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FOREWORD
BEES (Bangladesh Extension Education Services) has been
conducting the poverty alleviation program for pioneering the development
work all over the country. BEES first set to work in 1975 with splendid
confidence to empower the disadvantaged people especially women of the
society through taking up socio-econo-cultural development program, leading
towards self-reliance.
Now BEES is well equipped with all kinds of eclectic
endeavor to be dedicated and more committed on a great scale to the
community by way of implementing such poverty alleviation programs in field
level as Micro-credit, Micro-enterprise Development,
Women Empowerment, Agriculture and Social Forestry, giving
special emphasis on Agriculture Diversification and Intensification,
Smallholder Agriculture Improvement, Poultry and Livestock as
well as Education Program. In addition Community-Based Health
Project incorporating Maternal & Child Health and Family
Planning, Nutrition Initiative Program, Urban Poor Development
Program and so on have embellished and sustained the mainstream of
poverty alleviation program in down-to-earth method.
Over 28 years beside the poor BEES has been successful to
engender the prosperous future and bring off promising change in the
distressed destinies of many disadvantaged men and women. Accumulating from
the first-hand experience of a total upliftment at individual level of
numerous disadvantaged community people, we have aspired recently to publish
a book on case study, which encompasses mostly the success- stories of those
disadvantaged people who had even no ways and means to survive. We have
selected the stories of only the women as the theme of the book entitled
Kulsums. Worse luck, women are deprived of all kinds of human rights in
the perspective of our country as the whole. But women form 50% of our
population and it is not possible to materialize a sustainable development
of the country without the overall development and empowerment of women.
In the sphere of family oriented empowerment, social and
political empowerment, nowadays women have no right to pursue their career
or establish their status as a human being. It is true that women’s
life-style of a country represents the real reflection of the development of
a country, specially the developing country like ours. Thinking over these
aspects we have decided that the collection of the selected success stories
of the underprivileged people should be brought out highlighting women’s
contribution and participation in social, spiritual, political and
economical amelioration. Here noteworthy 23 success stories of former
impoverished but presently established and diligent women have been
embodied. They were inspired, motivated and attracted by the poverty
alleviation program executed by the micro-credit plus program of BEES for
the sake of their flourishing future.
In the view of this documentation by means of compiling
significant and outstanding success stories of the deprived women to be
empowered, we hope that the book Kulsums will be appreciated by the
readers for our flowered endeavors and initiatives derived from
Micro-credit Plus Program.
I’m very grateful to them who have teamed up and helped to
publish this book collecting data in field level and encouraging in various
ways as well as writing the touching and authentic case studies based on the
collected information and extending their dedicated and untiring efforts to
make this publication a success.
Our initiative will be of success if this book can
contribute in kindling the spirit of women-empowerment among the potential
implementers and policy-makers throwing an enabling light on millions of
deprived women of the country.
Saiful Islam Robin
Executive Director
BEES
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PREFACE
They have miles to go
Kulsums
is mostly a collection of success stories of the disadvantaged, humiliated
and deprived women who are the mainstream beneficiaries of BEES Samities
(village organization). On behalf of the most dispossessed people by severe
poverty, Kulsum is a name who represents the common woman with
involvement to constitute a great portion of our society in the perspective
of Bangladesh. They are disadvantaged, because they have no opportunity to
be conscious of removing poverty along with the lack of income generating
activities. They are humiliated by their more dominating husbands and
influential persons of their society. Moreover the Kulsums are deprived of
all kinds of human rights due to their vexed fate emanated from their
illiteracy, ignorance, beliefs in superstitions and religious dogmas,
laziness, dependency on so-called fortune and so on. All of them have had to
experience the common problems such as being humiliated and oppressed.
Precisely, there has been undiversified dimension in their life style. The
background of their previous life relating to struggle with drastic reality,
more or less, is all the same. Evaluating these characteristics of their
life-style they are all incorporated in a common group. So the various
aspects of their cursed previous life-background have not been cited in
details in every success-story.
Adhering to the prime emphasis on women empowerment BEES
has been concocting the remedies for combating the social narrowness and
salving the wounds of our socio-economic condition hypothetically as a
whole. The grim reality is that the prevailing male hegemony in our country
makes women prolong their dependence on men. So with the zeal to expedite
the development from grassroots level BEES initiated micro-credit plus
program for empowering women through bringing stability in their income
flow. By way of lavishing micro-financial assistance BEES tries to make
women empowered that they may surmount the contemporary limitations on the
society. Activating its micro-finance services by means of group formation,
regular courtyard-session, respective training and orientation,
motivation-class, BEES stimulates their ardor for economic and social
emancipation.
