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Where we do it > Bangladesh - 5 Minutes with...

Shahana Hayat, Country Director, VSO Bangladesh

How long has VSO been working in Bangladesh?
VSO has been working in Bangladesh since 1974. We used to work in a number of different areas, including education, and health but since 2003 when we developed our new strategy we have been focussing on participation and governance and HIV and AIDS.

What are the main development challenges for Bangladesh?
For me the main development issue in Bangladesh is participation and governance. Our governance system is very weak and if you look at the statistics you will see that 35% of people are living under the poverty line. When I say under the poverty line that means they are deprived of their basic rights. Why it is really happening? We are getting lots of funds from international donors and it is a country full of resources. One of the main reasons of weak governance, it is because the community people are not getting the opportunity to participate in the development initiative – it is because women are not getting the opportunity to raise their voice – it is because government systems are not decentralised. So this is one of the main reasons why we are so behind.

What impact does poor governance have on the 35% who are living under the poverty line?
The impact is that disadvantaged people are getting more disadvantaged day by day, their lives are not really improving. They are not able to send their children to a better school - in fact there is no school in some of the communities. They are deprived of the good health centre. Also, there is not enough economic opportunity for them - so day by day their situation is getting worse.

You often hear about development in South Asia taking a ‘rights-based approach’ – can you tell us what that means?
What we are saying that a ‘rights-based approach’ is something where people are able to demand their rights, claim their rights and also fulfil their duties. In the ‘rights-based approach’ we are saying that we cannot say that the only government, is the sector to supply the demand and only community are enjoying the demand. Community people also have the duty to serve for example community people have the duty to pay tax to the government. With that tax government, duty is to provide service to the people.

Can you tell me what is unique about the way VSO works in Bangladesh?
One of the unique things about VSO Bangladesh, or VSO in general is that when volunteers are working with the community people or the staff of at their organisation they are not only trying to build the capacity of the organisation they are trying to relieve the spirit and values of the volunteering and in this way a community can develop active citizens. They are becoming better people; they are start feeling responsibility towards society, towards our country. VSO is not only contributing in the development field we are contributing to society.

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