Promote Gender Equality through Local Knowledge and People’s Initiatives

Jordargah, Nilphamari, Bangladesh

Evaluation of USS

Promote Gender Equality through Local Knowledge and People’s Initiatives

an

Jordargah, Nilphamari, Bangladesh

December, 2014

Evaluation of USS

Promote Gender Equality through Local Knowledge

Evaluation of USS

Acknowledgements

We are pleased to express our sincere gratitude to all those who have cooperated with the process of this evaluation, but will mention here only a couple of names. We are thankful to Mr. Alauddin Ali, Executive Director of Udaynkur Seba Sangstha (USS) for his personal care and efforts in ensuring the entire process was completed without any major problem. The members of the staff of USS who have been very cooperative with the evaluation team, and who worked extra hours to facilitate the field mission in Nilphamari. For that, we are particularly thankful to the Project Coordinator, Ms. Monazzini Khanam (Joyee), for her useful guidance and hard work in facilitating our work at Nilphamari. Thanks are also due to Ms. Rokeya Begum, Accounts and Admin Officer for processing the administrative matters related to this evaluation.

The team would also like to add its grateful appreciation to Diakonia Bangladesh and its staff for entrusting us with this assignment. We hope we have been able to live up to their expectations. Finally, we would like to record our gratitude to all those members of Gonogobeshona dals, the adolescents in schools and colleges, the Dhan Bank members and members of Narijogajog Kendra who have been very patient in explaining their work to us, as well as for answering our ‘innumerable’ questions.

Mahbubul IslamAnjum Nahed Chowdhury (Ms.)Muhammad Taher

Cover Photo: A view of the audience at a drama show for raising gender awareness

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Acronyms and abbreviations

ALO Adolescent Livelihood Opportunity

AAB Action Aid Bangladesh

BDT Bangladesh taka

CAMPE Campaign for Mass Primary Education

CSO Civil Society Organisation

FFS Farmers Field School

FGD Focus Group Discussion

FNB Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh

LGI Local government institutions

MCC Multipurpose Children’s Centre

MFI Micro-finance Institution

M & E Monitoring and Evaluation

MoV Means of Verification

NAF North Agro-biodiversity

NSAPR National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction

NFPE Non Formal Primary Education

OD Organisational Development

OVI Objectively Verifiable Indicators

PAR Participatory Action Research

PCCE Participatory Communication Capacity Enhancement

PLANET People, Land & Agrarian Net work

PNGO Partner NGO

PSP Participatory Strategic Planning

PP Project proposal

RBA Rights-based approach

RIB Research Initiatives Bangladesh

SMART Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound

SEK Swedish Kroner

SWOT Strength Weakness Opportunity Threats

ToT Training of Trainers

UNO Upazila Nirbahi Officer

UP Union Parishad

USS Udayankur Seba Sangstha

VAW Violence Against Women

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Table of ContentsAcknowledgements................................................................................................................ iAcronyms and abbreviations ..................................................................................................iiTable of Contents.................................................................................................................. iii1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 The scope.................................................................................................................. 11.2 Background of USS ................................................................................................... 1

1.2.1 The PAR Approach of Development ................................................................ 31.2.2 Other Partners of USS..................................................................................... 4

1.3 Evaluation Methodology............................................................................................. 42. Achievements of PGELKPI ............................................................................................ 6

2.1 Background and objective of the project .................................................................... 62.2 General outcome of the project.................................................................................. 62.3 Component wise Assessment.................................................................................... 7

2.3.1 The idea of people’s research.......................................................................... 72.3.2 The Core Ganogobeshona Dals ...................................................................... 82.3.3 Adolescent Groups ........................................................................................ 102.3.4 Community Dhan Bank .................................................................................. 112.3.5 Nari Jogajog Kendra ...................................................................................... 122.3.6 Gender training through school debates ........................................................ 132.3.7 Preparatory School ........................................................................................ 142.3.8 Cultural Troupe .............................................................................................. 152.3.9 Community library.......................................................................................... 162.3.10 College Karate club........................................................................................ 16

3. Quality criteria of the project......................................................................................... 173.1 Effectiveness ........................................................................................................... 173.2 Relevance................................................................................................................ 183.3 Impact...................................................................................................................... 183.4 Sustainability ........................................................................................................... 193.5 Efficiency ................................................................................................................. 19

4. Organisational Preparedness....................................................................................... 214.1 General OD Capacity of USS................................................................................... 214.2 Management Structure and Human Resource ......................................................... 214.3 Organisational Capital.............................................................................................. 234.4 Systems and Procedures......................................................................................... 244.5 Brief comments on select documents ...................................................................... 24

5. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................ 275.1 PGELKPI Project ..................................................................................................... 275.2 Organisational Development of USS........................................................................ 28

Annex 1: Schedule of field visit ........................................................................................... 30Annex 2: Documents reviewed............................................................................................ 32Annex 3: SWOT Results for USS........................................................................................ 33Annex 4: Terms of Reference ............................................................................................. 35

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1. Introduction

1.1 The scope

1.1.1 This is the evaluation report of the project: “Promote gender equality through local knowledge and people’s initiative implemented by USS (Udayankur Sheba Sangstha) in ten villages of Nilphamari district in the north of the country over a three years period from January 2012 to December 2014. As the title of the project indicates, it is about enhancing equity, social justice and economic wellbeing of the disadvantaged community members of the project area. Also quite explicit in the title is the fact that the project gives particular emphasis on participation of the project constituents in its planning and implementation process using their own knowledge and experience. Furthermore, the project is based on the concept that reduction of gender discrimination, improvement in the financial status and increased accessibility to local resources and services for the disadvantaged groups of people - would bring about a sustainable change in the lives of these people. The project has a strong ‘rights’ orientation and has tried to influence the existing institutions to be more responsive to peoples’ needs. The other key question this evaluation asked to find an answer to,was how well the implementing organisation was prepared to implement a project of this kind? What was their experience and capacity? So, the scope of this evaluation has been slightly broadened to cover institutional capacity of the implementing organisation. The last section of this report, before conclusions and recommendations, has given a brief OD (organisational development) assessment for the USS.

1.1.2 It is important to mention that it was the 1st phase of the project that we were evaluating which had a short (about eight months) pilot phase previous to starting this one in January 2012. In terms of volume and content of the project, roughly three quarters of the work was a continuation and consolidation of the that phase, while a reasonable level of addition and adaptations have taken place during this phase. This evaluation has thus got a chance to assess a rather matured programme of work on which some conclusions could be safely made with evidence.

1.2 Background of USS

1.2.1 Established in 1997 with the object of serving disadvantaged communities in this northern district of the country, Udayankur Seba Sangstha (USS)1 did not immediately experience an exciting beginning. In the beginning, it did not have a well-defined programme of work or experienced staff to steer the organisation and develop it into a forward looking institution. However with the joining of its present executive director (Mr. Alauddin Ali) in 2003, the organisation apparently found a new lease of life because, with him, there came a number of useful ideas and experience from the field of social development work in Bangladesh. Having worked in a large development NGO before (Gana Sahajjo Sangstha or GSS), as the regional coordinator of Rajshahi zone, the new ED brought with him some very useful management and leadership skills and valuable contacts of different NGOs and donors. Since the beginning of 2004 the organisation has witnessed a completely different orientation of its work and direction. He introduced some new concepts,

1 The logo of the organisation has an image of a sprouting tree-sapling on top of a globe symbolising an emerging social welfare entity. A transliteration of USS in Bangla may stand as, “The Rising Social Welfare Organisation”.

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ideologies and approaches for ‘development work’. A very thoughtful person, Mr. Ali developed a complete disillusionment with the mainstream large national NGOs which were seen to be driven by megalomaniac ambitions to build organisations with many physical assets and various material resources of their own. Ali and his colleagues in the organisation now believed that such a process only helps to divertenergy and resources away from the marginalised communities and their interests, whereas, a development process needed to put the (poor) people at the centre, – not the organisation and its ‘self-interests’. Some of these concerns and ideas have been elaborated in a small book entitled, “Daridrer Shikor Sandhane – “In search of the roots of poverty” by Alauddin Ali in 2009.

1.2.2 With a vision to establish “a democratic society free of poverty and inequality, one in which all the people enjoy freedom, self-reliance, confidence and contributing to the development of the country...”, the USS went on adding one programme of work after another with support from different development partners. This multi-pronged intervention move at one stage saw its work programme expanded to about a dozen different technical areas. The key among them included: PAR for poverty alleviation, NFPE (Non Formal Primary Education), Legal Aid, Dhan Bank (Community Paddy Bank), FFS (Farmers Field School), Popular Culture, Youth and HIV/AIDS prevention and Life skill and Education Development for Adolescent Children. The intervention approach for all its work is carefully designed to ensure the participation and ownership of the reference group from start to end. USS facilitates a process of self-appraisal by marginalized people by which they can identify the underlying cause of their disadvantaged situation and choose appropriate initiatives to collectively overcome these (problems). This is the essence of the PAR approach which not only serves as a methodological aid, but also as an ideological basis for their work.

1.2.3 As the organisation was achieving speed and growth, the staff of USS and its development partners realised it needed to have a strategy to guide its expansion. Therefore, in 2009, following a comprehensive institutional review, USS, with the close participation of its staff and stakeholders produced a strategy named as, “Future Perspectives of Udayankur Seba Sangstha (USS)”. Conducted with the assistance from Action Aid Bangladesh, and ably facilitated by an external consultant, this Participatory Strategic Planning (PSP) exercise followed an intensive inner reflection and planning process. The strategy document contains valuable information and analysis on the institutional and geographical focus of USS, its challenges and potential and, of course, its vision and mission2. The organisation has since adopted a revised statement each for vision, mission and purpose. The following box contains an extract from the Strategy document:

2 The USS website at http://www.ussnilphamaribd.org/ has all relevant policy and planning documents including its annual reports.

EXTRACT FROM STRATEGY DOCUMENT“Future Perspectives of Udayankur Seba Sangstha (USS)”Core Values : Peoples Democracy, Cooperation, Participation, Freedom, Equality, Justice, Empathy, Sharing, Rationality, Self reliance, Sustainability, Collectiveness and AutonomyVision : A society economically prosperous, culturally vibrant, socially just and democratically governed. A society based on the principles of equality, cooperation and freedom. A society citizens have human rights and living with peace and dignity. Mission: Creative social transformation through promoting, assisting and encouraging deprived and marginalized people to build institutions, capacities and processes towards prosperity, sustainability and democratic self governance.

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1.2.1 The PAR Approach of Development1.2.1.1 As noted before, PAR, or participatory action research for poverty alleviation,has remained the key philosophical and methodological base for USS and its programme of work. The staff of the organisation believes that PAR helps the disadvantaged programme constituents gain an increased level of ownership for their effort to change their lot. It all began during the 2003-4 period when the organisation was in a rather precarious condition with almost no resources to keep it going. During that time, a research organisation, named, RIB (Research Initiatives, Bangladesh),came out to offer a small grant of Taka seven lakh only, to undertake an action research programme following the PAR approach. This has helped USS attain an institutional character which was highly appreciated by its contemporary development partners. It thus helped USS gain new partners and new opportunities for growth.

