Knitting changes through livelihood development

Beating off bitter poverty

Bangladesh Extension Education Services (BEES) has been experiencing from the da
te of its emergence
knitting changes for progress and prosperity towards human r
esource development is the very practical and overarching way for easing vulnera
bility to chronic hunger and deep-seated impoverishment. The tragic reality is t
hat poverty is a life-threatening fact for most of the people in our country. Th
ey dwelling in very distressed condition both in rural and urban areas have not
minimal access to opportunity for developing life skill to cope with their pover
ty. Unlocking this poverty trap is the key for pro-poor economic growth. Bearing
at the very heart of the development goals, BEES is arraying staple prosperitie
s widely to expand the scope of development all along.
With special emphasis on community driven activities for sustainable development
in a number of innovative ways, BEES set off in 1975 as an integrated developm
ent initiative entitled Rural Development Program (RDP) in Bogra District. It h
as been implementing Poverty Alleviation Program (PAP) since 1997 well-equipped
with 3 key pillars of its development approach, such as
enhancing the scope of s
ocial mobilization, community empowerment and effecting long-term change. With t
he passage of time, different development initiatives have been taken by BEES on
e after another for serving the illiterate, destitute, deprived and indigent peo
ple over the years.
BEES experiences over the years have shown that poor people and their institution
s are assets and potential partners in the search for sustainable solution to de
velopment challenges. With enough access to information & knowledge, appropriate
capacity and financial support, poor people can effectively organize in order t
o identify community priorities and address existing problems. Thus, they are ge
ared up to make stride in livelihood development. Therefore, BEES effort is to p
romote income or employment generation through life skill development for the ta
rget beneficiaries. In view of this, counting on collective action it is conduct
ing different programs and projects like micro enterprise lending assistance, mi
cro finance, poultry & livestock, agriculture & social forestry, education and s
o on. Bringing the disadvantaged people of rural and urban areas under the same
umbrella, BEES works to form homogeneous groups to facilitate a sustainable cha
nge within the society through social and economic emancipation. For changing th
e behavior, attitude and practice as well as improving knowledge and awareness a
mong the target groups, BEES is initiating inclusive promotional activities comp
rising training, behavior change communication, interpersonal communication, adv
ocacy, networking and comprehensive social mobilization constantly in the basis
of need.
The broadest and most encompassing view of BEES Poverty Alleviation Program (PAP)
includes the social safety net that shapes widespread support towards participa
tory development. It is building the bridge across many a development activities
like health care services, human resource development, income generating activi
ties, livelihood development and so forth. Awareness programs on human rights, l
egal support, good governance, gender equality, women empowerment etc. have been
linked up to the program implementation to make the efforts significant, potent
ial and well-groomed.
Community mobilization is very much important to organize and improve community
participation. It is the first building block in bringing about participatory de
velopment. BEES motivates all community members that they are provided with the
opportunity to utilize a range of skills and abilities, which improves ownership
and increases potentials among them. Keeping pace with time and existing proble

ms, it has been ensuring its development services through demand driven approach
es for making them take the lead in development process. Thus, BEES gives commun
ity the opportunity to analyze and discus their local situation in systematic fa
shion, identify community needs and implement action plans. Its participatory pl
anning processes help build and strengthen the community social capital. The met
hods, tools and techniques needed for community participation are not new, and i
ncludes participatory rural appraisal (PRA) like village mapping, venn diagrammi
ng, focus group discussion (FGD) and the list goes on. This development process
generally embodies such steps as diagnosis; identification of priorities; proble
m and solution analysis; elaboration of action plans; ensuring fuller participat
ion of vulnerable groups; bolstering community organizations; and strengthening
community based accountability. With a vision to win the war on poverty as a wh
ole, its pro-poor programs are designed properly to cater to the beneficiaries c
overing the wide range of population in light of the Millennium Development Goal
s. Its target groups are well-defined by the policies and strategies of each ind
ividual project committed to self-sustained development. For instance, community
people especially women of 15-49 years, children and adolescents are the direct
beneficiaries of health, MCH-FP, nutrition and education programs. In addition,
men and women of 18-45 years who have no access to get loan from commercial ban
ks or other financial institutions are offered to accept facilities from micro-c
redit program of BEES.
PROGRAM APPROACH
Building and Strengthening Community Institutions, Centering upon Community Empo
werment, Establishing Human Rights for Social Equity, Pro-poor and Gender Sensit
ive Interventions, Demand Responsive and Decentralized Service Delivery Mechanis
ms, Promotion of Good Governance and Human Resource Development and Supplementin
g Sustainable Development are the major approaches of BEES to run all programs s
moothly.
TARGET POPULATION
Enhancing the scope of community development as a whole, BEES pro-poor programs a
re designed properly to cater to the beneficiaries covering the wide range of po
pulation in light of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Men, women, childr
en, adolescents and disabled people within the program areas are the target bene
ficiaries of BEES with especial emphasis to destitute women and hard core poor.
Presently, BEES is providing services for improvement of livelihoods to a popula
tion of more than 45 lac people.
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
BEES is working in 3,400 villages of 84 upazilas under 31 districts of Banglade
sh. BEES likes to expand intervention area gradually covering new areas of the c
ountry to address the needs of people who are continuously fighting against pove
rty.
We hope that the Report will be of interest to the valued readers to know about
the programs and philosophy of BEES and to this report will be a source of some
information to the partners of BEES who are constantly supporting its initiative
s. For detail information about BEES please visit http://beesngo.blogspot.com.