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CHAPTER - VII
NGQs IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES IN BANGLADESH
More than 15, 000 NGOs are said to be registered with the
Government under the Acts of Registration and Control of Voluntary
Social Welfare Affairs - 1961, Societies Registration - 1860 and
Foreign Donation (Voluntary Activities) Regulation - 1978. Among
them, 1200 NGOs ar~ reported to be directly involved in development
activities. 676 NGOs are registered under the Foreign Donation
Ordinance of 1978 and among them some are foreign and national
NGOs. 1
These NGOs mainly play a supplementary and complementary role
to the efforts of the Government agencies. According to a Database
Profile prepared by Association of Development Agencies in
Bangladesh (ADAB) in 1990 about 613 member organizations of ADAB
have been implementing their activities in 397 thanas of 63
districts. Their activities include - Group Formation, Credit,
Formal Education, Adult and Child Education, Training, Health and
Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health and. Family Planning, Women's
Development, Agriculture, Pisciculture, Poultry and Livestock,
Water and Sanitation, Small Trading, Research and Training, Human
Rights, Advocacy, Legal Aid and Environment and Social Forestry. 2
However, they act outside the ambit of the Government agencies. In
view of the magnitude and dimension of the necessity for
improvement of the sectors stated above, it is not easy for a
Government of a country like Bangladesh to cope with all this
216
alone. Hence the importance of the NGOs to play an important role
in these sectors.
VII.l NGQs and Approach to Development
NGOs' approach to development varies but broad categorization
could be as follows:
a. Conscientization approach
The conscientization approach seeks to strengthen the weak by
arousing the necessity of their increasing unity. Importance is
aimed at enhancing the groups' understanding of background and
causes of their poverty and backwardness and at prompting their
confidence to change their plight by concerted efforts.
Interventions in the field of conscientization consist of general
awareness progranune as well as more specialized ones as in the case
of legal literacy or disaster coping. In this field perhaps the
hardest task which NGOs face is to encourage groups which will
ultimately become self-sufficient and independent of NGOs. If there
is more or less an unified concept which is imparted through
training, then there is more chance of successful group action.
Some of the NGOs have given special attention towards alleviating
the miseries of rural women. They have motivated the female group
members properly and connected them with a wide range of income
generating activities. This has enhanced their socio-economic
independence within the household and ensured their appropriate
status in the society.
217
b. Credit a~roach
The credit approach emphasizes the material support to the
target group and is epitomized by the Grameen Bank, a leading NGO
in Bangladesh. The Grameen Bank has served as a model for the
credit approach in developing the poorer section of the society.
Its banking method is unique. It works among the landless people,
provides credit without any collateral as well as encourages
traditional sector of activities. Till December 1994, it provided
credit a total amount of Taka 43,330 million to 2.2 million people
of whom 94% are women. The recovery rate is about 99%. It is now
working more than 36,000 villages through nearly 45,000 cen.tres. 3
The shares of NGOs' credit in total credit advanced to Bangladesh
in 1990 was 0.6 per cent. 4
More often, the NGOs adopt a mix of the above mentioned two
approaches with perhaps one or the other predominating. The
Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), another leading NGO
in Bangladesh and Proshika, for example, take a credit cum
conscientization approach; but in the case of BRAC, credit
dominates while in Proshika, the conscientization approach is more
visible.
VII.2 NGOs in Some Select Sectors
a. Human Resource Development
Notable contributions have been made by NGOs in developing
institutions of the poor in Bangladesh. The process of developing
218
institution building has been through development of human
resources with the help of a continuous process of education and
conscientization following the popular pedagogical methods. Most
development NGOs have initiated people's organizations at the
grass-root levels and facilitated the release of potential social
energy of the poor to mobilize resources and to have political
assertion for equal social justice.
b. Education and literacy
Education or basic literacy programmes are one of the most
popular NGO interventions in Bangladesh. NGOs are offering both
formal and non-formal education. Also a deliberate policy of taking
in girls is followed in both BRAC and Proshika school programmes.