Figure 1: FGD in progress with a people's research group

1.2.1.2 What is PAR, and how is it different from other approaches? It is different in that PAR emphasises the active participation of the reference groups from start to end. The participants learn to conduct research using simple (mostly visual) methods of jointly identifying their problems, analysing them and finding solutions. The members of the community (reference group) decide and undertake appropriate action to address their problems. Similarly, before undertaking any other phase of action, or adding a new initiative, the project constituents go through the same process of reviewing and analysing their implementation experience.

1.2.1.3 An Animator (or organiser) leads the formation of a group comprising 20-30members. The role of the Animator is to present the group with a research question and help them conduct its investigation and analysis with appropriate information. It is the task of the group to analyse the problem and make decisions about addressing the problem. The PAR is also called, Ganagobeshona in Bangla, meaning ‘The people’s research”. The basic idea is to avoid the tendency of development professionals to impose their own ideas on the poor people to implement actions -which often do not give them the right results or appropriate solutions. Instead, it emphasises on this process of self-analysis to enhance the analytical capacity of the concerned people about the reasons for their state of disadvantage and take full responsibility for the result of a development action. This is an empowering process

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Disadvantaged groups of people are able to achieve socio-economic empowerment by their own effort based on local knowledge and initiatives, and through the assertion of their rights, promotion of gender equality, and by making the service organisations more accountable and responsive so that access to resources and services are secured1.

about which we will make a further point later in the report. As mentioned above, based on his experience on the subject, the ED (executive director) Mr. Ali has authored a booklet (Daridrer Shikor Sandhane – “In search of the roots of poverty”), which gives a detailed analysis of PAR and its positive outcome.

1.2.2 Other Partners of USS1.2.2.1 From the middle of 2006, USS has implemented a Children’s development project in six Unions of Jaldhaka Upazila using the PAR approach, aiming to improvethe condition of women and children from disadvantaged families. The title of the project was “Participatory Community Capacity Enhancement” or PCCE. Among its other partners, USS has received support from Action Aid Bangladesh for the implementation of a Monga mitigation project with acronym CAMPUS, from USCC-B on “Adolescent Livelihood Opportunity (ALO), for “Promoting Science Education” from Bangladesh Freedom Foundation, for a pre-school programme from Green Foundation & Diakonia and a small fund from Bangladesh NGO Foundation for a project on poverty alleviation through goat rearing. It is quite extraordinary to find how a small local NGO has been able to attract so many donors within such a short time. Meanwhile, the organisation has also enhanced its administrative, financial and management capacity to implement larger projects with a greater number of people and bigger budget. As a mark of their confidence and trust on USS, some of its donors have made longer term commitments to be with the organisation. For example, it has been learnt that both Plan International Bangladesh and Action Aid Bangladesh have recently committed ten-year long support for USS for its particular projects.

1.3 Evaluation Methodology

1.3.1 A modest theory based assessment process has been adopted for this evaluation of USS and its project on gender equality, through local knowledge and participation [PGELKPI]. One of the first tasks before the members of the evaluation team was to identify the underlying assumptions for change that has been stated in its objectives. Based on our study of the literature on the organisation and the project PGELKPI, we have tried to work out the theory of change (ToC)3 for USS, implicit in its programme of work. A ToC is understood as an articulation of the assumptionsunderlying the objectives and plans of an organization or a programme. The goal and objectives given in the project log-frame and the philosophy of the participatory action research approach that the organization espouses, gave us an indication of the core concept of change for USS, which we have tried to capture in the following words:

1.3.2 Throughout this evaluation process, we have tried to relate this to see to what extent the organisation has been able to remain consistent with their key concept of change. This report as a whole is an attempt to respond to this core question.

3 White, H. (2009) “Theory-Based Impact Evaluation: Principles and Practice” International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3Ie), Working Paper 3.

Clark, H. and Anderson, A. (2004) “Theories of Change and Logic Models: Telling them Apart” Presentation at the American Evaluation Association, Atlanta, Georgia.

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1.3.3 The key process and methods by which this evaluation has been conducted can be divided into three parts. The first part was the preparatory phase when all different literature provided to the team was reviewed to develop the evaluation questions and approach. An outline of the evaluation plan with details on the process to be adopted was shared and agreed with USS. The team members had sets of separate check-lists of points (questions) prepared in advance to raise with all the respondents we have met in different meetings. The second part comprised field-investigation with a focus on the reference groups such as Ganogobeshona Dals, the Adolescent Forum, members of the Dhan Bank and key informants such as students, school teachers, youth groups, members of Nari Jogajog Kendra (NJJK).

1.3.4 For our discussion meetings with community members, we have conducted in depth focus group discussions (FGDs) as the attached visit schedule given in Annex 1 would indicate. During the visits to these organised groups, the members of the evaluation team have reviewed their ‘Resolution books’. A self-assessment exercise conducted with the staff of USS in Nilphamari, following a SWOT analysis method, was found to be very useful. This was a useful source of information and a good basis for drawing some important conclusions for this evaluation (See Annex 3). The final part of the methodology can be described as the re-review of all relevant literature, including all data and notes collected from the field, for a final analysis and drafting of this report. An earlier version of this report was circulated among the concerned staff of USS and Diakonia for comments and any corrections needed. Since USS has produced detailed progress reports with a lot of numerical data and qualitative analysis (e.g., Case Study reports) up until the end of June 2014, we did not think it was useful to repeat them here for analysis. Instead, we have tried to give an assessment of those reports before making our final conclusions and recommendations in this report.

Figure 2: Women in Ganogobeshona Dal

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2. Achievements of PGELKPI

2.1 Background and objective of the project

2.1.1 Promote gender equality through local knowledge and people’s Initiative (PGELKPI) was completing its first full phase of implementation when this evaluation took place. During the preparatory pilot phase in 2011 sixty male, female and youth groups were formed and an additional 20 groups each comprised of 15-20 members were formed during this phase ending in December 2014. Twenty educational institutions in Nilphamari Sadar Upazilas have also been brought under the project. With a budget of a little over Tk.100 million for three years, the project has reached 1,522 direct ‘beneficiaries’ from 1,402 households. Apart from 822 women and 340 male members, about 360 adolescent girls and boys are benefiting from the project. The work was extended to also run six preparatory schools with 150 children aged 4-5. In addition, the programme involves about 20 local educational institutions (school, madrasa and college) with debate completion to raise gender awareness.

2.1.2 The project has been implemented in ten villages of two Unions of Sadar Upazila, named Lakkhichap and Polashbari. It was known that despite their relatively close proximity to this small district town of Nilphamari (17 kilometres to the north east), the work area did not appear to enjoy any extra benefit frombeing near to the town. On the contrary, the area suffered almost annually by either floods or drought. Due to the lack of

employment and income opportunities for the poor during the seasonal drought, known as Monga in September-October period, a famine like situation often prevails in the area to cause many people, particularly, women and children, to go hungry for days together. Even the foggy winter during December-February period with cold spell continuing for several days can leave a serious negative effect on the poor. The majority of the poor being dependent on agricultural labour for their livelihoods are adversely affected by these vagaries of nature. The alternative employment opportunities are extremely limited with poor economic and institutional infrastructure of the area. One of the working areas (Lakkhichap union) does not even have access to electricity for domestic use. Many poor households are known to be indebted to local money lenders (Mahajans) or NGO/MFIs, because of allegedly exorbitant rates of interest on loans. Unlike most parts of the country, the USS working area has a particular demographic characteristic. The population of the area consists of fifty eight per cent Hindus, belonging to the ethnic Bengali origin.

2.2 General outcome of the project

2.2.1 The evaluation team concluded that the people of the reference group belonging to all categories within the purview of the project, have attained an

Figure 3: Members of Vabankuri Ganogobeshona dal

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enhanced level of awareness on gender equality and an improved standard of living. The objectives of the project: a) reduction of gender discrimination, b) improvement in the financial status of the deprived people it worked with and c) increased accessibility to local resources and services for the same group of people, were largely achieved with the qualification made in this report. The focus of this evaluation has been on the extent of achievement made against these objectives through the six different results the project intended to produce, i.e. i) decrease in gender discrimination, ii) enhanced leadership capability, iii) increase in labour wage rate, iv) and increase in general income of families, v) promotion of quality education, and vi) duty bearers being more responsive.

2.2.2 Detailed progress against these results have been given in the reports produced by USS to Diakonia (Please see the Six-monthly Report for January-June 2014). We have tried to structure this report by mainly giving an assessment of the higher level objectives through the analysis of progress made by the different ‘components’ of PGELKPI. Our focus group discussions with organised groups and meetings with different stakeholders at different levels have confirmed that the project has contributed to the empowerment (project goal) process of the people belonging to disadvantaged families. Although, measuring empowerment is a complex task, when we combine the different effects of the project together including increased participation of the deprived people in different decision making process, increased financial capability and enhanced access to local resources and services, the ‘empowerment picture’ then becomes clearer with a positive note. We have thus concluded that the theory of change with its underlying assumptions have largely been proven valid.

2.3 Component wise Assessment

2.3.1 The project seemed to have used a rather comprehensive set of intervention windows through which the inputs were delivered to meet the objectives. Apart from the adult community members of Ganogobeshona Dals, the PGELKPI has included the youth, the adolescent boys and girls, a group of urban women promoting the interests of disadvantaged women, school students and even some 150 tiny tots for a pre-school programme. While gender equality and social empowerment of the disadvantaged groups occupied the key focus, a part of the programme also deals with financial and economic development of the communities. We shall start our discussion below with an introduction to the concept of PAR and how it is implemented by USS

2.3.1 The idea of people’s research2.3.1.1 The concept of Participatory Action Research (PAR) is rooted in the belief that disadvantaged people everywhere are capable of finding solutions to their own problems. Therefore, in this respect, they do not need ideas and prescriptions from outside. Externally imposed ideas for development are destined to fail, as their ownership is not with the local community who are supposed to know best about their problems and their solutions. The detailed philosophical basis for this concept and the key principles to be followed to implement them has been elaborated in different literature produced by the main proponent of the Concept, RIB. However, a small sized book entitled: Daridrer Shekor Shandhane (in search of the roots of poverty), written by the ED, Alauddin Ali4 also gives a very useful introduction on the subject. PAR must not be confused with PRA (participatory rural appraisal). The PAR or

4 Ali, Alauddin, 2009. Daridrer Shekor Sandhane, USS, Jordargah, Nilphamari.

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Gono-gobeshona is conducted with the help of Animators who play the role of facilitator in the research process, while the community members are engaged in deep reflection and discussion to define a particular problem. The communityresearchers would then consider how their own knowledge and experience can be brought to bear in addressing the problem. The essential characteristic of PAR is that it must be demand driven research that is socially relevant and environmentally sustainable. Research is often multi-disciplinary, location specific and capacity enhancing to empower the marginalised groups. The PAR process is supposed to encourage people’s imagination and creativity. It capitalises on people’s knowledge for their own development.

