OCTOBER 2003
Update on our work in Bangladesh
Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar, Vice President and Country Director, The Hunger Project-Bangladesh
Prof. Badiul Majumdar speaks passionately at the rally for national
girl children.THP-Bangladesh is clear that without the collective efforts of both women and men in our country, our vision for a hunger-free Bangladesh will not be realized. All of our programs have been created with the focus on empowering women’s leadership as key change agents for the end of hunger. In addition to our women-centered strategies, THP-Bangladesh is making breakthroughs in our efforts to strengthen local democracy, cleaning the environment, training more and more animators all over the country, and expanding our National Girl Child Day Initiative.
Described below are some of the exciting accomplishments of The Hunger Project-Bangladesh since April 2003. The developments have encouraged us as a team to work still harder in our endeavor to create a hunger-free Bangladesh. The highlights include:
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN:
Bangladesh suffers from one of the highest rates of childhood malnutrition in the world. The main cause of this is the low status of women in Bangladeshi society. Ingrained in The Hunger Project-Bangladesh’s strategy for ending hunger is the strengthening of women’s status in the country.
As part of its priority to empower women’s leadership, THP-Bangladesh is working with over 5,000 rural women animators in each of the 64 districts of the country, supporting them to create initiatives for self-reliant activities. As a result, the economic conditions of these women and their families have improved considerably, and the nutritional status of these women has increased.
Here is a beautiful example of what happens when women are empowered:
After taking the animator’s training in early 2000, a woman by the name of Hasna Hena, who was elected to the Gokorno Union Parishad (UP) started homestead gardening and created a small plant nursery. She created a thriving business out of this, and made a profit of taka 50,000 (US$875). Her plantation is now worth taka 150,000 (US$2,650). The success of Hasna’s business has resulted in both a new sense of her confidence and pride, and she has become an inspiration for the women in her village who are encouraged to start similar businesses.
Hasna has mobilized more than 200 families in her area, and engaged them in similar activities, thus ensuring improvement in their nutritional status, education and other basic needs for these families. She received a district level award for being the best homestead gardener, nursery owner and mobilizer.
In addition to the abovementioned strategies to empowering women leaders, campaigns at the grassroots level are being carried out by our animators and volunteers to ensure health and educational opportunities for women in the following categories: creating awareness of the negative impact of early marriage, dowry, and the repression of women; ensuring marriage registrations (without this, a woman has no proof of the marriage and thus has no legal rights and men can have multiple wives); teaching families about safe motherhood, etc. As a result, in the 100 Unions where we are focusing our attention this year, the rates of immunization, marriage registration, and birth registration have increased, and early marriage and anemia in women has decreased. In addition, income-generating opportunities for women, and self-help groups have been formed.
Girls march for their own rights, September 30, 2003.
INSTITUTIONALIZING OF THE NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY COALITION:
As part of our strategy to empower women and girls in Bangladesh, the Fourth National Girl Child Day event will be celebrated on September 30th, hosted by a coalition of government officials and non-governmental organizations, mobilized by The Hunger Project-Bangladesh. The purpose of the National Girl Child Day is to create mass awareness of the importance of girl children and calling forth actions that will result in Bangladeshis investing in their girl children. The celebration of the National Girl Child Day is a cornerstone of our strategy to empower women.
The coalition has been recently institutionalized through the formation of The Girl Child Advocacy Forum. I have been made the first Convener of the Forum and The Hunger Project office has been designated its secretariat. Preparations are now underway for this year’s celebration. The idea behind the National Girl Child Day has caught the imagination of the people, and it will be celebrated more widely this year by many more organizations and people than last year. Newspaper articles are being written about this initiative almost every day.
WORK EXPANDS TO 204 UNION PARISHADS (UPs):
THP-Bangladesh has spent the last several years focusing on mobilization Union level leadership. This strategy was based on the realization that without the proper functioning of this locally democratic government body - which is accountable to the people and their well-being - a better future for the Bangladeshi people is impossible. In the first half of 2003, The Hunger Project-Bangladesh introduced its strategic initiatives in 95 Union Parishads, where we haven’t worked before, in addition to the 109 UPs we have worked with since 2001. Our focus has been on improving rates of education, health, sanitation, safe drinking water, income generation, environmental awareness, nutrition and women’s empowerment at the grassroots level. Currently more than 25,000 animators are engaged to creating sustainable change in the lives of the people in these 204 Union Parishads.
