VOL 18 NO -19 REGD NO DA 1589 | Dhaka, Saturday December 11 2010

Does service club really serve society?

M S Siddiqui
MANY people consider service clubs like Rotary and Lions, as eating and meeting clubs
in the name of serving the society. Despite their service to mankind, there remains a gap
of information and understanding in society. None raise objection, if someone takes lunch
in a five-star hotel with friends, but unfortunately, some people do not like meetings of
the service clubs at lunch or dinner at their own expense. There is widespread criticism of
the Rotary and Lions clubs, if these clubs really serve society?

Society is dominated by criminals, terrorists, corrupt government officials, unethical

business leaders, irresponsible parents and above all irresponsible social and political
leaders. The citizens as a whole are responsible to let them dominate general public.
People depend on families, educational institutions and the government to bring change
in society, but they fail since corrupt and unethical persons also dominate the government
and educational institutes.

There is a long history of social services from the dawn of civilization. Many people are
remembered for their philanthropy. Many services are hard to get from the government
and are beyond the means of individuals. Philanthropists, ready to sacrifice personal
wealth and time and comfort for the welfare of humanity, provide these services. Kind
people take the seriously ill people to the hospital, help poor people construct their
shattered homes after natural calamities or campaign for creating awareness to avoid
disaster, or provide free-education to under privileged people. The names of Haji
Mohammad Mohsin, Florence Nightingle, Mother Teresa, Bill Gates or Danobir Ranada
Prashad Saha will be remembered for their endeavour to promote education, health care,
environment and other facilities to improve the life of the common people. These people
were the harbingers of political and administrative reforms.

The government is often not keen to provide many things, even some basic needs of life,
guaranteed by the constitution. The government has created Dhanmondi, Gulshan,
Baridhara residential areas by evicting poor people and acquiring their land by paying
them a very low price. It developed the land and sold it to the privileged class at a throw
away price. The Government sells land for Tk 10 million, while the actual price of the
land is Tk 100 million per decimal. On the other hand, the donors, NGOs and service
clubs are building shelters for poor people at remote areas in the country with funds
raised from the donation of members and overseas donors. These organisations also have
partnership with governments in different countries for such activities.
There are many trusts, Wakf estates and foundations regulated under different laws of the
countries for bridging the gap between availability of services from the governments and
the demand of the citizens. The donors in the developed countries prefer non-government
organisations and service clubs to deliver services to the needy because of allegations of
corruption in government and bureaucracy of the developing countries.

Bangladesh has a strong tradition of private philanthropic initiatives for humanistic and
voluntary works for people's welfare. Many schools, colleges, hospitals and other
voluntary initiatives for public services have their origin in the philanthropic values of
caring and sharing.

The NGOs in Bangladesh are engaged in diverse activities-the same NGO may be
involved in multiple areas of operation. Micro-credit is one of most common and
increasingly popular type of operation of the NGOs, because of the success of the model
in reaching the poor, especially women, but also for the reason that it has also become a
legally endorsed income generating activity helping development and sustainability of the
NGOs themselves. Other popular programmes include education, health, family planning,
environment, human rights, women and children welfare, among others.

Most NGOs rely upon funds received from foreign sources. International NGOs,
development partners, foreign private organisations, and multinational organisations
provide such funds. A World Bank Report (2003-04) says that 34.10 per cent of the
foreign aid (US$ 379.4 million) received by Bangladesh was allocated for the NGO
sector. There are no estimates of funds from other sources that are involved in this ever-
growing, important employment-generating sector. There is no estimate of the number of
people employed in the sector, but BRAC, for example, the second largest employer after
the government, employed 93,843 people as of June 2006.

A study shows that around 70 per cent of private charitable contributions in Bangladesh
go to religious institutions, with educational establishments (15 per cent) a distant second
followed by recreational events.