2.3.1.2 The PAR methodology has a built-in value orientation of inclusivity, which has played an important role in consolidating the idea of equality between men and women in all spheres of life. As said before, the PAR approach can trigger creative ideas for research and analysis. For example, when researching on gender discrimination as a problem, a group of women were seen to have used some very interesting images and symbols drawn on large sheets of paper. One of them was a picture of a fish (a big one), different parts of which was marked for whom in the family (i.e, which part they get to eat and why). This represented the unfair hierarchy between men, women and children and how it also reflected the situation of disparity between people in the society. It was a very clever and useful process which does not take anything for granted. This was particularly useful in analysing social problems linked to outdated norms, customs and practices, many of which are based on superstition and often imposed by the power elites with ill motives.

2.3.2 The Core Ganogobeshona Dals2.3.2.1 Mixed or separate men and women’s groups are formed with about 20 participants to conduct Gonogobeshona on issues related to their own lives and livelihoods. They meet once a week (or as convenient) to conduct research sessions using simple methods and tools to arrive at conclusions on complex social issues. For example, first the participants identify by consensus, a problem and then ask around why is this particular issue considered a problem, if at all? The discussion process is aided by some simple drawings on how, for example, the discrimination is identified in the relationship between men and women? Once they agree on a solution, they would implement it to again review the implantation results. The two adult groups that we have visited in Polashbar and Lakshmichap and held FGDs had ‘researched’ on homestead gardening, rearing of duck and chicken for livelihood generation and on social issues like family law and gender discrimination.

2.3.2.2 According to the participants, Gonogabeshana has given them an identity and self-respect. It has helped them know better about their own problems and potential. For example, they now refuse to marry off girl children before they are eighteen. They know the disadvantages the girls face if married young. The practice of dowry is discouraged because they have learnt how it can cause more harm than good, particularly for their girls. What do young girls do when not married off? The answer was, they all go to school. However, in Bogurapara seeing young women holding their own child in their laps, we had reason to believe that not all young girls were able to continue their education for as long as they were eighteen years old. On further probe, it was learned that the reasons why not all the girls can continue education in this village of poor ‘immigrants’ (river erosion drove them out from another district) was mainly because the families were unable to support the education of their girls for such a long time. Moreover, the lack of access to and non-availability of schools in the area was another reason. It is true that the level of awareness among the groups about gender equality was high, but there were other constraints like limited access to land other resources for which the group members

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were unable to do much in raising their economic status. The group members were happy to be part of the “Dhan Bank” (paddy bank) which seemed to offer them a kind of buffer against emergency situations often created by natural disasters and seasonal unemployment.

Figure 4: Members of Bogurapara dal displaced by river erosion

2.3.2.3 When we were shown the charts and illustrations they used during their ‘research’ sessions, we asked them what did they think comprised research? It appeared that people had difficulty answering basic questions like this. Even the word ‘analysis’ (bisleshon) was not found to be easy to explain. Although we call the groups as Ganogobeshona dal, the concept of research and the related terminology were not so easy for them to explain. What is however important, is the process of ‘discourse’ using simple PRA tools and techniques. Indeed, the process of the community members themselves arriving at conclusions on how to address their problems is certainly self-asserting for poorer women and men.

2.3.2.4 It is a very good practice for the groups to maintain records of activities and decisions in a particular ‘Resolution Book’. It seemed all the meetings had an agenda that starts by reviewing and accepting the minutes (resolutions) of the previous meeting and introducing a new topic (some also continued the topic from the previous week as necessary) for discussion and learning. The books are written and maintained by the group Animator and signed by the Chairperson of the group. However, the quality of these resolution books differed according to the attentiveness or skill of the particular Animator. The resolution books mainly notes down the discussion topics, not the conclusions or decisions derived from them. We thought there should be a mechanism by which the project coordinator or her designated officer regularly reviewed the books and gave appropriate instruction on how to conduct the meetings and maintain the proceedings effectively, because, sometimes, the resolutions looked rather mechanically written, and sometimes repeating the same topics. For example, the group number two had conducted research on “Nirjatan” or violence against women in their weekly meetings of 28th, 14th, and 7th

August. Before that on 24th July they had discussed rearing of poultry and on the 7th

July on horticultural production using organic methods. This is useful to track the various topics covered in the research sessions, but without any record (not just in resolution book) on what conclusions they had arrived at and what decisions were taken to undertake what actions, its effectiveness is diminished.

2.3.2.5 We thought, it should be the responsibility of the Moreover, it would be useful to produce brief analytical reports on the outcomes of research on each topic they have covered. The observation was that the members of the Borgurapa dal had very

limited literacy skill, although they had done an Adult Literacy course organised under an initiative sponsored by the Bangladesh Freedom Foundation and Green Foundation Fund. The members of this group could only sign their names with difficulty. Comparing the two grovisited, we could see the difference the literacy skill had made. One with weak literacy skill had less effective PAR results than the one with it. We thought it also made a big difference in the quality participation.

2.3.2.6 We have learned about a MidReview conducted by the staff on PAR in 2013 (ref. Annual Report, 2009, was not known if the results of the review were recorded or if any action followedorder to reap the maximum benefit from activities of this nature, USS needs to ensure they are concluded report, even if it is only one page long. The case studies included in the reports formvaluable part of the reports though,should be presented with some introduction on the background andrecorded, so as to draw what leswhat purpose. In this way thisinclusion of the case studies would carry increased value and importance.

2.3.3 Adolescent Groups2.3.3.1 As the adolescents and youths represent the hopes and aspirations for the future generations of societyconstructive learning (and work)in the PAR process is much appreciated. As systematic and rational way of is considered very helpful for thdivert their positive energy undertaking some activities adolescents go on a admiration as they work hard to keep their dreams alive by tending the plants. Similarly, when the adolescents protest in a group against practice such as child-marriage or dowry, the community members cannothem seriously.

2.3.3.2 When we met with the members of the Adolescent Forum (representing six groups of 25 members each), they explained the process of PAR in identifying problems, solving and reviewing those. They narrated successfully stopped an underThey also worked as volunteers for the preparatory schoolsand their parents for the purposemaintained by the forum looked really informative and useful. For example, tracing back from the last meeting of the group held on 28a particular case of a destitute girladmission into a local college. Sometime back, Mamuni’s uncertainty continuing her education was a subject of ‘research’ for the group. Eventually, the girl was helped with a fund of

racy skill, although they had done an Adult Literacy course organised under an initiative sponsored by the Bangladesh Freedom Foundation and Green

Fund. The members of this group could only sign their names with difficulty. Comparing the two groups we have visited, we could see the difference the literacy skill had made. One with weak literacy skill had less effective PAR results than the one with it. We thought it also made a big difference in the quality participation.

We have learned about a Mid-term Review conducted by the staff on PAR in

Annual Report, 2009, P-9), but it the results of the review

any action followed. In maximum benefit from

activities of this nature, USS needs to ensure they are concluded with a brief

one page long. The d in the reports formed a

valuable part of the reports though, they should be presented with some introduction

and why this was to draw what lessons or for

In this way this is how the studies would carry

increased value and importance.

s the adolescents and youths represent the hopes and aspirations for the s of society, people value very highly, their engagement in

(and work). From that perspective, the inclusion of adolescents in the PAR process is much appreciated. As Ganogobeshona represents systematic and rational way of thinking and dealing with local or national concerns, it is considered very helpful for their upbringing. This is where they find a space to divert their positive energy by thinking about their own communities and by

activities that are of high social significance. For example, when tree-plantation campaign, people look up to

work hard to keep their dreams alive by tending the plants. Similarly, when the adolescents protest in a group against any negative social

marriage or dowry, the community members canno

When we met with the members of the Adolescent Forum (representing six groups of 25 members each), they explained the process of PAR that in identifying problems, solving and reviewing those. They narrated how they had successfully stopped an under-age marriage and an incidence of dowry demand. They also worked as volunteers for the preparatory schools in organising the children and their parents for the purpose. Unlike other groups we visited, the resolutiomaintained by the forum looked really informative and useful. For example, tracing back from the last meeting of the group held on 28th September 2014, we learn about a particular case of a destitute girl-student, Mamuni, who they decided to help ge

into a local college. Sometime back, Mamuni’s uncertainty her education was a subject of ‘research’ for the group. Eventually, the girl

of Tk.3,100 (about $40) raised by the forum and community

Figure 5: Page from a resolution book with signatures of attendees reflect weak literacy skill of the members

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racy skill, although they had done an Adult Literacy course organised under an initiative sponsored by the Bangladesh Freedom Foundation and Green

Fund. The members of this group could only sign their names with

s the adolescents and youths represent the hopes and aspirations for the their engagement in

inclusion of adolescents represents a

ational concerns, it eir upbringing. This is where they find a space to

their own communities and by significance. For example, when people look up to them with

work hard to keep their dreams alive by tending the plants. negative social

marriage or dowry, the community members cannot but take

When we met with the members of the Adolescent Forum (representing six that they followed

how they had of dowry demand.

in organising the children . Unlike other groups we visited, the resolution book

maintained by the forum looked really informative and useful. For example, tracing September 2014, we learn about

decided to help getinto a local college. Sometime back, Mamuni’s uncertainty about

her education was a subject of ‘research’ for the group. Eventually, the girl and community

: Page from a resolution book with signatures of attendees reflect weak literacy

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members. This was a very concrete example of the assistance the young ones could successfully mobilise which left a lasting impact on society as a whole.

2.3.3.3 However, when it came to explainingto us what they understood by Gobeshona or research, and how they arrived at a conclusion, the participants were found to be rather uncertain and most inarticulate. Although, they were holding the flip charts with flow diagrams that showed how the troika of participation, action and review formed the key approach to their research, the boys and girls took a long time to produce and explainthem. Similarly, when asked what they thought constituted the problem linked to child-marriage, they were not able to give a prompt and satisfactory explanation. If anything, this showed a lack of training or weak capacity in presentational skills, although this is not necessarily part of the PAR process. Yet, the evaluation team thought that training in facilitation and presentation would enhance the general capability of these young researchers which should be useful for them in future as,some of them are likely to play the role of Animator in the Gonogobeshona dals.

2.3.4 Community Dhan Bank2.3.4.1 In a sense, the Dhan Banks were developed as a disaster risk reduction measure for the disadvantaged community groups who often encountered seasonal crisis linked with Monga or floods and other similar hard-times. This has served as both a food bank to store paddy during the harvest season for the poor labourers, as well as a financial institution which received deposits and lent money when needed.

