Browsing by Author "Rafi, Mohammad"

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An assessment of BRAC’s organizational culture and values training
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2012-11) Alim, Md. Abdul; Akter, Jesmin; Rafi, Mohammad
BRAC initiated Organizational Culture and Values (OCV) training to promote values among its staff which would help achieve organization’s objectives. Since 2009, BRAC’s Learning Division has offered training to 10,908 staff and plans to train the rest. Such a training project involving huge cost and time demanded early assessment of its effectiveness. This study aimed to measure the retained knowledge of the trainees on training content, evaluate their attitudes towards the content, and evaluate the implementation of training by branch office staff. Altogether 235 staff from 28 branch offices who received training was compared with 208 staff from same number of offices but without training. The impact of training was distinct in the intervention group. They were more knowledgeable than the control group on the content of training. More respondents in intervention group had more favourable attitudes towards the training content than the control group. The implementation of training was assessed in terms of 21 issues covered in the training. More respondents implemented training for almost all the issues and there was difference found between intervention and control group in implementing some parts of the training. The implementation of the training was directly and indirectly influenced. Besides, non training factors like supervisors’ attitudes, organizational environment and policy, wisdom of staff had significant influence on the implementation of the training. The OCV training might make further efforts to rationalize training content with more convincing examples that might develop stronger values. A supportive environment should be created in the branch offices for implementation of the training content.
An assessment of HRLE shebika with a focus on their effectiveness
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2011-07) Alim, Md. Abdul; Rafi, Mohammad
The study aimed to identify the challenges that the shebikas faced in becoming proactive against human rights violation (HRV) and find out how they could be made more effective in taking action against HRVs. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for data collection. The first set of findings were on personal and household attributes of the shebikas, the indicators assumed to have facilitated/ hindered shebikas in taking action against HRVs. The second set of findings show the association of these indicators with the action against HRVs that the shebikas undertook. The shebikas reported about 5,762 HRVs, which took place within a three-year period in their localities. The shebikas were successful in preventing 16% of these HRVs and in the case of 45% they failed. About the rest the shebikas did not take any action. Findings also indicate that a number of factors motivated the shebikas for taking action against HRVs. The personal and structural constraints that the shebikas faced were considered as the main reasons for not initiating any action against HRVs. In order to induce shebikas in taking action against violations and to come up with positive outcome a number of recommendations are made.
An assessment of male attitude towards violence against women
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2003-05) Rafi, Mohammad; Banu, Dilruba; Alim, Md. Abdul; Akter, Shaheen
Violence against women is a global burden. In violence against women wives, mothers and daughters are battered, raped, verbally abused, neglected, deprived of human dignity and means to meet their basic needs. The cost of violence is not only monetary but also emotional and social. Violence against women is a human rights issue. It is deeply rooted in culture and religion; supported and in many cases, even institutionalized by patriarchal societies. Enormous cost or violence along with the fact that it is man made problem justifies any effort in reducing violence against women. The recognition of the fact that violence against women is unjust and prevention of such violence is a precondition to development arc the impetuses in taking initiatives in preventing violence against women in our society. As a first step to such an initiative the study was initiated. The main objective of this study was to understand the psychosocial dimensions of the attitudes of men towards violence against women. Under this broad theme the study focused on several issues: analyze pattern of violence; assess men's attitude towards women in general. and their attitude towards violence against women in particular; and find out what it would take to stop violent behavior of men towards women. The study revolves around two important concepts, i.e .. male violence against women and their attitude towards it. Violence against women results in. or is likely to result in, physical, sexual and psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. This definition refers to four types of violence - psychological and physical assaults, and violence related to action and deprivation. Attitude refers to beliefs and feelings about a person or event and the resulting support or opposition to those. Taken together, favorable or unfavorable reactions - whether exhibited in beliefs, fee lings, or inclinations to act - define a person's attitude towards something.
