We dream of a

fully inclusive
society where
divisions based
on gender, age,
race, culture and
religion no
longer exist and
in which justice,
peace, human
dignity and
respect for the
integrity of

empowering communities creation are

promoted and
towards sustainable future sustained.

YWCA of Bangladesh
annual report
July 2007- June 2008
Editorial Advisor
Rina Das
Joyce Mormita Das

Editor
Anirudha Alam
Helen Monisha Sarker

Information & Data Coordination

Paul Baroi
Juliate Keya Malaker
Bina Adhikary
James Prodip Biswas
Mary M. Rozario
Samukele Ngubane

Planning, Design & Layout

Nipun Alam
Classic Inn

DTP
Anirudha Alam

Photograph
Heidi, Kristin, Sajedul
S. R. Barua
YWCA Collection

Published by
YWCA of Bangladesh
3/23, Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur
Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Telephone: 880-2-9126432, 8125015
Fax: 880-2-9125459
E-mail: ywca@bdmail.net
Contents
From the National President 04 Chapter 6
National General Secretary’s Foreword 05 SPECIAL PROGRAM 31
Executive Summary 07 Special Program With Ethnic Communities 31
Emergency Support 32
Chapter 1
YWCA OF BANGLADESH AT A GLANCE 09 Chapter 7
LEADERSHIP & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 2 PROGRAM 33
MEMBERSHIP 11
Chapter 8
Chapter 3 PROSPERITY MOBILIZATION 37
EDUCATION PROGRAM 13 Advocacy & Networking 37
Promotional Activities 39
Chapter 4
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM 17 Chapter 9
Health Program 17 STEPPING FORWARD 41
Savings and Credit Program 23 Birisiri Training and Resource Centre 41
Functional Literacy Program 27 Senior Citizen's Home, Savar 42
Adolescent Development Program 28
Chapter 10
Chapter 5 CONCLUSION 45
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS 29
From
the National President

Knitting changes collectively

Getting the gateway to prosperity

This Annual Report has recorded the achievements of YWCA of Bangladesh in enabling deprived community people to steer
their own development over the period of 2007-08. As we are moving ahead constantly, it is very much necessary to keep
a pragmatic balance among the different development priorities. Mulling over this pivotal point in mind, YWCA of
Bangladesh set up a priority to unlock the value of uncared human resources, especially the destitute women, in this
reporting year through different development activities.

Since its inception, the YWCA is performing development activities relying on a membership movement to work for peace
and justice for all irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Through a thorough process of reducing disadvantaged people's
vulnerability to impoverishment, ignorance, illiteracy, ill health and malnutrition, we believe that YWCA of Bangladesh is
now well-equipped and uniquely positioned to supplement sustainable development on a great scale. We are working
always to help community people understand their learning needs and upgrading integrated community capacity
development strategies to address their problems. During the reporting period, we made the disadvantaged community
identify solutions to the toughest development challenges comprehensively.

While much has been achieved by YWCA of Bangladesh with the assistance of all level stakeholders, much remains to be
done. So with a focus on the communities' immediate and long-term development needs, it continued the life skill
development programs phenomenally at field level that the deprived community people would be able to attain a higher
degree of self reliance.

Catering to the target groups, YWCA of Bangladesh placed a blue print to develop their livelihood. So there was no option
of success in bringing about positive changes among the deprived people in this reporting year. In view of that, we have
only one strategic choice to make them broaden their horizons of improving lifestyles.

Walking the miles of five decades, YWCA of Bangladesh has been providing assistance to the community people
transforming their lives towards peace and prosperity. It always capitalized on the collective action and the very practical
way to build institutional capacity among the target beneficiaries needed to promote, support and accelerate human
development and sustainable growth. Consequently, they achieved concrete improvements in their lives deserving strong
support from YWCA. Over this reporting year, mentionable achievement has been gained in the field of quality education,
health awareness and livelihood development contributing to unlocking the deep-seated poverty trap as a whole.

Coping with time and need, we have to expand, modify and intensify our effort for improving the quality of lives of our
community people. In close collaboration with the community people, we are having the windows of opportunity to curb
the spread of poverty epidemic thorough multi-pronged development activities. YWCA of Bangladesh earnestly participated
in promoting human rights, dignity, gender development and equality for increasing penurious people's social, financial and
cultural potentialities in the last year. Thus, it has the great confidence and philanthropic philosophy in depth that it should
not lose out on the opportunity to turn our communities into a success story for poverty alleviation complementing
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In beating off bitter poverty to build a better Bangladesh, bunches of blessings were rained downed upon us by Almighty
God over the reporting period of 2007-08. Concurrently, we are looking forward to in-deep faith His divine and dignified
assistance to orchestrate and develop our programs for knitting positive changes in the lives of the underprivileged and
needy people. I am certainly thankful to the World YWCA for continuing their consecutive and essential backing, guidance
as well as significant facilitation. Along with, I am acknowledging the roles of our partners, donors, well wishers and other
stakeholders especially the honorable members and staff with great importance in making our initiatives and endeavors
forward.

Rina Das
National President
YWCA of Bangladesh

4-5
 National General
Secretary's Foreword

Sharing through collective action

Steering development towards
sustainable future

Year 2007-08 was a landmark for making YWCA of Bangladesh at the frontline of easing poverty and ignorance of
disadvantaged community people comprehensively. Being committed mostly to the empowerment of women and young
girls, it was exclusively dedicated to supplementing sustainable development at the field level through diversified
development program over the reporting period. We helped the disadvantaged people empowered through gaining a voice
in the decision making and improving their livelihood in true sense.

The YWCA of Bangladesh put social mobilization at the centre of its development agenda and marshaled a wide range of
local resource mobilization at the field level to make its development programs more effective and dynamic in the last year.
This has, consequently, set the stage for YWCA of Bangladesh to attain its distance goals easily and successfully in the
years ahead.

YWCA of Bangladesh is always monitoring the results of the program implementations at the community level. To preview
the success and prosperity, it is reviewing its implementation strategy and progress through its well-defined guideline. Thus
it was kept on the right track to gain high watermark of success in community based interventions during the reporting
period of 2007-08.

To provide sufficient ground for adequate and lasting improvements to the disadvantaged communities, YWCA of
Bangladesh comprising the twelve local YWCAs is always stimulating its beneficiaries' inner beings to develop their life skill
for grappling with development challenges all along. In this regard, there is no alternative of empowering women truly for
doubling the development as a whole. So, increasing its own contribution to develop the luck of the underprivileged people,
especially the women, YWCA of Bangladesh improved the development effectiveness through more coherent partnerships
with respective stakeholders.

Over the reporting year, YWCA of Bangladesh explored means and avenues to expand and deepen collaboration with the
community people through integrated approach, i.e., demand driven approach. We provided essential know-how, effective
training and much needed education to the target beneficiaries. All of these initiatives put YWCA of Bangladesh on the way
of great achievement towards self sustaining development. As a result, it has been possible to perform the groundwork for
the programs to be implemented and enhanced in next years easily and effectively. In additon, YWCA is being always
updated and groomed up counting on the timely Strategic Plan (SP) that it is having necessary strategic direction for next
four years in attaining its objectives through best utilization of the available resources.

Being well-equipped with financial and ethical backing and assistance provided by our valued partners, volunteers,
members and other stakeholders, the largest part of our activities has been converted into the desired achievement. We
are undoubtedly grateful to them. Their devotion and determination fueled our programs to be materialized properly. I am
showing gratitude passionately to the Board of Management, who played an essential role to forward our movement
towards a pragmatic social change. Therefore, I am thanking them from the deep of my heart. Side by side, in all of these
achievements, YWCA of Bangladesh is blessed with an exceptionally dedicated and qualified professional staff. It is, indeed,
honor and privilege to work with them.

At length, I believe that this effort to publish the documentation oriented report of 2007-08 will be able to bring about
enough interest among the esteemed readers to know regarding our community-based programs, interventions and
success as well as the philanthropic viewpoint of YWCA of Bangladesh.

Joyce Mormita Das

National General Secretary
YWCA of Bangladesh
Easing vulnerability to poverty and ignorance
Reaching up to sustainable development
Making headway in improving the socio-economic
condition of disadvantaged people especially the
destitute women, YWCA of Bangladesh has been
striving towards peace and prosperity for its target
groups over the years. It helps bunch up existing life
skills of the deprived community people to develop
their livings and then makes them launch a
vehement attack on impoverishment. Thus they are
being geared to self-sustaining development.
Being emerged in 1961 with holistic vision to
empower and develop the lives of women, girls and
children, YWCA of Bangladesh is stimulating its
target groups to make a strategic choice for
upgrading their livelihood through capacity building.
It encourages and rejuvenates them to broaden their
horizons of prosperity. Capitalizing on this
prosperity, a good number of beneficiaries were able
to diagnose their problems, surmount prevailing
difficulties and put forward their achievements
towards attaining pragmatic changes in living
standard over the period of 2007-08.
In response to the most pressing challenges faced by
the target beneficiaries, YWCA of Bangladesh,
nowadays, well-equipped with timely objectives,
strategies and approaches. Providing the services
passionately related to social mobilization, capacity
building, quality education, health awareness,
savings and credit program, functional literacy
program, adolescent development program,
economic development projects, special program
with ethnic communities, emergency support,
leadership & youth development program, prosperity
mobilization, advocacy & networking as well as
group development support, YWCA of Bangladesh
along with the twelve local YWCAs is integrating
innovation with implementation consecutively. For
yielding opportunities of ending poverty, thus the
beneficiaries are being moved towards
empowerment, self-reliance and improvement of
life-style.
Education is the true essence of human
development. Lighting up lives of the benighted
community people with far sighted views, YWCA of
Bangladesh is constantly making them fight against
illiteracy and ignorance. Under education program, it
is offering the services divided into two segments,
like free schools and pay schools. To create
opportunities for the deprived children to have
access to education as a basic amenity, YWCA of
Bangladesh set about free school program in 1984
with 75 students. With the passage of time, during
the reporting period students of free schools enrolled
were 1,678. On the other hand, YWCA of Bangladesh
is operating nursery schools in 12 of its local
branches. And nowadays the number of enrolled
students is 10,014 in total.
Ensuring sound health for all is the stepping stone to
sustainable development. Thinking this moot point
very sincerely, the health program of YWCA of
Bangladesh is providing services at community level
catering to the target groups. During the reporting
period, more than 27,000 people were brought
under this program. The noteworthy health services
were reducing maternal and child mortality,
awareness building on water-sanitation and
nutrition, growth monitoring, reproductive health
literacy, ensuring ANC (antenatal care) and PNC
(postnatal care), immunization, increasing functional
knowledge on STD/HIV/AIDS, counseling on
exclusive breast feeding, family planning, changing
women's behavior through awareness building and
so on.
Available access to easy finance leads the way to
self-reliance. Otherwise, livelihood development can
8-9
be neither broad-base nor self-sustained.
Considering this significance in depth, YWCA of
Bangladesh is providing microfinance oriented
services to its target groups. In 2007-08, YWCA of
Bangladesh mobilized 1,150 groups with 16,130
members cumulatively. The total savings of these
groups was Taka 36 million.
Leadership development is one of the key
preconditions for developing life-skill of the target
groups and the other respective stakeholders. In this
reporting period, YWCA of Bangladesh organized
several and demandable leadership development
and skill development activities for its staff,
beneficiaries, reference groups and volunteers
through initiating trainings, workshops, orientations,
colloquiums, seminars, exchange visits as well as
making scopes for attending different international
programs abroad.
Experiencing different challenges and difficulties
from the date of its emergence in implementing the
multifaceted development program and initiative,
YWCA of Bangladesh is trying to scale up its skill and
develop capacity ceaselessly for establishing a just
society. Though the destination is yet far to reach, it
is sailing confidently on to the desired goal.
Setting the very goal
Carrying out social pragmatic change

