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Ansar-VDP: A potential force to meet challenges

A.K.M. Mizanur Rahman Adjutant (Asstt. Director) Ansar VDP Academy
1. Introduction:
1.1. General:
Every morning. Bangladesh faces tremendous development task. Every evening we are lagging behind to prepare ourselves to meet the challenges of the next day. of the twenty-first century. Can we really make a difference within the remaining hours? Can the GOB alone or the NGOs isolated or the people scattered make the difference in preparing for the twenty-first centuty? With its 4.5 million members can Ansar VDP become an effective partner? The answer is ■Yes' if I may be allowed to say.
1.2. Ansar-VDP. an overview; Ansar, rasied in 1948. is a vast voluntary organisation having its organisational units up to each union of the country.
Village Defence Party (VDP). raised in 1976. is also a voluntary organisation working to fight poverty, illiteracy. High growth rate of population, environment pollution, unhygienic living condition of the rural poor people, lower status of women in the society & any social chaos or disonier.
Missions
To extend community based assistance to the law enforcing agencies tn maintaining law end older.. .,
2. Tb work for socio-economic development of 'the rural ra1 issist armed forces BDR and Police in maintaining law A order situation in combating all sorts of national emergency.
The missions of the organisation can lx- translated into a single motto to create A maintain a spstalnabie socioeconomic development -fri-
i u^ronment all over 2 Roh ol Ansar VDP in socioeconomic development: 2.1. Ansar-VDP Village: Socio-economic development of the grass-root level poor people of the country has been considered as one of the main missions of Ansar A VDP. But it was only in 1976 that the organisation was reformed A re-shaped. So that Ansar A VDP can effectively organise itself upto the remotest rural areas A launch socioeconomic development programmes in an organised manner in 1988. The development programme took a new shape when the village level rural people living in absolute poverty level were puroposefully organised in Ansar VDP platoons (Group of 32 members) A subsequently in co-operative societies (samitees). Each of the samltees consists of two platoons. One male A the other female. A total number of 1692 co-operative societies of the same nature have so far l>een raised all over the countiy. Since 1988 we have been launching our development programmes with some distinct A unique features those are:
In our 1692 Ansar-VDP villages (so far covered) we are following an intergrated approach towards socioeconomic development our members are working on selfhelp basis for development of rural economy. Expansion of cottage industries. Poultty farming. Fisheries extension, tree plantation A afforestation. Family planning. Mass education, development of public health system etc. Members of Ansars A VDP are purposively drawn mostly from the rural poor households. This organisation by itself is an organisation of the target group. We are following the principle of participatory development.
One half of the total 4.5 million members are female members who are living in absolute poverty. To talk about upliftment of rural women/girls is to talk about Ansar A VDP.
The organisation is spread all over the country-in each of the remotest villages.
Resource mobilization in rural areas through cooperatives.
We do hope that this vast organisation of development workers will be activated upto a desired level, ofcourse if we can overcome our resource constraints.
Poverty alleviation Is a set-target for GOB. NGOs and of tire
uonor agencies. For almost all such programmes, one generally agreed problem is to have effective^ access to the target group. "'Specially to those living in the remotest rural areas of the country. Another major problem is to effectively ensure participation of the rural women/girls in such programmes . One of the added
advantage of Ansar A VDP in this respect is that, the platoon (both male A female) members themselves are living in absolute provery level. Those members when organised into platoons the co-operatives could successfully mobilize local resources to generate investible savings. 2.2 Rural sanitation programme:
The rural sanitation programme Jointly undertaken by Ansar A VDP. DPHE A UNICEF is In line with the objective of "Health for all by the year 2000 A.D.* This is also a part of the integrated socio-economic development programme of Ansar VDP launched In order to ensure a better life for the rural people on march 13. 1991 the terms of refference (TOR) A plan of action (POA) Jointly signed by DPHE. UNICEF A Ansar VDP was finally approved by the ministry of LG RI) A--
be implemented in two phases. During the first phase of two years 4.5 million members of Ansar VDP will install sanitary latrines for their own families. The duration of the first phase was from July 1991
to June 1993. During the second phase i.e between July '93 to June '98 they will motivate A mobilize all the villagers to install hygienic latrines.
