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This is a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project undertaken with the poverty groups of Marma (an ethnic community in the Chittagong Hilltracts region of Bangladesh) in the villages of Sunaichari Mouza of Naikonchari Upazilla of Bandarban District. The objective of the study was to analyse, through PAR, the causes of their poverty, to identify potentials for self-development and adopt their own plan for poverty alleviation. It is expected that through such analysis and reflections, the groups concerned would be able to determine their own priorities and identify measures for their realization. The study showed that the poor have successfully identified their causes of poverty (which are : limitation of fund, lack of awareness, absence of consistent planning by the poor, lack of marketing facilities, lack of coordination, lack of savings habit etc.) and the measures to combat the same (arranging funds, forming groups, generating awareness, capacity building and generating fund through credit). The process and results of the research also contributed significantly to capacity building of the investigator by inculcating in them the values of self-reliance, collective action and rational approach to do things on their own.
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