Genesis Table: List of Local YWCAs

The YWCA of Bangladesh with an aim to empower
Affiliated to
women and change lives of especially the YWCA Formed
National YWCA
marginalized women, girls and children irrespective
of caste, creed or religion started its journey in 1961 Dhaka 1961 1979
in Dhaka. Assembling 12 local centers all over the
Barisal 1972 1979
country, at present it is a well-groomed and
flourishing social welfare and philanthropic Chittagong 1973 1979
organization. After emergence of Bangladesh in
Pabna 1979 1980
1971, YWCA of Bangladesh was rejuvenated with an
independent movement in an independent country Comilla 1979 1981
and ensured its resourceful existence phenomenally
Khulna 1981 1983
in the world. It initially got going with the attendance
of 27 members in the years of 1961-1969. With the Birisiri 1982 1986
passage of time, YWCA of Bangladesh has 1857
Chandpur 1985 1988
members and 679 staff. It is executing multi
pronged pro-poor and development oriented Gopalganj 1990 1995
programs and projects at community level ensuring Dinajpur 1990 1995
services to more than 75,000 women, young girls
and children. To win the race of prosperity, YWCA of Jessore 1995 2000
CHAPTER 1

Bangladesh is going ahead with 526 young women's Khagrachari 1997 2000
vivid and active involvement as member of the
organization. Savar 2004 -
Organizational basis X COMMUNITY HEALTH PROGRAM
The organizational basis of YWCA of Bangladesh is X Health Education
"Faith in God, the Father Almighty; and in Jesus X Immunization
Christ, His only Son, our Lord and Saviour; and in X Maternal and Child Health Care
the Holy Spirit." X Clean Water and Sanitation
X Motivation for Family Planning
Vision X Medical Services

An inclusive society free from economic and humane

X MICRO-FINANCE PROGRAM
poverty and injustice; where people, particularly the
women, irrespective of caste, creed and faith, are X Savings Program
enjoying equal rights and nurturing their own culture X Credit Program
in favourable natural and social environment. X Skill Trainings
X Income-generating Activities
Mission X Awareness Raising Programs

The Young Women's Christian Association of

X ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Bangladesh (YWCA), an affiliated association of the
X Guest House and Training Center
World YWCA, strives for a just, equitable, tolerant,
X Sales Centers
peaceful, harmonious and sustainable society
X Beauty Parlor
through developing and empowering the
X Short Courses
marginalized and disadvantaged section of the X Jute Crafts
society, especially women and young girls; X Food production
improving their quality of lives, unfolding their latent X Sewing
talents, restoring their dignity and self-confidence, X Embroidery
and preserving and promoting traditional culture and X Integrated Agricultural Program
environment.
X LEADERSHIP AND YOUTH
Objectives DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
X The YWCA of Bangladesh seeks to organize, X ADVOCACY & COUNSELING
develop and unite local associations, which
X SPECIAL PROGRAMS
subscribe to its above-mentioned organizational
basis, and endeavours to promote the full X Youth Hostel
development of women and young girls X Day Care Centre for Children
irrespective of race, culture and creed. It seeks X Senior Citizen's Home
to develop a membership that is responsive to X Emergency Support to Disaster Victims
the changing needs of the whole community in a X Special Program with Ethnic Communities
changing world.
Affiliation
X The YWCA of Bangladesh and its member Being the largest international women's movement
associations are non-profit making organizations the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)
desiring to improve the quality of life for women, has been striving to shape wellbeing for more than
girls and children, regardless of faith, of the 25 million women and girls in 125 countries. The
most destitute classes through education, YWCA of Bangladesh got affiliated with World YWCA
awareness building, skill training and / or in the year of 1979. And since then it has been an
active partner in establishing peace, justice and
employment.
human dignity supplementing Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) as a whole.
Key programs and activities of the
YWCA of Bangladesh
X MEMBERSHIP
X EDUCATION
X Formal - Nursery, Primary & Girls High
Schools, Free Schools
X Non-formal - Adolescent Development
Program, Functional Literacy

10 - 11
Teaming up to turn target into reality
Capitalizing on a holistic membership approach,
YWCA has been assembling resources and striving to
reduce development disparities contributing to the
sustainable development over the years. The
membership of YWCA of Bangladesh tailored to the
timely and comprehensive mission of unlocking the
value of uncared human resources and empowering
women in true sense is open to any women or girl who
desires to be associated with the world wide
fellowship of the YWCA. She should have sympathy
with the core Aim of YWCA and will be committed to
its vision and activities as well. The membership of
YWCA is available under the following category-
Any woman of sixteen years of age or over being
possessed of a great sympathy with the Purpose and
Functions of the YWCA may, on payment of the
requisite dues, become a Member.
To be affiliated with YWCA of Bangladesh, any local
association has to maintain and fulfill some well-
defined conditions set forth below:
X Every Association shall signify in writing its
acceptance of the Constitution of the YWCA of
Bangladesh.
X Every Association shall file an official, dated copy
of its constitution and Bye-laws with the National
Board, and secure its approval for proposed
amendments to it.
X Every Association shall confirm to requirements
set forth below and include them in its
constitution.
i. The basis of YWCA of Bangladesh must be
quoted in full in the Constitution of affiliated
Associations.
ii. Every Association shall embody in its
Constitution the following statement of Aim:
a) To bring women and girls into a worldwide
Christian fellowship
b) To provide opportunities for the growth of the
spiritual, intellectual, social and physical
welfare of women and girls
c) To train and to provide women and girls with
opportunities of service
d) To make women and girls aware of their own
situation and help to change and develop
their situation.
X Every association shall pay annually a share of the
CHAPTER 2
expense of the National Association in accordance
with a plan adopted by the National Assembly.
X Every Association shall send to the National
Board Progress Reports of its work, the Annual
Report and audited financial statement.
X Every Association shall appoint its own General X Membership Day
Secretary whose appointment will be ratified by X Christmas Program
the National Board. X Picnic
X Every Association shall use the approved X Meena Bazar
membership form prepared by the National X Bengali New Year
YWCA for the enrolment of members. X Spring Festival (Bosonto Boron) etc.

Table: Membership Status

YWCA 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Dhaka 647 647 714
Barisal 121 121 124
Chittagong 132 133 141
Pabna 84 87 92
Comilla 132 112 122
Khulna 114 131 155
Birisiri 107 113 113
Chandpur 106 108 113
Gopalganj 91 99 83
Dinajpur 60 62 53
Jessore 38 54 62
Khagrachari 80 85 85
Total 1712 1752 1857
Savar 30 39 60

Members amounted to 1,857 at present are the true

driving force of YWCA.

With the pivotal responsibility towards families and

communities, women's leadership is essential in
finding sustainable solutions to global problems and
injustices. Through the YWCA, the inner beings of
women are being stimulated to discover their
potentials, become leaders and use their power for
attaining pragmatic change. As an effective tool of
empowering women, YWCA invests significantly on
the development of its members and organizes
various capacity building activities under the
stewardship of life skill development programs
through out the year. With a view to involving the
members in the overall development process and
initiatives, YWCA organized such programs and
activities during the reporting period 2007-08 as:

X World YWCA Day

X Round The World Breakfast Prayer
X World Week of Prayer
X Annual Public Meeting
X Issue based seminars
X Health Camps
X Observance of different National & International
days
X International Women's Day
X International Mother Language Day

12 - 13
Lighting up lives
Making the right a reality
Education a matter of human rights is a mandatory
prerequisite for social enhancement. It plays a
necessary and fundamental role for social justice,
equity, peace and prosperity as well. But it is a very
terrible fact for us that most of the children of our
country are deprived of quality education. Being
caged by the curse of illiteracy, they are being
translated into unskilled and underdeveloped human
resources on a great scale. This undesired
circumstance having a catastrophic result is creating
barrier to social, financial, political and cultural
development acutely. Taking into consideration all of
these existing conditions very seriously, YWCA of
Bangladesh identified education as one of its priority
areas. Since the commencement, it has been
contributing to generate access to education mostly
for girls and children from underprivileged
communities. Imparting quality education is one of
the key objectives of YWCA of Bangladesh. With view
of that, it established nursery schools in 12 of its
local branches. Education services offered by YWCA
are divided into such two segments as pay schools
and free schools.
Pay School
The objective of pay school is to provide quality
education, and unfold spiritual, intellectual and
creative abilities of the students. The students in the
nursery/primary schools are boys and girls of 3 to 10
years old. In Secondary and Higher Secondary level,
the students are girls only of 8 to 18 years. The
YWCA of Dhaka only provides education at Higher
Secondary level. In most of the YWCA schools, male
and female student enrollment ratio is 20:80.
The school facilities have been set-up either on own
or rented space at suitable locations in majority
cases. The schools are equipped with modern
education materials, and adequate furniture and
other facilities. In addition to government prescribed
curricula, suitable additional curricula are followed
for development of faculties of the students. There
are information and communication facilities in most
of the schools. There is provision for sports and
suitable entertainment for the students.
CHAPTER 3
Almost all the YWCAs have adequate trained
teachers to offer quality education to the students.
There is provision to update teachers' skills through
training at two years interval. Provisions are also
made to orient the teachers on various
contemporary issues, challenges to be faced and
coping capacities. Besides, to support the
comparatively weaker schools, exposure visits or
special training courses are organized. School
management is a crucial part of running a school.
Therefore, review workshops/seminars or trainings
are organized for the Headmistresses and Principals.

Lesson plans based on the curricula are regularly

prepared and followed by the teachers. Weekly and
three term examinations in a year are regularly held.
At the year-end the students are awarded with
prizes for excellent performance in the examinations
and extra curriculum activities.

Environment prevailing in most of the school

campuses is favourable for education. Strict
disciplines for all concerned are maintained in the
schools. Most of the schools are efficiently managed
following the carefully developed and continuously
updated education policy. Besides, various other
programs like art, dance and music classes are
organized for the students. To create a learning
atmosphere and enjoyable environment, most of the
schools arrange various programs like; science fair,
winter fair (Poush Mela), art competition, Bengali
New Year Day (Pohela Boishakh); observe various
national and international days like; Girl Child Day,
World AIDS Day, World Literacy Day, World Health
Day, International Mother Language Day, Victory
Day, Independence Day and so on.
In major locations, the guardians’ active and sincere
cooperation and supports are always available.
Guardian Day is observed twice a year. Their
constructive opinions are accepted and implemented.
Excellent performance of students of selected schools
of several branches in Secondary School Certificate
Examination for consecutive years has enhanced the
image of the YWCA schools particularly in Dhaka. In
2008, a total of 106 students appeared SSC
examination. All of them passed successfully. A total of
101 students got GPA 5. Among them, 41 students got
Golden GPA 5. And the rest got Grade A.

Free School
Table: Number of Students Enrolled in
YWCA started free-school program in 1984 with 75
Nursery, Primary and Girl's High School
students. The objective was to offer quality education
No. of No. of No. of up to grade- V to underprivileged children and increase
Name of the
students students students
branch literacy rate in the target community; and to increase
2006 2007 2008
awareness of education (both primary and higher)
Dhaka 3619 3,770 3793 among the students and their parents. At present, the
Chittagong 368 535 648 total number of the students of free schools is 1687,
Pabna 308 332 364 and the total number of free schools are 12.
Comilla 2,140 2,306 2337
Students of free schools are mostly from destitute
Barisal 780 850 900 and single parent families. Many of them are working
Khulna 103 145 119 children. In free schools, education is completely
Chandpur 400 522 635 free of cost. Children there are given uniforms,
books and other study materials. The expenses of
Birisiri 53 50 64
free schools are met with the income from pay
Jessore 70 87 99 schools. All possible efforts are made at the free
Gopalganj 31 37 63 schools for ensuring quality education and favorable
Khagrachari 84 125 176 education environment. Similar curriculums as pay
Dinajpur 16 33 47 schools are followed in the free schools. Special
sessions are taken for students who are
National 300 594 769
comparatively weak or do not have the environment
Total 8,272 9,386 10,014 at home to study.

