〔140〕 農 林 業 問題 研 究(第150号 ・2003年6月)

Poverty Reduction and Rural Development in Bangladesh

-The Role of Government and NGOs-

Md. Taufiqul Islam (United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tottori University)
Kenichi Omori (Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University)

1. Introduction recommendations.
In Bangladesh, the majority of people live in
rural areas where there are problems of illiter- 1.1. The Concepts of NGOs, Poverty and Rural
acy, unemployment and poverty. Nearly 50 per- Development
cent of the rural population lives below the In fact, the terminology NGO involves all
poverty line and about 80 percent are landless those organizations, which are non-
or marginal farmers (UN, [4] ). Therefore, to re- governmental, and concerned in multi-
duce poverty, it is crucial to develop rural areas, dimensional development activities with the
where most poor people live. objective of alleviating poverty of the rural and
To alleviate poverty and improve the stan- urban poor (Huq, [5]).
dards of living of the rural poor in Bangladesh, The causes of poverty has a vast range of
government and NGOs have planned and imple- factors. To know what helps to reduce poverty,
mented innumerable programs. However, pov- what works and what does not, poverty has to
erty policies and programs have not been able be defined. Broadly speaking, poverty refers to
to benefit the target population well within their forms of economic, social and psychological dep-
frameworks (CIRDAP, [6] ). Moreover, only a rivation occurring among people lacking suffi-
limited number of studies have been undertaken cient ownership control or access to sources for
on the role of government and NGOs in poverty minimum required levels of living. According
reduction of rural areas, which are mainly to Sen [7], "Poverty is, of course, a matter of
performance-based. For effective rural develop- deprivation".
ment and poverty alleviation programs, it is nec- Generally, Rural Development means im-
essary to conduct an observation study. provement of economic and social sectors in
Therefore, this study conducted observational rural areas. The main objective of rural devel-
research to demonstrate the role of government opment is to bring about overall improvement
agencies and NGOs by indicating weakness. in quality of life, both economic and social
This study also identified the factors, and sug- (Rahman, [2]).
gested potential areas for government-NGO col-
laboration. 2. Study Materials
The study is structured as follows:Section 2 In the present study, information and data
shows materials of the study. Section 3 and 4 were gathered from multiple sources. The study
describes the role of government and NGOs, con- was mainly based on secondary source of data.
sidering the poverty reduction and rural devel- Government agencies such as Bangladesh Rural
opment programs in Bangladesh. Section 5 Development Board (BRDB), The Bangladesh
demonstrates the activities, similarities and dif- Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and
ferences between government and NGOs. This Grameen Bank1, and three major national NGOs
section also identified the weaknesses of govern- were investigated. BRAG, PROSHIKA and ASA
ment agencies and NGOs. Section 6 summarize are the most efficient and effective NGOs who
the results, and concludes the discussions with have made impressive impact on poverty

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alleviation program in rural areas.2 During the development activities.

survey, information was collected on the basis The strategy for rural infrastructure develop-
of rural development and poverty reduction pro- ment under the Perspective Plan (1995-2010) of
grams. Several local branch offices and their ac- Bangladesh is under continuous review but in-
tivities were also observed. The selection of cludes the following:
local branch and comments of villagers were ・Improve basic physical infrastructure, facilitate

based on previous study. Moreover, various social and economic growth in the rural areas

publications, census and study reports, including and better integration between rural and urban

project documents, were also used. Finally, an markets;

・Strengthen local government institutions;and
assessment was made from collected data and
information. ・Plan for rural infrastructure development activi-

