Report on

The Role of BRDTI in Poverty Reduction and Rural Development Develo

Submitted to: Ms. Tahmina Akhter Course Director, BCS Administration Academy Shahbag, Dhaka.

Submitted by: Md. Asifur Rahman Roll No: 25, ID No: 16505 79th Law and Administration Course BCS Administration Academy Shahbag, Dhaka.

Date: 30-10-2011

Introduction Bangladesh Rural Development Training Institute (BRDTI), established in 1954, is one of the associate organizations of BRDB which is the prime government agency engaged in rural development and poverty reduction. It is also one of the oldest training institutes in Bangladesh. It was established with a view to making available the information resources necessary for learning, teaching, and research with regard to rural development and to provide the services that enable participants, faculty, and staff to use these resources. The proper usage of these in turn, enhances our manpower with proper skill and helps reduce the poverty of the country. The institute is located at Khadim Nagar, Sylhet with a total land area of twelve acres and offers a scenic natural beauty with necessary arrangements for the training. The controlling authority of this institute is the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) and works under the parent ministry of LGRD & Cooperatives. The physical facilities of BRDTI include class rooms, syndicate rooms, conference halls, library, hostels, dining halls, faculty rooms, etc. The institute offers training on a wide range of subjects like Rural Development, Poverty Reduction, Project Management and Project Appraisal, Social Forestry and Environment, Women in Development, Training of Trainers, Human Resource Development, Financial Management, Cooperative Education and Training, Integration of Environmental Concern in Agriculture and Rural Development Projects, etc. In 1982, the government transformed the IRDP into Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) by an ordinance which is now the premier and the largest public sector organization engaged in rural development and poverty reduction.

Mission and vision of BRDTI As a part of the BRDB under the ministry of LGRD, BRDTI has some specific mission and vision to achieve for the development of rural life of Bangladesh. The mission of BRDTI includes: a) Helping to bring about a positive change in the Attitude, Skills and Knowledge (ASK) of the officers of BRDB and beneficiaries engaged in the field of rural development and poverty reduction, and benefitting the rural people, thereby. b) Assisting in the promotion of human and social capital in the country through various programs and workshops. c) To increase cooperation and collaboration among the national level training institutes for sustainable rural development program in the country. d) To provide necessary supports towards designing, improving and managing the rural development policies of the country. e) To arrange and conduct training programs, workshops, seminars and evaluation activities in the field of rural development and poverty reduction. The vision of BRDTI is to contribute in developing the individual skills and capacity of the mass people. And also to contribute substantially to up scale the lives & livelihood of the rural people, particularly the poor to bring about a balanced and sustainable socio-

economic development in the country.

Functions of BRDTI

BRDTI do not implement any development project/program at field level. It only offers training in a wide variety of courses concerning rural development, relevant to the development program under BRDB, Governmental/Non-governmental Organizations (GOs/NGOs). It also conducts research in rural development and allied fields. The main thrust of research studies of BRDTI is to concentrate on analyzing the dynamics of the socio-economic changes in the rural areas due to implementation of any project/program by BRDB and to recommend for adjustments.

Classification of training courses conducted by BRDTI:Basic Courses Orientation Courses Refreshers Courses Attachment Courses arranged by BPATC, NAEM, BCS (Admin) Academy, NARS etc. Local govt. strengthening related courses IGA related courses Skill development courses Contact courses from NGOs Bangladesh Rural Development Training Institute plays a major role in poverty reduction and rural development indirectly by training various concerned personnel and people. Therefore, training is an essential part of BRDTI in course of rural development. Main courses conducted so far on: Local govt. strengthening of UP representative Human Resource Development Project Management SME Management Cooperative Management Credit Management No of Persons Trained Up to 2007-08 2008-09 30/04/ 10 577 566 1092

Sl. Name of the Course No 1 Office Attachment on Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Office Attachment on Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Office Attachment on Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Office Attachment on Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Sub Total