2.3.4.2 In Laxmichap, we visited a Dhan Bank centre which has an office of the Association of the 3 Dhan Banks comprising about six hundred members. It was a six years old centre built on a piece of land donated by the family of a wealthy member of the village, named Ms. Lalita. Each member made a monthly saving Tk.100 plus 10 Kg paddy. The Dhan Bank is meant for the poor, though about twenty per cent of the members belonged to middle income families. The membership fee is Tk.100 and 20 kg paddy. The centre is governed by a Committee comprised of 26 women and 18 male members. When we met them in a discussion meeting we began by asking them how they thought the Dhan Banks had helped them? A woman member responded by saying that during the time of crisis, they were now no longer forced to make ‘advance-sale’ of their labour to the Mahajans. “We don’t need to ask for a loan, nor do we need to make distress-sale of assets”, they added. It seemed to have given them a sense of security by promoting the habit of saving their surplus income and paddy during the harvest time.

2.3.4.3 When we wanted to find out how inclusive the institution was, they replied that there were members who were so poor they could not even get two-maunds ofpaddy to deposit to the bank. Yet they maintained membership with the help of fellow members extending a helping hand. Some of these extreme poor people had borrowed money from the Dhan when NGO MFIs turned down their request for loans. However, sometimes they found it difficult to repay the loans.

Figure 6: Members of Adolescents Forum

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2.3.4.4 1However, it seemed that the Bank was run in a very transparent and accountable manner with the elected management team regularly producing updates on its financial 2.3.4.1status. The members present in the meeting assured us that the committee and the members collectively work to find solutions to their problems. It was amazing for this evaluation team to find a poster put up inside the bankpremise highlighting some 15 points problems of the bank or complaints against it. This includes problems like “loan processing system is too complicated”, “Animator frequently remains absent”, “non-functional research”, “Inactive Executive Committee”, “the President keeps Cash at hand” and so on. This was interesting in the in the sense that the members can openly criticise the role of the EC and its Chair for their sloppy behaviour. When we asked if they had seen any reaction to that poster, the members replied that much of the problems or complaints mentioned there were long resolved, but they still left it there so that people do not make the same mistakes.

Figure 7: FGD with Laxmichap Dhanbnk mmebers

2.3.5 Nari Jogajog Kendra2.3.5.1 Started very recently (June 2014), this women’s forum based in the city is already quite aware and active about various issues related to women’s empowerment in society. The Nari Jogajog Kendra acts like a platform for all women to come together and make their voices heard. Since most of the members belong to well-to-do families with useful connections with important political leaders and government officials, their expectations from the forum are different. Instead of expecting to get direct benefits from the forum, some of the important members would actually like to help those who were in need. From that perspective, the NJJK is a strategic body formed by the direct patronage of USS. Through a discussion meeting held in the living room of the Convenor, Laila Anjuman Ara (Iti apa), we learned about how they had been helping women who need legal assistance. There were about 30 members in the forum, twenty of them were present at the meeting. The members of the forum included women from different professions including NGO staff, medical doctor, journalists, advocates, representatives from the department of Women’s Affairs and so on.

2.3.5.2 The forum apparently were aware of all the key social problems relating to women’s disadvantaged position, i.e., under-age marriage of girls, dowry, violence against women, polygamy of men and the like. They said, it gave them a valuable space in which to voice their concerns regarding women in society in general, while it served as a platform to help other women in need of assistance. The three months

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old forum was still in its formative stage to which USS would need to continue to provide assistance. It was still not very well structured with a plan of work to implement. When asked about this, they said that they had started this informally and would need time to formalise it. They simply wished to help each other in times of need, and this did not require a plan. However, on reflection, the evaluation team thought it was important that in order to capitalise on the interest of this group of women which can potentially play a crucial role in the process of women’s empowerment in society, USS might offer help in developing an annual plan of activities, and in formulating their objectives and scope of work.

Figure 8: Members of Nari Jogagoj Kendra in a meeting in Nilphamari town

2.3.6 Gender training through school debates2.3.6.1 This was found to be a very effective instrument in promoting not just gender equality, but many other issues related to equity, social justice and good governance. The most impressive element of debate is that it mobilises an entire institution in the process since organising debates require many people, e.g., a moderator, a few judges and groups of competent speakers and many participants. Instructions from the project side helps the organisers select appropriate topics, while the rest is left to the host institution. Speaking with school authorities we have learnt that this activity was seen to have equally enthused the teachers and students of the school. The evaluation team was present in a public gathering of a few hundred people organised for a debate championship final in a college. Among other things, our attention was drawn to a big notice displayed for everyone to see which gave the expenditure budget for the show with break-up of costs for food, sound system rent, decoration etc. This was seen as a good practice by the college authority to demonstrate their accountability as well as inspiring others to act in similar fashion.

2.3.6.2 We thought, this activity (debating) offers both students as well teachers a chance to learn about some of the pressing social concerns which are generally not covered by the regular academic syllabus. That is why they appreciate the fact that by practicing debate, students not only learn to think and speak rationally, but also learn the details about important issues such as human rights, gender equality, curse of dowry, and benefits of good governance. Although, the organisation of an event like this involves high expenditure for putting up a canopy, decorating a stage, hiring PA system and arranging food for the guests, the value of its impact on sensitising a large number of people on particular social and political issues is very high.

2.3.6.3 Similarly, gender training for students who are adolescents was also found to be very useful for both the girls and boys we met at Parasmoni High School. When our discussion led to checking with the students about their level of understanding of the technical aspects of gender, e.g., about difference between sex and gender, practical and strategic gender needs, equity and equality – we found that they were remarkably articulate and looked very confident. The headmaster of the school, Moulana Akbar Ali also attested to the positive value of this extra-curricular learning.

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Moulana Ali thought that through this group of students who have been trained on gender, not only other students and teachers of the school were benefited with the improved level of learning and awareness on the subject, respective families of the students were also getting benefited. When we asked how the school can ensure that this learning is institutionalised and passed on to those students who are growing up as soon to be adolescents, the headmaster was visibly not prepared for that but expressed his hope that USS would continue to support the school as long as it can.

2.3.6.4 For both debate and gender training we thought the interventions by the programme in these areas undoubtedly carried a high value, but somehow no specific mechanism was built to ensure their continuity. Debate and similar extracurricular activities

are not new in schools, the programme was merely helping these institutions revive these activities and use them as vehicles to channel specific social development information and messages. So, USS needs to agree with the schools that the project could only offer support for a short period of time and help develop institutional capacity so that the school could continue these activities independently in future. For that, a few teachers should be selected to receive capacity building training (ToT) on gender related issues so that they can act as trainers or moderators for the students.

2.3.7 Preparatory School2.3.7.1 The preparatory schools play a very important social role in not just giving the working parents a respite for a couple of hours, but also by inducting the infants of 4-6 years old into the happy and enlightening world of education! It is a doorstep service for the disadvantaged community members and it is done with

so much care and love that the parents’ gratitude know no bounds. One of the eleven schools run by the USS (six supported by Green Fund and six by Diakonia), were providing a very valuable basic social service that would hopefully turn the tide in one day, making everyone in

Figure 9: Annual debate final in Kachua chowrangi high school in a festive mood.

the area educated. That is the dream of the local people we spokThe particular learning approach adopted by the thoughtfully planned and in a ‘sports like’ manner, has been extremely successful in getting the children interested in school activates. Ms. Lalita, the Supervisor of that, though the ideal size of the class should be maximum 20, this particular one had 25 children. The reason is, there was no other school in the area for this extra number of children and the demand is indeed very high. The school rooarranged by the local community, while the cost for furnishing it (no bench floor mats) and honorarium for the teacher was borne by USS. A young volunteer teacher, Ms. Gouri Adhikary, conducted the classes with 35 different items startinwith chalk, flip charts, paper to wooden toys and similar things. The children with whom we spoke looked very enthusiastic and cheerful. They sang songs and gave dance performances for us which were simply brilliant! The particular method of preschool learning was developed by USS by selecting the best elements from the methods followed by others.

2.3.7.2 School activities were conducted in a very systematic way with parents meeting the facilitator-teacher once a month to discuss the progress of their chAfter about a year of schooling, these children are admitted into a nearby primary school. We were informed by the USS staff that in some of the villages, when donor funding for such schools came to an end, members of the local community took over the responsibility for running them. Six such schools were known to be run by the initiatives of the Dhan Bank.

2.3.8 Cultural Troupe

developed appropriate scripts that highlight gender equality issues and mobilise public resolve and opinion against common negative social practices such as violence against children and women and in favogovernance. By attending a particular event in a school playground close to a bazaar, we found hundreds of people gathered around intently watching the show. The show was planned and performed in a very professional and effective msome of the spectators we learned that this was one of the few open sources of entertainment for the people of the area. As a result, women, men and children do not want to miss this chance. As for conveying the messages, we thought this indeed a very effective medium of communication for social change.

Figure 10: Raising gender awareness through drama show

the area educated. That is the dream of the local people we spoke to after the visit. The particular learning approach adopted by the thoughtfully planned and in a ‘sports like’ manner, has been extremely successful in getting the children interested in school activates. Ms. Lalita, the Supervisor of Kochua Majhpara pre-school explained that, though the ideal size of the class should be maximum 20, this particular one had 25 children. The reason is, there was no other school in the area for this extra number of children and the demand is indeed very high. The school rooarranged by the local community, while the cost for furnishing it (no bench floor mats) and honorarium for the teacher was borne by USS. A young volunteer teacher, Ms. Gouri Adhikary, conducted the classes with 35 different items startinwith chalk, flip charts, paper to wooden toys and similar things. The children with whom we spoke looked very enthusiastic and cheerful. They sang songs and gave dance performances for us which were simply brilliant! The particular method of pre

earning was developed by USS by selecting the best elements from the methods followed by others.

School activities were conducted in a very systematic way with parents teacher once a month to discuss the progress of their ch

After about a year of schooling, these children are admitted into a nearby primary school. We were informed by the USS staff that in some of the villages, when donor funding for such schools came to an end, members of the local community took over the responsibility for running them. Six such schools were known to be run by the initiatives of the Dhan Bank.

2.3.8.1 The cultural team organised bUSS with boys and girls from local school and colleges was a very successful effort in promoting gender equality and social justice. The public performance of musical and drama shows was hugely popular in the area. A master trainer had been appointed by USS for the purpose

who, with the help of his team,

developed appropriate scripts that highlight gender equality issues and mobilise public resolve and opinion against common negative social practices such as violence against children and women and in favour of education and good governance. By attending a particular event in a school playground close to a bazaar, we found hundreds of people gathered around intently watching the show. The show was planned and performed in a very professional and effective manner. Talking to some of the spectators we learned that this was one of the few open sources of entertainment for the people of the area. As a result, women, men and children do not want to miss this chance. As for conveying the messages, we thought this indeed a very effective medium of communication for social change.

: Raising gender awareness through drama show

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e to after the visit. The particular learning approach adopted by the thoughtfully planned and in a ‘sports like’ manner, has been extremely successful in getting the children interested in

school explained that, though the ideal size of the class should be maximum 20, this particular one had 25 children. The reason is, there was no other school in the area for this extra number of children and the demand is indeed very high. The school room was arranged by the local community, while the cost for furnishing it (no bench – sitting on floor mats) and honorarium for the teacher was borne by USS. A young volunteer teacher, Ms. Gouri Adhikary, conducted the classes with 35 different items starting with chalk, flip charts, paper to wooden toys and similar things. The children with whom we spoke looked very enthusiastic and cheerful. They sang songs and gave dance performances for us which were simply brilliant! The particular method of pre-

earning was developed by USS by selecting the best elements from the

School activities were conducted in a very systematic way with parents teacher once a month to discuss the progress of their children.