School hours are also flexible so that working children can attend
the schools. Another significant aspect of using literacy as an
entry point is that conscientization and skill training programme
may be added to it, e.g., legal education, leadership development
etc., as needed. The leading NGOs working in education field in
Bangladesh are BRAC, Swanirvar Bangladesh (SB), Village Education
Resource Centre (VERC), Proshika Manabik Unnyan Kendra (PMUK).
BRAC deserves a few words of appreciation for its tremendous
performances in improving education status among the poor. BRAC
model of non-formal primary education (NFPE) for children of 8-10
years age group and the model of primary education for oJ.der
children (PEOC) of 11-16 years age group are innovative efforts
that have been successful .in addressing the problem of low
enrolment, low attendance and high dropouts. Criteria of villages
219
where school will be located include parent demands, availability
of teachers, students and proximity to a cluster of villages.
Relevant curricula, dedicated and well supervised teachers,
reasonable class size and parents' involvement have important
parameters in making this school a success.
Above 70% of the students are girls belonging to the most
disadvantaged rural families and 96% of the teachers are women.
Classes are conducted for an average of 270 days a year and more
than 95% of the learners complete the 3 year school term of NFPE
and over 90% of the graduates move on to the Government schools in
class IV and V. The programme has a system of participatory and
decentralized management in which the programme organizer (PO) is
the first line field personnel and directly supervises 15-20
schools. They assist the teachers to work with parents' groups,
visit every school in the areas as often as possible, attend
monthly parents' meetings and conduct monthly teachers training
session. POs are in turn supervised by the field officers. BRAC
schools want the children to be active participants in learning
rather than passive recipients of information. Curriculum is
relevant to rural life and provisions for co-curricular activit.ies
are also there to make the environment more interesting which
ensures high attendance. Community has full involvement in
management of the school, starting with only 22 schools in 1985,
there are over 46, 402 schools throughout Bangladesh to-day. BRAe
plans to expand the _number of schools in a significant manner
shortly. 5
220
It appears- from the above discussion on BRAC's programmes on
education and literacy that the NGO has ben playing a key role in
raising girl students' enrolment in primary education and
addressing the problem of high rate of dropout. It is highly
significant that 96% of teachers are females6 in the schools
conducted by it. The organization is not only providing job
opportunities to the women; but at the same time, by doing so, it
is empowering the women, which is not only important for the
liberation of the women from the "vicious cycle" of poverty,
underdevelopment and backwardness, but it is also equally important
for the sustainable development of the whole countr/.
c. Health and family plannina
A number of NGOs have taken up health, nutrition and family
planning programmes in their activities. They have appointed
trained health workers who actively participate in house visits.
During each visit the health workers emphasize a special health
educating subject by identifying the most obvious health problem in
the members of family. They motivate their clients on immunization,
family planning, nutrition and health education, diarrhoeal
diseases control and promotion of safe water and sanitation.
The target group for the NGOs are poor landless men and women
in rural areas. The membership of those organizations consists
overwhelmingly of the rural poor as defined in their eligibility
criterion. It is obserw=d that continuous permanent membership
meetings and extensive enquiries from fellow members have ensured
weeding out of ineligible ones so that the membership is confined
221
to the real poor section of the rural population. As a result of
NGOs intervention in health and family planning, there has been a
rise in the use of contraceptives. However, the fact that in most
of the cases the users tend to be more women. This can be an
indicator that women want to have more control over their bodies or
it may also indicates that given existing gender relations, men are
not keen in using contraceptives.