Backlash against posters of BRAC's human rights & legal education program
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1997-09) Rafi, Mohammad; Ahmed, Shah Asad
The Human Rights and Legal Education program of BRAC was initiated with the assumption that if the legal awareness of its clients was raised they would be able to protect themselves· from illegal, unfair or discriminatory practices in the villages. But it was observed that the rights of these clients were in occasions infringed because those who infringed the rights were themselves not legally aware. Thus, BRAC was convinced to believe that the rights of its clients would be better protected by raising the legal knowledge of the non-clients. As a result, the HRLE program added a poster component to its activities. In April 1997 the HRLE program took up a policy of fixing a 7-set poster in the villages and in the towns within the BRAC activity areas. The posters pictographically and in writing presented some of the legal rights and duties of the citizens of Bangladesh and indicated what could be the consequences of 'Violating those rights. Some 700,000 posters were posted so far. This venture was not without a hitch. Some in the community reacted against the posters. These backlashes have encouraged us to conduct this study. The objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate nature of backlashes; (2) find out how the Rural Development Programme (RDP) field staff handled the backlashes; and (3) investigate the causes for backlashes. A qualitative approach was adopted in conducting this study. The study was conducted in the catchment of RDP areas in Kuliarchar, Sharail, Kachikaia and Puthia. Data were collected based on checklists through individual and group interviews. The interviewees included RDP, RDP's village organization (VO) members, people working living at the 'Vicinity of the spot where posters were fixed, and local influential. The backlashes included verbal condemnation against the posters, tearing down the posters, teasing and rebuking BRAC staff for fixing posters and organizing demonstration against the poster program. The reaction of RDP offices against the backlashes varied from area to area. Its staff did not make any effort to prevent the ripping off the posters. In the case of organized and not severe backlash BRAC tried to convince those who reacted against the posters but where the backlash was severe BRAC compromised with them. The RDP staff took a pragmatic step against the backlashes in order to avoid any has done to the smooth functioning of the Program and for the success of postering in the long run.
Drinking water in the hilly region of Bangladesh: how is the quality?
(Carfax Publishing, 2002) Karim, Fazlul; Rafi, Mohammad
This paper assesses the chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water in three districts of the Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT), a region within Bangladesh. Drawing water samples from tubewells, chharas /springs, lakes/canals, wells, and ponds, analysis was done on pH, alkalinity, arsenic, phosphate (PO 4 ), sulphate (SO 4 ), ammonium-nitrogen, conductivity, and faecal coliform bacteria. The PO 4 and SO 4 concentrations were within the permissible limits. In contrast, 100% of the water samples contained alkalinity below 400 mg/l. Varied proportions, ranging from 14% to 50%, of tubewells, chharas /springs, lakes/canals, and well water had a pH of less than 6.5. Three out of 16 (18.8%) tubewell water samples tested had arsenic contamination and 18% of the chhara /spring and 11% of the well water samples had an unacceptable level of conductivity. In addition, faecal coliform bacteria contaminated almost all sources of water, ranging from 81% to 100%. The water used for drinking in CHT in general is harmful for health.
Evaluating training cascade mechanism: a methodology and a case study
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2004) Rafi, Mohammad
Training has increasingly turned into an important NGO tool for rural development in Asia and Africa. Such an use has made it essential to assess the impact of these training sessions. Again a good portion of these sessions are offered through cascade mechanism. There has been a skepticism on the effectiveness of this mechanism. In response to the above need and skepticism the paper assessed the effectiveness of social development training and the caseade mechanisms under the Human Rights and Legal Education program of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. A theoretical framework was developed and used for the assessment. The findings show that the training was effective in producing desired changes and the cascade mechanism was an effective training tool.