After about a year of schooling, these children are admitted into a nearby primary school. We were informed by the USS staff that in some of the villages, when donor funding for such schools came to an end, members of the local community took over the responsibility for running them. Six such schools were known to be run by the

The cultural team organised by USS with boys and girls from local school and colleges was a very successful effort in promoting gender equality and social justice. The public performance of musical and drama shows was hugely popular in the area. A master trainer had been appointed by USS for the purpose

who, with the help of his team,

developed appropriate scripts that highlight gender equality issues and mobilise public resolve and opinion against common negative social practices such as

ur of education and good governance. By attending a particular event in a school playground close to a bazaar, we found hundreds of people gathered around intently watching the show. The show

anner. Talking to some of the spectators we learned that this was one of the few open sources of entertainment for the people of the area. As a result, women, men and children do not want to miss this chance. As for conveying the messages, we thought this was

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2.3.9 Community library2.3.9.1 In Polashbari, we visited a public library and spoke with some of its readers and members. The recently opened community library was housed in a previously abandoned public building which was used as the Union Parishad office of the Polashbari UP. With financial support from the PGELKPI project, the building was slightly renovated and the hall room was refurbished with some chairs, tables, book shelves and books. This is managed by a group of adolescents from the area and it had 120 registered members. As the only public library of the area, this is seen as a valuable contribution by the project. Started since July 2014 in a rather damp and dark hall room, this few months old institution and its organisers certainly looked very bright and upbeat about it. If they can successfully attract many readers to their collection of books, and activities they would organise it better. This might truly help revive the glorious tradition of book reading among the people of an area who have extremely limited access to information, knowledge and entertainment. At the same time efforts should continue to improve about the facility. One advice would be to arrange at least a couple of computers so that the people can use internet facility which would further extend the horizon of knowledge and information for the people of this remote Bangladeshi village.

Figure 11: Local youth and the cultural troupe in front of the new Library in the old UP office

2.3.10 College Karate club2.3.10.1 Our visit to the Karate club in a girls’ college was marked by a lot of enthusiasm among the young girls and the college authorities. We observed a practice session and spoke with the participants. They felt proud to be a part of an activity which is uncommon among the girls of a small district town. The participants thought that it gave them an enhanced level of self-esteem and self-confidence, since they learn how to defend them from any physical attack! In reply to a question, the students said that it did not affect their studies at all. On the contrary, it helped them attain physical fitness which contributes to their mental alertness and peace. According to the girls, there has not been any adverse reaction from the family so far to their joining this club. This was definitely an innovative idea for the project to support an activity which has positive social impact in, among other benefits, conveying the message to the community that women can also participate and achieve success in things which are traditionally denied to them. Therefore, this initiative definitely has a high symbolic value, compared to its modest size and effort.

2.3.10.2 This is still dependent on an external male trainer which can be changed by developing trainers from this group of girls – who could, in turn train girls of other local schools and colleges

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3. Quality criteria of the project

In this section of the report we shall give an assessment of the PGELKPI project following a set of evaluation criterion, known as DAC5 criteria, mainly used by the European Commission evaluations.

3.1 Effectiveness

3.1.1 The PGELKPI project has achieved its broader objectives by helping women and girls attain an enhanced level of empowerment through the combined effects of all the different interventions made by the project. The project has three objectives with the goal being: “Ensure Empowerment of deprived people through gender equality”. Through its various component activities noted in the previous chapter, the concept of gender equality has been successfully spread (or mainstreamed) among all sections of people in the area. This was confirmed by different stakeholders the evaluation team spoke to and by observing the social environment in which men were found to be increasingly cooperative and ‘tolerant’ with women; where young girls were seen going to school alone on their bicycles and hundreds of women and girls were participating with others to watch an open stage cultural performance denouncing negative practices like violence against women and under-age marriage of girls.

3.1.2 The project had three objectives, but ‘reducing gender discrimination’ was not just on the top of the list, it was what received the greatest focus and achieved the best result. The second objective of enhancing financial capability was quite visible though, but whether all of it could be attributed to the project is difficult to say, because, in terms of intervention by the project in this respect, it was limited in some groups work and Dhan Bank efforts. The PAR or Ganogobeshona process should also have helped in the process of economic and enterprise development, but somehow it appeared less pronounced. The third objective of increased access to resources and services has also had a limited impact compared to reduced gender discrimination. However, the concept of Dhan Bank has innovative elements which appeared to be particularly relevant for a food insecure area like Nilphamari. Despite some of its limitations, the continuous functioning of the ‘institution’ within USS proves that it has stood the test of time and completion from many MFIs in the areaquite effectively.

3.1.3 The project has tried out a number of different instruments to promote gender equality in the society, some of which were seemed to have worked in USS better than the evaluation team has experienced elsewhere in the country with other NGOs. For example, the theatre group formed by a group of talented young men and women of the area under the leadership of a senior staff of USS. This has become very popular in the region for its very thoughtful planning and highly entertaining performance that can very effectively communicate important messages related to gender discrimination and violence against against women. Moreover, the creative theatrical performances have also been successful in filling in a “cultural gap” created by the growing religious fundamentalism in the country. The evidence of their effectiveness has been demonstrated by the invitations the group receives from distant places to give special shows for other organisations. We have noted before how effective Nilphamari based women’s forum (NJJK) potentially was in serving the interest of disadvantaged women and the important role the debate programme in

5 DAC stands for Development Assistance Committee of OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development).

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the schools play in creating mass awareness on gender equality. However, all of these components need careful monitoring and review (PME) to make some periodical adjustments to them in order to continue their increased relevance and effectiveness.

3.2 Relevance

3.2.1`The project was implemented in one of the most food insecure districts of the country which has a high concentration of extreme poor people. As it happens in poorest households and communities, women are always doubly poor and oppressed. Gender equality and economic empowerment comprised two of the most pressing needs of the people of this area. The macro-level policy relevance of the project can be established by the importance placed on gender equality and reduction of poverty in almost all the key policy instruments of the government of Bangladesh and its relevant institutions. Furthermore, in relation to this particular project (PGELKPI), the following information should give a strong justification.

3.2.2 The government of Bangladesh has been seriously committed to achieving the MDG Goals (of the United Nations) which has placed reduction of extreme poverty as number one priority, while Gender Equality and Empowerment of women was the third among the eight key goals. Although, we are now at the end of the MDG programme in 2015, there has been a general understanding that much has still to be attained on a sustainable basis, particularly on account of this two goals. Therefore, the upcoming SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) is inevitably going to continue its focus on these two areas along with other priorities such as improvement in democratic governance. For the government of Bangladesh its Sixth Five Year Plan, PRSP/NSAPR (National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction)and the vision 21 have all emphasised these areas. For Diakonia Bangladesh, gender equality, democratic governance and human rights are the three key strategic focus. Similarly, the vision of USS is to promote a society based on equality and social justice – all of which quite strongly establish the relevance of this project.

3.3 Impact

3.3.1 The value of the project has been most emphatic in its influence on gender relationship and awareness about gender. This was particularly clear from our discussions with the members of the Gonogobeshona groups to whom the ideas and issues were new yet undeniable. The learning about discrimination against women and their weaker position deliberately determined by the male dominated traditional social system and their negative social values – has been the most valuable aspect of the project. It was a new knowledge for many, yet none found a reason to oppose this. Children in the school, their teachers, parents and all members of the community including those who are not even remotely linked with the project have come to learn about the unjust practices in this respect (e.g., theatre shows). The close involvement of the teachers in school debates has helped them learn about the unequal and unjust gender relations in the society so well that now they tend to sharethe issues not in their class rooms but also outside in the respective families and communities. This way the impact of the project, particularly in respect of gender has been quite wide and deep. The women members of the PAR groups confirmed that men have now learned to share some of the household activities which were traditionally relegated to women such as child rearing and cooking.

3.3.2 When the evaluation team spoke with the students and teachers involved in the debate programme, we realised that the idea of gender equality and human rights have now become extended to different learning sessions of other schools and

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colleges which are not within the purview of the project. Moreover, according to the students, their respective family members were also influenced by the details of the concept. The adolescent girls reported that the attitude and behaviour of male family members had significantly changed. Similarly, as a result of the drama shows, the incidence of ‘VAW’ (violence against women) and under age marriage had reportedly decreased in the area - as some of the community members could see their own ugly faces reflected in the plays.

3.3.3 According to the Adolescent forum members, as adolescent boys and girls were now engaged in different social work (e.g., tree planting, school supervision, book reading, organising drama etc.) the incidence of stalking and sexual harassment of girls have significantly reduced - and girls now feel free to go to school and visit their friends as they chose. The reason for the project’s success in this respect has been its creative engagement process of the youth – through discussion, research, debate, drama, book reading and social work. This needs to be continued with innovative additions to the programme so that the youth of the area do not get a chance to suffer from boredom. It would require constant thinking and planning tointroduce various interventions linked with sports activities, creative learning and social work.

3.4 Sustainability

3.4.1 As the interventions of the project are mainly non-material in nature and about changing human behaviour to establishing human rights, the chances of those changes lasting for a long time is very real. The skills and awareness gained from the project by the students seems to leave a lasting impression on the young minds as by speaking to some them we have learned how seriously they take the activities of debate, karate and different social development work initiated by the project. The groups and forums formed by the project are still new, but seeing the enthusiasm of the participants, there is no reason to doubt that these were not going to get stronger by the day and become further consolidated in future. This would of course require the continuation of the project for some more time to come.

3.4.2 However, some small efforts to increase the chances of sustainability of benefits needs to planned. For example, the NJJK is still young and very informally structured. This needs to be given an institutional shape so that they have a plan of work at least on annual basis. Similarly, the schools should include debate as a regular extracurricular activity, not remaining dependent on USS support. For small sized funds required to organise annual events, students can locally raise them from the local elites. Similarly, the Karate training in Nilphamari Girls College should produce trainers who could train (girl) students of other schools and colleges. However, the evaluation team is concerned how the key institutional structure that USS and this project has created are going to sustain in future? In one sense, if the community members become self-reliant and no longer remain disadvantaged, the need for their existence might become redundant. However, in the absence of a plausible future scenario, USS should devote some energy in developing a phase-out plan for these groups.

3.5 Efficiency

3.5.1 The project appeared to have some excellent mechanism to reach out to an unlimited number of people through some of its activity components designed to influence the masses. For example, the drama shows organised in a rural market place which attracts hundreds and thousands of people - has been a very useful vehicle to communicate developmental messages. Similarly, the school debates

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cause a stir in the local community when people reportedly argue between them at social meetings on the topics of debate. Moreover, as noted before, the teachers and parents of the students also somehow get linked with the learning process. As a result the project successfully benefits a large number of intended and unintended beneficiaries most efficiently.