Organization

Duration

NAEM, Dhaka BPATC, Savar, Dhaka BCS (Admn.) Academy, Dhaka NARS/BARD, Comilla

5days

5days

163

94

108

5days

100

26

5days

40 880

686

1200

5 6 7 8 9

Capacity Building of LEBs Foundation/Refreshers Course Foundation/Refreshers Course Foundation/Refreshers Course IGA

CARE/ 5days SHOUHARDO Junior Officer 30 days (Accts.) of BRDB ARDO of BRDB URDO of BRDB 60 days 60 days

1452 35 42 67 579 1693 4748 26 32 42 2524 142 19 3471

94 32 1878 21 3225

10 Capacity Building for NGO Staff 11 TOT for URT Under LGSP 12 IGA Total Training Conducted during 2007-08

Palli Progoti 15-48 Prokolpo, BRDB days Contact Course 3-12 days NILG 2-5 days CVDP of BRDB Chapter 21 days -

Training Conducted during 2008-09

Training Conducted from July 2009 to April 2010

Future Training Plan Sl. Name of the Course No 1 Target for 2009No of2010No. of Trainees Course 2040 24

Organization

Duration 5 days

Office Attachment on NAEM, Dhaka Rural Development & Poverty Reduction

Office Attachment on BPATC, Savar, Dhaka Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Course for BRDB Refreshers 3 BRDB field Staff Junior Officer (Acctts.) of 4 Foundation Course BRDB 5 Foundation Course ARDO of BRDB 6 Foundation Course URDO of BRDB Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar, 7 IGA BRDB Contact Course Capacity Building for NGO 8 FIVDB/ Staffs SIMANTIK Advanced Management 9 Inter Cooperation (Project Office Management) Process Facilitation for the 10 Inter Cooperation Line Department Officials (DAE/DLS/DOF) Total 2 Research and Consultancy

5 days 2 days 30 days 60 days 60 days Depends on IGA Depends on IGA 5 days 3 days -

200 120 77 159 80 250 2500 150 150 5726

4 3 2 3 2 5 100 5 5 153

For research the institute doesnt get any extra budget from the government. However, the research activities are being conducted on the basis of existing logistic support of BRDTI & BRDB. Major research activities during the year 2009 were: Research works of 2009 1. An Analysis of Comparative Advantage, Diversification and Value addition in Poverty Reduction through Formal and Non-formal Group Approach of BRDB Strategy.

Objectives:a) To examine the socio-economic condition of group members of each type. b) To identify the main areas of credit use of both the approach and their impact. c) To identify the constraints faced by the each group when operation with credit and make recommendations.
2. Post Training Utilization of BRDTI Conducted Training: A Case of Office Attachment of 109 FTC of NAEM

Project Planning & Appraisal Financial Management & Accounting Personnel Management Training of Trainers (TOT) Rural Development & Poverty Reduction Computer
Training Methodology & Approach of BRDTI:-

Class room lecture Question and answer session Case Study Group visit & Field Studies Group discussion, report writing & presentation Course evaluation & written test

The faculties of BRDTI are usually managing the multidisciplinary training courses. Moreover, we also prefer to invite resource personals from local universities, administration, development organizations & several other line departments with professional background and experience in the field of rural development and poverty reduction. BRDTI dont have any permanent clientele and self managed training (professional) course. As it is the prime training institution of BRDB, it has to wait for the departmental training program. For maximum utilization of its resources BRDTI prefers to be competitive in attracting new clienteles to avail training. This has opened an window of opportunity for BRDTI to be competitive and innovative in designing and organizing training courses to attract other stakeholders.