ties on the basis of Union and Thana Plan

3. Role of Government in Poverty Reduction Books, and involve representatives of the local
and Rural Development government institutions.3
In Bangladesh, rural development programs
are mostly operated by Local Government 4. Role of NGOs in Poverty Reduction and
(District, Thana and Union levels) and Rural Rural Development
Development Board of Bangladesh. The govern- The creation of NGOs in Bangladesh is a re-
ment of Bangladesh has adopted a number of cent phenomenon. In fact, the activities of
policies to reduce poverty in rural areas. NGOs began only after a devastating natural
During the First Five Year Plan (1973-78), most disaster that had occurred in 1970 and of
governmental concern was directed towards the course, after the war of liberation in 1971.
rehabilitation of war-affected women and their During the period 1973 to 1975, NGOs focused
children. In the Two Year Plan (1978-80) em- their attention on creating integrated commu-
phasis was given in the field of agricultural- nity development programs with various
based rural development programs. sectoral activities such as agriculture, fisheries,
During the Second Five Year Plan (1980-85) livestock, cooperatives, health and family plan-
various development programs were undertaken ning, and vocational training.
in such areas as skill development, agriculture, In Bangladesh, The NGO Affairs Bureau
care for mother and children, literacy and rural (NGOAB) was created by the government in
credit programs. The Third Five Year Plan 1990 to meet the need for a one-step service to
(1985-90) promised a greater effect and had a the NGOs. The NGOAB, located under the
more realistic approach to integrating women Prime Minister's Secretariat, has been assigned
into the mainstream of development activities, all responsibilities to coordinate NGO activities
particularly in the rural sector. In order to re- under the 1978 Foreign Donations Regulations
duce poverty, The Fourth Five Year Plan (1990- Ordinance and the 1982 Foreign Contributions
95) focused on the following main objectives to Ordinance.4 There are various types of NGOs
be achieved in the rural development sector: operating in Bangladesh. It is difficult to cate-
・To reduce rural poverty by means of increasing
gorize NGOs into distinctive types. However, on
gainful employment and income opportunities on the basis of spatial coverage and sources of
a sustained basis through expansion of the pro- funds, ADAB [1] has classified the NGOs into
ductive sector; three categories:
・To facilitate agricultural development through 1. Local NGOs:Which run programs in only a few
institutional support;and villages, collecting funds mostly from local
・To promote participation of rural women in sources or from national or international NGOs

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 〔142〕 農林 業 問 題 研 究(第150号 ・2003年6月)

such as Gono UnnoyonProchesta and Dipshika in Table 2 Government and NGOs Activities
Bangladesh.
2. National NGOs:Which work in district geo-
graphical locations covering a number of dis-
tricts, mostly receiving funds from organizations
in foreign countries such as BRAG, PROSHIKA,
ASA, CARITAS and Nizera Kori.
3. International NGOs:Which also operate in sev-
eral geographical locations, mostly having their
headquarters based outside the country and
being operated mostly by expatriates such as
CIRDAP, JICA and CARE.
In Bangladesh, roughly 600 NGOs are engaged
in development activities (BARD, [8]).
However, few of them have emphasized on pov-
erty reduction and rural development programs.
National NGOs like BRAC, PROSHIKA and ASA
have been working on mostly poverty reduction
and development activities in rural areas. The
present study focused on such National NGOs,
those that have significant roles in poverty re-
Table 3 Total Rural Credit disbursement by institutions
duction and rural development in Bangladesh. (million, taka)

5. Differences and Similarities between

Government and NGOs
The basic structural differences between
government and NGOs are given in Table 1.
Table 2 demonstrates government and NGOs ac-
tivities in Poverty Reduction and Rural Bangladesh and the experience in poverty alle-
Development programs. Table 3 summarizes the viation efforts gained by them have created a
total credit disbursement under broad institu- unique opportunity to push forward the poverty
tional categories. Over the years, the vast net- alleviation agenda. The government, while pro-
works of NGOs that have developed in viding the general policy directions for develop-
ment, has also recognized its limitations in
Table 1 Basic Structural differences between
bringing about sustained improvements in the
Government and NGOs
lives of the poor through its own efforts. Table
4 demonstrates weaknesses and strengths of
NGOs and Government agencies.
Though government agencies and NGOs are

playing an important complimentary role in

rural poverty reduction of Bangladesh, their
roles are not completely positive. One of the

government's most important roles is to reach

the rural poor and to deliver basic services in
order to assist them and improve their quality

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Table 4 Weaknesses and Strengths of Government agencies and NGOs

