HP Activists Impacted by THP-Bangladesh Human Spirit - May 1999
Sixteen staff and activists from Australia, Sweden, Germany, the UK and the
US recently spent 10 days with their Bangladeshi colleagues. The trip was
designed to empower fundraising activists by having them directly experience
the process of mobilization in Bangladesh.
A number of our colleagues who traveled to Bangladesh have expressed their experience in writing, segments of which are included here, without attribution.
"The people-powered movement for self-reliance in Bangladesh is unique in its dimensions: hundreds of trained and highly-motivated animators, dozens of catalysts mobilizing for 64 hunger-free zones, and thousands of individual actions taken by more than 200,000 people who have participated in a Vision, Commitment and Action workshop. But, it is not these figures that impressed me. It is the way of being of the activists here, that is so impressive. They BE the principles of THP, and they keep generating them, resourcing them for themselves, deepening them in the action.
"One key is the relationship with money. Whatever hunger-free zone or individual project we visited, there was never any Hunger Project money directly involved. Badiul says it very clearly: "It's not money that is needed; money in fact is a spoiler."
"For example, in one village, there are 22 savings groups, one of which is called the "Young Star Club." They started in December 1995 with nine members and have saved 192,000 taka so far with hundreds of members depositing one to five taka weekly. They were so proud. Two young women, Amena and Dilara, and an old man stood up in the meeting and told what they had done with the money saved: started a prawn farm, a buying/selling rice business, a fruit garden. Most of the initiatives are communal -- tree planting, literacy programs. etc. -- in fact, one is a girls' high school, which requires that the boys walk to the next village to attend school there. This is unique!!
"Before this village was mobilized by THP, the villagers had been working
with a local nongovernmental organization (NGO) which provided micro-credit
at a rate of 20% interest. Now that the villagers are self-reliant, the NGO
is leaving the area, but not without resistance. The NGOs in the area
complained that Sabur, THP leader, was disrupting their work by mobilizing
the villagers to strive to become debt-free and self-reliant. Sabur was
jailed for 19 days as a result, until a group of 5,000 marched in protest
and he was freed.
"As the trip unfolded, we strengthened our stand for women's participation. Women were not often initially present in our village meetings. We experimented with different ways to impact this. The four men in our group stepped into their leadership for women's empowerment, discovering for themselves the imperative of women's participation in the end of hunger and shared that intimately with groups of both women and men and groups of men. Cathy Burke was the stand to never begin a meeting without women present and empowered to participate, an accomplishment which was always a creation in the moment and included going from house to house to coax the women to join the meeting.
"What we witnessed was the end of hunger happening. We met with thousands of people who are taking the daily steps toward their sustained self-reliance. We heard from passionate, committed and brilliant young men and women who took the animator training, experienced their own human spirit and interconnectedness, took a stand to end hunger in their village, and started to do just that.
"The animators and catalysts are extraordinary -- their stand is sacrosanct, unyielding. Whatever barriers present themselves, they find a way around them. We were in awe and moved to tears time and time again to hear of their achievements in the face of the prevailing condition which constantly calls forth charity, corruption and dependence.
"The structures in place to empower the people-powered movement as it expands are worth noting. The animators are deeply sourced in the ten Hunger Project principles and eight steps of the strategic planning-in-action (SPIA) methodology; service-delivery vs. empowerment is ongoingly articulated; the 11 criteria for hunger free zones are articulated and documented; catalysts sign a document committing themselves to fulfill their agreements for two years; villagers are using the 40 point measurement tool to assess their progress; the staff operates from the document, "How Joan Works"; the catalysts come together for 2-day training programs every four months where they are joined by a newly-trained catalyst group; inside the SPIA methodology the animators meet locally on a weekly basis and monthly with their coordinator, ensuring that their strategic actions will cause breakthroughs locally, regionally and nationally.
"We developed immense respect for the Bangladeshis who maintain their rigor and strategic action in the face of apathy and mind-numbing heat. On our final day, which was a full day of debriefing in our hotel -- no windows because it is supposed to be air-conditioned -- Bangladeshi childen were being sent home from school in an acknowledged heat wave, the power went out five times for hours at a time. We turned on our torches and continued to work by candlelight with perspiration running down our faces and dripping off our chins.
"I think THP-Bangladesh has set the bar higher for all of us, and they are on their way to create a self-reliant Bangladesh beyond hunger."