club of Dhaka Midtown visited the area to assess the need of the Weavers and submitted a report. On the basis of the said report the ‘Weavers Rehabilitation Project’ was started with the capital of TK.8,00,000 (where AmCham contributed TK.6,00,000 and RI District, 3280 contributed TK.2,00,000) which is being implemented through RCC of Belkuchi, Belkuchi, Sirajgonj in association with Rotary Club of Dhaka Midtown. It is worth mentioning that although the project started its journey as district project but subsequently, the said project was handed over to the Rotary Club of Dhaka Midtown for its effective operation and implementation. The project aiming to develop the most flood affected weavers whose solitary means of livelihood is what they receive by producing handloom clothes like saree, lungi etc. The workplaces and houses of those weavers are mostly made of bamboo and corrugated tin shade and because of such devastating flood and cyclone a large number of weavers became homeless and jobless and most importantly, their weaving machines were badly damaged. A team consisting of AmCham and Rotarians made an assessment of the damage and loss of properties of the weavers and also recommended immediate need of rehabilitation and financial assistance for the badly affected weavers to resume their normal life and activities. On the basis of a list of weavers who had been seriously affected submitted by the local representatives and also upon considering the assessment report a committee was formed to provide micro credit among the 18 severely affected weavers. Accordingly, two types of financial assistance were given to the enlisted weavers as mentioned above i.e. rehabilitation grant which is not refundable and also Revolving Loan Fund ‘RLF’ plan as designed by the Rotary International in its RLF Guideline which has been run by the RCC of Belkuchi, Belkuchi, Sirajgonj as per the instructions laid down by the Rotary International in the said guideline. The project in nutshell is as below: • Total number of member who took loan under this project: 18 • Previously loan money disbursed twice. • Loan disbursement process for third phase is going on. • Loan has been given in two phases. In first phase TK. 25,000.00 and in second phase TK. 35,000.00 • In last 6 months the said project has been visited thrice by the club members to monitor the recovery of loan and also to evaluate the real situation for expansion of the project. SUCCESS STORIES: Having taken loan the members have made significant improvement in their respective life and business and among them who did not have own factory to weave or weaving machines they are now weaving in their own machine with their employees and they also sell their own made stuffs in many brand shops in Dhaka. More importantly, the female members (Shefali, Piara and Shajeda) having taken loan have made comprehensive improvement in all aspect of their respective life and they are also very much keen to take the opportunity of getting loan to enhance their business. Among others Joynal Abedin, Emrul Munshi and Abdul Malek Pramanik have made huge success in business. It is worth stating that before taking RLF neither of them have any weave machines but with the help of RLF they have now more than 20 machines each and making considerable production of handloom clothes and the prospective buyers are mainly from renowned shop owners’ of Dhaka.