14 - 15
 empowering communities towards sustainable future

Table: Enrollment Status of Free School

Students
No. of No. of No. of
Name of the
students students students
branch
2006 2007 2008
Dhaka 500 500 500
Chittagong 390 370 422
Pabna 104 106 112
Comilla 177 200 149
Barisal 200 201 174
Khulna 117 137 93
Chandpur 150 170 175
Dinajpur 27 33 32
Gopalganj 30
Total 1665 1717 1678

Children at the free schools are offered feeding

support which ranges from bread, banana, snacks,
hotchpotch etc. The health workers of YWCA take
sessions on personal hygiene and other health
related issues, especially on problems of puberty,
with the students once in a month. Treatment and
referral support are also extended catering to the
students.

Side by side, the students are offered with such

CHAPTER 3

special sessions as music, dance, art and so on. To

stimulate their creativity and hone their mental
growth, the schools organize special events, for
instance - sports day, art exhibition, science fair,
parents day, exposure, day out, cultural events etc.

YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08

Though the students in free schools can study up to
class five they are encouraged to continue their
education through different initiatives of YWCA. The
best 10 students evaluated in the final examination
of class five are provided with monthly stipend to
maintain their educational expenses up to SSC level.
More over, the students having outstanding result at
SSC level also get further support to continue their
study for higher education. In the reporting period,
about 85% of the free school students completed
primary education and took admission in high
schools.
YWCA maintains strong network with government
and non-government agencies and public and
private schools for getting the pass-outs of Free
School students admitted into Secondary Schools of
the localities. Besides, initiatives are also made to
link students with organizations who provide various
skill development programs like; welding, carpenter,
motor mechanic etc. and organizations those provide
special scholarship for hard to reach children and
adolescents.
Special efforts are made to organize the mothers of
the free school students. Weekly meetings are
arranged for the mothers where the community
workers talk about various social issues with them.
Mostly the discussions are on health, women rights,
child and mother health care etc. Families going
through various psycho-social problems receive
counseling support.

Nikhil is on the way to

fulfilling his dreams
Nikhil Das, 19, is the son of late Niranjan Das, lives with his mother and
grandparents at fisher men's village at Potenga under Chittagong District. In
1994, he got admitted in the free school of Chittagong YWCA. Nikhil with his
outstanding results and modest behavior could establish himself as one of the
best students in the school and successfully completed his primary education
from the free school.

The free school of YWCA of Chittagong teaches only up to class five. So Nikhil
had to take admission to Potenga High School, which was a pay school.
Nikhil's parents were not in a position to bear the tuition fees, which was a relatively small amount of money.
However, Nikhil had a strong desire for higher studies. He did not submit himself to poverty. He started to
work as a day laborer at the age of 12 to meet the educational expenses. YWCA of Chittagong also provided
him financial assistance now and then, especially for buying books or for paying examination fees. Even after
all these obstacles he passed the Secondary School Certificate exam with Grade A.

After finishing high school he took admission at Chittagong City Collage, one of the prestigious colleges in
Chittagong. By this time he stopped working as a day laborer and started to work as a private tutor. Still,
sometimes he had to seek assistance from Chittagong YWCA as the earnings he had from private tuition was
not adequate enough to bear study expenses. Nikhil completed Higher Secondary Certificate exam with a
score of grade A in 2007.

Nikhil joined the micro-credit groups of YWCA at the age of 18. There he started to save a small amount of
money every month. He now has a savings of Taka 2500. He also took a loan of Taka 10,000.00 and invested
the money to start a tea stall. His grandfather runs this stall. There, they could also employ two persons who
are paid taka 30 per day. Their income from this stall is about taka 4000.00 per month.

Nikhil wants to become a teacher after finishing his studies. To fulfill his dream he is preparing himself to take
admission for Bachelor of Social Science at the Chittagong College. Besides, he is also taking a spoken English
course and a computer course.

According to Nikhil, the reason behind his success is his strong determination and hard work. He never ceased
believing in his dreams, and that is what drove him further.
Health for all
Leading to wealthy future

HEALTH PROGRAM
There is no doubt that available access to health X To change women's behavior through awareness
services plays a significant role for improving living building
standard among the community people. Most of the X To ensure better health
people of Bangladesh are gravely susceptible to ill-
health and malnutrition due to their chronic poverty,
Table: No. of People Received Health Support
ignorance and illiteracy. Owing to lack of necessary
health awareness, the poor people are being Name of Total
transformed into inexpert and inefficient human No of families
YWCAs Population
resources. Coping with time and need, they can not
contribute to the development at family, community Barisal 600 2,445
and national level in true sense. In response to this Birisiri 300 1,211
social vulnerable condition, YWCA of Bangladesh has
Chandpur 608 2882
been implementing its inclusive health programs
making available community based health services in Chittagong 1,200 5,196
the intervention areas for the target groups. Over the Comilla 600 2,890
reporting year 2007-08, the health program conducted
by YWCA of Bangladesh covered about 27,000 people Dhaka 1,171 5,062
through its multi dimensional community based Dinajpur 175 730
approach. Counting on in-depth survey findings, the Gopalgonj 200 924
local YWCAs selected slums in the urban and semi-
urban areas. Currently, the 12 local YWCAs are Jessore 250 1,239
CHAPTER 4

working with 5,902 families. As per the well-defined Khagrachari 55 222

plan, the major objectives of the health program are:
Khulna 600 2,575

X To reduce maternal, infant and child morbidity Pabna 308 1,770

and mortality rate Total 6,067 27,146
Reproductive Health mortality rate is making general health condition
very much chancy and critical continuously. YWCA of
We should keep in mind that reproductive health
Bangladesh has a long experience in conducting
literacy is key wealth all along life. It is the
comprehensive program for reducing maternal
cornerstone of happy family. Making headway in
mortality and improving the overall reproductive
reproductive health awareness, YWCA is having the
health literacy as women's basic right. It gave
target groups certainly get the gateway to healthy
emphasis on proper ANC services for the target
future. At the deprived community level, people are
groups during the reporting period 2007-08 aiming
suffering from different health hazards due to lack of
at promotion of safe delivery.
sufficient reproductive health literacy. Keeping an eye
on this precarious condition, YWCA of Bangladesh put
YWCA extends antenatal care through village based
an especial importance on enhancing reproductive
satellite centers. Mostly, house of a reference
health awareness within its programmatic capacity
member or YWCA functional literacy center is
during the reporting year 2007-08.
selected as a center. The health worker sits there
once or twice in a month. The expectant mothers of
X The activities carried out under reproductive
those areas are brought to the center for regular
health services are;
check ups. Besides, checking their weight, blood
X Antenatal and postnatal care
pressure etc. the health workers also link them with
X Conduction of safe delivery mostly by
the health centers for vaccination. The critical cases
training practicing TBAS
are immediately referred to nearby health centers
X Distribution of VAC capsule within 42 days
with Emergency Obstetric Care (EOC) facilities.
of delivery
X Ensure exclusive breastfeeding upto 2 years
This centre also extends neo-natal health care
of age
services. The service includes health education for
X Identification of risk deliveries and referral
mother on cleanliness, umbilical cord care, breast
support
feeding, routine eye prophylaxis and special care of
X Nutrition education
pre term and low birth weight babies, prevention
X Distribution of Iron tablets among pregnant
and treatment of Acute Respiratory Infection. In this
women to prevent Anaemia
reporting period YWCA extended Antenatal services
X Reduce unsafe abortion
to 374 women and post natal services to 266
X Infant care (tetanus, infection in naval cord
women. A total of 210 pregnant mothers received
jaundice etc.)
at least 3 pre and 2 post natal care services. The
X STI/RTI, HIV/AIDS awareness
achievement was 93 % against the set target. A
X Breast and cervical cancer
total of 34 risk delivery cases were referred to the
X Awareness education on Infertility and
local health centers. The total number of women
Contraception.
from the age of 15-45 received TT vaccine amounted
Maternal Health to 525. Maternal mortality rate among the reference
member was 0%. Besides, 78% births in the
In our country, the biggest portion of the population
reference areas got registered.
is living in remote rural areas. They are living
severely under the poverty line and they are out of
To increase functional knowledge with regard to
reach from the essential health services. Among of
prevention of Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI),
them, women are greatly vulnerable to different
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV/AIDS
kinds of mental and physical illnesses. High maternal

series of activities were organized at different levels.
At the central level TOTs on HIV/AIDS and
Reproductive Health were organized for the senior
and program level staff. A number of training
sessions were also brought about for the grass-roots
level community people and representatives of other
organizations. About 3000 members participated in
various programs organized on these topics. Special
efforts were also made to disseminate these
messages to the young girls specially the school
children who were in their teen age. YWCA organized
Table: Immunization Status
Total
Activities
coverage
Tetanus Toxoid (TT) for pregnant
210
mothers (2 doses)
5 doses of Tetanus Toxoid (TT) for
525
15 - 49 years women/ girls
Vaccination against Measles
649
+OPV+VAC
Vaccination against Hepatitis B Virus
533
for 0-1 year's children
BCG 649
DPT+OPV 758
OPV under National Immunization
3350
Day (NID) Program initiated
VAC under National Immunization
3124
Day (NID) Program initiated
rallies at the local level and also participated rally
and seminars organized at the national level by
various organizations and Government of
Bangladesh. YWCA has also been an active member
of the National STD/STI network.
YWCA took special effort to inform the community
people about breast cancer, its symptoms, health
care etc. YWCA has already developed informal
network with Bangladesh Cancer Association, and
established a cancer unit called 'Asrukana Cancer
Support Unit' in rememberance of the memory of
Late Asrukana Das the Founder National General
Secretary, YWCA of Bangladesh.
Family Planning
Family planning is the flagship component of general
health program of YWCA of Bangladesh. Basically
planning for happy family in time is the source of all
happiness in family life. So retaining a priority for
increasing awareness of family planning into its core
policies and strategies of general health program,
YWCA of Bangladesh is activity participating in
empowering communities towards sustainable future
promoting disadvantaged family's potential at
community level. Family Planning Program helps to
reduce the incidence of high risk birth of the mothers
by spacing and limiting the number of children.
YWCA has also been active in this area since the
beginning. At the initiation stage YWCA along with
consultation also provided various contraceptives.
Now, the service is mostly limited in awareness
raising, motivation for use of birth control,
prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS and reduction of
discontinuation of short acting FP methods.
In the reporting year YWCA organized regular yard
meetings and special sessions for the eligible couples
to talk with them about the importance of family
planning, various FP methods, STD/HIV/AIDS etc.
Among the 5480 eligible couples only 2997 were
found using contraceptives. The present rate of
using contraceptive among the target community
people is 54.64% which was 41.01% in last year.
Adolescent Care
With the philosophy of making today's adolescent girls
transformed into valuable human resources to be
future-worthy mothers, YWCA of Bangladesh is
conducting behavior change communications for them
at community level efficiently. Their life skills are
being developed by such effective promotional
activities as training, orientation, colloquium, gender
session and so on. Through empowering women, we
may double our national development. In view of that,
adolescent girls' inner beings are being developed
that they are very much aware of reproductive health,
women’s rights, empowerment and so forth.
Since 1998, YWCA of Bangladesh has been
undertaking specific behavioral change
communication to address the adolescents' problems
counting on adolescent friendly approach. Women
especially, adolescents have little access to health
care facilities in Bangladesh. Though the national
Family Planning Program targets eligible couples
especially married women between 15 to 49 years,
many of these adolescents are not receiving
education and services for maintaining soundness of
their reproductive health. As a means to bring about
necessary awareness among the adolescents and
keep them away from practicing risky behavior,
YWCA of Bangladesh conducted comprehensive
education program in the reporting period. Under
this effort, it identified various schools and also
CHAPTER 4
adolescents in the communities and took sessions
on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, gender related
issues, women’s rights & empowerment and
environment etc. The events focused on the
YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08
following topics;
X adolescences & puberty,
X proper nutrition,
X early marriage and dowry,
X safe sexual behavior,
X means to avoid health risk including
STD/HIV/AIDS,
X marriage registration,
X antenatal care, post natal care, hygiene and the
list goes on.

