1.

Introduction to Rural Development:

Rural development is the process of improving the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people
living in rural areas, often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas.

Rural development working on changes towards the improvement of the economic and social lifestyle of
the rural poor through

 Increased production
 Equitable distribution of resources
 Employment

[Link] key elements of rural development in Bangladesh are

 Poverty alleviation and raising the living standards of the rural poor
 Equitable distribution of income and wealth
 Wider employment opportunities
 Participation of the local people in planning, decision making, implementation process or benefit
sharing.
 Empowerment and political power to the rural masses to control the use and distribution of
scarce resources.

3. Major rural institutions for Rural Development are

 Union parishad:
Union council also known as union parishad, is the smallest rural administrative and
local government unit in Bangladesh. There are 4,562 unions in Bangladesh. A union
council consists of a chairman and twelve members including three members
exclusively reserved for women. The boundary of each union council is demarcated by
the Deputy Commissioner of the District
Functions of Upazila Parishad :

1. Meeting and standing committee.

2. Executive power.
3. Financial resources.
4. Officer and employees.
5. Abolition and re-election.

 Local Government Engineer Department (LGED)

LGED, is a national and internationally acclaimed world class Engineering Department in the field of rural
infrastructure development. It began its journey in 60s as Rural works programs and with the passage of
time its activities expand from remotest corner of the country up to the cities.
Contributions of LGED:
 strengthening of rural economy through development of transportation and improvement of
rural markets and growth centers are visible across the country.
 Maintains its presence in the infrastructure development in urban areas.
 Providing technical assistance, governance improvement and capacity building of urban local
bodies.
 Augmenting agricultural and fish production through small scale water resources development
projects is remarkable.

Functions

 Local NGOs: Bangladesh is facing massive challenge to meet up the demand of her ever-
increasing population. Local NGOs are contributed as the savior of countless number of people
without food, cloth, education and basic health facilities.
The major development roles ascribed to NGOs are to act as:

 Planner and implementer of development programmers,

 Mobiliser of local resources and initiative,
 Catalyst, enabler and innovator,
 Builder of self- reliant sustainable society,
 Mediator of people and government,
 Supporter and partner of government programme in activating delivery system implementing
rural development programmes, etc.,
 Agents of information,
 Factor of improvement of the poor, and
 Facilitator of development education, training, professionalisation, etc.
A number of these NGOs are into various aspects of community development such as:

Local NGOs are:

 BRAC
 ASA
 Caritas Bangladesh
 CARE Bangladesh
 BURO Bangladesh
 Oxfam in Bangladesh
 Shakti Foundation
 Jagorani Chakra Foundation (JCF)
 TMSS
 Development programs of BRAC in Rural development : The Bangladesh Rural Advancement
Committee (BRAC) has been working with the rural poor since 1972, and in 1979 it began to provide
credit via its 81 branches through the Rural Development Program (RDP).

Its major Functions include:

 building viable organizations of the poor capable of bringing about desired

changes in their own socio-economic and political circumstances;
 improving the socio-economic status of the rural poor through the provision
of easy credit for income and employment generating activities; and
 developing the managerial and entrepreneurial capabilities of the poor.

Contributions of BRAC are:

Eliminating extreme poverty

 Ultra-poor graduation

 Integrated development

Expanding financial choices

 Microfinance

Employable skills for decent work

 Skills development

 Migration

Climate change and emergencies

 Climate change

 Disaster risk management

Gender equality
 Gender justice and diversity

 Community empowerment

 Human rights and legal aid services

 Strengthening Bangladesh’s RMG Sector

Universal access to healthcare

 Health, nutrition and population
  Water, sanitation and hygiene

Pro-poor urban development

 Urban development

Investing in the next generation

 Education

 Youth platform

Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) is an autonomous institution that strives for
research and training of local people as well as practitioners on rural development. The academy is
known for implementing the Comilla Model in the 1960s that has been internationally recognized as a
model project for rural development in the developing countries.

The priorities of these programs are:

1. Creating a sustainable organization in the village,

2. Creating personal and collective capital,

3. Infrastructure development,

4. Expansion of advanced agricultural technology,

5. Expansion of social development activities including health, education, family planning, women's
education,

6. Creating an organized village society with the help of people from all levels of the village,

7. Employment for landless laborers in non-agricultural sector,

8. Establish effective communication with the village and the outside world and

9. Innovation is an effective way to reach government service villages.

Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and
created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides
credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral.

Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogura was established on 19 June 1974 as a specialized national
institution engaged in rural development related training, research and action research. Since last four
decades RDA has gained a strong reputation in rural development field and has provided an active link
between its academic ventures and the application of research findings at a practical field.
Sustainable rural development through innovation and practices, contribution of RDA:

 develop and disseminate models, technologies and approaches to

 address the rural challenges;
 enhance capacity of rural development experts, practitioners, and
 change agents;
 promote climate change resilient development;
 reduce poverty; and
 promote gender parity and women’s empowerment.

The ASA (Association for Social Advancement) NGO is a non-governmental organization based
in Bangladesh that provides micro-credit financing around the country and they are working on
rural peoples.

 Contributions
the organization has been operating quite a number of non-financial programs counting
Primary Healthcare, Education, Health Awareness, Physiotherapy, Sanitation, Hygiene,
Agricultural aids etc. out of its own resources and also working on improving the life quality
of the people living at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid and establish a society
free from poverty and economic disparity.

Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) is an apex development organization established by the

Government of Bangladesh (GoB) in May 1990. Founder of PKSF is Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman
Ahmad and the target is sustainable poverty reduction through employment generation.

The major objectives of PKSF are to:

 The principal objective of PKSF is to provide funds to various organizations for their microcredit
programs with a view to help the poor who have no land or any credible material possession.
 PKSF provides assistance to the poor through different non-government, semi-government and
government organizations; voluntary agencies and societies; local government bodies; institutions;
groups and individuals.
 Provide financial assistance through creating productive employment opportunities for
the moderate and ultra-poor, small and marginal farmers and micro-entrepreneurs.
  provide them assistance including education, health, training and risk reduction services
as may be necessary for enhancing their capacity

Conclusion:

Bangladesh now has experience more than half a century of experience in rural development.
The rural scenario changed from the dominance of peasant farmers to the more thriving rural
non-farm sectors, involving many actors and institutions. Although the government still
follows a co-operative-based strategy, these projects are increasingly being replaced by
informal groups.

References:
 Momtaz Uddin Ahamed, 2005, “Institutional Framework for Promoting Rural
Development in Bangladesh: An Analytical Review,” Asia Pasific Journal of Rural
Development
 Blair, H.1978 “Rural Development, class structure and Bureaucracy in Bangladesh”
World Development, pp 65-82
 Bose, S, 1974 “The Comilla Co- operative approach and the prospects for Broad -based
Green revolution in Bangladesh”, World Development, pp 21-28
 Taslim,M 2017. “Economic Growth, Employment and Wage”. Financial Express: Dhaka,
22 April.
 A report on Union parishad published in the Daily Star 04 April, 2022.
 Local Government survey instructional manual, Dhaka. Ministry of local Government,
people’s Republic of Bangladesh.
 A study on gram parishad act published in 1997.