3.5.2 The other important efficiency element of the project is the use of voluntary contribution of time and efforts by the local youth, teachers, urban women belonging to rich families and so on. Stimulating the spirit of voluntarism among the community members in the particular context of Bangladesh society where it has allegedly been destroyed by various reasons, is indeed a very praiseworthy and efficient aspect for the project.

3.5.3 A review of the project budget was carried out in relation to the work observed in the field to conclude that PGELKPI has been a relatively low cost operation where material inputs were kept to the minimum. On the other hand, the numbers of direct and indirect beneficiaries the project has and potentially would reach are very high. The implementing organisation, USS seemed a modest organisation and very watchful about cost-effectiveness of the operations. Although the organisation works in over 30 different Unions of 3/4 Upazilas of Nilphamari district, this particular project was decided to be implemented in only two UPs of the Sadar Upazila. It was a pragmatic decision because a thinly spread-out project would have faced a lot of management problems and might have caused to incur a higher travel and operational cost. Under the current arrangement, since the staff did not have to waste time running long distances between the project sites, it was relatively easier to manage and ensure quality of the work.

Figure 12: Crowd Intently watch a drama show

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4. Organisational Preparedness

4.1 General OD Capacity of USS

4.1.1 Like most NGOs in Bangladesh, the growth and development of USS was dependent on its strength in programme and project development. For USS, the first few years was spent without much headway in programme development or improving on the organisational order. However, with the change in management and under a new leadership since 2003, USS began to develop new ideas of work that has attracted partnerships with different national and international support organisations. It was one of the most challenging areas to work in Nilphamari district because of its marginal existence in geo-physical as well as in socio-economic terms. The area and its majority of disadvantaged population groups suffered from chronic food insecurity and disaster risks from floods and seasonal Monga mainly. Lack of income and employment opportunities for the majority landless population dependent on agricultural wage labour has always been a challenge for the development organisations and the national government to find a sustainable solution. Suffice to say, the quest for a durable change for this area and its people continue.

4.1.2 Under the situation, USS stood out as a dynamic local NGO with new ideas and thoughtful ways of working which had drawn the attention of a number of eminent development partners such as, Plan International, Action Aid Bangladesh, USCB, Canada and Freedom Foundation. However, the organisational ‘vision’ for USS has been different from most NGOs in Bangladesh. It realised that the reason why mainstream development interventions often failed to meet the needs of local people, was because these were all designed and planned by experts sitting elsewhere without having any consultation with the reference groups. USS believed that without whole-hearted participation of the ‘beneficiary’ groups in the planning and design process of the interventions, local communities can never be empowered and their situation was never going to change. This idea was closely linked with the concept of PAR, about which we have discussed at length in the previous sections of this report. USS’s adherence to this philosophy has earned respect from different development partners, who started to come out to extend their hand of cooperation.

4.1.3 Started with a small research grant of Tk.700,000 from RIB in 2004, USS now has an annual budget of over sixteen million taka and about a dozen different projects to implement. However, as it does not believe in building a huge asset base of its own as many NGOs in Bangladesh have done, USS remains and wish to continue as a modest development organisation which is focused on creating sustainable change and building a strong asset base for its ‘client’ groups. By this, the organisation has not tried to be rhetorical only without making a commitment in this respect. They have actually proved to remain true to this idea for a long time. As evidence, USS does not yet have a revenue generation project, nor does it have a micro credit operation to give the USS an extra window of income. Whether this is a viable policy in the long term or not, is a question we will leave for the moment and consider later in this report. In this section, we shall try to explore how it has developed to meet the ‘organisational’ challenges in managing this fast growing institution with its current level of human resource, policies, systems and structures.

4.2 Management Structure and Human Resource

4.2.1 The volume of work for USS has increased manifold over the years, which has necessitated the organisation to recruit an increased number of staff; raise increased level of finance and make necessary administrative arrangements. This

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has obviously also called for an increased level of structuring and discipline in the organisation. For an efficient management of the people and resources USS has introduced systems, structures, policies and procedures. It now has a new organogram and a simple management structure whereby the Executive Director directly manages four key unit-heads: i.e., Heads of Programme, M&E, Internal Audit and Finance. However, as far as we have known the M&E and Internal Audit Units are not yet fully functional and in practice, the current ED has to oversee the functioning of all the key sections of the programme. This may be a reflection of a weakness in the staff capacity at different levels.

4.2.2 The General Committee elects a nine member Executive Committee for two years. The Executive Director is not a member of the EC, but he is ‘elected’ (appointed) by the General Body, which is the supreme authority of the USS. The General body confirms the yearly organizational activities and accounts. However, the ED performs the management functions and guides the staff members as assigned by the Executive Committee. Senior staff report to the Executive Director. The project in-charge and coordinators work under the supervision of Program Manager. The Project Coordinators and Project in-charge lead the projects in consultation with the program manager and Executive Director.

4.2.3 The high level of dependence on the role of the ED reflects that the senior members of staff have not yet acquired a sufficient capacity to independently make decisions. On the other hand, the organisation has not been able to retain trained senior staff for long. There has been a high incidence of staff turn-over in recent years. It seemed that qualified staff left the organisation for other NGOs which paid a better salary. But more than salary, there seemed to be a general shortage of qualified personnel available to work in Nilphamari. The issue appears to be complex and a generalisation would not be very helpful. However, this seems to remain a nagging concern for USS, and the organisation needs to look into it seriously before taking an appropriate decision. The example for such decisions might be a) review of salary and benefit structure, b) review of areas of human resource gap, c) undertake a fresh recruitment drive to fill the gaps, and d) develop a staff development plan - by which members of staff who are competent and can make a longer-term commitment, would be trained by outside institutions on areas of skill that USS needs.

4.2.4 This evaluation process has identified that among the key areas of capacity deficiency of the organisation, M&E, ToT and Gender remained very high. Therefore, steps should be taken with adequate emphasis on arranging training in these areas for the staff or/and recruit personnel as necessary.

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Projects Years 2011 2012 2013 2014

(PGELKPI) DIAKONIA 1,742,395 2,775,124 1,775,656 4,471,933

(CAMPUS) ACTIONAID 4,866,164 4,582,588 4,394,517 4,535,771

(GPP)/PCCE Plan Int. BD 2,187,143 4,895,671 5,115,778 5,684,718

(PSE) (BFF) 423,367 690,951 744,043

(ALO) USC Canada 234,809 566,024 488,853 607,911

Total 9,030,511 13,242,774 12,465,755 16,044,376

4.3 Organisational Capital

4.3.1 Although it is a relatively small NGO with about a hundred staff and located in one remote corner of the country, USS is now a very well connected and respectable organisation for its particular institutional identity as a strong value based organisation. Its strong commitment to the values of democratic good governance, gender equality, environmental sustainability, self-reliance and collective co-existence are reflected in its work and work approach. It is not resourceful in the mundane sense of the term as it has never concentrated in building a physical or economic asset base. Unlike most NGOs in the country, USS has not aimed at generating revenue for the organisation through investment into lucrative enterprises and programmes such as micro-finance.

4.3.2 It is a well connected NGO in Bangladesh with membership with a number of key national networks like: Federation of NGO’s in Bangladesh (FNB), Network for Reproductive health in north-west Bangladesh, CAMPE, North Agro-biodiversity Forum (NAF) and People, Land & Agrarian Net work (PLANET). Moreover, in Niphamari USS is regarded as the most respected NGO for its contribution to various socio-economic development work. Moreover, it has a good working relationship with a number of development partners like Action Aid Bangladesh, Plan International Bangladesh and Diakonia Bangladesh, among others. This gives USS the envious distinction that no other regional NGO has been able to enjoy.

4.3.3 However, there is concern among the staff and others that it is not a good idea for an organisation with over a hundred salaried staff working, and several thousand (at least sixteen thousand) members of the disadvantaged communities who dependent on it (in one form or the way), to become complacent. Of course, if the organisation can indefinitely maintain a high level of performance and trust with the development partners, it has no reason to worry about the future. But it is argued that donors may often make sudden changes in their policy leaving many of the partners suffering from hard times, financially. Such a situation might cause a ‘disaster’ in the lives of all those who are reliant on the staff of these unfortunate organisations. While recognising the merits to this argument, we have learned that some of the development partners of USS have already shown their responsive and sympathetic gesture, by giving appropriate assurances. We have learned that AAB and Plan have separately made longer-term commitments (about 10 years each), for continued support, which should allay much of the fears of this kind. In addition to that, USS might apply for an endowment fund to be managed by an independent body which will generate and ensure a minimum financial liquidity or solvency for the organisation. We consider the institutional reputation of USS as the best capital that it has and their endeavours should focus on keeping it up all the time. If the table below is to be believed, USS is very much on the upward mode of progress.

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4.4 Systems and Procedures

4.4.1 USS is quite a well prepared organisation now with different systems, structures and procedures in place. Besides having a Strategy Plan, it has the following manuals and policy documents:

1. Gender policy2. Financial & Administrative Policy3. Human Resource Development Policy (HRDP)4. Child Protection Policy (CP)5. Complaints Response Mechanism Policy (CRMP)6. Open Information Policy (OIP)7. USS Strategic plan (SP)8. Motorcycle Use Policy9. Electronic Equipment USE Policy10. USS Code of Conduct

4.5 Brief comments on select documents

4.5.1 A few comments and observations on some of the above policy and procedure documents are given below through a rapid review undertaken by the evaluation team:

4.5.2 Gender policy: This policy document, written in simple Bangla and approved by the EC, in October 2013, is a brief, yet quite comprehensive paper. It even reflects the provisions of the recent national policy on women’s development (2011). For example, it includes the flexible and paid six months maternity leave provision for up to two children for women employees. It was however, not clear why for a staff recruitment plan only 30% of the appointments should be ensured for women candidates?

4.5.3 Human Resource Policy: This is a very comprehensive procedure manual with details about staff recruitment procedure, staff entitlements to benefits and an organogram and a table on salary structure. We will just give two observations on this. One is about “Employment Policy” under section 10. The first point highlights, like an organisation in a developed country, that USS is an equal opportunity employer, at least for its Bangladeshi citizens. This needs a clarification because, in a country which is sharply divided between a small upper class of less than 10% owning over 90% of resources, where women, adivasies and dalits are regarded as social outcasts, “equal opportunity” might not be the most fair and just policy when we recruit staff. That is why we, in the developing countries including Bangladesh allow “positive discrimination” in favour of the disadvantaged groups of people. This includes women, people with disability, and those who belong to “backward” marginalised communities. That is the reason why, when we advertise for staff recruitment, we specify, for example: “women are particularly encouraged to apply” because we often cannot fill the allocated ‘quota’ for women in most organisations. Isn’t that the reason we specify that at least a percentage (50, 40, or 30) of the positions will be filled by women candidates? This policy of positive discrimination is very much in line with our national development policies including the “National Women’s Development Policy 2011”.