Nutrition
Lack of nutrition awareness makes community
people socially and financially vulnerable. They are
easily susceptible to ill-health, lethargy,
unenterprising and unpersevering. They are
physically and mentally unable to put their quality
effort in improving their living standard. So YWCA of
Bangladesh is enhancing its effort to advance
community development through marshaling
nutrition awareness at field level. With the vision to
decrease malnutrition, particularly among women,
girls and children, YWCA of Bangladesh is sharply
conscious to shake up and strengthen communities'
capacity for assessing and analyzing the causes of
their malnutrition problems. At the same time, it is
having them make better use of family, community
and external resources to develop the nutritional
status of vulnerable groups.
Encourage the mothers to continue to breast feed
their children up to the age of two years, and provide
weaning food at the right time after 6 months of age
is one of the priority activities under this component.
The number of total children under the age of 2 was
968. Among them 440 were found exclusively
breastfed upto the age of six months and 473 were
found received weaning food at proper time.
Practical demonstration on how to cook food without
damaging the nutrition contents and preparation of
cheap but nutritionally reach food (hotchpotch) we
also organized. Sometimes the community
participated by bringing various ingredients like;
rice, lentils, vegetables, small fishes, eggs etc.
The community based health care program arranged
regular (monthly) weighing of children up to the age
of 3 years. It ensured the services by monitoring
children's growth regularly and chart the results. It
helped the mothers to rapidly adjust their caring
practices including feeding, to bring growth back on
schedule before too much harm is done. It also
identified the malnourished children and extended
special care to them. Special sessions we organized
for the mothers of the malnourished children on child
care and nutrition. Children suffering from 3rd
degree malnutrition we brought under medication or
linked with local organizations that have special
programs with them. In the reporting period, 1535
children were weighed and out of them 173 children
were found malnourished. Of them, 127 got
recovered and the rest were under observation.
Special nutrition education for adolescent boys and
girls (including pregnant mothers) for the prevention
of Iron Deficiency Anemia were also organized. About
3124 children (1-5) years were administered with
Vitamin A Capsule (VAC). Dewarming drugs were
administered among 2423 children (2-5 yrs of age).
Environment, Sanitation and Safe
Drinking Water
Without contributing to improvement of the public
health of disadvantaged women and children, it is
impossible to reduce maternal and child mortality in
true sense. Lack of awareness as to safe water and
sanitation causes massive diarrhea, water and
excreta-borne diseases, skin diseases like
arsenicosis and so on. So community people should
be aware of means for reducing morbidity and
mortality caused by water and excreta-borne
diseases. Through demand-responsive sanitation
and hygiene promotion services, our environment
may be free from pollution and protected on a great
scale. Bringing about favorable environment in water
sanitation sector, YWCA of Bangladesh is working
with a great commitment to promote sustainable
change in hygiene behavior. In 2007-08, emphasis
was put on hygiene education intertwining the
environment, sanitation and safe drinking water

20 - 21
 changing lives changing communities

Medical Service & Referal

Types of support extended under this component
are:
X Limited Curative Care: Eye infection/ear
infection, cold-cough, skin diseases i.e. scabies,
worm infestation
X Control of Communicable Diseases:
Tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, kala-azar, filaria,
and worm infestation (Intestinal parasites)
X Other emerging and re-emerging diseases:
Dengue

In the reporting period clinical support was extended

to a total of 9949 members, of whom about 36%
were children from 0-5 years old. Besides, 218
members who do not have the ability for treatment
were sent to local health centers.

Health Education for School

Children
During the reporting period 2007-08, YWCA
organized special sessions for the school children in
issues through integrated and holistic approach. It
the community to create awareness of various health
capacitated and sensitized the community people
issues. The topics generally discussed in these
under need-based orientation, training and advocacy
sessions were;
program that they would be able to supplement the
X Sex/gender education and HIV/AIDS
national sanitation target 'Sanitation for All by 2010'.
X Reproductive health (for adolescent boys and
Mapping out to contribute to the Governments girls)
effort at field level earnestly, YWCA of Bangladesh X Behavioral change during puberty age
shepherded awareness raising campaign on water X Awareness against non-commercial sex related
& sanitation related issues and conducted violence against children
courtyard meetings with reference communities. It X Importance of tetanus toxoid (TT) and hepatitis
also helped set up 107 slab latrines. As part of B virus vaccine
increasing use of clean water for household work X Self control diseases (i.e. diarrhoea)
and drink safe water for the prevention/control of
X Skin diseases (scabies, ring worm)
water borne diseases 38 tube wells were sunk and
X Worm infestation
55 old tube-wells were repaired. Awareness
campaigns on arsenic contamination of drinking X Personal hygiene
water were also organized in the arsenic prone X First aid
areas especially on the southern part of X Education on nutrition/food habit
Bangladesh. X Leprosy
X Children's right/human rights
Easing vulnerabilities to environmental pollution
X Smoking/drug abuse
and impoverishment is the most important
X Child trafficking/acid burning
prerequisite to lead healthy life. Tree plantation
under social forestry program is such kind of X Environment (safe drinking water and
program which may play necessary role in sanitation)
reducing poverty and protecting environment. In X Primary health care
the reporting year, saplings of various timber and X Burn/electric burn
CHAPTER 4

medicinal plants were distributed among the

members as part of awareness building on Simultaneously, health camps were organized to
environment conservation. Special workshops examine their health i.e. eye, heart, leprosy etc. In
were also conducted on conservation of the reference period, 2546 students were brought
environment and global warming. under this program.

YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08


Behavior Change Communication
(BCC)
Providing windows of opportunity for making
programs more effective, behavior change
communication (BCC) takes the programmatic
target forward i.e. towards desired attainment. Its
association with intensive social mobilization,
advocacy and different promotional activities puts
the program on the right track integrating initiatives
into programmatic outcomes.
During the reporting period, the community people
were made realize under this activity that why they
should change their behavior and practice. Coping
with time and need, they were updated with latest
information and knowledge to be able for reaching
development truly. Within programmatic aspect,
thus BCC widened the prosperity to achieve the
predecided goal raising awareness among the
respective target groups and stakeholders. To
bolster the BCC activities, YWCA of Bangladesh is
always exploring ideas and thought, developing
messages and materials as well as ensuring the
proper use of different media and channels. The BCC
program of YWCA addressed the following topics in
22 - 23
the reporting period:
X Sex education
X Education on gender
X Awareness against early marriage
X Awareness on delaying of first pregnancy for the
early married couples
X Marriage registration
X Birth registration
X Pre & post marriage education
X Awareness against non-commercial sex related
violence against children
X Mental health/mental support for women,
adolescent boys & girls, elderly people and
women on the menopausal stage
X Drug addiction
X Empowerment of women (gender and
development) through economic solvency.
Mental Health Program
Through this Program, YWCA performed to raise
awareness of mental health along with physical
health (the causes of mental health were discussed
with mothers and changes of attitudes were
intensively observed). Particularly mental health
program dealt with the following issues:
X Prevention of drug addiction
X Awareness of silent violence/ non-commercial
sex related violence against children
X Special care for elderly people.
Health Education
It is to sincerely considered the fact that inadequate
access to health education is the most important
cause of social and financial instability. It creates
undesired stumble in the flow of development
tremendously. With a view of empowering the girls
and women to let them develop a strong footing in
living, YWCA provided them timely and need based
health education.
Through out the reporting period, the program
provided appropriate training and skills to the people
so that they could take care of their health related
activities even after withdrawal of YWCA services.
Culture and development
Cultural events organized for the community women
created opportunities for them to flourish their
latent talents and also bolstered solidarity and group
dynamics over the reporting period. While observing
different national and international days the
reference groups organized street drama or cultural
events focusing on special issues.
Shaking up campaign with easy finance
Making life more meaningful
SAVINGS AND CREDIT PROGRAM
Most of the people of Bangladesh are deprived of the
facilities to borrow, save and invest in productive
activities for the lack of access to the formal
banking. In response to the multi-diversified and
wide ranging problems the micro-credit program
inaugurated by the NGOs is playing a significant role
in reducing poverty through income generating and
other promotional activities. Thinking over this
significance of savings and credit, YWCA of
Bangladesh started its Savings and Credit Program
in 1985. The target people are mostly women and
girls of 15-56 years old.
Program goal
Attaining economic solvency, increasing household
assets and developing social values of disadvantaged
people especially women.
Program objectives
X To enable the target people to increase their
CHAPTER 4
average daily family income.
X To create opportunities to develop and enhance
occupational skills for alternative livelihood.
X To extend support to initiate and run IGAs and
small enterprises efficiently.
YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08
X To enable the borrowers especially women to
establish their control over utilization of
borrowed fund in gainful activities and
possession of the same.
Strategies followed
The main strategies followed for achieving the
program objectives includes the following:
X Motivating target people to undertake suitable
alternative/ multiple IGAs for increasing their
family income and efficiently manage the same.
X Providing them necessary financial supports at
reasonable terms.
24 - 25
X Developing/ enhancing capability of target
people through appropriate training and regular
counseling and mentoring to select suitable IGAs
for them and efficiently manage the same.
X Motivating the target people on importance and
need for development of alternative IGAs.
X Enhancing women's active participation in
family decision-making process.
Group formation and Institution
Building
Group consisting of 15-20 members by and large is
the real core of all the development activities of
YWCA of Bangladesh. The group members

assembled to cope with poverty, hunger and other
social disparities & difficulties collectively are from
disadvantaged communities who are landless, selling
manual labor and whose total asset do not worth
more than TK. 25,000. Groups are setup to institute
and marshal well-groomed community based
organizations of rural and urban poor as well as
enhance skill for developing their livelihoods in
unison. After attaining maturity and competence to
hold responsibility through the collective action of
the members, the groups become eligible to receive
loan from Revolving Loan Fund.
YWCA over these years has cumulatively organized
1150 groups with 16,130 members. Of whom
15,229 are women and 901 are men.
Savings
Savings is the bedrock of credit operation. Moving
the microfinance program towards success and
prosperity, regular savings maintained by groups
indicate a sound discipline in the groups' credit
operation, increased income of the members and
improved management capacity of the groups. As
per the members' perception, savings enhance the
scope to save an amount and earn profit for them to
face external and undesired shocks as well as
unforeseen emergencies in future. This kind of
facilities is impossible to gain from any traditional
bank or financial institution. Over the reporting
period of 2007-08, the groups got more organized,
disciplined and regular in savings. The total
cumulative savings of the groups upto the year
2007-2008 is Taka 36,117,865.00.
empowering communities towards sustainable future
Credit
In our country, credit is playing a catalytic role to
empower the disadvantaged women phenomenally.
Providing credit to the group members for initiating
income generation activities, YWCA of Bangladesh
has been helping them to increase their income and
achieve self-sustaining development step by step.
Credit operations are being brought about at
community level through a Revolving Loan Fund
(RLF) supported by members' & donors' contribution
and YWCAs' own fund.
Key features of Loans
Loan range: Tk. 3000 - 70,000
Interest rate: 12% flat
Repayment mechanism: Equal monthly installments
Loan products: General loan
In the year 2007-2008, the Revolving Loan Fund
amounted to TK. 46,970,812.00. A total of Taka
47,969,842.00 was disbursed in 2007-2008 which is
38.53 % higher than last year. Total amount of loan
collected up to the closing of the reporting year was
TK.37,615,496.00 and the loan out standing is TK.
36,547,372.00.
The total recovery rate is around 88.48 %. The over
due rate stands 7.00% which was 10.11% in the last
fiscal year. The total amount of service charge
collected in the reporting period was TK.
4,392,882.00 which was 3,191,173.00 in last
reporting year. Besides, a total of TK.1,701,328.00
was distributed as dividends to the members.
CHAPTER 4
Covetable success
to win over poverty and hunger

Pepping up plan for being self-reliant

Reaping golden tomorrow

Fatema Begum is 55 years old, born in a village of

Chnadpur, near to one of the biggest river of
Bangladesh Meghna. Almost all families in that
village lives of fishing. Like others, her father was a
fisherman and her mother was a housewife. She had
three brothers and two sisters.