Increased knowledge has created higher demand for health and
family planning services. Therefore, knowledge of health and
nutritional care is definitely high among group members exposed to
such interventions, even if they come from poor backgrounds. In
many regions where adequate NGOs services are not available or a
particular se~-vice is only temporary, the villagers have to fall
back on Government services. Thus, strengthening of Governmental
health services and infrastructures is just as essential as
providing health and nutritional knowledge to poor women. Most
notable NGOs working in health and family planning sector in
Bangladesh are VHSS (Voluntary Health and Social Services) and the
Gono Shasthya Kendra (General People's Health Centre).
One of the most notable contributions of NGOs lies in
developing the concept of community health workers for creating a
sustainable health care system at the community level through
people's participation. Their contributions in nation wide
diarrhoeal management have earned a great appreciation both at home
and abroad. The revolutionary concept of treating diarrhoea through
home-made oral rehydration solution made of laban (salt) and gur
222
(molasses) hag been disseminated under the Diarrhoeal Management
Programme.
d. Skill development training and credit for income and
employment generation
Income generation through rural credit has been one of the
oldest approaches by some of the larger NGOs in Bangladesh. Despite
its many criticism, it has remained one of the preferred ways of
making interventions at the grass-root level. BRAC for example has
used this method so effectively that it now intends to get into
commercial banking, making its credit programme the launching pad.
Grameen Bank has also served as a model for the credit approach in
developing the poorer section of the people.
In many initial programmes, women have generally been slow to
form groups. Perhaps because their hands are tied with managing the
household, they do not find enough time to engage themselves in
productive activities. But once they have formed groups, specially
those women who are either economically disadvantaged or because of
their age, are released from the duties of motherhood or household
work, their interest for work is equal to that of men. But because
of existing gender division of labour in most agricultural
activities, pressure of housework and limited mobility of women,
they are assigned with works which are undervalued and poorly paid
e.g., food processing and poultry farming, vegetable gardening,
livestock rearing etc.
There is also a feeling that credit when accompanied by
training facilities e.g., management or accountancy training, gives
223
better results,- because then women can better organize their group
activities. Cases in various NGOs where women's groups had to find
their own strategies when they came to marketing their product or
conduct trading in the market, because they are culturally
constrained in their access to market. Often such strategies have
taken the form of joint social action.
e. Environment and Forestry. Poultry. Livestock- and Sericulture
Rapid deforestation has caused a serious ecological imbalance
in Bangladesh. The NGOs have undertaken massive afforestation
programmes. They are also promoting the development of nurseries
all over the country.
f. Gender Development
In a male-dominated and a relatively conservative society like
Bangladesh, NGOs have been trying to ameliorate the status of women
through education and conscientization and through helping them
develop their own institutions. Through education, they are made
aware of their plight and through organization,- they are encouraged
to undertake collective socio-economic actions which not only
provide them with income, but ~lgo add to their social status. The
NGOs are of the view that given opportunities, women are able to
manage economic activities effectively and generate income which
enhances their status and ensures their say in the decision-making
process in the family.
Apart from above mentioned social sectors, NGOs are also
active in pove_rty alleviation programmes in Bangladesh. Their
activities in this sector has been discussed earlier in "Poverty-
224
Health Nexus" chapter.
VII.3 Effectiveness of NGQs
Before going to judge NGOs' effectiveness, it would be
pertinent to know about some prevailing concepts on weaknesses of
NGOs-. It is observed that with the exception of a few, NGOs do not
prefer formal organizational structures and management systems on
the ground that such structures and systems emulate an elitist mode
of operation and a bureaucratic style of control and domination
which are likely to stifle growing creative initiatives that demand
flexibility and independence. It may be true; but modern management
systems tend to combine flexibility with strategic competence for
effective planning and intervention.
With increasing availability of donor funds, some NGOs tend to
undertake programmes which are determined by and dovetailed with
donors' demands and expectations. Such programmes may have only
little relevance to the critical needs and aspirations of the
beneficiaries and may be far drawn away from their stated long-term
objectives and strategies. Increased availability of, and access
to, resources have forced NGOs to expand their operation quickly,
often leading them to encroach upon others' _programme areas
resulting in resentments, misgivings, distrust and, in some time,
quarrels. This undue infight among NGOs is likely to defeat their
very objectives.
