In Bangladesh the “Vision of Girls”-project is one of the ways Action Aid fights to create better futures for young girls. As a member of Activista I have had the honor to meet Salma who used to live in the street. Former street child – future doctor

Narsingdi District Court, 15thJuly 2009 – two witnesses with different hearing needs were present in a case. The plaintiff hired an interpreter of Bangla Sign Language from Dhaka to interpret what these two witnesses had to say. At the beginning the lawyer of the accused party raised a question against the interpreter. But the honorable judge had a positive impression and the defendant’s lawyer had a strong point regarding the different needs of these witnesses. So the objection of the lawyer of the accused was overruled. A huge crowd outside the court observed this different kind of hearing for the first time in their life.

I was wondering what am I supposed to do now. Damn, never felt this awkward about a situation and my heart was pounding like I have been running so fast for long. But, surprisingly after a while, I felt that I am quite comfortable now. I think I should stop referring to my feelings, but for some reason I just can’t stop. Next thing I realised, I have started looking at others and I felt people were more embarrassed than me. They also did not know how to react because I assume, for the first time, they were in such kind of situation. I am sure, the way I have explained the situation, tons of negative and bad thoughts have already clouded your mind. Which is natural and this is the way the human mind actually works. Any wildest guess cannot be fitted in the situation that I have described but if anyone can guess then I would like to praise the person and for others, would request to be more considered about it.

Learning Document Series 9-10 consists of two development alternatives. The first one is Social Audit, an effective democratic approach to create scope for people’sparticipation in the domain of implementing programmes, projects, laws and policies of the Government. This document indicates outlining not only the process of social audit but also stressing on its importance and effectiveness in making accountable programme planning and implementation system at local level. The second one narrates Participatory Plans and Budget process that we piloted in some selected Union Parishads (Ups – local government units) in Bangladesh. This initiative aims at reflecting people’s expectations in the UP’s ‘Plans and Budget’ and triggering socio-economic development of the people in these unions by ensuring development and services including health, agriculture and communication through transparency and accountability.

I was a fresh graduate when in 2006 I joined the Bangladesh chapter of ActionAid. My first assignment was to execute a project named ‘Creating Role Models of Youths with Disabilities in Corporate Sector of Bangladesh’. The project was meant for capacitating potential young persons with disabilities as well as lobbying with the potential employers to facilitate decent employment for those youngsters.

Bangladesh has reduced poverty and improved living standards significantly in recent years despite the global economic recession and natural calamities. In spite of rising standards of living, some things never seem to change. Men still seem to get a better deal than women. This happens in all walks of life, starting from a multinational corporation to the most remote village farm in Bangladesh.

Analysis of recent demographic data shows that Bangladesh has a significant ‘youth group’ – more than 40 to 50 percent of the Bangladeshi population is now under the age of 24, with a significant portion centered on the cohorts aged between 15 and 24. This youth group provides great opportunity. This group has the potential to create a ‘demographic dividend’ in the right policy environment. The combined effort of a large working-age population supported by appropriate health, family, labor, financial and human capital policies can create sustained cycles of wealth creation.

I have just finished a twelve month assignment as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development (AYAD) funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). I am writing this from my old desk having signed on as their Program wheelbarrow Development Advisor and I can hardly believe twelve months in Bangladesh has passed so quickly. I do not seem to have stood still for long enough to notice the whole week flash before my very eyes!

I came across a new word called ‘small farmer’ while reading the National Agricultural Policy, 1999 of the Government of Bangladesh. The term, ‘small farmer’, is not defined in the policy. It emphasizes especially on ‘small farmers’ but there is no definition available to comprehend the phrase. Who are small farmers, what do they do? The status has been formed but without any specified indicators. This has to be branded, but how?

The year 2010 was the last year of ActionAid Bangladesh’s (AAB) third Country Strategy Paper (CSP-III) titled “Equality, Citizenship and Justice”. Review of the CSP-III and formulation of the CSP-IV were the major undertakings in 2010 while continuing interventions at different levels to strengthen the fight for the eradication of poverty and injustice. AAB shares the Vision, Mission and Values of global ActionAid.

The spirit of International Women’s Day (IWD) is still in the air, and the aim of this contribution is to offer some thoughts over the theme of IWD, 2011. Each year around the world, we dedicate March 8 solely to the celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD), and this is considered the juncture of global celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards the women all over the world. This celebration symbolizes wider meaning and is exclusively meant to respect women’s economic and social achievements in the journey towards equality, peace, and development. Choosing IWD theme each year gives the day more special outlook by reflecting on global and local gender issues.

Learning Document Series 6-8 contains three development alternatives. The first one is People Managed and Owned Savings and Credit, an alternative to the Conventional Microsoft Concept and Practice. This document describes our experiences and knowledge of how we assisted poor people to own and manage their savings and credit programme being totally independent from facilitating NGOs. Community Rice Bank, the second alternative, is shown to stand by the poor communities. This series depicts how community people innovated and initiated it and made an example for mitigating monga (lien season induced hunger) through a collective mechanism. Next one is Midday School Meal, quite a new initiative in Bangladesh and first piloted by us. It is expected that replicating and mainstreaming this model in the poverty-stricken areas of Bangladesh can combat school dropouts and thereby education for all can be achieved countrywide.