On the Ground
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Sugarcane Growers go Digital
At 1:30pm on 17 November, Rahmat Ali, a sugarcane farmer in Faridpur district, received a text message, which marked the beginning of the crushing cycle for his canes. The message contained "Purjee" information, which is a purchase order from a local sugar mill requesting him to bring his harvest within the next three days for processing. The Purjee sent via SMS means more than the beginning of the crushing cycle for Rahmat and a thousand other farmers like him in the district; it signifies the end of an archaic system for the sugar mills in the country.
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Revisiting Rituals in Reality
The path down the steep hill carried on for almost a kilometer, criss-crossed by many others. Suddenly, the view opened up displaying the spell-binding beauty of the landscape of the Chittaong Hill Tracts. Below lay a cluster of houses, their occupants part of a group of people called the Mro, who live in the Alikadum upazila in Bandarban.
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Community Stocktaking
The sight is somewhat incongruous. The heavy green-bound ledger books that lie on the squat table are clearly those of an accountant, filled with figures, and tables and lists. Yet the table stands on dirt, only metres from a train line beneath the shade of large banyan trees, and the people who surround it have the look of those who make what living they can in the open air. An accountant’s office this is not, yet accounting is in some ways, just what is taking place.
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Mena's Machine
The fabric spilling forth from Mena’s sewing machine stands out bright against the darkness. The small room in which she sits bent over the machine is lit only by the light from the now-crowded doorway and the air inside is noticeably hotter than the heat of the Bangladesh summer outside. Yet, despite the heat and the arrival of strangers at her doorstep, this young lady retains her composure.
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Shaping their own futures: local government for local people
Local government has been a part of life in Bangladesh in one form or another for over 150 years. Yet the effectiveness of the institutions of local governance has at times been problematic. A highly centralized system of government run from Dhaka, historically combined with a lack of transparency and accountability, political interference and struggles over bureaucratic control have been common obstacles to successful local governance.
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More than just a road...
The road doesn’t look like much from the outset. Even and relatively smooth, it is raised up perhaps one or two feet above the surrounding fields and the entrances to the few shops and tea stalls that line it. To the untrained eye, it is just like the dozens of others that criss-cross towns similar to this one in the Feni district in eastern Bangladesh.
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Participatory planning in action
The noise can be heard from around the corner. Which is really not surprising: 150 people all talking at once tend to make quite a bit of it.
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Women leaders supporting local women in Bangladesh
The office of the Union Parishad (UP) - the lowest tier of local government in Bangladesh - in Shialkul looks very much the same as others across the country. A low-set building amidst green trees lush with fresh growth following the month's rain, its walls are covered with posters in English and in Bangla about everything from childhood immunization to village courts. Pictures of political leaders and the Bangladesh flag take pride of place above the desk of the UP chairman's desk. Yet, as is impossible not to discover from hearing the stories of the people involved in the local, things in this office and many others just like around the country, are changing considerably.
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Funghi flourish and fowl take flight
The room directly next to Nasrul Islam Kokon and his wife Jahanara's house is very dark. It is also damp and extremely humid. At first glance this is not a place where one might expect anything to be growing, let alone any great development work to be happening. But then, first glances can be deceiving.
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Three tales of acceptance, rehabilitation and recovery
Ume Salma welcomes the crowd of people into the front room of her house warmly enough, responding to the greetings politely but with some reserve. While this is no doubt in part due to the presence of strangers in her house, it is also perhaps a reflection of the difficulty of the journey her life has taken her on up until this point.
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Finding a new space in the community
Change in Bangladesh takes many forms. The seasons change six times a year, and a hot, bright sunny day is transformed by dark clouds and rain into fearsome thunderstorms. Change in Shamima’s life has also come in many forms, and has brought with it a number of different benefits.
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Generosity of a grocer with a grant
Not so long ago, it was fairly common for Asea Begum, her husband and their three children to eat once a day if they were lucky. These meals of plain rice and a few pieces of chilli were not enough to provide for their most basic nutritional needs, let alone satisfy the hunger of her growing children, or her husband after a day of pulling rickshaws. Asea would get for her family whatever she could, but often this was not enough.
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Measuring progress
With her tape measure around her neck and lengths of cloth and thread behind her, Kakuli Aktar would be recognised as a tailor anywhere in the world. But in Bangladesh, as a young woman from a poor background running a successful small business, Kakuli is a very unique person indeed.
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Making a splash - New Year in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
These children sure know what they’re doing. The high walls that the road cuts into the hills provide a great raised vantage point from which to observe passing cars. The road’s constant winding and sharp turns also mean that it is impossible for cars to keep a clear lookout. We turn blind onto a straight stretch of road, the haven of Bandarban in our sights. No sign of trouble. Suddenly, our driver's head whipped up, a cry forming in his throat..
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Community road maintenance: pathways out of poverty
The colour of the clouds pouring across the sky turned the dark grey of beaten sheet metal, and the wind that had been threatening to pick up all day suddenly threw itself about in great gusts. As we sheltered beneath the colourfully painted bamboo and cloth awning, the weather broke and the rain came down. Darks clouds are not often a good sign, but today, there may be other meaning to be found.
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Ziaul's ride out of poverty:
Beneath the bed in the corner of Ziaul’s workshop lies the debris of a thousand rickshaws: gear wheels,
wire spokes and mudguards lie piled on top of one another. His workshop sits beside a busy road into
Mymensingh town and the dust kicked up by
the passing trucks, cars, motorbikes and autorickshaws
coats the roof and higher reaches of
the wall beams.
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Bangladesh