Fatema, in her childhood had a fascination for going

to school and study. As she was given in marriage at
an early age of 12, she could no more continue her
studies after class five. Her husband was also a
fisherman, and ten years older than her. She hoped
her life would be easier as married, but the economic
situation of her husband was even worse. He had no
net of his own and was thus dependent on other's
net for fishing. Therefore, most of the earnings were
spent on paying for nets. Literally, they lived from
hand to mouth. Within few years of marriage Fatema
became a mother of three daughters and one son.
And their situation turned into more difficult.
However, Fatima never lost her hope. She used to
console herself by thinking that what she could not
achieve, her children will. Despite the economical
problems, she sent her children to school.
money to roof her house within and pay registration
In 1998, Fatima was introduced to the YWCA Micro fees for his son who was about to appear Higher
Credit Program and became a group member of a Secondary School Certificate Examination.
micro credit group. She understood the benefits of
savings and credit programs well and, each month The childhood dreams of Fatima is now almost at her
she saved small amounts. After one year, Fatema reach. Her son has completed secondary school
took a loan of 1,000 Taka from the samiti and certificate examination and he got a job in an
bought a net for her husband. This was a real Insurance Company. Her husband now has his own
turning point for her family. The next year she took fishing net. Though Fatema could not continue her
another loan of Tk. 3,000 and bought raw materials studies but involvement with YWCA helped her to
and knitting parts for making fishing nets. She and learn a lot of things on health, women's rights and

her daughter started to knit nets for sale. They could environmental issues. She also had grown the habit
of savings and could increase her savings from Taka
make 2 nets per month. This helped them to earn
50 to 5,000. Fatema is a happy person now and
some extra and continue children's education. Next
claims that the YWCA has changed her life.
time, Fatema took a 15,000 Taka lone. She used the
 empowering communities towards sustainable future

Quality literacy for quadrupling life skill

FUNCTIONAL LITERACY PROGRAM

The main target of functional literacy program is
to bolster the functional application of literacy skills
ensuring post literacy and continuous education for
the beneficiaries. The program is of mostly demand
driven and comprehensive non-formal education in
the frame for uplifting social and professional status
of the target group. YWCA has been operating
literacy classes in seven local YWCAs regularly. A
number of 15-20 women and young girls are usually
enrolled in each group for a eight-month course.
During the reporting period a total of 276 learners
were enrolled in the literacy classes, of them, 89
successfully completed the eight-month courses and
158 women are in the ongoing sessions.

This course is an effective means for women

For moving the life skill development of the
disadvantaged people ahead through quality literacy,
YWCA of Bangladesh is implementing functional
literacy program. It is conducting this literacy
program, on the one hand, to empower the neo-
literate women and girls through the development of
appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes to
improve their living standard. On the other hand, it
is trying to create favorable conditions and facilities
for sustaining their literacy quality.
empowerment. Almost 100% participants attended
the course and were found to be able to read
newspapers, magazines, write letters and do simple
calculations. Then curriculum not only includes
reading and writing but also provides information on
health, child care, nutrition, maternal health, women's
rights, prevention of early marriage, marriage
registration, conflict resolution, citizen's rights,
environment, HIV/AIDS awareness etc. It also creates
a platform for the women to share their stories,
experiences and create opportunities to become
organized and take collective actions. Besides, in
order to retain their reading habit YWCA distributes
magazines especially designed for the neo-literates.

Table: List of Functional Literacy Courses and Number of Women Enrolled

(July 2007 - June 2008)
Sl Name of Beginning of the Completed of the Continuing the
Drop out
no YWCAs Course Course Course
Group Participants Group Participants Group Participants Group Participants
01. Barisal - - - - - - - -
02. Birisiri 02 40 - 04 01 16 01 20
03. Chandpur - - -- - - - - -
04. Chittagong 01 20 - - - - 01 20
05. Comilla 01 20 - 05 01 15 - -
06. Dhaka 01 20 - - - - 01 20
07. Dinajpur 01 20 - 05 01 15
08. Gopalgonj - - - - - - - -
09. Jessore 01 20 - 01 01 19 - -
CHAPTER 4

10. Khagrachari 02 38 - - - - 02 38
11. Khulna 04 78 - 14 02 24 02 40
12. Pabna 01 20 - - - - 01 20
Total 14 276 29 06 89 08 158

YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08

Yielding opportunity and support
Molding adolescence towards golden tomorrow
ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
YWCA of Bangladesh designed Adolescent
Development Program to foster youth development
recognizing adolescents' need for both ongoing
support and challenging opportunities. In the normal
maturation process during adolescence, some of
changes make them fearful and anxious as well as
think helpless. So considering the vulnerability and
social isolation of adolescent girls, the Adolescent
Development Program helps them make responsible
regarding their potential futures. Generally the
program gives emphasis on reproductive health
literacy, HIV/AIDS prevention, leadership
development, self-esteem, developing communication
skills, stepping up livelihood opportunities through
technical orientation and education. Adolescence is a
key juncture in the journey towards sustainable
future. So Adolescent Development Program is
ensuring that at-risk youth may make a successful
transition from adolescence to adulthood through
acquiring diverse range of experiences and
complementing their life skill development.

From the very beginning under the Community

Development Program, the pivotal objective of
Adolescent Development Program is to create and
sustain a supportive environment for adolescent
girls. The Adolescent Development Program of YWCA
has been contributing to empower adolescent girls to
in adolescent centers located in their community. An
participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their
accommodative and comparatively a safe place is
lives and to become active agents of social change.
selected for the center so that both the parents and
the girls feel safe and comfortable to attend classes.
Five of the local YWCAs are running Adolescent
During the period, 73 and 44 girls completed
Development Training on a regular basis. About 15-
Fundamental Course and Eighteen-Month Course
20 young girls are usually enrolled in each group for
with success respectively. Another 75 are continuing
eighteen months course. The classes are organized
sessions.

Table: List of courses and number of adolescent girls Enrolled (July 2007 - June 2008)

Sl Name of Beginning of the Completed of the Continuing the

Drop out
no YWCAs course course course
Group Participants Group Participants Group Participants Group Participants
1. Barisal 03 52 - 07 02 30 01 15
2. Birisiri 01 20 - - - - 01 20
3. Chittagong - - - - - - - -
4. Comilla 03 65 - 06 02 39 01 20
5. Dhaka 02 48 - - 02 48 - -
6. Pabna 01 20 - - - - 01 20
Total 10 205 - 13 06 117 04 75

28 - 29
Bearing greater challenges
Gearing livelihood

YWCA of Bangladesh has held to the belief that Jute craft

creating common but potential platform owned by
The YWCA of Dhaka runs jute craft centers. At
the beneficiaries themselves is a crucial precondition
present 264 women are working in this program.
for making them count in the development process.
The average income of a worker is around TK. 2500
This kind of platform like centre for income
per month. Concurrently under this program, the
generation or livelihood development may play a
workers are receiving regular services as to health
significant role as the link between target
checkup, savings & loan scheme as well as welfare
beneficiaries and YWCA of Bangladesh. Fostering this
fund.
livelihood development approach into its own
policies, Economic Development Project of YWCA of
Sales centers
Bangladesh is well-equipped with such twine key
As an effort of income generation, all the local
objectives as creating income opportunities for the
YWCAs have opened shops where they sell various
community people and at the same time initiating
items produced by the beneficiaries and goods as
income generation projects for the local YWCAs' self-
per customers demand.
sustenance. Through structured teamwork and
constructive organizing capacity, several efforts have
been made by the local YWCAs over the years in the
Short courses
name of Economic Development Projects. The YWCAs are conducting short courses to provide
CHAPTER 5

Capitalizing on the local skills and competence along various skills to women and young girls. The courses
with the existing ability of the branches, these offered are; English conversation course, sewing and
efforts are diversified with nature and extent. Some cutting, cookery, computer operating, beauty
of the major projects are: therapy, art, music etc.
 initiated in the year 1999. The objective was to
Table: Achievements in Short Courses create a market for handicrafts produced by the
Name of reference women groups at national and
2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 international level. Besides own products, Monjima
the YWCAs
also collects exclusives items from local craftsmen,
Dhaka 707 629 610 especially, items like; sarees, children garments,
Chittagong 24 44 20 potteries etc.

Barisal 21 - - Training center & guest house

Pabna 66 55 68 The training center and guest house of National
YWCA has been in operation since 1998. It is at the
Comilla 68 68 42
National Office Building, situated in Mohammadpur.
Chandpur 12 16 66 The center has one conference hall, two mini
workshop rooms and a guest house with an
Total 898 812 806
accommodation capacity of 39. YWCA uses the
center for its in-house training / workshops and also
Home craft center rents out to outside organizations. The center is well
The home craft center of Dhaka- YWCA produces known for its sincere and cordial services. In the
various bakery and food items like; cake, light reporting period this centre rendered services to 70
sancks, rice cake, pickles etc. It mainly meets the organizations. The occupancy rate of the center was
needs of the students of Dhaka YWCA School. 60% round the year.

Youth hostel Besides National, Chittagong, Khulna and

Gopalgang YWCA are also running guest houses.
YWCA of Dhaka is running a ladies hostel at its own
campus. The objective is to provide safe
accommodation for young women coming form
different parts of Bangladesh to Dhaka City for the
purpose of study or work. At present, the hostel is
housing about 120 boarders.

Day care
Dhaka YWCA runs a Day Care Center, where children
from 2-7 years are enrolled. In the reporting period,
the centre had 21 children.

Beauty parlor
Dhaka YWCA runs a beauty parlor. The parlor offers
services like, hair care, skin care, beauty therapy,
party make-up, bridal make-up etc.

Embroidery center
YWCA-Comilla and Birisiri are running embroidery
centers where 47 women are working. The items
produced in these centers are; table cloth, napkins,
pillowcases, sarees etc.

Agriculture
To develop alternative earning skills and create
income opportunities for underprivileged women,
the YWCA of Khagrachari runs a agriculture project
on about 50 acres of leased land in the hill slides.

