Appeal to the government and international humanitarian organizations for helping disasater affacted people in VORD's working area

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Since the year 2005 development of Habshpur and Bahdurpur Union where VORD had its intensive programmes have been completely wiped out by the river erosion. Villages which have gone in to river were not just a  char land but the age of civiliztaion was about 400 years .  About  10 villages have completely abolished  by the river Padma. About 3000 families have been displaced  and have taken shelter in neighbouring villages. Thousand acres of fertile agricultural land has been eroded. Displaced families are severly suffering from food crisis, livelihhoods; about 40% student of Habshpur and Bahadurpur primary and high school and Dr. Kazi Motahar Hosain College has dropped out.   The erosion is continuing . Although UN chrater tells " geting help and assitance by the disasater affected people is a human right " but here the affected people of Habashpur and Bahadurpur unions did not yes receive any assitance  either from government agencies or international humanitarian organizations. We  appeale to the goveremnt and all humaniterian organiztaions to come forward and help this affected people. VORD would  like to conduct a particiatory study on the vulnerability and needs of affected people , we would be very greatful if any international organiztaion provide us financial and techncial asitance to conduct a study for developing effective programme of Disasater Risk Reduction .

About VORD

How did it start?

The full name of VORD is “Voluntary Organization for Rural Development”.  In the year 1987, VORD was initiated by a   band of educated youth who were engaged in doing traditional social works.    Gradually in the year 1989   in its journey to provide services in a more effective and efficient manner VORD established itself as a local NGO.

Legal status  

VORD is registered under following government ministries and departments of Bangladesh

·         Department of Social Welfare

·         Ministry of Health and Family Planning

·         Foreign Donation Registration under NGO affairs Bureau

·         Registration  for   the operation of  Micro Credit and Finance

Vision, Theory of change, Mission & Strategy 

Vision: VORD envisions a   society where all members living in peace and harmony in terms of relational, material, and psychological wellbeing.

Theory of change: VORD believe   that the deficit of relational, material and psychological well-being in human society is fundamentally caused by individualistic constructions  which separates self-from others ;      eventually generates greediness thus conflict, dominations and injustice. Further VORD believe that there is no universal, standard and static meaning of well-being     but multiple meanings   are   created by the local social cultures; continuously    constructed and reconstructed though on-going relational interaction processes.  Application of any standard paradigm of development and social change; not only fails to  involve  infinite    and  multiple  relationships in developed analysis and actions but also creates  subject-object relationships between  the communities and the development professionals.   People’s centred development requires a shift in focus from building individual capacities to what we can do together, to genuine participation of the people and interaction, to space for multiplicity, for local creativity and different ways of learning, a learning culture that encourages the community and the change agents/workers to be co-learners and co-constructors, working together towards opening new possibilities. This is only possible through a non subject-object way of relating. Despite talks and emphasis on the principles of participation, most development approaches conceptualize stakeholders as autonomous change entities, so that the unit of analysis and actions are targeted toward those entities. This conceptualization not only establishes subject-object relationship but also promote individualistic construction in which one party tries to promote the independence of another.

VORD put forward that people’s self development cannot be achieved by the thought and  action of others but self-help. Again,   Instead of entities, bringing interaction processes (which construct and reconstruct entities) as both unit of analysis and locus of change is fundamental in the promotion of genuine people’s centered development.

Mission: The mission of VORD is to promote self-help in development and social change through transforming subject-object relational processes into non subject-object.

Strategies: In relation to its mission   VORD applies following strategies:

• Centre   discourse of cooperative  interactions processes as both unit of analysis an locus of social change;
• promotion of positive, local  innovations, and opening up  possibilities
• facilitating participation  and multiple creativity;
•  facilitate local communities and their organizations to manage project cycle by themselves   involving  multi-stakeholders participation process;
• advocating self-help   strategies though networking  and partnership with  other  government and non-governmental organizations/ forums  at  local, national and international

 

Project locations

VORD works in     Pangsa and Kalukahal Upazilla (Sub district)   of Rajbari District  in Bangladesh.  Large  parts of Pangsa and Kalukhali Upzilla is    the   river Padma  basin      and significant portion of population is char ( river bed  ) dwellers.

Staff and volunteers

At present VORD has a total of 33   paid   staff members  and volunteers. As a community based NGO most of its general council members live in project communities and whenever needed and if relevant then individual general members are engaged in voluntary services and provide  their support to  the assigned field staff of VORD.