- Our field reports indicate that primary, secondary and adult literacy rates have increased to 88percent in 46 UPs.
A total of 31 health centers have been established in the five regions of Bangladesh, which have improved medical service in the areas - especially for women and children. These facilities have also provided people with lower cost medical assistance.
- An average success rate of 82-96percent has been seen in 46 UPs in immunization coverage for children and pregnant mothers, nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation.
to urge the government to increase budgetary allocation for the
Union Parishad.
SELF-GOVERNING UNION PARISHAD ADVOCACY GROUP:
It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the UP chairmen and members elected earlier this year are new. We are now holding workshops at the District and Upazila levels (grouping of Ups) to mobilize them under the banner of the Self-governing UP Advocacy Group. This group has recently launched a nationwide signature campaign to reinforce their demands to empower and strengthen local governance in our country.
A MILESTONE IN OUR UNION PARISHAD EMPOWERMENT STRATEGY:
On June 24th, 200 UP leaders - women and men - marched to the Parliament demanding the following: to bring the structure of the Ups into conformity with the Constitution, ensure equal participation of women, the right to have UPs make decisions regarding local resources, and the authority for UPs to mobilize local funds. This rally was an important milestone in Bangladesh’s strategy for strengthening UPs, and a potent demonstration of their stand to mobilize the resources necessary to have people’s basic needs met.
EXPANSION OF THE ANIMATOR BODY:
Our animator body has been expanding very rapidly in the last few years. The pace has gained additional impetus this year. As of September, 120 Animators Trainings have been held this year, adding nearly 10,000 volunteer animators to this group. This compares to 107 trainings during 2002.
The animator body is now more than 30,000 in strength, and represents perhaps the best organized social force in our country. Elected local officials are joining this body in increasing numbers. For example, in August we held an Animators Training exclusively for newly-elected Union Parishad (UP) chairmen and members. Several more are in the planning stages. The State Minister for Local Government attended the closing ceremony of the training and presented the certificates. The participants are now in the process of organizing trainings in their own Unions.
You will be pleased to further learn that our Animators Training have also been attracting celebrities, whose involvement will be very important in causing a social movement in Bangladesh, to which we are very committed. I would like to commend the 300 Volunteer Trainers, whose contributions made this rapid increase in Animators Trainings possible this year.
Many of our animators consider themselves as part of a “new generation of freedom fighters,” and are committed to complete the unfinished tasks of their predecessors. They are taking individual and collective actions in the areas of health, education, nutrition, income, women’s status etc., to improve the conditions of the people in their localities. Their successes include the creation of nearly 12,000 initiatives, large and small, and the formation of over 1,100 local self-help groups, 450 of which are run by women.
The animators took combined and individual actions to achieve self-reliance in the following initiatives, impacting hundreds of families:
|
Name of the initiative |
Number of families |
|
Sewing projects |
660 |
|
Tailoring & boutique projects |
1,700 |
|
Small businesses like rickshaw project, beauty parlors, Food processing |
2,600 |
|
Bee keeping project |
23 |
|
Fish Farming Projects |
1,735 |
|
Total |
11,963 |
Local Organization / Leadership: The animators have given special emphasis on forming local organizations to create awareness among the people on social responsibilities. These organizations are playing an important role in mobilizing resources and strengthening the communities through collective action.
The table below shows the number of organizations formed by animators
|
Region |
No. of Local Organizations (including women’s organizations) |
Women’s Organizations |
|
Dhaka |
79 |
21 |
|
South |
346 |
113 |
|
North |
219 |
109 |
|
South-east |
187 |
81 |
|
East |
296 |
122 |
|
Total |
1,127 |
446 |
446 out of the 1127 local organizations are led by women. The local organizations take the responsibility to organize campaigns, courtyard meetings, VCAWs and skill trainings. They also collaborate with government agencies and non-governmental organizations to organize various national level activities.