Monjima - sales center

Monjima, the sales center of National YWCA was

30 - 31
Catering to the community
with great prosperity
SPECIAL PROGRAM WITH ETHNIC COMMUNITIES
Empowerment in enjoying such rights as to artistic
freedom, freedom of expression and cultivation of
cultural and spiritual capacities fulfills the condition
in managing sustainable and equitable development
paths for the community people. So setting up a
priority to develop knowledge, skill, attitude,
creative potential and innovation in improving
livelihood among the indigenous community people,
YWCA of Bangladesh mapped out special programs
for them. In the course of implementing this
program over 2007-08, the target groups were able
to gain a fair understanding of their culture, history
and lifestyle at their convenience. Assistance
through supporting groups in events and self-
reliance development activities, story-sharing with
individuals and communities to learn more about
each other, cultural awareness orientation, education
& advocacy of specific social issues as well as
assessing problems and addressing them in priority
basis made this especial program integrated and
effective for honing community-owned lifeline.
To advocate for indigenous people's rights and make
them effective actors of development, YWCA took
some initiatives under the regular activities of
Special Program with Ethnic Community, for instance
- organizing workshops for indigenous people's
rights, cultural events with youth, rallies on Word
Indigenous Day, distribution of books among tribal
students studying in high school and college, joint
venture seminars and so on in 2007-08. It
participated in several events organized by different
GOs, NGOs and development agencies to strengthen
network in the aspect of ethnic community
development. Besides, YWCA of Bangladesh
contributed extensively to various developments
planning arranged by the Government of Bangladesh
for tribal and indigenous people as well. These
activities were accomplished in three of the local
YWCAs in Dinajpur, Birisiri and Khagrachari. The
different community representatives participated in
CHAPTER 6
those events were from Garo, Hajong, Santal,
Uraon, Munda, Chakma, Tripura etc.
Underpinning in difficulty
Undermining vulnerability
EMERGENCY SUPPORT FOR SIDR VICTIMS
Cyclone SIDR on November 15, 2007 with a high
tidal surge and winds of over 210 kilometers per
hour (130 miles per hour) hit some of the working
areas of YWCA of Bangladesh, namely, Gopalganj,
Barisal, Khulna, Jessore and some parts of
Chandpur.
Immediately after the cyclone, the local YWCAs in
their working areas came forward to help those
victims with their limited efforts. Some YWCAs
collected small contributions like; old clothing, fresh
water, dry food and money from the community and
stood besides the helpless ones.
At the national level YWCA of Bangladesh contacted
with its oversees partners as well as with the local
YWCAs for assistance and for suggestions what
needed to be done. YWCA of Bangladesh also
circulated an open appeal to the world community
through World YWCA.
The response from the international community was
encouraging. HORYZON, KFUK-KFUM- Global,
Buskerud KFUK-KFUM, YWCA-Korea, World YWCA,
YWCA-USA, YWCA Japan, YMCA Japan and Miserior
Germany immediately reacted on the appeal and
send commitment for support.
Emergency response
YWCA extended support to 3800 families in three
different phases; food assistance, livelihood support
and housing assistance. YWCAs of Gopalganj, Barisal,
Khulna, Jessore and Chandpur were selected for the
1st and 2nd phase support and housing assistance
was extended only among selected beneficiaries of
Gopalganj, Barisal and Khulna YWCA.
The first phase of the emergency support included
about 3,000 families. Each of them was supported
with 7 kgs of rice and 2 kgs of pulses.
In the 2nd phase YWCA extended livelihood support.
A total of 2690 families were brought under this
support. Families who have partially or completely
lost their harvest or livelihoods were provided with
this support. Each family received Tk. 1000 as an
incentive to restart their livelihood.
The third and final phase included housing
assistance. About 630 families from Gopalganj,
Khulna and Barisal received this support. Each
family was given TK. 3000 as grant.
In some areas YWCA also extended Health and
Medicare support to the victims. The YWCA health
workers and volunteers visited the affected areas
and extended care. Efforts were also made to link
the people with other relief providing organizations
who were excluded from our support or were
affected adversely.
YWCA extended education assistance support to
SIDR victim students in Khulna and Gopalganj. Two
community schools received support for repairing
school buildings. School dress, books, exercise book,
pen, pencil etc. were distributed among 150
students of those schools.
Cyclone SIDR took hundreds of lives and destroyed
assets of millions of Taka. It made thousands of
people homeless and took away the last prop for
living from millions. The amount of support from
YWCA came forward to help those people was like a
drop of water in the sea. Nonetheless, it was
considered a lot to many.
Spurring potentials
Priming youths in time
To maximize the human capital generation result for
sustainable development, it is earnestly necessary to
make youth development and leadership building
activity a key component of overall development
program. Human resource development is a process
that prepares people to meet the challenges of society
and workplace through coordinated, progressive
series of activities and experiences which help them to
become socially, morally, emotionally, physically and
cognitively competent. Viewing all of these pivotal
aspects through a comprehensive development lens,
YWCA of Bangladesh has been conducting Leadership
& Youth Development Program as a keynote
development part by providing the space especially
for young women to develop their leadership and life
skill in supportive and enabling environment. The goal
of this program is to build capacity, develop leadership
skill and raise awareness of the staff, volunteers and
the youth and to orient them to the whole range of
conceptual, methodological and thematic aspects of
development.
Under this program, YWCA of Bangladesh is initiating
leadership & skill development and awareness
building trainings, seminars, meetings, exchange
programs, exposures on diverse development and
social issues for its target groups.
YWCA's leadership development activity is the part
of development process to provide ability to the
individuals for analyzing their own strengths and
weakness, setting personal and technical goals, and
having the self-esteem, confidence, motivation and
attributes of carrying them out, establish support
networks in order to fully participate in community life
and effective social change.
As per the planning, in the year of July 2007 - 2008,
YWCA of Bangladesh organized 14 Leadership skill
Development trainings/workshops and provided
opportunity for its staff & volunteers to take part in
the 5 trainings/seminar/workshops organised by
Partner organisations. Through these
trainings/seminars/workshops, YWCA of Bangladesh
has trained its 426 staff and volunteers on different
issues of capacity building and leadership
development. To name few of the major training
were; Workshop on FIS & MIS, Training on Food,
Nutrition & Safe Motherhood, Management Sharing
CHAPTER 7
Workshop, Workshop on the review of Micro- finance
Policy, Training on Gender & Development, Advance
Leadership Seminar, Training of Facilitator (TOF),
Training on Savings & Credit Management, Training
on Project Management, Workshop on HIV/AIDS etc.
STRATEGIC PLANNING OF YWCA
YWCA deeply realizes that to be effective and
efficient in the changing world one need to
continuously strive for new capacities to adopt with
changes occurring at the inter and external world
and at the same time for bringing new dimensions in
its efforts. This realization guided YWCA to prepare
itself for having a strategic plan (SP) that would
provide it a strategic direction for next four years in
achieving its objectives through best utilization of
the available resources. All possible efforts were
made that the plan would stemmed from the existing
programs and the management and governance
practices of the organization.
The process of preparing Strategic Plan included the
following:
X Make an inventory of past development of
YWCA.
X Analyze present programs, activities and intent.
X Develop formats for information collection from
YWCA and its branches on their planned
activities to be carried out during next four years
(from July 2009).
X Prepare core strategic planning facilitation (SPF)
team in Dhaka.
X Conduct workshop in Dhaka with SPF team
members for identification of vision, mission,
and future strategic direction of YWCA.
X Conduct workshop in Dhaka with SPF team
members on the following:
i Selection of activities of branches to be
supported/ facilitated by YWCA during
next 4 years;
ii Determination of size of each group of target
people to be served (children, adolescents,
and adults) by each branch of YWCA during
next 4 years;
iii Selection of activities to be carried out under
different programs by different branches for
serving the target people;
iv Physical facilities to be developed/ acquired
by YWCA and its branches (as required for
implementation of the planned activities
during next 4 years);
v Management aspects of YWCA and its
branches, their manpower requirements and
34 - 35
their development;
vi Assessment of fund requirements for YWCA
and its branches (for implementation of the
planned activities during next 4 years);
vii Finalization of formats for information
collection from YWCA and its branches; and
viii Facilitation process to organize stakeholder
FGD at the branch level.
X Analyze development activities carried out by
different NGOs in operational areas of YWCA.
X Discuss with Board members and key persons of
branches for having knowledge of their thinking
about the SP.
X Guide the SPF team in compiling the collected
information for preparation of the document on SP.
X Conduct workshop with SPF team members for
validation of the draft SP in Dhaka.
X Conduct final presentation of SP to YWCA board
and take their inputs on SP and incorporate the
same for finalization of the document.
The staffs of YWCA of Bangladesh and its 13
Branches have prepared the SP document after
following a number of steps including those
mentioned above during June to August 2008. A
team of two consultants comprising Mr. Prabin
Behari Barua and Mr. Mahbubul Islam has assisted
and guided them in the process.
Through a rigorous exercise and critical analysis the
following programs were identified for the next four
years -
(a) Education Program,
(b) Women's Economic Empowerment Program,
(c) Health and Hygiene Program,
(d) Women's Right and Social Security,
(e) Environment and Cultural Development
Program, and
(f) Special Programs (social investment program).
Partnership with Asia Foundation:
The YWCA of Bangladesh entered in an agreement
with the Asia Foundation under the Leaders of
Influence Program on January 14, 2008. As per the
agreement signed by both the parties YWCA
organized two orientations; one at Khulna and
another one in Chittagong YWCA premises. The
overall goal of the LOI program is to enhance the
capacity of leaders of influence to contribute to
national development efforts and, in so doing to
preserve and promote values of democracy,
tolerance, diversity, social harmony and
understanding in Bangladesh society.
The first orientation was in Khulna YWCA from
January 30-31, 2008 and the second one was in
Chittagong from March 4-5, 2008.
YOUTH PROGRAM
With other core programs, YWCA of Bangladesh
undertakes different youth activities for it's youth
members to develop their leadership skill as YWCA
believes that youth members are the spirit of YWCA
and they are the future leaders of the society as well
as of organisation. Over the years, the organization
has effectively established a culture that values and
upholds young women's right to participate in decision
making. It also took affirmative actions to ensure
25% youth representation both at local and national
Board of Management. An investment in young
women's leadership is an investment in the future.
Shouldering this philosophy, several programs and
events were organized for the young girls around the
country initiated both by local and national YWCAs in
2007-08. Where about 500 young girls participated.
The programs mostly incorporated the activities like
arranging Youth Seminar (Local and National), Girl's
Seminar, Pre- Christmas Program, Cultural Events,
TenSing, Youth Gathering and so forth. YWCA has also
send one intern to Norway for a period of nine months
and at the same time received one intern from
Norway as part of the GOCY Program implemented by
KFUK-KFUM Global, funded by NORAD.
Major youth activities carried out by YWCA of
Bangladesh
Mini- Ten Sing Seminar: From the Morning of 1st
October, the Mini Ten Sing seminar was organised by
Dhaka YWCA. There were altogether 60 participants
participated in this seminar including participants
from Norway, from the local YWCAs of Dhaka and
from the youth groups of different Churches in
Dhaka. Majority of the participants were in between
the age group of thirteen to nineteen. The aims of
this seminar were to strengthen the local to National
partnership between Norway YWCA-YMCA and
Bangladesh YWCA; to encourage the teenagers with
the light of Gospel and love of Jesus Christ; to
establish a mechanism for cultural exchange; and to
develop leadership skills amongst teenagers and
youths. The seminar ended up with a great concert
organized by YWCA of Dhaka. Different Church Youth
Choir groups and YWCA youth members from local
YWCAs participated there.
Girl's Seminar 2007: The YWCA of Bangladesh
organised Girls' Seminar '07 at Khulna YWCA from 5-
7th October 2007 with the cooperation of Buskerud
YWCA/YMCA of Norway. A total number of 100
participants from 13 local YWCAs & Buskerud
YWCA/YMCA participated in this seminar. The age
group of the participants were between fourteen to
twenty five years. The objectives of this seminar
were to increase knowledge and leadership skill; to
have an exposure to Bangladeshi nature & culture
and to have fun. The theme of the seminar was
Friendship with nature & culture, which could allow
both reflection upon serious things as well as being
creative and have fun.
Lier - Bangla Tensing Seminar at Chittagong:
As a part of local to local partnership between YWCA
of Bangladesh and Lier Tensing Group of Norway, 5
members from Lier Tensing visited YWCA of
Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong YWCA from 18th
February - 25th February 2008.
The aims of this seminar were to strengthen the local
to local partnership between Lier Tensing and
Chittagong YWCA, to encourage the young people with
the light of Gospel and love of Jesus Christ, and to
establish a mechanism for cultural exchange and
develop leadership skills amongst the youths. The
seminar was very much significant for the youth of
Chittagong YWCA, as they are already sharing the
partnership with Lier. Also it was special for the
participant of Dhaka YWCA and Khulna YWCA who are
interested to form Ten Sing groups in their own YWCAs
with the cooperation of Buskerud YWCA-YMCA.
At the end of this Seminar, there was a great concert
organized by youth members of YWCAs for fund
raising. About 500 parents, student of Chittagong
YWCA School, Executive Board Members and staff of
Chittagong YWCA enjoyed the concert.
5'yrs. Evaluation visit of Lier Tensing Group: A
five member evaluation team visited Chittagong
CHAPTER 7
YWCA from 31 October to 16 November 2002 to see
the partnership between Lier Tensing and Chittagong
YWCA. The team visited different programs of
Chittagong YWCA. On 3rd November 2007, the
group facilitated a 5 years evaluation seminar with
YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08
25 Tensing Members of Chittagong YWCA. They also
had meetings with the Chittagong Tensing Leaders
and with the Board Member of Chittagong YWCA.
The team expressed their satisfaction on the work
and spoke about broadening future cooperation.
Ten Years Evaluation Visit of Buskerud
YWCA/YMCA Group: Since 1998 Buskerud YWCA
/YMCA and YWCA of Bangladesh are having local to
National Partnership with the goals : Sharing Faith
and spiritual Christian experience, Cultural
Exchange, Friendship and Community building,
Awareness on the global issues, Organisational
Development and Leadership development. Five
members from Buskerud YWCA/YMCA visited
Bangladesh on 5-12 January 2008 to evaluate the 10
years of partnership with YWCA of Bangladesh.
Following are major feedback from the evaluation:
X The partnership should have a formal agreement
X Number of youth and staff in the exposure
program should be increased if fund is available
X Common Logo & common website for this
partnership
X Leadership building seminar/ trainings/
workshops particularly on Management and
Communication
X Regular monitoring and evaluation on the impact
of this partnership
X More initiatives to raise funds to expand the
activities under this partnership
X Support to set up Secretariat in Bangladesh.
The outline for written agreement including plan of
action, monitoring, budget and reporting was done
also at the end of this tour.
Youth Exposure Program of HorYzon: From 15th
November 2007- 30th April 2008, one Intern Ms.
Esther Kohli from HorYzon, Switzerland had an
exposure visit to YWCA of Bangladesh. This exposure
was facilitated jointly by YWCA of Bangladesh and
HorYzon, Switzerland.
goCy Youth Exchange Program: From July 15th
2007- 30th April 2008, 3 young women from YWCA
of Bangladesh took part in this goCY youth Exchange
program under the partnership with Y- Global and
Fredskorpset (an independent organization under
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Norway
Government.). Global Y in Norway is one of the
primary partners of FK, facilitates this partnership in
order to contribute in strengthening the youth
leadership and organization capacity building,
promoting contact and cooperation between people
and organization in Global Y and in South YW/YMCAs
(Vanadzor, South Africa, Palestine, Bangladesh)
partners through this goCY Youth Exchange
Program. The participants from YWCA of Bangladesh
and their host countries were : Veronica Costa from
Chittgong YWCA in Armenia, Anne Tripti Sarker from
Gopalgonj YWCA in Norway and Jui Judith Gomes
from Dhaka YWCA in South Africa. YWCA of
Bangladesh also hosted one Intern from Norway: Ms
Lina Juul Sovik.
Bridging challenges and prosperity
Increasing linkages with progress
ADVOCACY & NETWORKING
Through a potential framework for forwarding
development towards sustainable attainment and
broadening its benefit, YWCA of Bangladesh is
conducting consecutively Advocacy & Networking
activity at field, sub-national and national level. The
main objectives of Advocacy and Networking are to
identify emerging social issues, scopes and
stakeholders and improve effective relationships and
establish linkages with the stakeholders and
networking organization at community, national and
international level.
Under Advocacy & Networking program, YWCA of
Bangladesh has been performing the regular tasks,
for instance, arranging issue-based promotional
activities through meetings, workshops, seminars,
campaigns in a participatory manner targeting
different stakeholders like, government, civil society,
community people, church communities, NGOs,
women's organizations, existing partners etc.;
maintaining relationships with other networks and
social groups with similar interests; observing
nationally and internationally important days making
community people participate enthusiastically;
organizing interaction meetings, open discussion on
priority based issues like women's right,
reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, women's
economic empowerment, child right, health &
nutrition and gender equity; lobbying policy makers
for the meaningful participation and involvement of
women in policy and decision making and so on. In
the reporting period, YWCA organized 8 training
workshops for Volunteers and Local NGO workers
where 360 participated. The trained participants are
acting as resource persons in their own working
areas and facilitating tailor made training courses for
the grass-roots level participants, local NGO workers
and community people. At grassroot level, the
advocacy program included about 8482 members.
With a view to strengthening networking, YWCA of
Bangladesh got involved in new partnership with
networks, organizatins and forums like, the Asia
CHAPTER 8
Foundation, Disabled Foundation, National Cancer
Association etc. in 2007-08 as well. At the local level,
the branches maintained regular liaison with the
government department concerned and updated
them with the progress of various activities carried
out by YWCA. In addition, they took part in several
programs arranged by other organizations and
dynamically contributed to issue based campaigns.
At national level, it keenly partook in a range of
events initiated by the networking partners, mostly
the National STD/STI Network Bangladesh,
Bangladesh Girl Child Advocacy Forum, The
Women's Forum etc. Likewise, it also carried on
profound and intimate relationship as well as
sustained network with the local church related
bodies and institutions. YWCA also actively
participated in the Network of Citizen’s Initiative
Against Domestic Violence.
World Council of World YWCA
The World Council 2007 started with the 25th
Extraordinary World Council. In 2003, the World
YWCA recommended to have an extraordinary
council to be held to vote for a revised constitution.
The 25th extra ordinary World YWCA council was on
3-4 July 2007 and it was preceded by several events
including the Young Women's Leadership Forum,
Capacity Building meeting, Africa partnership Safari
debriefing and the Female intiated HIV-prevention
Methods. After that the International Women
Summit (IWS) on HIV and AIDS took place from 4-
7 July where 2000 people of about 100 nationalities
38 - 39
from 95 associations attended this event. IWS was
organized in partnership with the International
Community of Women Living with HIV
After the IWS, the regular 26th World Council
continued. The 26th World Council began on July 9
and came to the end on 11th July after the election
and announcement of the result of the election for
the World Board 2007 - 20011. The 26th World
elected Susan Brennan from Australia as Presedent
who is the youngest presdent and the presence of
young women at the World Board is also 55% which
is also for the first time in the history of World YWCA
On the basis of the number of membership, seven
members from YWCA of Bangladesh attended this
meeting including National President, National
General Secretary, two representatives from local
association and two youth representatives under 30
years old. This council saw the passing of a landmark
resolution forwarded by the YWCA of Palestine and
YWCA of USA that called World YWCA to support a
peaceful just solution in the Middle East particularly
in Palestine. This was also a threshold for the newly
appointed World General Secretary Nyaradzai
Gumbonzvanda who succeeded DR. Musimbi
Kanyoro later in that year.