Governance and Executive Committee Members

VORD has a general council (GC) of 33    members. Although some of the general council members for their work place    live in Dhaka and other cities  of Bangladesh but most   members  are born and brought  up in Rajbari district of Bangladesh .  G.C. meets at least once a year that is called Annual General Meeting (AGM) where they approve annual progress report, annual budget and audit report of the organization. All VORD activities are governed by an Executive Committee (E.C.), elected by the General Committee (G.C.) every after three years. Executive Committee is the sole authority to take executive decisions for the organization, which are being implemented by the Executive Director.  For the period of 2011- 2013, VORD is governed by the following executive members:

Dr. M. A. Mazed (Chairperson): The former Director General of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) ;  presently holding  the position of Director for the  Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. Dr. Mazed is born and brought up in Jaykrishnapur    village of Bahadurpur union of Pangsa Upzilla .
Mr. Fayez Ulla: ( Vice Chair Person)  A retired Head Teacher of Semgram High school  of Bahadurpur Union
Nirmal Kumar Saha ( Treasurer): Head Master, Habashpur, K.B.Raj High School, Habshpur, Pangsa, Rajbari
 Md. Abdur Razzak ( Executive member) :  Former Government Emploiyees , Ministry of Defence, Udaypur, Pangsa, Rajbari
Khan Md. Najib ( Executuive member) : Head Master, Pangsa Jorje High School , Pangsa, Rajbari
Md. Azijul  Haque ( Executive member) : Former Deputy Post Master General  of Bangladesh . Bahadurpur, Pangsa, Rajbari.
Md. Kawsar Uddin ( Executive Member): Market Promotion Executive, Jute Diversification Promotion Center, Dhaka. Bahadurpur, Pangsa, Rajbari.
Mr. Ratul Krishna Halder ( Member Secretary cum Executive Director) : Former ASP of National Security Intelligence  of Bangladesh. Habashpur, Pangsa, Rajbari .

Office and Training Facilities

VORD has two field bases office in each of the Upazillas it works. For the Pangsa Upazilla it maintains a small office in Habashpur village while for Kalukhali Upazilla    another   office in Kalukhali.  Besides these two offices, for conducting training for he community members and leaders VORD has established a   Training Center in   Habashpur Village. The Training center can accommodate about 30 persons in single, double and triple occupancy rooms. The training center has a good training hall training aid and equipments, a separate kitchen and dining room with basic, equipped with the provision of adequate water supply and hygienic sanitation management. Through rural but the   training center offers a pleasant environment for sharing and learning.

Past projects

Since the year 1987, besides traditional  social works  ,  VORD implemented  various projects related to health, family planning and reproductive health care, essential newborn care, education, disaster preparedness, employment, income generating, human right & water and sanitation including Arsenic mitigation. VORD emphasizes people participatory self-help approach in development with strong emphasis on social & organizational learning. As a local NGO, VORD has considerable experience, expertise and distinctive identify for facilitating a participatory sustainable development process. Following are profiles of some project VORD implemented.

Human development project (1990-1992):  This was a three year project funded by Asia Partnership for Human Development (APHD). The main purposed of the project was to organize marginalized landless male and female into self-help groups, create their awareness on human and legal rights.    Through this project VORD successfully facilitated marginalized male and female of several project villages to have their control over legally allocated Khash land   which enhanced their social and economic well-being.

 

People participatory process for human & health development: (1992- 1999) this eight years project was funded by Swiss Red Cross. The main purpose of this project was to promote self-help for health   towards improving health situation of the community.   The project addressed  a total of 179340 population covering  72 villages of 12 unions under Pangsa and Kalukhali Upazilla. Supported by community education and awareness creation; in each of the target villages VORD established one male and one female    Village Development Committee (VDC)  and facilitated to assess plan and implement  activities for health situation improvement.

Maternal and reproductive health care project (1993- 97): This six-year project was funded by Bangladesh Population and Health Consortium (BPHC) . The main purpose of this project was to improve the maternal, reproductive and child health care. The project covered 14 villages, established community clinics and contributed    government community clinic towards more effective service delivery.

 

Safe water   and sanitation promotion (1992-1999): Resource ,  material  and technical support of this  project was provided by Bangladesh NGO  forum for drinking water supply and Sanitation . The main purpose of this project was to promote poor peoples’ access to safe drinking water and   practices of hygienic defecation.

Community managed Arsenic mitigation –C.M.A.P (1999): This project was supported by Bangladesh Arsenic Mitigation water Supply project of the government. Through this project VORD screened out all arsenic affected tubeless in Pangsa and Kalukhali upazilla.

Emergency Disaster Preparedness (1998-1999):    This two years project was supported by Swiss Red Cross to facilitate Village Development Committees (VDCs) to be prepared for emergency flood-disaster response. Through this project VORD facilitated all VDCs to prepare contingency planning and undertake   emergency response preparedness activities. Including safe water and sanitation to the Poor and marginalized people   affected by the flood.