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Community Participation Needed in FP Movement

by Zakeria Shirazi
AMILY Planning is a highly personal and conjugal decision. But success of the family planning movement cannot be ensured till a community approach to the problem is taken. This is particularly true of a developing country like Bangladesh with its over popu lation and socio-economic drawbacks where population control is one of the most pressing national priorities.
Not that community partlc tpation in family planning is a novel concept. Some emphasis on ft has already been laid in many countries. Bangladesh not excluded. But here family planning is yet to gain momentum as a community-based movement and a component of uplift as understood In the total community context.
It is relevant to point out that though success of the population programme in Bangladesh is still very modest. the initiation of some community-based activities such as involvement of local leaders, organizing localitybased group meetings, etc. may be said to have paid off In a limited way. Our society is not yet industrialized or highly individualistic. In things concerning family and household welfare a common villager is apt to follow the advice of the community leaders. If it were left entirely to his personal initiative to practise contraception. it is doubtful that many would have done, and continued doing, so. Thinking as a group has its own dynamics which can catalyse individual action within the group.
Local representatives like Union Parlshad and Upazila Chairmen have for sometimes been the prime target of collective motivation' activities. Holding group meetings at the local level under their sponsorship has the potentiality of disseminating the message in rural society. But here it is necessary that the community is enabled to perceive the
magnitude of the population problem within local frame of reference. Often world stalls Ues and national data have no meaning for the common villager. That the population of the union or upazila is galloping at an alarming pace: that two of the three soccer fields of the area have already been turned into crop land due to population pressure: that trees and thickets have disappeared; that despite the introduction of more motor launches river communication is becoming more and more perilous due to overloading of passengers — are the most directly perceptible consequences of baby boom tn the eyes of the common villager.
Some time ago the family planning department of the Government of Bangladesh In collaborating with the International uplift agency Pathfinder organised six workshops at Bagerhat. Madaripur, Perojpur. KIshoreganJ. Shariatpur and Jamalpur involving UP Chairmen. A distinctive aspect of these workshops was that the population problem was sought to be highlighted by quoting local statistics. Examples: Kendua Union in Madaripur had a population of 9859 in 1951, in 1990 the population was 22.986: in 1951 the union needed 1417 tons of food, now
it needs 3287 tons; in 1990 I he union had 3659 school-going children of whom 2048 were enrolled in schools. 9 schools and 39 teachers were needed for that purpose: in 2000 there would be 4521 school-going students of whom 2531 would be actually enrolled tn the schools while 11 schools and 48 teachers would be needed for that purpose: in case of universal primary education, however, the number of schools and teachers to be required will add up to 18 and 90 respectively. In Sikdar Mallik Union In Perojpur per capita arable land has come down from .74 acres In 1951 to .26 acres in 1990. These socio-economic indices had greater comprehensibility, hence greater impact on moulding popular thinking and behaviour.
Apart from Union Parlshad and Upazila leaders, the other local leaders who can play a kev role tn enhancing community participation in family planning movement are the school teachers and religious leaders and youths and women's groups. They can establish the necessary linkage with the nuclei of family lives and lend momentum to the family planning movement.
It should be remembered that there are two sides to
family planning movement, one is motivation (an overused. all-purpose jargon mean Ing both convincing and persuasion on the agent's part and Interest and desire on the subject’s part) and the other is service delivery . In simpler words, demand and supply. Demand creation must be matched with supply augmentation. If supply of contraceptives and service delivery feci) I ties are expanded, they have the effect of fuelling demands. There is a local saying, if you see a barber you feel you need a haircut. Higher availability leads to higher demand which means wider contraceptive
But the dynamics of community movement does not stop with the user. After the user is convinced — motivated’ —. he can convince others and this catches on and the trend is set. Group meetings and inter-personal contacts at community level between users’ and non-users can accelerate the process.
No practice can enjoy social vogue and become a trend-setter unless there is an added prestige attached to it and its votaries are held in high esteem. From this belief flows the ideas of honouring and rewarding two-child parents.
Since 1987 the government in cooperation with an international uplift agency has started organizing an annual reception for two-child families. This is an Innovative programme taken up by this country (Indonesia has a comparable programme of holding annual reception at the Presidential palace for long-term family planning users). Till now only a limited number of two-child families are covered by the programme held both tn Dhaka and In some selected districts and upazilas But Its value Is not merely symbolic; it can eventually set the trend of the community. The participating families by coming to the reception make their decision of having no more than two children publicly known to the rest of the community they live tn. They make their choice vis ible and underline the fact that one s private and conjugal option can be quite in consonance with social needs. They
become examples for others to emulate
At the district and upazila levels sports events were or ganlsed for the children of the two child families and the participating two-child fami lies received certificates signed by the District Commissioner and the Deputy Director of family planning and some token awards accompanied the certificates. We think, however. that the certificates should be signed by public representatives rather than public servants.
Community leaders may also help to create a public aware ness about the link between higher rate of reproduction and Infant and maternal mortality The benefits of massive Immunisation programme can thus be maximised to promote smaller family norma. If couples realise that the chance of survival of their children has improved, their urge to have larger families will weaken. The EPI programme tn this country is quite successful and this year more than 80 per cent coverage Is claimed by UNICEF and‘other sources If community awareness about the linkage Is created, the Im pact of EPl upon family planning is bound to tell.
We do not know what the report of the recent census has in store for us and we cannot afford to delude ourselves with any optimistic projection The fourth five-year plan envisages an increase of acceptors from 7.3 million to 11.6 million by 1995. In this race against time community awareness and participation are a critical factor