Our experience during the implementation stage reveals that the target we set was a highly ambitious one. It seems to be difficult to change human habits overnight. Transportation of the rings A slabs to the remote villages was also a great problem for the rural poors.
What we feel now. is that the motivation A mobilisation in favour of hygeinic sanitation should be made a continuous process where Ansar VDP can play a vital role.
Another important observation is that, in our 1692 Ansar VDP villages the rate of achievement is much higher than that of other areas. It reveals that, to properly achieve our target, we may not go ahead with the sanitation programme in an isolated manner. We should proceed wjth an integrated approach.
2,3 Population control A family planning:
Ansar A VDP members, village leaders, union leaders A all ..eld level officers of the organisation are committed to play a vital role in curbing the alarming growtlj.- rate of
To dri-Sure effective participation of the mass people in family planning programme A also to accelerate service facilities at (he field level an Innovative project viz. the depot-holder programme has recently been
under taken. The programme started from may. 1990. Under this programme the trained female members of Village Defence Party are working with family welfare directorate. A total number of '57100 depot-holders A 2855 leaders were selected for the programme. The target for each depot-holder is to motivate 11 elligible couples annually to adopt family planning methods A to ensure service delivery. The service of the depot-holders is purely voluntary. Only those who can achieve their targets are given prizes or incentives like Sari or Radio set etc. So far the achievements of the depotholders seem to be encouraging.
2.4 Vocational Training:
In order to facilitate selfemployment and to create income generating activities for the voluntary members of the organisation we impart wide range of vocational training in as many as 36 trades. The duration of the courses varies from 21 to 90 days. After the training they are given a minimum technical support with equipments related to their profession. Vocational training are imparted in three training institutes viz the Ansar academy. Vocational training centres Gazipur A Kolakopa.
2.5. Ansar-VDP Unnayan Bank:
trained members of the organization a specialized Bank was set up in the year 1995-96. Only the members of the organisation are the share-holders of the Bank. The bank is intended to shar experience with the Graince: . Bank. Hie bank has alreare started its o|>eraiion.2.6 Ur ;s A Samitees'
hi each ol the unions of the cpuuUy there exists al least a cTun (for male members! or a samitee (for female memlH-rs). These clubs A samitees ar-, trying to organise community based organized socioeconomic activities, communication. motivation programmes and development works in rural Bangladesh.
2.7. The 16-village training programme:
In the year 1995-96 the traditional VDP training was re-shaped A 16-village VDP training was introduced. Under this programme VDP training is being imparted to 64 members of each of 16 villages in a thana. A total number of nearly 5 lacs of the VDP members were trained in 1995-96. Another 5 lacs of the VDP members are undergoing this training in 1996-97. Thana Family Planing Officer. Education Officer. Livestock Officer. Fisheries Officer. Agriculture Officer and local specialists are the resource persons of the training programme. Awards like T.V. sewing machine. Bicycle etc. are given to the best performing village in each Thana. This training is expected to play a vital role in total development of the members.
3. Lessons from the Experience:
Community based efforts are much more effective than the routine programmes.
Sharing of experience with the NGOs increases the efficiency of the GOB programmes.
GOB services may not be given from the desk alone, but should be extented up to the doorstep of the target groups. Resource constraint along with insufficient co-ordination is a major set-back in the rural areas.
Strong local-Government structure is required to plan A co-ordinate development works in the rural areas.
4. Conclusion:
We don't have enough time to spare for flowering discussions about human development and poverty alleviation in the conference room. The GOB organizations may overcome many of their setbacks through sharing of experience A also of tasks with the NGOs. who have already set some examples In the areas where we were supposed to be. In this all-out Joint effort Ansar-VDP through its activities is trying to become an effective partner with other allies specially In the rural areas of the country.