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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NGOs started their journey in Bangladesh just after the liberation war. At the beginning,
NGOs appeared with some noble programs like reconstruction of war-torn Bangladesh. They
came forward to help the rural people to motivate their participation in income generating
activities by lending money on easy terms and also by offering consultancy services.
Gradually they took programmed like population control, alleviation of poverty, eradication
of illiteracy, sanitation, adult education and environment improvement and so on. Reducing
and eliminating human poverty has become the urgent task in the world in this new century.
Bangladesh is a developing country and many people live under the poverty line. People are
facing many problems in education, health, housing, sanitary etc. Bangladeshi NGOs help
overcome poverty.
NGO is the short form of non-government organization. Main objective of NGO is to help
poor people in the society. NGO helps poor people by providing the basic needs form which
they are deprived. NGO provide their support to underprivileged people through their
activities. Activities of NGO such as Micro-credit, Health & sanitation, Education, Advocacy
and Employment are main activities which are conducted by NGO.
In Bangladesh there are mainly four types of institutions involved in micro-finance activities.
These are:
1. Grameen Bank (GB), a member owned specialized institution,
2. Around 1500 Non- Governmental Organizations (NGO), like BRAC, Proshika, ASA,
BURO-Tangail, BEES, CODEC, SUS, TMSS, and Action- Aid etc.
3. Commercial and Specialized banks like Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB),
RajshahiKrishiUnnayan Bank (RAKUB) and
4. Government sponsored micro finance projects/ Programs like BRDB, Swanirvar
Bangladesh, RD-12 and others which are run through several ministries viz., Ministry
of Women & Children Affairs, Ministry of Youth & Sports, and Ministry of Social
Welfare etc.
All the programs are targeted at the functionally landless rural poor. All the MFIs provide
mostly small, un-collateralized one-year term loans to individuals belonging to jointly liable
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peer groups, and they use similar on-site loan disbursement and weekly collection methods
by forming village organizations or centers.
In this term paper, microcredit activities of BRAC are described for better understanding
about NGO. BRAC is currently providing two types of microfinance activities in Mugdha
and Maniknagor Branch. They are Dabi and Progoti. Dabiis especially for women and
Progoti loan is especially for business purpose.
A survey was conducted on 50 peoplebefore preparing this report. The main objective was to
know the microcredit activities of NGO in Bangladesh. The survey showed that the
microcredit activities moderately change the life style of poor rural people. They can invest in
business and earn profit from it. The portion of profit they use to repay loan and rest of the
amount is savings. Now some of them become financially independent. Now they want to
expand their business by taking some loan and investing their savings also. Now they live
above poverty line. NGO added something new for those people who live below poverty line
and those people who want to do something but are not financially sound.
Though the NGOs are playing a significant role in the national development of Bangladesh
their role is not out of question. Major activities in the field of organization building for the
poor, agriculture, poverty alleviation, environment, health and population, education, etc. are
being done by NGOs in an undisciplined way. There is no coordination among the NGOs.
There should be set rules and policies to ensure coordination between the Government and
the NGOs in implementing different people oriented programmers and schemes. NGO
Affairs Bureau can play the key role of the coordinator. Through sharing information NGO
Affair Bureau can help NGOs to avoid duplication, repetitions and concentration on NGOs
activities in a particular geographical location or in a specific sector.
It is expected that NGO will help to generate permanent employment.It will reduce
dependency on agriculture and help people make self-independent. Poor people would be
able to take care of their health and education by getting the benefit from this service and
they would also help contribute in Bangladeshs GDP.