Accelerating success towards sustainable attainment
PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES
Promotional activities stimulate people to change
their knowledge and practice copping with time,
need and demand. Consequently, it is possible to
achieve the programmatic goal smoothly as per the
well-defined plan. So considering this importance
related to timely promotional activities, YWCA of
Bangladesh is initiating development communication
in intervention areas involving the activities as to
developing IEC (information, education & their behaviors, feelings, and values. All of the 12
communication) materials (like - posters, leaflets,
newsletters, banners etc.), rally, street drama, folk
songs, group discussions, courtyard meetings,
debate sessions, home visits, cultural events etc..
Documentation and dissemination are
comprehensively intertwined with this promotional
activity giving a different dimension in moving core
programs forward. In this aspect, development
communication associated with advocacy,
networking and social mobilization is certainly
helpful to keep the engine of development
implementation active.
With a view to bringing about social pragmatic
change especially improving the socio economic
condition of disadvantaged women, promotional
activities of YWCA has been dynamically integrating
exclusive behavioral change communication (BCC),
interpersonal communication (IPC) and utilization of
multi channel media to build necessary knowledge-
based infrastructure at field level since its inception.
It utilizes the optimum efforts to transfer ideas,
messages, skills, information to the target
beneficiaries by way of fruitful documentation and
dissemination.
Counseling
To help identify personal strengths and develop ways
to live life more fully, it is necessary to transfer
essential knowledge related to livelihood
development among the target people. Thinking
over this keynote point, YWCA of Bangladesh is
providing counseling support to its beneficiaries for
stimulating their inner beings to be aware of basic
right oriented some specific social issues like general
health care, reproductive health literacy, health
education, child health care and overall the woman
rights and legal rights. Thus they are getting chance
to explore feelings and express them better,
examine beliefs and work towards making healthy
change. With a view to protecting the community
people from all kinds of ill practices, counseling has
empowering communities towards sustainable future
a great impact on making them win the war on
vulnerabilities comprehensively.
Over the reporting period 2007-2008, counseling
support was extended in the areas of health, women's
rights, human rights and economic activities. A total
of 3445 women were supported under this program
component to help them understand themselves,
branches have established counseling cell for
empowering the beneficiaries to adapt more
constructive life practices and increasing their
personal effectiveness. YWCA has also organized TOT
on advocacy and counseling to equip the staff
members with counseling skills and compassion.
Legal aid
In general sense, legal aid is a system of providing
free advice about the law and practical help with
legal matters for people who are too poor to pay for
it. To increase social awareness on gender related
issues and to enhance legal support services to the
reference members, YWCA of Bangladesh has been
initiating legal aid support since the year 2005.
Under this support, it is helping its target groups
through protecting their basic rights, solving
problems that contribute to social exclusion,
advising on their legal problems, facilitating to
understand their rights and the law and so on.
Considering the objective oriented aspects, the legal
aid support of YWCA of Bangladesh has two
dimensions. First one is to increase functional
awareness of legal issues. The second one is to
extend legal assistance. To attain the first objective,
YWCA organized workshops on family law with
participants from different level of the society. It also
has regular program with the community people
which includes courtyard meetings, grass-roots level
workshops, group discussions and so forth.
Simultaneously increasing functional knowledge of
legal issues, YWCA also extends legal support. The
counseling centers being operated in different
branches assist women who are victims of violence.
Sometimes the counselors, who are public
prosecutors directly move cases or sometimes they
CHAPTER 8
link the victims with organizations those work
specifically on legal issues. It is to be mentioned that
YWCA categorically avoided legal steps where it was
not mandatory. Around 131 arbitrations were done
in the reporting period.
YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08
Legal Aid Cornerstone of
Social Security
Chanda is a sixteen year old girl who is in her first year of college. She has been living with her parents and
one brother in Khulna. Her father is a service holder in a small factory and mother is a home maker. One day
she had an argument with her parents for some silly reason and got so upset that she decided to leave home
at the first opportunity.

Mintu, a young rickshaw puller, living close to them had a good relation with her family. Chanda used to call
him uncle. One day while coming back to home from college in Mintu's rickshaw, Chanda shared her
grievances with him and asked him to find a job for her, so that she can live on her own. After one week
Mintu told her that he has found a job for her in Ishurdi and she must leave today. He also advised her to
bring some money along. As she did not have any money with her she sold her gold ear rings and chain for
five thousand taka with the help of Mintu and left for Ishurdi by train around noon.

Around 8 o'clock at night they reached Ishurdi. There Mintu kept Chanda waiting alone at the station, telling
her that he was going to have a final talk with the employer. He then came back after two hours and told her
that the position had already been filled up and they now have to go to Parbatipur. The same thing happened
in Parbatipur and they moved for Rajshahi. In Rajshahi, Mintu told her that he rented a house for her and
also arranged some private tuition so that she can manage herself until the job in Kolkata is confirmed.

Chanda by this time could guess that something is not right and she needed to be very careful. In the rented
house there were some children and girls like her as well, but they were not allowed to talk with each other.
There they were in close observation and also not allowed to move frequently.

Back at Khulna, Chanda's parents were extremely worried about her. They could not decide what to do. One
of their relative advised them to contact YWCA of Khulna for help. After listening to the whole story, YWCA -
Khulna immediately communicated with Rights Jessore, an organization working on prevention of women and
child trafficking. With the assistance and advice from Rights Jessore Chanda's parents went to the Local
Human Rights Commission Office. The Secretary General of Human Rights Commission advised them to
publish a press release at the local and national news paper with a recent photograph of Chanda and informed
all the check posts and police station at the boarder areas.

The news came into the notice of the land lord of the house where Chanda was kept. They got frightened and
asked Chanda to leave that place as soon as possible. In Rajshahi, while running away from that house,
Chanda was mugged by local street hippies. She lost everything and had no money to buy ticket for Khulna.
However, with the help of some people she somehow managed to come back.

Mintu is still missing. His wife and two children are in Khulna, but he has no contact with them.