GO-NGO relations: the BRAC experience
(BRAC, 1998-04) Ahmed, Salehuddin; Rafi, Mohammad
Human rights and religious backlash the experience of a Bangladeshi NGO
(Development in Practice, 2000) Chowdhury, A.M..R.; Rafi, Mohammad
Impact assessment of BRAC's human rights and legal education training
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1997) Rafi, Mohammad; Hulme, David; Ahmed, Shah Asad; Amin, Md. Nurul
The huge training investment of BRAC calls for an answers to the questions -- what is the impact of the training on BRAC programs and on its recipient? This study endeavors to answer these questions. As a part of this effort an impact assessment research methodology for training was developed. The methodology was then applied to the training under Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) program. (pp. 1-2) The HRLE training has been introduced to disseminate practically relevant legal knowledge to BRAC members. In order to reach a large number of Village Organization (VO) members at low cost a training 'cascade' has been established. Training is offered al three levels. First comes the Training of Trainers (TOT) for HRLE. Next is Teachers Training (TT) for HRLE Shebok/Shebikas. Finally there is Legal Education (LE) provided by Shebok/Shebikas to the VO members. The laws that the training covers arc Citizen's Right Protection Law, Muslim Family Law, Muslim Inheritence Law, and Land Law. (pp. 3-7)
Impact assessment of BRAC's human rights and legal education training
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1997) Rafi, Mohammad; Hulme, David; Ahmed, Shah Asad; Amin, Md. Nurul
The huge training investment of BRAC calls for an answers to the questions -- what is the impact of the training on BRAC programs and on its recipient? This study endeavors to answer these questions. As a part of this effort an impact assessment research methodology for training was developed. The methodology was then applied to the training under Human Rights and Legal Education (HRLE) program. (pp. 1-2) The HRLE training has been introduced to disseminate practically relevant legal knowledge to BRAC members. In order to reach a large number of Village Organization (VO) members at low cost a training 'cascade' has been established. Training is offered al three levels. First comes the Training of Trainers (TOT) for HRLE. Next is Teachers Training (TT) for HRLE Shebok/Shebikas. Finally there is Legal Education (LE) provided by Shebok/Shebikas to the VO members. The laws that the training covers arc Citizen's Right Protection Law, Muslim Family Law, Muslim Inheritence Law, and Land Law. (pp. 3-7)
Popular theatre and BRAC
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2009) Rafi, Mohammad; Rahman, Hasanur
The objectives of the study include evaluation of the popular theatre of BRAC as being performed, the extent of the messages being communicated through theatre, evaluate the changes brought about in the attitude of the attendees towards theatre, and the extent they take initiative in their development. We intensively observed two popular theatres (one organized by the Social Development Programme and the other by the Advocacy Programme of BRAC) and the catchments of these theatres. The villagers from the catchments, i.e., treatment group, were compared with a control group from villages where theatre was never held in terms of certain attributes related to theatres. Findings indicate that the programmes have standardized the process of conducting theatre without sufficient participation of the community for whom the theatres were being played. In spite of this the theatres were well communicated to the audiences, because the themes of the theatres were part of their experience. The theatres managed to conscientize them and brought a change in their attitudes. The audiences did not transform their changed attitude into action for development because they considered the theatres as entertainment only. They did not have a sense of ownership to it as they were not a part in the selection of the play, organizing it and acting in the theatre.
Report of the baseline survey of potential erosion and flood affected areas of Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Project
(BRAC, 1997-04) Chowdhury, Pijush Kanti; Rafi, Mohammad; Jakariya, Md.; Islam, Shahidul
This is a reoort on the baseline survey of the households within the area demarcated by the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority (JMBA). This area spreads over 12 km to the north and 10 km to the south of the bridge. This area covers both charland and mainland. In the mainland. The survey area covers half a kilometer inland from the riverbankline on both sides of the river. The survey covers households in 44 chars and 132 villages which spread over 13 unions and 5 than as under the two districts. namely Tangail and Sirajganj. JMBA issued identity cards to those households whose lands were acquired in 1992 and 1993 for the bridge. About 7% of the households covered by this survey are holders of these identity cards. The percentage of households with ID cards is 9.3% for Tang ail and 4.25% for Sirajganj. The total number of households under this survey is 24,035. These households have a population of 129,031 and the average size of these households is 5.4. Of these households 6.9% are female headed. The survey covered 44 chars of different age and size. The age (habitation period) of these chars varies from 4 to 65 years. These chars have a number of community facilities such as mosque, madrasah, primary schools etc. ln certain unions of Sirajganj and Tangail districts, there is a concentration of handloom weaving factories. The survey area has a total of 416 factories with a total of 3875 workers under them. The value of land per decimal in these chars as reported by the local people varies from Tk.30 to 1300 in the case of agricultural land and from Tk. 30 to 1200 in the case of homestead land. The average size of households under the survey is 5.4 for Tangail. 5.3 for Sirajganj and 5.1 for erosion affected areas. The percentage of household members within the age group of 15-59 is 50.3 in the survey area while this percentage is 49.24 at the national level (1991 census). The population pyramid of the survey area as a whole is almost symmetrical with that of the national level. The unmarried population of the households under the survey constitutes 55.7 and the married 39.9. The difference between these percentages for the charland and that for the mainland is small.
