Neeti Gobeshona Kendro (Policy Research Centre in English) is a policy research, advocacy and training organisation based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Neeti Gobeshona Kendro was founded in 2004 with the aim to bridge the gap between policy makers and executors and the poor people of Bangladesh through participatory research and pro-poor policy making activities.
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is 137 of 177 on the UN’s Human Development Index, with only 4 non-African countries ranked below. At least 48% of the population live on less than $1 a day, nearly 75 million people, and GDP per capita is only $440. The poor of Bangladesh are some of the most disadvantaged and marginalized people in world.
The Millennium Declaration of 2000, of which the Bangladesh Government is a signatory, has set the development agenda for the period up to 2015. Governments, Multilateral Organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations and Civil Society in general have agreed a set of targets – The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) – to be reached by 2015. These include targets on education, water and sanitation and gender development. Neeti Gobeshona Kendro believes that without good local governance, respect for human rights and the provision of secure, sustainable livelihoods, the MDGs cannot be met in Bangladesh, and a prosperous, sustainable and equitable Bangladesh cannot be created. Good quality, pro-poor research and policy making is fundamental to ensuring that policy can effectively meet and go beyond the requirements of the MDGs.
Vision
Our vision is a Bangladesh free from marginalized or disadvantaged people, where all have sustainable and meaningful livelihoods, can fully participate in civic life and have their human rights ensured.
Mission Statement
We aim to develop pro-people policy based on participatory research and to advocate for meaningful policy change to meet the needs of disadvantaged people. We support marginalized people to demand change for themselves and obtainment of their human rights.
A detailed and participatory understanding of local governance, livelihood regimes and human rights is vital if development goals in Bangladesh are to be met: Neeti Gobeshona Kendro facilitates more effective development action by implementing agencies.
Values
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro maintains core values about our work. These reflect our vision and activities.
We aim to be participatory, with a particular emphasis on gender sensitivity in our working and organisational practices. Our staff are empowered to work independently and sympathetically with our communities and stakeholders. We aim to maintain and promote local knowledge and culture through our work.
We also are very careful about who we work with. We will not work with organisations of any form, national or international, that we feel are counterproductive to the development process in Bangladesh, or who do not possess similar values to us.
What We Do
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro works in three strategic programme areas: Governance, Human Rights and Livelihoods. Our programmes are vital to understand the context within which development takes place in Bangladesh, and how to ensure the best possible implementing environment.
Governance Programme
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro believes that effective governance is paramount to ensuring that the needs of the poor are met, that central policy is effectively and equitably implemented, and democratic accountability and transparency are ensured.
Our Governance programme works to strengthen the links between Union Parishads and local people, so that local people can demand and receive their rights and local government can effectively implement pro-poor targeted policy.
Case Study: Role of Political Parties in Strengthening the Union Parishad.
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro’s Governance Programme organised a seminar with UK-based International NGO VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas). Through this we were able to advocate for the strengthening of the capacities, roles and responsibilities of the Union Parishad as an agent of development, and persuade the large political parties that the Union Parishad has an important role to play in aiding Bangladesh’s development progress.
Our Governance programme has recently worked on developing Child Centred Community Development tools for the Union Parishad scale; researched local government finance; researched the role of MPs at the Union Parishad level; and advocated for the strengthening of the Union Parishad as a scale of governance.
Our future work is concentrated on understanding the role of the Union Parishad in development, and advocating for policy change to ensure that it is effective in meeting needs identified by local people themselves.
Human Rights Programme
Respect for human rights of all citizens is fundamental if Bangladesh is to alleviate disadvantage and poverty. Neeti Gobeshona Kendro’s Human Rights Programme reflects our firm belief that development targets and intervention can only be effective if the rights inscribed by law are actually expressed on the ground. Our human rights programme has three areas of concern: minority rights, freedom of movement¸ and human rights education.
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro’s Human Rights Programme has researched education exclusion of Bihari (ethnic Pakistani) children; domestic violence against women; the relationship between governance and human rights; and unheard voices in Bangladesh.