225
With regard to effectiveness of NGOs, it is not easy to judge
their performance in carrying out their operations. It is observed
that there has been very little systematic analysis by the NGOs
themselves or by independent organizations on NGOs' effectivity.
And any general assessment of the impact of NGOs can thus be based
on partial evidence. Although it is observed that the NGOs have
made significant impact towards alleviation of poverty and hardship
of poor people in areas where their programmes were intensive, a
question, however, automatically arises about the cost of their
programmes.
A study on comparative cost of NGOs and Government
organizations (GOs) reveals that the NGOs with the exception of
Swanirvar Bangladesh (SB), had to incur a very high level of
expenditure per member household compared to that of GOs. SB did
not operate through regular staff but cadre volunteers in J:ural
areas for which its operation cost was low. The evidence suggests
that for a given level of impact on rural poverty and inequality,
most of the NGOs invested more resources than the GOs. The above
information is furnished in the table provided in the next page.
226
Table No. VII.l
Comparative Cost of Operation of GO/NGQ (1986) 7
Organization
Government of
Bangladesh (GB}
BRAC
RDRS
Proshika
SB
BRDB
Operating Total no.
cost
(Taka)
89885
114062
112307
51898
12552
525600
of household
covered
209467
79600
42922
126191
463460
2633713
Cost per
member
(Taka)
383.56
936.88
1962.41
308.45
27.07
173.24
------------------------------------------------------
Another comparable study for confirmation of the above view
was made in a same (Manikganj} thana where the activities of each
of the organizations were intensive and the impact of their
activities of poverty alleviation was more or less similar for all
the organizations. An analysis of the cost figures indicates,
however, that BRAC incurred a substantially higher expenditure than
that of GB and BRDB. It is observed that NGOs compared to GOs
engaged more personnel and paid them a higher salary to cover a
lower number of households in that area. The table in the next page
presents above information.
227
Table No. VII. 2
Cost of Operation of GB/BRAC/BRDB in Manikganj Thana (1987) 8
Organization
GB
BRAC
BRDB
Operating Total no. of
cost
(Taka)
household
covered
3259078 9514
30610701 6332
376144 8049
Cost per
member
(Taka)
325.42
1670.30
43.37
An evaluation conducted jointly by the Ministry of Education
and UNICEF in July 1991 for five selected NGOs of Bangladesh, the
cost per learner for adult education was found to vary between Taka
239 and Taka 624; while in the project for expansion of Integrated
Non-Formal Education in Bangladesh under the Government the
development and annual recurrent cost for adult literacy was
assumed to be respectively Taka 320 per adult. 9
Now the question is how lon·g these NGOs will be able to
sustain such costly operation of development programmes. This
question is related to the way NGOs generate funds for programme
operation. Result of an enqui~r on the sources of funds of some
selected NGOs reveals that all the NGOs excepting SB, generate more
than 60% of their
therefore, appears
operational
that these
funds from foreign
NGOs will be able
donors . It ,
to continue
operation of programmes as long as the donors continue contributing
228
to the funds of these NGOs.