Shalish and role of BRAC federation
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2002-01) Alim, Md. Abdul; Rafi, Mohammad
The study aims to investigate the relationship between the federation and village shalish. Data were collected through qualitative method from federation members and the village heads participated in shalish. Members were found successful in playing their role in shalish. Inspiration and supports from some heads, spontaneous participation of other members, and the presidents being a member of union parishad contributed to succeed in shalish. Meanwhile, members became unsuccessful in shalish because of reverence of heads, uninterested male members, impediment of family members, unwillingness of sharing the incident among the members, hush money taken by the heads. Moreover, the informal and peculiar social, economic and political bondage between heads and federation members hampered to get the real justice. Few heads considered the federation as benevolent organization for the poor, as it might bring some societal changes in informal justice system in the village whereas others believed that it could not reach its goal because of the anecdotal values and culture of the villagers. Some members were ambitious about their success while others thought that they were poor, they had to spend most of their time to earn their livelihood, so how they could partake in shalish. However, the difficulties faced by the federation would continue yet they would be successful if they had been duly supported by BRAC.
Small groups and performance of village organizations in rural development programme of BRAC
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1997-09) Rafi, Mohammad; Ahmed, Shah Asad; Hossain, S. M. Alamgir; Haque, Md. Fazlul; Dus, Tapon Kumar
BRAC's Rural Development Programme (RDP) fonns the village organizations (VO) by formulating their objectives precisely and by laying out explicitly the activities within it that the members comprising it need to carry out These activities are designed as such to make these supportive to the achievement of the VO objectives. On the other hand, small groups by helping the VO members in carrying out their responsibilities indirectly contribute to the achievement of the same. Based on these observations it was assumed that if the small groups were serious in enacting its responsibilities the VO activities would be well carried out and thus their objectives would be achieved. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the status of small groups in RDP VOs; (2) investigate the extent to which the small groups contribute to the performance of the V Os; and (3) investigate the causal mechanisms that helped/hindered the performance of the VOs. Altogether 239 VOs were randomly selected for observation in this study. The selection was made from those presently functioning and formed in between 1986 and 1996. The performance of these VOs were assessed in terms of certain activities supposed to be conducted by its members in the weekly VO meetings, i.e., (1) ringing the bell before meeting starts, (2) attending the meeting, (3) starting the meeting on time, (4) reciting the 18 promises in the beginning of the meeting, ( 5) sitting by small groups, ( 6) depositing savings, (7) repaying the weekly loan installment, (8) following the repayment procedure, and (9) preparing resolution of the loan verbally requested for from the RDP office.
Socio-economic baseline survey of open water fisheries under Fourth Fisheries Project
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 2002-02) Banu, Dilruba; Gani, Md. Showkat; Rafi, Mohammad; Sattar, M. Ghulam
Socioeconomic and health profile of Chittagong Hill Tracts
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1999) Rafi, Mohammad; Mallick, Debdulal; Karim, Fazlul; Nath, Samir Ranjan; Ahmed, Syed Masud; Akter, Nasima; Begum, Shamim A.