Case Study: Exclusion from Education
The Bihari people are ethnic Pakistanis ‘stranded’ in Bangladesh. They exist as stateless people. Working with International Development NGO, CARE, Neeti Gobeshona Kendro investigated the state of education access for Bihari children in Saidpur. Through participatory research means, we have been able to more clearly understand the needs and views of these people and allow NGOs implementing development programmes to effectively target key concerns.
Our future work on Human Rights will focus on movement of people living in Bangladeshi enclaves, advocacy with marginalized people and human rights education activities.
Livelihoods Programme
Secure and sustainable livelihoods are at the core of meeting development needs of the poor in Bangladesh. The requirements of the MDGs cannot be met against a background of household income insecurity, and therefore Neeti Gobeshona Kendro seeks to bridge the gap between livelihoods requirements identified by the poor and policy makers.
Case Study: Monga
As part of Neeti Gobeshona Kendro’s livelihoods programme, we conducted research on the experience of Monga (a seasonal famine) in North Bengal. Our researchers used participatory techniques to understand the impact that Monga has on local people, and published reports on the information that we shared with Government, NGOs and other stakeholders.
The Livelihoods Programme works on four main issues: Fisheries and Fishery Communities, Rickshaw-based Livelihoods, Monga (seasonal famine) and Charlands. These issues cover some of the more marginalized and disadvantage people in Bangladesh. We have already worked on a number of issues, including research on the impact of the Char Livelihoods Programme in North Bengal; research on poor fishermen and fisheries management; and assessing the impact of the seasonal Monga famine on labourers in rural Bangladesh.
How We Do It
We work in three ways to meet our vision and goals in each programme area. We conduct participatory research with local communities and stakeholders in order to facilitate the poor to identify problems themselves; we use advocacy with and on behalf of our communities and stakeholders to promote the outcomes of research and push for pro-people policy making; and we use training activities with international NGOs, local government officials and local communities to encourage more participatory and more effective pro- people policy implementation.
Participatory Research and Publication
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro uses participatory research across each programme area in order to understand the relationship between local communities and the development context. We use participatory tools and act as facilitators so that the space is created for the poor to create their own knowledge and policy views. We publish the results of our research in the form of policy briefs, newspaper articles, official reports and as academic articles. Our own biannual research journal brings together pro-people policy research and acts as a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge designed to make policy more accountable, responsive and effective to the problems that local communities themselves explain.
Case Study: Pulling their Weight
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro’s Livelihoods Programme conducted extensive research on alternative livelihood strategies for rickshaw pullers in Dhaka. Suffering from Government measures to close roads to rickshaws, sufficient alternative sources of income have not bee provided for by the policy. Our research and advocacy has highlighted to the public the implications of this action, and forced the Government to consider more closely the wider impacts of a rickshaw ban.
Advocacy
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro uses a range of advocacy tools to promote the results of our research and lobby for meaningful change in the formulation and execution of policy. Our advocacy activities include seminars with national and international NGO partners, press releases on issues of concern to our programmes, articles in the national and international press highlighting our views, discussion forums and community meetings.
Case Study: World Human Rights Day
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro marked human rights day 2006 by publishing an article on the theme (Human Rights and Poverty) in the national press to highlight the situation for many of the communities we work with. We also conducted a discussion session on the theme of human rights and poverty with representatives from academic institutions, government and International and national NGO partners.
Training
Our training unit works parallel to the programme areas, coordinating training sessions with various partners. Training conducted by Neeti Gobeshona Kendro is participatory, and aimed at meeting our organisational goals and vision. We train local communities on how to effectively advocate for their rights, train local government on how to be more effective at responding to the needs of the poor, and we training national and international NGO partners on the Bangladeshi context for local governance and human rights.
Case Study: Capacity Building training for Union Parishad
We worked with international NGO Plan Bangladesh to develop training materials on Child Centred Community Development (CCCD) for Union Parishad members, Plan staff and fieldworkers. This aims to enhance the capacity of Plan staff to work effectively with the Union Parishad.
Mahbubul Haque,
Director,
Neeti Gobeshona Kendro.
Policy Analyst
Md Mohiuddin Khan
Research Associate
Research Associate
Shafiqul Islam
Research Associate