Table No. VII.3
Generation of Operational Funds of some NGQs by Source10
Organization 1986 1985 1984
ctm Foreign Own Foreign Own Foreign source grants source grants source grants
in % in % in %
BRAC 30.74 59.26 39.09 60.91 30.99 69.01
RDRS 16.35 83.65 18.00 82.00 19.20 79.80
Proshika 2. 77 97.23 0.49 99.51 0.86 99.14
SB 100.00 100.00 100.00
According to a BRAC publication, the organization received 66%
of its programme costs as contribution from donors in 1994. 11
VII.4 Government-NGOs Relationship
"Bangladesh has one of the largest and most diversified NGO
sectors in the world. At the beginning of the 1990s at least 12,000
groups were receiving financial and technical support. More than
550 local NGOs were registered with the Association of Development
Agencies and more than 300 national and foreign NGOs were getting
funds from abroad. Around $ 100 million is channelled to NGOs from
external sources, which is about 5% of total aid flows" . 12
NGOs in Bangladesh have been trying to impress upon the
Government that they represent the private non-profit agencies in
the field of development outside the Government ambit. They try to
229
assert that the non-government sector should receive the same
attention, encouragement, cooperation, assistance and facilitation
from the Government as being accorded to private enterprises in
business and industries. However, "NGOs' relations with the
Government are still complex and contradictory. On the one hand,
they are welcomed to "supplement and complement Government's
development programmes" . But the Government has also at times seen
them as a threat, undermining its legitimacy and as a growing
competitor for development finance and has responded by placing
obstacles in their way, including a restrictive process of
registration and approval". 13 Government has established a bureau
entitled "NGO Affair Bureau" entrusted with, among others, the
responsibilities of administering laws relating to NGOs in
Bangladesh, providing one-stop service to NGOs for registration and
project processing, approval of projects submitted by the NGOs,
release of funds and clearance for employment of expatriate
personnel etc.
On their parts, the NGOs allege that they are faced with so
many obstacles for their smooth and effective functioning which
Government can easily remove if it wants to do it sincerely. NGOs
also allege that they are facing problems with obtaining
registration, receiving and operating foreign donations, project
approval etc. They are of the view that Government should look into
these aspects in order to make NGOs to function smoothly and
effectively.
"NGOs in Bangladesh do have an influence on the Government's
230
development poiicy and the Government has given some leading NGO
figures important advisory positions. This could be seen as an
endorsement of the value of NGOs or as a way of coopting potential
opposition". 14 However, a section of people in Bangladesh is
critical about NGOs' role. They allege that NGOs try to influence
the Government in policy decisions. This sort of allegation often
vitiates the environment of relationship between the Government and
NGOs.
VII.5 Results from Field Work
Views of the respondents for the first category of
questionnaire (Appendix - I & II may be seen) on some select
questions on the role of NGOs in social development in Bangladesh
are presented in the following table.
Table No. VII .4
Ouest ions
Yes %
1. Whether NGOs' intervention in social 60.6 fields including health is more effec-tive than that of the Government.
2. Whether regulatory mechanism should 85.5 be imposed on the activities of NGOs' by the Government.
3. Whether a system of accountability 99.6 should be evolved for the NGOs.
4. Whether there should be a complimen- 76.5 tarity between the activities of the Government and the NGOs.
231
Answer
No ~
30.5
13.7
0.0
15.3
Can't say
8.9
0.8
0.4
8.2
VII.6 Suggestive Framework
It goes without saying that in spite of all their limitations,
NGOs have made significant contributions to national development
over the years. They have acquired considerable experience and
expertise by working at the grass-root level. They have also
initiated some innovative programmes in some social areas. The
participation of NGOs in social issues and their effectivity in
those areas have been recognized by everybody. However, there is a
need to promote an effective partnership between the Government and
NGOs in the discussion and decisions on the design, implementation,
coordination, monitoring and evaluation of programmes on all the
social issues. The Government should endeavour to integrate NGOs
and local community groups into their decision-making and
facilitate the contribution that NGOs can make towards finding
solutions to these issues. NGOs should be used in social
mobilization and community participation, particularly in issues
like, education, health and family planning and women development.