YWCA, along with Rights Jessore and Human Rights Commission have been closely observing the issue.
Coping with pragmatic need
Taping resources
Birisiri Training and
Resource Centre
The Birisiri-YWCA Training and Resource Center was
inaugurated on March 29, 2008. The centre is
situated in Birisiri, Durgapur, Netrokona, which is
about 198 kilometers from Dhaka city. It is accessible
through a haring boring road from the main road of
Shambhuganj to Durgapur highway. From the main
road the distance of the site is about 1 kilometer. The
center is situated on 64 decimals of land.
Birisiri though situated at the most remote corner of
north east of Bangladesh has always been quite
famous and busy for its geographical and cultural
diversity. It has been attracting many tourists as well
as development actors with genuine rationales. But
unfortunately, the growth of infrastructure and other
technological facilities have not progressed as
desired. Hundreds of tourists are coming every year
to near-by Durgapur for tourism and cultural
attractions but there are no good private residential
hotels as well as food service delivery centers in the
locality. There are at least 22 development NGOs in
the locality that conduct training for their
beneficiaries and employees throughout the year
and are presently conducting training mostly at their
own office premises with or without adequate
training facilities. Various development agencies are
also monitoring their funded programs and are
looking for residential facilities due to the fact that
the area is disadvantaged as well as far away from
Dhaka and Mymensingh city. All these, gave a strong
basis for Birisiri YWCA to start a training-cum-
residential centre for the prospective clients.
The broader objectives of ‘Birisiri YWCA Training
and Resource Centre' are -
X To offer comfortable and safe food,
accommodation and conference facilities with
services to trainees and guests from different
GO, NGOs and private institutions.
X To earn revenue for self reliance of the branch.
CHAPTER 9
The centre is managed by a team of professional
body. The board of management of Birisiri YWCA
provides policy and directional guidelines for proper
management of the centre. The General Secretary of
Birisiri YWCA is the ceremonial chief of the centre.
The centre offers facilities for training, workshop, family members as they did in the past. This
residential and other services to NGOs, development situation throws the elderly population, particularly
agencies, private organizations and corporate bodies the elderly population of the poorer section into
on commercial basis, i.e, on a hire/rental basis. The large-scale social, health and economic insecurity.
services provided through this centre are as follows: The elders become mentally sick from a feeling that
they are not important or necessary in the society
now. They feel insecure due to lack of financial
Table: Description of Service support either from the family or from the state.
Sl. Their sufferings are going up due to lack of sufficient
Particulars Services available community support. These factors with various other
No.
social and financial issues were a result of the
Training cum Standard training cum seminar
foundation of the Savar Sr. Citizens’ Home.
1 Seminar room having accommodation
Room of 30-40 persons.
Dhaka YWCA realized that there were too few old
Two standard dormitories with
2 Dormitory age homes in Bangladesh and the few that were
14 beds and common toilets.
provided by the government came at a cost. Dhaka
2 double bedded rooms with YWCA wanted to provide the elderly with a place
Residential air-conditioning facility; 6 two
3 where they would not have to worry about fees and
Room bedded rooms with commode
day to day expenses. They wanted to create a
toilet and normal fan facility.
relaxed, peaceful and happy environment for the
The dinning facility can
Dinning elderly where they can reminisce about the 'old
4 accommodate 36 persons in
Facility times' and cherish their memories in peace. To that
one sitting.
end Dhaka YWCA started the Senior Citizen's Home
Standby For emergency electricity at Savar in the year 2008. The official opening was
9
Generator supply.
on the 1st of March 2008.

The forecasted occupancy rate in the business plan Today the Senior Citizen's Home houses eight
for 1st year was 30%. However, Birisiri could actually women over the age of sixty years, since that is the
accomplish 39% full occupancy within 10 months of minimum age to get in; most of the women are
operation. If the present trend continues than it is widowed. The Home has a capacity of
expected that the occupancy rate will reach to 50% accommodating 40 boarders. It was designed and
in the next year. constructed in such a way that it would
accommodate twenty men and twenty women.
Senior Citizen's Home, Savar Within the premises there is a doctors' consultation
room where the doctor conducts check ups on the
Traditionally and religiously the elderly people of
residents twice a week. There is also an in-house
Bangladesh are very much respectable both in family
nurse who lives on the premises, in case of
and community. They are considered as the key of
emergencies.
family ties and symbol of family identity. They are
treated as the guardian of ancestral values since the
Most people know about this Home through word of
time immemorial. They are also considered as
mouth and from members of the YWCA at social
venerable counselor. For these reasons they are
gatherings. Dhaka YWCA follows a very precise
always respected and the youngs try to take best
selection process of the residents. If an elderly
care of their elderly relatives in the family. But due
person wishes to be housed or his or her family
to various socio-economic changes over the years
wishes for them to be housed at the home, then a
traditional values and customs are eroding. It is
series of interviews and consultation are conducted
assumed that because of breaking traditional joint
with the family and everyone involved. If the YWCA
family to nuclear family system and increased
is satisfied with their findings then the elderly person
landlessness and poverty have weakened the
is given free accommodation and all necessary
relationship between elder members and other
requirements including food, cosmetics, clothing,
members of the family. Because of declination in
etc. The families are allowed to visit the residents
family size, the elderly does not get support from
twice a week and the residents also maintain regular
their adult wards and because of rural poverty many
contact with the families. The residents are also free
adult wards moves to urban areas in search of
to visit their families on request and on special
employment. In urban areas women are also joining
occasions such as Christmas, weddings, birthdays
the work force of the society in an increasing number
and so on. The YWCA is also planning to get the
and they have less time to take care of the elderly
residents involved in special activities in the future in

42 - 43

order to make their stay at the home even more
fulfilling.
The residents are allowed to leave at any time
should they feel the need to and a consultation
process is also conducted in such cases. Once it is
clear and confirmed that this is what all the parties
involved want, then the elderly person can leave the
home. There has only been one such incident at the
empowering communities towards sustainable future
home so far. In some cases it is the family that
requests to take their elderly back for fears of being
criticized by the community for not caring for their
elderly since this is not condoned in Bengali culture.
In such cases the YWCA also conducts an inclusive
consultation with all that are involved. However such
incidents have been very rare as the residents are
quite happy at the home and with the people that
take care of them.
CHAPTER 9
Expanding the scope of development
Ending the vicious cycle of vulnerability
With a long-term presence in the field of social well-
being and extensive networks for bringing about
social pragmatic change, YWCA of Bangladesh is
always exploring prospective avenues in community
development. Developing community capacity is at
the heart of its mission. The past experiences over
the years like the reporting period 2007-08 have
yielded four critical lessons for YWCA of Bangladesh.
First, women empowerment is an essential
prerequisite for achieving sustainable development.
Second, initiative for unlocking the value of local and
neglected human resources makes any development
program dynamic and effective. Third, integrated
and need-based approach is essential to trigger
development in full dimension. Fourth, catering to
the target groups, program should be implemented
in process that is socially inclusive and responsive to
changing circumstances.
YWCA of Bangladesh believes that community
should have capacity to manage and navigate their
own wellbeing effectively by way of reducing
development disparities. Over the reporting period
2007-08 linking poverty reduction more concretely
with scaling up life skill, YWCA of Bangladesh
continued its concerted efforts to human
development as the essential engine of community
empowerment.
YWCA of Bangladesh dealt with diverse unavoidable
troubles and difficulties in executing programs in this
reporting period. As a result, it was very challenging
to make desired stride in implementing activities as
per the well-defined plan. Nevertheless, its
attainment was satisfactory. This was achievable on
the whole because of the consecutive enthusiasm
and determined effort of the staff as well as the
spontaneous involvement of the relevant
stakeholders. There can be no doubt that, banking
on collective action expands the scope of
achievement. It is an effective driver of development
as well. So coordinating collective activities and
doing so with the timely approach that puts human
rights at forefront, YWCA of Bangladesh has been
providing the communities the tools they need to
CHAPTER 10
build a more prosperous and peaceful future.
Through out this year, YWCA of Bangladesh reaped
confidence of the target people and its members for
its heartfelt facilitation. Taking advantage of this
confidence, it was courageous and enterprising all- X YWCA - USA
time to dream of a society where women are aware X YWCA - Japan
of their rights and able to organize themselves
against injustice. The destination is yet far to reach, X YMCA - Japan
but the journey will continue. X CYMYWCA - Canada
X Ms Turid Werrum
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
X Partner Organizations
YWCA of Bangladesh is gratefully acknowledging the
X Sister NGOs, Women Organizations, Churches
contributions of various stakeholders who made our
journey in the reporting period a success. Candid X National President and Members of Headquarter
thanks also go to the senior management team of Based Board of Management
YWCA of Bangladesh for their valued instructions, X President and Board members of Local YWCAs
suggestions and assistance for the report 2007-'08.
X Finally, last but not the least all the staff
members of Local YWCAs and National YWCA.
During the reporting period, YWCA of Bangladesh
received financial, ethical and timely assistance and
OUR PARTNERS
guidance from different levels of donors and
stakeholders. For extending their hands of necessary X World YWCA, Switzerland
support, YWCA of Bangladesh essentially grateful to X Horyzon, Switzerland
them, especially thankful to: X YWCA-YMCA-Global, Norway (KFUK-KFUM -
Global)
X NGO Affairs Bureau, Government of Bangladesh X Buskerud YWCA-YMCA, Norway (Buskerud KFUK-
X World YWCA KFUM)
X HORYZON, Switzerland X Leir TenSing, Norway
X KFUK-KFUM Global, Norway X MISEREOR, Germany
X Buskerud KFUK-KFUM, Norway X Stiching Chittagong, The Netherlands.
X Misereor, Germany X Fokus - Norway.
X Fokus - Norway

46 - 47
 YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION (YWCA)
DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
BALANCE SHEET
AS ON 30 JUNE 2008

PROPERTY AND ASSETS Note Amount in Taka

2007-2008 2006-2007

Fixed Assets 3.0 164,672,763 159,990,944

Current Assets 4.0 59,881,950 42,931,373
Closing Stock 4.1 5,592,245 5,231,947
Loan & Advance 4.2 12,927,454 7,955,895
Accounts Receivable 4.3 73,020 6,120
Sundry Debtors 4.4 2,867,025 3,858,003
Group Loan 4.5 1,750 1,750
Cash & Bank 4.6 38,420,456 25,877,658

Total 224,554,712 202,922,317

FUND AND LIABILITIES

Capital Fund 144,287,009 153,255,419
Balance as per last account 186,719,039 153,610,324
Add: Excess of Income over Expenditure 14,841,165 840,921
Add: Adjustment of Caution Money - 31,300
Add: Transfer from Reserve fund - 874
Less: Transfer to Reserve fund - (928,000)
Less: Excess of Expenditure over Income (14,730,233) -
Add: Fund Account 541,013 -
Add/(less): Internal Transaction Adjustment (42,953,975) -
Add: Transfer from savings fund 10,000 -
Less: Transfer to Emergency Medical Fund (140,000) (300,000)

Asrukana Cancer Unit 2,000 -

Emergency Medical Fund: 2,235,343 2,059,597
Balance as per last account 2,059,597 1,679,243
Add: Bank interest received during the year 35,746 80,354
Add: Transfer from Capital fund 140,000 300,000
Reserve Fund 69,438,749 37,712,960
Balance as per last account 37,712,960 18,741,887
Add: Bank interest received during the year 105,414 143,997
Add: Transfer from Capital fund - 928,000
Add: Transfer during the year 31,620,375 17,900,000
Less: Bank Charge - (50)
Less: Transfer to Capital fund - (874)
Current Liabilities 5.0 8,591,611 9,894,341
Accounts Payable 5.1 3,957,012 3,785,655
Loan/Loan Taken 5.2 4,554,599 6,027,864
Unearned Rent 5.3 80,000 80,000
Exces in Stock - 822

Total 224,554,712 202,922,317

As per our Report of date annexed

Dhaka National General Secretary (A. K. DEB & CO.)

28 December 2008 YWCA of Bangladesh CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
empowering communities towards sustainable future

CHAPTER 1

YWCA of Bangladesh annual report 07-08

Officers and Members of the Board
of Management 2006-2009

Rina Das
President

Maya Hilton Elezabeth Baroi Dr. Nelly Saha

Vice-President Vice-President Treasurer

Janet Mary Gomes Lima Bernadette Rozario Kuri Chisim

Board Member Board Member Board Member

Joyce Mormita Das Helen Monisha Sarker

National General Secretary Asst. General Secretary
 Young Women's Christian Association of Bangladesh
3/23, Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
Telephone: 880-2-9126432, 8125015; Fax: 880-2-9125459
email: ywca@bdmail.net