Socio-economic conditions of Bangladesh Bangladesh is primarily a rural based country where more than 75% people reside in the rural areas. Our country inherits a rich experience in the field of rural development. Our economic conditions were very strong and self-sufficient once upon a time. In the revolution of time, our previous affluence and pride has been decayed. Now-a-days the socioeconomic conditions of both the rural and urban Bangladesh are characterized by: Unemployment Under-empowerment Low productivity Further to this low income is re-enforcing cumulative casual effect of high incidence of economic poverty. This pervasive problem is aggravated by the lack of modern or technical skills and know-how, lack of community anticipation, and empowerment coupled with mass literacy, gender discrimination and inadequate access of vas rural poor to the resources. The situation is further aggravated by the frequent disaster like flood, cyclones, tsunami, etc. Other causes that aggravate our poor socio-economic conditions Lack of efficiency, predictability, transparency and accountability in key government institutions, poor public sector governance have contributed to a demoralized bureaucracy, misallocation of budget resources and ineffective implementation of development. Increasing allegations of corruption at many levels represent a key constraint to effective delivery of essential services. Basic institutions essential to the effective functioning of a market economy do not exist or do not operate Comparative scenario of economic growth in some of the Asian countries effectively. Poor goProjections vernance and perfor- Economic Growth Rate 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2015 6.3 6.0 5.4 5.4 5.9 6.2 mance of public agen- Bangladesh Cambodia 10.2 6.7 -2.6 4.8 6.8 6.8 cies waste limited pubChina 13.0 9.6 8.7 10.0 9.9 9.5 lic resources, affect the India 9.4 7.3 5.7 8.8 8.4 8.1 6.2 4.6 -1.7 4.7 5.0 5.0 quality and quantity of Malaysia Singapore 8.2 1.4 2.0 5.7 5.3 4.5 public and private inThailand 4.9 2.5 -2.3 5.5 5.5 5.0 vestments, and con- Vietnam 8.5 6.2 5.3 6.0 6.5 7.5 strains the economic Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, April-2010

growth and weaken the governments poverty reduction program.

Rural Development in Bangladesh Rural development is a planned change towards the improvement of the economic and social lifestyle of the rural poor people through increased production, equitable distribution of resources, and empowerment. In general, a planned change can be of two major kinds-rural institution building and advancement in technology. Although agricultural developments constitute a major part of it, rural development is a much broader process which aims at the development of the rural economy as a whole. In fact, it is a process that encompasses the entire gamut of technical, economic, political and social changes related to private and public efforts geared towards increasing the well being of rural citizens. Rural development aims at building the capacity of these target groups to control their surrounding environment accompanied by wider distribution of benefits resulting from such control. The key elements of rural development in Bangladesh are: (a) poverty alleviation and raising the living standards of the rural poor people; (b) equitable distribution of wealth and income; (c) wider employment opportunities; (d) participation of the local people in planning, decision making, implementation process, benefit sharing, evaluation of rural development programs, and (e) empowerment or more economic and political power to the rural mass people to control the use and distribution of scarce resources.

Role of BRDTI in alleviating poverty and rural development As two-thirds of the GNP comes from agriculture, so far, much of the emphasis has been given by BRDB on the development of agriculture and also on implementation of agriculture related programs. But the rural populace consists not only of farmers but also of many other professionals, women, youths, and landless people. A national effort for rural development and poverty reduction remains incomplete unless it has any program for the aid group of people. BRDB (the then IRDP) in addition to the main components have undertaken many special projects such as womens program, youth program and program for the landless. Being a part of BRDB, the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) helps achieve these goals by training the mass people and make them skilled, knowledge-based manpower. Specially the rural people and other concerned personnel are trained up by the BRDTI so that they may play vital role to reach the target set by the BRDB. Besides this, some intensive area development projects have also been undertaken in some selected upazilas with foreign assistance for effecting total development of the area concerned. However, BRDTI mainly plays its role through training people so that they may have the capability and skill to develop the rural area of Bangladesh. Conclusion BRDTI has already become able to attract some credit based organizations like FIVDB, Intercooperation, Ashar Alo, etc. They have chosen this institution to conduct their training courses. We believe that BRDTI will be the appropriate platform for those who are working for rural development & poverty reduction. It can also play greater role to strengthen local govt. bodies.