In order to ensure effective and productive participation of
NGOs in social fields following recommendations are being made:
a. As it has been revealed, one of the shortcomings of the
programmes of NGOs is lack of sustainability since NGOs'
programmes depend on the funds received mainly from
outside. Therefore, in case NGOs are unable to continue
their programmes for want of funds, the Government
232
Organizations (GOs) should take over them. Therefore, a
mechanism should be there between NGOs and GOs to this
effect;
b. It has also been revealed that the per head expenditure
of NGOs' programmes is much more higher than that of the
GOs. The most unacceptable aspect of NGOs' expenditure is
that there is no outside audit system for their
expenditure. This is probably the main reason for such
increased overhead expenditure. Therefore, Government
should evolve a mechanism in consultation with NGOs and
their funding agencies to have an effective audit system
for NGOs' expenditure.
c. Government should also ensure that there is a syst.em of
accountability for NGOs for their activities to their
funding agencies as well as the Government.
d. There may be a tri-partite committee comprising NGOs,
donor countries/ agencies and the Government for such
matters as project appraisal, allocation for specific
project, budgets for NGOs, expenditures etc.
e. Misgivings about NGOs in the people should be allayed by
the Government initiative. The Government should assist
NGOs in whatever manner it is require<;i, to implement
their projects.
f. Government should benefit from the experiences of NGOs
gathered in their successful programmes.
g. Government should understand and believe that NGOs are to
233
supplement Government's efforts and they are not
alternative to it.
h. Government should ease the registration process of NGOs
and remove administrative and procedural bottlenecks for
their smooth and effective functioning;
i. Efforts may be made to evolve a mechanism whereby the
Government officials involved in the development
processes make regular field-visits to NGOs' programmes
to have a critical exposure to, and consequent insights
into the programme dynamics and operation of NGOs;
j. Government may involve NGOs in formulating appropriate
policies and developing suitable programmes both at the
local and national level, planning exercises so that the
needs of the poor are properly addressed and their
participation ensured;
k. An effective networking of NGOs in all aspects is
essential to avoid duplication of activities and to
ensure that the most needed areas and fields are not left
out.
However, needless to say that the Government should not
hesitate to ask the donor agencies/countries to stop financing a
specific NGO, if its activities and performance are not up to the
minimum standard, which should be set by the Government for all
NGOs and redirect funds allocated for that particular NGO to the
Government. In order to do this effectively, the NGO Bureau of the
234
Government should be strengthened. The Bureau should be~ able to
apprise activities and performance of NGOs on an impartial but
sound basis.
Selected References
1. ADAB {1994), Grassroots- NGOs for a Better Bangladesh, Vol. IV, Issue XIII-XIV, Dhaka, p. 10.
2. ADAB {i990), ADAB Database- 1990, Dhaka.
3. Government of Bangladesh {1995), Women in Bangladesh Equality, Development and Peace, Bangladesh National Report; Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, p. 34.
4. UNDP {1993), Human Development Report {Delhi: Oxford University Press), p. 94.
5. BRAC {1995), BRAC in Brief {Dhaka: BRAC Printers).
6. ~-
7. Alam, J. {1993), Rural Poverty in Bangladesh: The Impact of Non-Governmental and Governmental Organizations. In: Government of Bangladesh in Poverty Alleviation, M. Nurul Amin {ed.) {Dhaka: Bangladesh Rural Development Board), p. 245.
8. Alam, J. {1993), Rural Poverty in Bangladesh: The Impact of Non-Governmental and Governmental Organizations. In: Government of Bangladesh in Poverty Alleviation, M. Nun1l Amin {ed.) {Dhaka: Bangladesh Rural Development Board), p. 246.
9. Government of Bangladesh {1995), Education For All - National Plan of Action, Primary and Mass Education Division, Dhaka, p. 51.
10. Alam, J. {1993), Rural Poverty in Bangladesh: The Impact of Non-Governmental and Governmental Organizations. In: Government of Bangladesh in Poverty Alleviation, M. Nurul Amin {ed.) {Dhaka: Bangladesh Rural Development ~oard), p. 247.
11. BRAC {1994), BRAC 1994, {Dhaka: BRAC Printers), p. 35.
12. UNDP {1993), Human Development Report {Delhi: Oxford University Press), p. 92.
13. ibid.
14. ibid.
235
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