Figure 1 Proposed Model for Government-NGO Collaboration

Table 5 Potential Areas of Collaboration

of life (Siddiqui, [5)). However, in reaching the 6. Concluding Remarks

grassroots level, the government is often beset Previous and present studies shows that due
with bureaucratic practices that constrain effec- to the following multitude problems, weaknesses
tiveness in reaching the target groups. On the are occurring between government and NGOs:
other hand, major activities for the rural poor ・Lack of coordination among different govern-

such as agricultural development, environment, ment agencies and NGOs;

education, health and nutrition programs are ・Policy implications differ from area to area;and

being conducted by NGOs. However, the main ・No standard definition, methodology to identify

problem is that these programs are conducted in target popUlation;

an uncoordinated way. Present study emphasized on coordination,

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 〔144〕 農 林業 問題 研 究(第150号 ・2003年6月)

which can mostly remove the weaknesses of the BRAC, established in 1972, has a number of

government and NGOs. It is necessary to in- component programs under its umbrella such as
Social Development Programs, Rural Enterprise
creased dialogue and collaboration between gov-
Program, Micro Enterprise Lending Assistance
ernment and NGOs to resolve potential conflicts.
(MELA) and NGO Co-operation Unit.
Despite sporadic tensions in government-NGO ・Proshika:Proshika
, was established in 1976 with
relations, the NGOs are now accepted and recog- the aim of promoting sustainable development,
nized as important partners in development. improving the socio-economic and cultural

Development objectives for rural Bangladesh, empowerment of the poor, and developed educa-
tion.
such as accelerated economic growth, employ-
・ASA:The Association for Social Advancemeht
ment creation and poverty alleviation, cannot be
(ASA) was established in 1979 as an NGO in
achieved without the contributions of govern- Bangladesh. Until 1990, ASA focused on social
ment agencies and NGOs. Therefore, collabora- action, promoting legal rights, awareness, and so-
tion between NGOs and the government is cial justice for the poor.
necessary to ensure the effectiveness of efforts, 3. Union and Thana are the administrative units in
especially at the field level in rural areas. The rural Bangladesh.
4. The aim of NGOAB is to ensure quality perform-
relations of NGOs with the local government is
ance of the NGO sector and its accountability to
one of the critical factors that set the environ-
the state.
ment within which government-NGO collabora-
tion can work at the grassroots level. This calls
References
for effective collaboration in NGO relations with
[1] ADAB:Annual Report 1995, Association
government agencies at the local levels. Figure of Development Agencies in Bangladesh,
1 demonstrates a proposed Government-NGO
Dhaka, 1996.
Collaboration Model and Table 5 presents poten-
[2] Rahman, MD. Motiur PK.:Poverty Issues in
tial areas of Collaboration between government
Rural Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
agencies and NGOs. Considering the above, it is
pp. 133-135, 1995.
remarkable that the success of Poverty alleviation
[3] Siddiqui Kamal:Local Government in
and Rural Development Programs depend on a
Bangladesh, University Press Limited,
joint effort by the government agencies and Dhaka, 1995.
NGOs. Government and NGOs should supple
[4] United Nations:World Population Prospects
ment and complement each other and should
(The 1998 Revision), New York, 1998a.
not actively oppose the other's activities.
[5] Huq Md. Fazlul:Towards sustainable
Development (Rural Development and NGO
Note
activities in Bangladesh), BARC,
1. The Grameen Bank (GB) was set up in 1983 to
organize the landless and the poor through a Farmgate, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1991, pp. 4-
group based credit program to engage in produc- 13.
tive self-employment activities. The Grameen [6] CIRDAP:Government-NGO Cooperation for
Bank provides loans in cash to the landless poor, Poverty Alleviation, Dhaka, 2000.
particularly women, to promote self-employment [7] Sen, A.:Poverty and Famine, Clarendon
and make them income earners.
Press, Oxford, 1981.
2. BRAC:Bangladesh Rural Advancement
[8] BARD:Rural Development in Bangladesh
Committee (BRAC), one of the largest NGOs,
aims to eradicate poverty and empower the poor (Strategies and Experience), Kotbari,
by implementing programs targeted to the poor Comila, Bangladesh, 1996, pp. 444-453.
and disadvantaged sections in the society.

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