4.5.4 To further point out the anomaly in section14, under Recruitment policies, we would like to draw attention to the second clause which states the organisation is committed to recruit 40% (at least?) female staff at all levels. This is clearly not

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compatible with the above “equal opportunity” policy. Policy provisions in this respect appear to be different in different documents. In the Gender Policy it is stated as 30% while in this one it is forty. They need to be consistent everywhere, otherwise this can create confusion. However, our question is must we limit women to 40% only? If we have, for the sake of argument, 80% women in the top management position of USS, would that not be seen as a positive achievement? This needs to be made clear.

4.5.5 Clarification in the documents is also needed on the role and function of the Implementation Committee, given that the present practice of staff management appears to follow a ‘line management’ system. The objectives, composition of the committee and its detailed ToR should be useful to have for USS.

4.5.6 Limited PME Capacity: When the organisation is quite well developed with its Strategy Plan, policies and procedures for almost everything, its limitation in the area of planning, monitoring and evaluation is unfortunate. For a learning and value based organisation like USS, it needs to strengthen this area not because it would help producing good donor reports, but more for tracking its own achievements in work, including its success and limitations. A review of the project proposal and the periodical reports for PGELKPI project shows that despite having a lot of useful information and analysis, the documents are not very well structured and thus less effective than expected. There are many small details and tables, which are perhaps less useful than making some analytical comments with qualitative and quantitative evidence. A PME capacity basically helps one to produce effective plans, set monitoring criteria and procedure and write reports which tell the story of how the project has been successful or not. Therefore, it is advisable for a growing organisation like USS to concentrate on strengthening its PME capacity by organising training and setting up systems of reporting which can generate more appropriate and useful data.

4.5.7 Financial and Administrative Policy: This is a very detailed manual to give finance and administration section some very useful guidance in bringing discipline in these matters. This is very praiseworthy that right at the beginning of the document, in the introduction, the objective of transparency and accountability has been emphasised. We do not have many observations on this except for a couple of small points. It would have been useful to mention the names of the signatories for Bank Accounts with their designations (notwithstanding the fact that individual staff might change) and mention the name of the Mother Bank Account. Also, a recently (July 2013) developed document like this one might soon get out of date with a number of changes implemented in the policy and provisions every year based on the needs. So, it would be useful to mention (in order to commit the organisation), when and how often this will be updated?

4.5.8 Strategy Plan with Future Perspective: This documents the results of a very intensive and participatory reflection exercise on the organisation. The first question that comes to mind is, how well and how often the organisation is going to use this valuable document which has set out the future directions for USS in very clear terms. It has a very useful context analysis with challenges and opportunities in relation to the physical environment, livelihood options for the deprived people, trend analysis, and analysis of organisational strength, weakness and opportunities. We think USS should commit itself to review it at least once every two years to see if they are adhering to their own strategy and review where they stand in terms of progress made from the time of its making. For example, it needs to review whether the set of projects that the USS was implementing were in line with the mission statement they have adopted?

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4.5.9 “Creative social transformation through promoting, assisting and encouraging deprived and marginalized people to build institutions, capacities and processes towards prosperity, sustainability and democratic self governance”.

4.5.10 Similarly, USS needs to review how far they have been able to overcome their weaknesses and build on their strengths as noted in the document. If they can do that, the organisation will surely find a smooth ride in their difficult journey for change and development as expressed in the Vision statement.

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5. Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 PGELKPI Project

5.1.1 The project appeared to have created significant impact at different levels of society by promoting the concept and principles of gender equality and rights of the disadvantaged groups of people. Although, the core intervention has been through Ganogobeshona Dals using the PAR approach of people’s research, it is the comprehensive nature of the intervention that has largely been responsible for its success. The project has covered people from different age-groups and in different positions (e.g., landless farmers, students, teachers, local government authorities, adolescents and urban women’s forum) of society which has caused a key difference.

5.1.2 The higher level objective of the project was empowerment of deprived people in social, cultural and economic grounds. While changes were quite visible in this respect, the particular change in economic well-being of the people was less emphatic. And it has been a well known fact that the socio-economic and environmental reality in which the USS projects operate is one of the most challenging one in the country, which probably explains why it was not possible to observe a dramatic change in the economic arena for the poor.

5.1.3 The PAR approach to gender analysis has been proved a useful methodology in raising awareness about discrimination in the society against women and how to address the problem. The process of research in the group allows creative thinking to arrive at appropriate solutions to the problems. Although discussion sessions use images and sketches of objects often as symbols representing problems or solutions, the need for writing points on them is often necessary. This requires literacy and numeracy skills among the group members. A comparison between two groups visited by the evaluation has shown the difference in favour of one with writing and reading skills who were doing much better than the one without it. Therefore, USS might in future think of ensuring that the Ganogobeshona Dals acquire literacy skills by attending appropriate adult literacy courses.

5.1.4 It was found to be a good practice for the groups to maintain a ‘Resolution Book’, which is supposed to record attendance, agenda for the day and decisions adopted. In the absence of a strong M&E process, this had served as a very valuable alternative source of information with details like date and time of the meeting, signature of those present and the topic discussed in it. However, it was observed that this particular function of the groups did not receive due importance and the Animator responsible for writing the books did not probably receive adequate training and orientation for maintaining those properly. Emphasis should be given in writing down the decisions taken at the group meetings so that they are followed up in the next meeting to see if there was any progress towards implementing the decision. While it is the responsibility of the Animator to write the resolution book and follow up the decisions, there needs to be a system of supervision by which a designated senior project staff periodically checks (once in a month), if the resolution books have been properly “maintained”. This senior staff would also give the Animator appropriate advice and instruction on what needs to be done to make the groups perform better.

5.1.5 The inclusion of the urban women’s forum, Nari Jogajog Kendra, has given the project an additional dimension for their strong social position. Although their understanding of gender equality and human rights could be somewhat different and at times patronising, their voluntary role in assisting the ‘distressed’ women is very

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valuable and strategic, because, this group of women hold substantial socio-political clout which could be profitably channelled to serve the interest of the deprived people in society. While remaining as an informal group gives NJJK a lot of useful flexibility to do any good thing they want to do, but this can also be the cause for slowly becoming inactive in the absence of a sense of direction. In order to make this informal and rather loosely organised forum more effective and useful, USS might offer them assistance in getting slightly more organised by adopting a charter for the group and an annual plan of activities.

5.2 Organisational Development of USS

5.2.1 Over the past few years, the organisation has achieved rather outstanding success in programme development and development of partnership with a number of eminent donor organisations in Bangladesh. As a result, USS now has a formidable portfolio of projects funded by about half-a-dozen development partners. However, in the absence of any tangible asset base of the organisation, some people, including some of its staff, may have reasons to feel insecure about the future of their organisation. On the other hand, the leadership of the organisation thinks that, unlike other NGOs in the country, USS does not need to exist for its own sake and amass a lot of wealth to ensure its survival. The evaluation team believes that this is a remarkably courageous position for USS which deserves due appreciation and recognition. Indeed, they have already been known to have received the expected recognition in the form of a longer term (10 years each) commitment of support from two of its major donors. This should remove the sense of uncertainty from the minds of its staff and collaborators. This must be the opportune moment when the organisation can now make longer term institutional plan, with provision for staff development and recruitment of new staff with higher level of competency.

5.2.2 With a steady but continuous rate of growth, the organisation has gradually expanded its scope and volume of work. This has necessitated USS to have increased capacity to manage their affairs in a more organised and efficient manner. Accordingly, USS has already taken up some important steps of improvement by introducing some new structures, systems and procedures. However, some gaps seemed to still exist as identified by this evaluation. One of the areas the organisation needs to improve urgently is its planning, monitoring and reporting systems so that the large number of staff deployed in the field to implement different projects supported by different donors, are able to systematically implement their work, produce monitoring reports following appropriate tools, formats and criteria given by a central PME unit. Among other benefits, this will contribute to generating effective progress reports by capturing results and impact of its work. This would in turn give the organisation an improved ability to produce innovative project ideas and proposals. It is therefore advised that USS organises external expert inputs to train its staff on PME and to help set up an organisation-wide PME system with appropriate tools.

5.2.3 A separate staff development plan with long and short term objectives should be developed so that USS can ask for resources from its development partners for the purpose. This would require updating its strategy and producing a revised perspective plan. This plan should indicate what its long term ‘organisational vision’ is; where and how far it wants to go (in terms of staff size, budget, geographical focus etc.) and with what priority work and policy objectives.

5.2.4 Since recruitment and retention of qualified staff in Nilphamari for USS remains a nagging problem, it needs to be handled seriously and thoughtfully. We

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have suggested the following steps to follow for the purpose: a) undertake a review of the current salary and benefit structure, b) review areas of human resource gap, c) undertake a fresh recruitment drive to fill the gaps, and d) develop a staff development plan for the members of staff who are competent and can make a longer-term commitment to the organisation.

5.2.5 There seemed to be a small confusion in the policy of equal opportunity for men and women as appeared in the Human Resource policy document. As we agree to also promote equity and social justice, it is a legitimate approach to make positive discrimination in favour of the disadvantaged sections of the population. Therefore, we need to make it clear that during a staff recruitment process, subject to their minimum ability to perform the functions of a particular job position, preference would be given to candidates who are women, Adivasi, Dalit or persons with disability.

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Annex 1: Schedule of field visit

Visit Schedule USS during 12-15 September, 2014

Date/Time Purpose and Activities Name of Place Remarks/Name of People met

12/09/2014 10 pm

Arrival of Evaluation team at Niphamari

Stay at Lamb HospitalGuesthouse

Mahbubul Islam, Anjum Nahed Chowdhury (Ms.) and Muhammad Taher

13 September 2014

9.30 - 10 am

Informal Introduction between Evaluation team and USS staff

Welcomed at USS Head Office at Jordarga, Nilphamari

Mr. Alauddin Ali, the ED and Ms. Monazzini Khanam, Coordinator of PGELKPI

10-11 a.m. Presentation on Evaluation Objectives and Process.

USS head office Evaluation Team: Taher, Anjum and Mahbub

11-12 a.m. Presentation on USSS and PGELKPI project

USS head office Monazzini

12-01 p.m. SWOT Analysis in Small Groups; Feedback/discussion

USS head office All USS Staff present. Facilitated by Eval. team

Lunch

03- 04 pm Visit Vabankuri Nari Gobeshona Dal (female group), conduct FGD.

Village-Vabankuri, Union- Palashbari

group members Basanti Rani, Dulali, Madhobi Rani

04.30pm Visit cultural event with music and drama show

Khalishapacha school Premise

Meet Tapon Kumar Roy, Chairman, Polashbari Union.