Sustainability assessment of BRAC's rural development programme: a pilot study
(Research and Evaluation Division, Brac, 2000-09) Rafi, Mohammad; Akther, Shahnuj
This is a pilot study on the sustainability of BRAC Rural Development Prgoramme (RDP). As because of the short duration (I) the sustainability of social and economic aspects of RDP VOs and (2) the sustainability of AO at organizational, human resource, and financial levels have been taken into consideration in this study. In 1998 a sustainability work plan (SWP) was developed for BRAC. By using it the study has operationalized the plan. The sustainability assessment has been done in tenns of four levels that the VOs were expected to pass through, i.e., Level l: 13-36 months old, Level 2: 37-48 months old, Level 3: 49-72 months old, and Level 4: 73-96 months old. Data for the study were derived from three sources. First, a survey was conducted for this study. Three AOs for each level, three VOs from each AO, and nine members from each VOs have been randomly selected and surveyed. Thus, the survey observed 12 AOs, 36 VOs, and 324 YO members. Second, data collected for studies conducted in the past were reanalyzed and used to support the objectives of this study. Third, data on finances were derived from RDP's Management Information System (MIS) and Accounts Department. The VOs were expected to evolve over a period, as they mature they get a step closer in meeting their objectives. It was assun1ed that the VOs at each level would cumulate the attributes reflecting sustainability present in the preceding levels. The levels considered were based on the shift in two VO characteristics. First, shift from BRAC dependent management to selfmanagement. Second, from a BRAC related credit channeled through a development action to a fully autonomous civic body. Although the complete machinery (committees) as framed by BRAC for self-management were not present in all VOs it appeared that they achieved some capacity in managing themselves. The members both collectively and individually projected organizational capacities and powers both at social and economic aspects. Similarly they projected a higher capacity to take decision and conduct activities of their own particularly those relating to credit. Of course in many instances they took advice of BRAC for action. As a whole the members both individually and collectively showed a higher level of perfonnance in all the aspects of sustainability. It was highest in the case of both social and economic wellbeing but a little less in the case of social organizational capacity. The study intends to show different stages that VOs pass through over a period. The directions in which things are moving, not what they are at any given time are important. The achievement of sustainability was expected to project a trend over a period. Although the VOs and AOs projected a satisfactory level of sustainability but failed to show a trend that it increased with their aging. In the case of most indicators the younger and older VOs projected a higher level of sustainability. The findings indicate that the sustainability did not cumulate over time. The absence of a visible sustainability trend was probably because of the fact that the study was conducted on a small sample not representative ofBRAC VOs. Therefore the findings over here should not be considered conclusively. The model used in this study was observed to be effective in the sustainability assessment of RDP. The Research and Evaluation Division plans to keep on contributing to the SWP by assessing the sustainability of different components of BRAC. As a first step to this, the sustainability of AOs and VOs with a special attention to the I GAs of VO members and with a larger coverage so that the findings may be representative of the entire program will be assessed shortly.
The development organization and constraints to development: BRAC experience with religious organization in relation to human rights and legal education posters
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1999-06) Rafi, Mohammad
To educate people on human rights and some essential laws BRAC fixed 700,000 posters throughout Bangladesh. Displaying of the posters faced backlashes from the religious organizations. This paper investigated the nature and causes of the backlash and accordingly chalked out strategies for smooth functioning of the development orga-nizations in achieving their objectives. Interpretation of the posters based on the Holy Koran and Islamic practices, intrusion in the professional territory of religious organizations, and affecting the socioeconomic interest of the group representing the organizations were responsible for the backlash. In the light of these findings it was concluded that the development organizations should convince people of its cause by clearly spelling out its objectives, and formulating as such so that the opposing organizations may not get a scope to resist the development activities
Towards a profile of the ultra poor in Bangladesh: findings from CFPR/TUP baseline survey
(BRAC, 2004-09) Matin, Imran; Hadi, Abdullahel; Ahmed, Syed Masud; Akter, Nasima; Jakariya, M; Halder, Shantana R.; Rafi, Mohammad; Nath, Samir R; Haseen, Farhana; Quasem, lftekhar; Yusuf, Harun KM