Society needs change and some people are looking for alternatives. People are forming
societies for their survival and better life and face the hazards, both natural and man-
made. Even animals form societies for their defence against natural and human threats
and foraging. Club is an organisation composed of people, who voluntarily meet on a
regular basis for a mutual purpose of recreational, educational, religious, charitable, or
social networking pursuits. It is an association of two or more people united by a
common interest or goal. Some people may join hands to meet for a social, literary, or
other non-political purpose, such as health clubs, country clubs, book clubs, and women's
associations. The clubs may be formed under common law or on consensus and under
legal framework of the country. The Registrar of Association is the regulator of registered
clubs and other non-profit organisations.

A registered and non-profit club may be owned by individuals. The members are entitled
to use the premises and property in exchange for the payment of entrance fees and
subscriptions as well as any additional rights and privileges provided in their contractual
agreement. There are many such clubs such as health and fitness clubs and other
recreation clubs or associations, whatever is the name.

There are some clubs in Bangladesh registered with the Department of Social Welfare
and Ministry of Youth. These must follow rules of the government and get financial
support from the national exchequer. The clubs must keep financial statements properly
audited and present it to the regulatory authority.

Most of the foreign communities try to form self-styled clubs, since they sometime like to
create environment of their own culture in distant land. Some clubs like Dhaka Club,
Chittagong Club or Narayanganj Club were established by the British expatriates before
1947 under the British government patronage. Locals were not allowed membership or
avail the services. Local people joined these clubs after partition in 1947. One of the sport
clubs-the Abahani also registered with Registrar of Association is a limited liability
organisation.

There are some clubs namely voluntary clubs not owned by anybody since membership is
subject to payment of subscription and adherence to rules. They are mostly created to
serve society.

Service clubs or service organisations have their own constitutions and bylaws. The
voluntary non-profit organisations are clubs of professionals or business people where
members meet regularly to perform charitable work either by direct hands-on efforts or
by raising money for other organisations. A service club is defined first by its service
mission. Rotary Club focuses on motivation of their members in the ideal of service
through professional excellence and high ethical standards.

Some service clubs like Rotary and Lions clubs are local units of their international
organisations. This international affiliation brought the members of all cast and creed in
different regions and cultures under one umbrella to help each other and share their
wealth and ideas.

Historically, most service clubs consist of community-based groups that share the same
name, goals, membership requirements and meeting structure. Many of these clubs meet
weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly on a recurring established day and time, commonly at a
mealtime. Many of the service organisations have become worldwide movements, and
have obtained official recognition by the United Nations and various governments as
non-government organisations.

The service clubs only teach the members ethics and morality and motivate them to some
social service to the community. This is not a new idea of social service.

One Paul P Harris, who dreamed to do something for society by organising different
professionals, formed the world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago in 1905.
As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members and social interests.
Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve
communities in need. The organisation's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its
motto: Service Above Self.

Similarly, Lions club also promotes, what individuals need, when confronting daily
ethical challenges, is a simple set of guidelines that can be applied on the spot.

The non-profit organisations, the NGOs, and service clubs are the fastest growing sectors
in the world. Bangladesh is considered as the birthplace of Grameen Bank, the innovator
of micro-credit and BRAC, working mostly in adult education.

The world population is more than six billion dispersed over six sub- continents having
different problems to address from food to medicine, education to natural and man-made
hazards. There are people in one part of the world willing to help others in another part
and there comes the need for service providers in the form of clubs to reach service
receivers. Madam Teresa can provide personalised service to the poorest of the poor in
Kolkata, but cannot reach everyone in all the parts of the world. Bill Gates unable to
reach all needy people used Rotary Clubs throughout the world to provide money for the
global effort to eradicate polio and make human life better.

There are different perceptions in society about these service clubs. Are they really and
effectively promoting ethics in private life, business and profession of members in the
community?

The writer is a part-time teacher at Leading University and can be reached at e-

mail: shah@banglachemical.com