07.00 pm Visit members of Women’s Forum Nari Jogajog Kendra (NJJK)

House of Advocate Eti, Convenor of NJJK in Nilphamari town

Ms. Noor Jahan, Ms. Daulat jahan leading social worker and women leader

14 September 2014

09.30am Review and revise Visit Schedule

USS head office Md Alauddin Ali,ED and Ms. Joi, project coordinator briefed session

10.30am Visit Female group and conduct focus group discussion

Bogura Para Anowara Begum, President and Ms Rongila Rani Roy animator of the group

12.30 pm Visit community Dhan bank Kalibari, Lakkhichap Radha Kanta Roy, president Jotsna Rani, Cashier

01.30-02.00 pm

Observe school debate and discussion meeting with Head Teacher and UP Chair

Kachua Chowrangi Seba High School, Laxmichap

Aminur Rahman, Chairman, Laxmichap Union and head master of High school

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Date/Time Purpose and Activities Name of Place Remarks/Name of People met

Lunch

03-04 pm Visit institution/school which had Gender training: FGD with 20 students

Parashmoni High school

Headmaster, Maolana Akber Ali, Guided by Ms Salma Akther, GDO, USS

05-06 pm Visit karate group Nilpham. Government Girls College

Separate discussions with students & teachers

15 September 2014

09.30-10.30 am

Visit a pre school: observe activities and talk to tiny tots

Kachua Mzapara, Laxmichap union

Gouri Rani Adhikari, teacher Ms. Lolita Roy, supervisor

11.00-12.00 pm

Visit adolescents’ forum Vabonkuri, Palashbari Union

Members of Kishor/Kishori Gobeshana dal

01-02 pm Visit community library, hold discussion meeting with members

Polashbari old Union Parishad office

Shafikul Islam, president, Taslima Akhter, secretary, and Konka, Animator

Lunch

04.00 Preparation for feed back presentation

Lamb Guest House Evaluation Team

06.pm Feed-back presentation of preliminary findings and discussion with staff of USS

USS head office Md. Taher and Mahbubul Islam facilitated

10 pm Return to Dhaka Nilphamari-Dhaka Evaluation Team

Annex 2: Document

Key Policy and Procedure Documents

1. Gender policy

2. Financial & Administrative Policy

3. Human Resource Development Policy (HRDP)

4. Child Protection Policy (CP)

5. Complaints Response Mechanism Policy (CRMP)

6. Open Information Policy (OIP)

7. USS Strategic plan (SP)

8. Motorcycle Use Policy

9. Electronic Equipment USE Policy

10. USS Code of Conduct

Research Reports

DhanBank,FinalResearch [ Dhan Bank,Final Research.pdf ]

View (71) Download (91 ) Last Updated: Dec 15,2013 ;

ResearchonPoverty [ Research on Poverty.pdf ]

View (69) Download (50 ) Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ;

SweeperDetails [ Sweeper Details.pdf ]

View (73) Download (54 ) Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ;

Sweeper_Data [ Sweeper_Data.pdf ]

View (71) Download (60 ) Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ;

PovertyRouteResearchLast [ Poverty- Route Research Last.pdf

View (68) Download (53 ) Last Updated: Dec 4,2013 ;

FinalReportofMonga [ Final Report of Monga.pdf ]

View (41) Download (44 ) Last Updated: Dec 4,2013 ;

Other Documents

On PGELKPI

Project Document/Proposal

Annual Reports for 2012, 2013 and Six months report upto June 2014

On Organisational Development : Different policy documents, manuals and financial audit reports

Annex 2: Documents reviewed

Documents

2. Financial & Administrative Policy

3. Human Resource Development Policy (HRDP)

4. Child Protection Policy (CP)

5. Complaints Response Mechanism Policy (CRMP)

6. Open Information Policy (OIP)

7. USS Strategic plan (SP)

9. Electronic Equipment USE Policy

10. USS Code of Conduct

Last Updated: Dec 15,2013 ; File Size : 12234.32 KB

Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ; File Size : 434.99 KB

Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ; File Size : 585.86 KB

Last Updated: Dec 9,2013 ; File Size : 203.28 KB

Route Research Last.pdf ]

Last Updated: Dec 4,2013 ; File Size : 98.71 KB

Last Updated: Dec 4,2013 ; File Size : 257.79 KB

s for 2012, 2013 and Six months report upto June 2014

: Different policy documents, manuals and financial audit reports

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: Different policy documents, manuals and financial audit reports

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Annex 3: SWOT Results for USS

PROGRAMME SWOT

Strengths Weakness

Specific reference group for project Skilled and professional staff Supportive donors (Diakonia) Clear objectives for projects Effective cooperation with GO/NGO All activities implemented following

PAR approach Helpful Implementation Committee Staff development initiatives Gender friendly working environment Having a complaint box and register

No training cell or department No monitoring cell or deptt Insufficient ToT/ToF for building

staff competency Insufficient gender training for

Teachers/SMC Drop out of staff due to less salary

Opportunities Threats

o Scope to develop skill professionalo Extending work nearby union and

upazilaso Increase staffs in USS/ NGOo More scope to identify and use of local

resourceso Complaining system exist in

organization / eavery staff enjoys rightso Scope to stop Gender based violence

through NJK

Delay Fund transfer from NGOAB Facing problems at field level for

climate changes Communal /fundamentalist issues Facing field operation due to political

programs Not possible to work with

educational institution according to plan

Field operation will be stop if donors stops fund

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ORGANISATIONAL SWOT

Strengths Weakness

o USS follows /practices PARo Committed staff team of 110 personso Specific policies practicing a since 2006 o harmonious working environmento Excellent cooperation with CSO and GOso Strong grassroots organizations with structure,

bylaws, fundo Positive USS image in development sectoro Trust with donorso Leadership in project implementation.o Long term commitment with donors like AAB

for 10 years, with Plan Int. Bangladesh for upto 2024

o Capacity to manage budget of 2 coreso A Working Strategic Plan o Experience and leadership quality to organize

and social movement o Linkage between grassroots groups to

national human rights organisationso An active USS website

o No own infrastructure or officeo Must follow all donor’s directions o No effective monitoring system/unito Insufficient published training moduleso Lack of proper documentation and reportingo Staff skill not increasing as required or at

expected levelo Staff turnover higho No organizational transporto Less attention by donors for permanent staff

Opportunities Threats

o Scope to enhance/ extend working areas geographically

o Scope to establish donor’s relation with other donors

o Scope for Sustainable people’s organization development

o Extent to develop as knowledge based organization.

o Challenging/ Bad relation with service delivery organizations

o Challenging / tension with rich groups and government due to social movement for Khas land issues

o Threats from fundamentalist groups

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Annex 4: Terms of Reference

Udayankur Seba Sangstha (USS), Nilphamari, Bangladesh

For Evaluation of the Project: “Promote Gender Equality through Local Knowledge & People’s Initiative (PGELKPI)”

1. PURPOSEEvaluate whether the interventions are in track and are likely to reach objectives through assessing the effectiveness, impact, relevance, sustainability and efficiency Highlight good examples, practices, if any, within the projects Where applicable recommend to improve the design and implementation of the interventionsAssess to what extent the projects are making effective contribution to the present results according to current Strategy Plan for DiakoniaRecommendations regarding continuation/phase out of the evaluated projects

2. BACKGROUNDDiakonia committed SEK 842,500 (equivalent to BDT.10,047,433) to USS to support implementation of the above project for the duration of 3 years as noted below:

Project Budget

Partner: UdayankurSebaSangstha(USS)

Project: Promote Gender Equality through Local Knowledge & People’s Initiative (PGELKPI)

Period: January 2012– December 2014

BDT 100,47,433

The major thematic area of this project is gender equality and human rights.

3. RECIPIENT

The recipient of the evaluations is USS and Diakonia Bangladesh

The evaluation, once completed, will be shared with other relevant stakeholders as necessary

4. SCOPE OF WORK

The evaluation will assess progress over the past years considering projects’ effectiveness, relevance, impact and efficiency following the criteria as below:

Effectiveness: Has the intervention achieved its objectives or achievable using the current design: To what extent have the agreed objectives been achieved? Are the successfully achieved activities sufficient to realize the agreed outputs? What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of outputs or

outcomes? What could be done to make the interventions more effective?

Relevance:

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are the interventions consistent with the needs and priorities of the rights holders and the polices of USS and Diakonia.

Are the objectives in line with needs, priorities of rights holders and problem analysis?

Do the interventions have potential for replication and/or expansion

Impact: what are the overall effects of the intervention, intended and unintended, long term

and short term, positive and negative. How the interventions affected the wellbeing of different groups of stakeholders? What would have happened without the interventions? What are the positive and negative effects? Do the positive effects outweigh the negative ones? What do the rights holders and other stakeholders perceive to be the effects of the

intervention on themselves? To what extend does the intervention contribute to capacity development and the

strengthening of institutions?

Sustainability: will the benefits produced by the interventions be maintained after withdrawal

of project support. To what extent does the positive impact justify continued investments Did stakeholders participate in the planning and implementation of the

intervention to ensure local engagement? Do relevant partner possess sufficiently strong governance structures and

professional capacity to sustain the activities? Is the technology utilized appropriate to the economic, social and cultural

conditions of the country? Are the interventions harmful to the environment?

Efficiency: can the costs of the interventions be justified by the results? What measures have been taken during the planning and implementation phase

to ensure that resources are efficiently used? To what extent have the development components been delivered as agreed? Could the intervention have been done better, more cheaply or quickly? Could an altogether different type of intervention have solved the same problem

at a lower cost?

5. STAKEHOLDER The work will be carried out in a transparent manner in consultation with the

people relevant to the interventions. This should include USS staffs, key personnel of Diakonia, stakeholders, rights

holders and other designated persons as appropriate; There should be active participation from relevant implementing partner

organization; It is essential that the evaluation is designed to enable target groups to

constructively participate in the evaluation process;

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6. METHODOLOGYThe evaluation is expected to adopt a methodology that has the following elements: Desk study, field visits, focus group discussions, interviews (with individuals/groups) as required by the terms of this assignment and the work plan.

7. WORK AND TIME SCHEDULEUSS will receive a work plan prepared by the consultant, based on the present terms of reference and a proposed time frame to carry out the tasks.The length of the consultancy should be within five-six weeks.The preferred deadline for submitting the draft evaluation report is end of October 2014 or according to the agreed work plan of the evaluator;The deadline for submitting the report will be stipulated in the contract signed between the consultant and USS according to agreed work plan.

8. EVALUATOR

The assignment will be carried out by a team/group of external evaluators who have:

knowledge of local context experience of project evaluations, relevant issues and methods; gender sensitive and possess knowledge of gender equality issues; proficiency in Bengali and English languages.

9. REPORTING AND DELIVERABLES

Draft reports should be presented within a reasonable time for feedback from Diakonia and USS

Final report:

One evaluation report based on the project One summarized report for Diakonia and USS based on key observations and

recommendations Printed and digital copies of the reports should be presented to USS.

10. OWNERSHIP AND CONFIDENTIALITY

The Consultants should respect the confidential nature of all information acquired during this consultancy with USS and Diakonia. USS and Diakonia is the sole copyright owner of the products stemming from this consultancy.

11. FORM OF PAYMENT

USS will pay the consultant, upon certification that the services have been satisfactorily delivered, no later than 15 working days after the submission of the reports.

12. ATTACHED Project Proposal and related reports and documents; All relevant reports and documents on BNKS.