Only economical assistance can not give the Kulsums more
mastery on their lives. Thinking over this moot point BEES is orchestrating
the demand-driven programs pragmatically under the title of Credit Plus.
The Credit Plus Program of BEES not only ensures the credit
facilities but also provides training for skill-development, serving-package
to make them aware of healthcare and nutrition, materials and other inputs
needed for productive employment generation, educational facilities to get
rid of illiteracy and ignorance by way of Human Resource Development
(HRD) and Occupational Skills Development (OSD).
Capitalizing on the purpose of improving family well being
by virtue of Kulsums’ access to credit plus program BEES has been competent
to help them materialize their equal entitlements to resources and equal
opportunities to developing the quality of life. BEES is on the look-out to
work with the instruments of indigence alleviation to engender authentic
blessing to the poverty stricken people. Side by side its credit and savings
program is going on with the comprehensive aspirations- first to make
micro-finance services obtainable to the Kulsums who do not get any credit
facility, guide and if necessary train them in line with proper utilization
of the credit, and at last to spur their inner beings to commit savings.
In the course of ensuring micro-finance assistance BEES
first steeps to conduct personal contacts in the respective community among
the target group and brings off group discussions according to the findings
of informal previous survey-report. The group discussions in the process of
group formation and the weekly sessions of the groups have been being
conducted by arranging ‘Uthan Baithak’( Courtyard Meeting). The Courtyard
Meetings are like ‘mini parliament’ where the participants participate
spontaneously and give their opinion and at the same time become enriched
with relevant knowledge, know-how, proper directions and so on. The
trickle-down benefits of development are being engrossed with relation to
BEES Samities at the root level enhancing self-reliance efforts of more than
1 lac people. Up to December 2003, BEES has disbursed more than TK.100 crore
(cumulative) to more than 50 thousand beneficiaries (household women) in the
field level of assorted performing-areas through micro-credit program. The
auspicious recovery rate of its loan is 99%. The savings balance of the
syndicate members i.e. members of BEES Samities as on December 2003 has been
Tk. 10 crore. Implementing the economical assistance oriented plan of action
it has inaugurated more than 1600 self- employment oriented new jobs per
year in its working areas over last 7 years side by side leading other
income generating programs guided by research, impact assessment and
case-studies.
The consequence of current case-studies is this publication
entitled Kulsums on most success stories. In the case-studies various
aspects of success stories have been pointed out such as difference between
previous income and present income, perspectives and rate of current
expenditure, assessment of average savings, comparison between previous
life-status and current life-status, dimensions of income-generating
activities, promotion of perceptions to be self-reliant, potential
graduation due to social and economical empowerment, total achievement in
the light of desired goal and far-seeing initiatives, amelioration of
consciousness related to education, reproductive health, gender-equity,
environment, nutrition, healthcare, spick and span, women-rights and so on.
To bring off a significant and aesthetic collection of
success stories of the Kulsums we have conducted the research through some
conducive initiatives. At first we prepared a check-list to guide the
research-work. According to the point of view of the check-list the research
assistants, the respective regional field workers, were instructed briefly
regarding the applicable effective method of performing data collection
followed by the prescribed indicators. In the beginning of the process of
collecting data on success stories we have had to make a list of names of
real and recognized beneficiaries of BEES who are pragmatically benefited
from BEES and well-established at present. Bringing out the compilation of
the confessions of the identical Kulsums, the stories of the most destitute
and helpless women, the Information and Development Communication Cell
would like to illustrate a vivid outline of desired success and
achievement of BEES-micro credit program to be further evaluated and guided
by any kind of creative opinion, review, advice as well as kindling
conception. We believe that the findings derived from the case-studies would
be helpful to the researchers, social workers, sociologists and so on to be
familiar with the common plight along with the aspirations to help make
self-reliant the neglected and deprived women of Bangladesh. As the famous
poet Robert Frost says-
‘But I have promises to
keep,
And miles to go before
I sleep...’
The Kulsums of this book have intended to go ahead like
Robert Frost as well. They are very much diligent, tireless and always
engaged to fight against any kind of poverty and ignorance to attain the
high-water mark of success.
Our field workers and many of the colleagues have pitched
in to publish this book providing valuable information, profound ideas and
grave opinions. We are, indeed, grateful to them extensively and thanking
for their great contribution. The endeavors of publishing this book will be
successful even a little if somebody might be benefited from this book in
any way.
Anirudha Alam
Assistant Director
Information and Development Communication Cell
BEES
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