CAMPAIGN FOR PEOPLE-CENTERED DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE:
Good governance, or lack of it, has become the most critical issue in Bangladesh today. The Hunger Project has played a catalytic role in the creation of the Citizens for Fair Elections (CFE). This initiative was created under the leadership of Professor Muzaffer Ahmed, prior to the Union Parishad (UP) elections earlier this year, with the intention to redress the situation.
The group, made up of some of Bangladesh’s most distinguished citizens, is working to clean up the election process, which has nakedly fallen hostage to the corrupt influence of money and muscle. An “information empowerment” campaign to sensitize the voters was launched for this purpose.
During the UP elections, our animators worked with local chapters of CFE to collect information from candidates, and prepared “candidate profiles” to distribute to the voters, so that they could make informed choices during the electoral process. In addition, voters and candidates were brought face-to-face for open exchanges in order to reduce the influence of “black money” used during elections.
This initiative has made history in Bangladesh - bringing candidates and voters face-to-face in 52 Unions of the country. A subsequent survey showed us that the voting behavior of the people had been significantly influenced by the information provided to them and their interactions with the candidates.
OPEN BUDGET MEETINGS:
Bangladesh has earned the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt nation in the world. This is because of widespread lack of transparency and accountability in all spheres of our society. To help foment a people’s movement against graft and corruption, The Hunger Project has been encouraging UP bodies to hold open budget meetings in the last few years. Fifteen Unions have held public sessions this year, where thousands of citizens participated. Many more such meetings will take place in the coming weeks.
The presence of widespread graft and corruption makes Bangladesh a predatory state - run primarily in the interest of the rich and the powerful. As a result, the disparity between income and opportunities for the people has been growing rapidly. For example, the income share of the richest 5 percent families increased from 23.62 percent in 1995-96 to 30.66 percent in 2000, registering a nearly 30 percent increase. During the same period, the share of the poorest 5percent families declined 24 percent - from 0.88 percent to 0.67 percent. Unfortunately, our budget making and resource allocation processes are designed to perpetuate such disparities.
Last June, during the budget session of our Parliament, The Hunger Project held a Roundtable discussion on this issue to highlight that “two Bangladeshes” - one for the poor and the other for the rich - are being created in our country. A large number of concerned and committed citizens, including several Members of Parliament participated in this discussion.
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT:
The Hunger Project-Bangladesh has been very active in the movement for sustainable environment, which has become very much a life-and-death issue for Bangladesh. We play a prominent role in the Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA), a coalition of environmental activists in the country. In fact, I am leading two important committees of BAPA - one on training and the other on Dhaka City Governance.
Last month, a news conference was held by the Dhaka City Governance Committee to speak out against the illegal occupation of water bodies in and around Dhaka City. This month we are holding a Roundtable discussion, where the Minster for Works and the Mayor of Dhaka City along with representatives from all sectors of our society will participate. The purpose of this discussion is to kickoff a campaign to demand the implementation of Dhaka City Master Plan, the lack of which has resulted in land grabbing and the illegal occupation of our water bodies.
HONORING OF THE HUNGER PROJECT’S WORK IN BANGLADESH:
Plan International, an international NGO working in 45 countries, has recently signed a contract with The Hunger Project. We will provide them with technical assistance in the area of local government, good governance and grassroots mobilization. The personnel of Plan International have seen the effectiveness of our work and want to cause a “paradigm shift” in their way of working, with our assistance. One of our volunteer trainers in partnership with the staff has already started working with this organization. We consider this partnership to be a wonderful recognition of our work in Bangladesh.
Professor Anisur Rahman is one of the great proponents of participatory action research. In a recent article in a Bangla magazine, he recognized the importance of the work of our animators toward unleashing and mobilizing the power and resources of the poor, instead of giving them money, in order to help them move forward. He stated that The Hunger Project’s work deserves to be studied.
Finally, December 20th marks the 10th anniversary of the Animator Training Program of The Hunger Project. Plans are underway to have the largest ever Animator reunion in Dhaka at that time.