CARE Bangladesh

1
CARE Bangladesh

• Strategic Impact Inquiry

2
Areas of Inquiry

• What are the underlying assumptions in CARE Bs
  literature on gender and power
• Mens and womens own views of empowerment and
  gender relations
• Womens strategies to negotiate their
  marginalization

3
Country Comparison
Bdesh Equador Yemen
Main Religion Islam Christian Islam
Population (mn) 152.6 13.4 21.5
Area (000 km2) 144 272 539
Pop density (km2) 1060 49 40
GNI per capita () 400 1790 520
Life Expectancy (men / women) 61 / 62 68 / 73 59 / 61
4
The Northwest of Bangladesh

• less conservative
• low wage rates
• few non-farm industries
• seasonal hunger
• intra-regional variation

5
Context Analysis - Union

• distribution of state funded development schemes
• local forms of justice (salish)
• role of elected women members

6
The Democratic Process

• Vote purchasing
• High costs associated with campaigns
• Costs are recovered through dispute arbitration
  and distribution of entitlements
• Politicians use musclemen
• Although rare, resistance exists

7
Women in the Union Parishad

• Women members are marginalized, but have begun to
  assert themselves
• Husbands with connections are key
• Adopt corrupt practices
• Are divided
• Serves as dispute arbitrator

8
Study community in relation to the union

• Politically in a significant ward
• Their candidate lost the last election
• Cut off from relief in crisis
• Local elite distributes money for vote and
  extracts money through dispute arbitration

9
KEY EVENTS

• 1900 Settlement of Hamlet
• 1968 Women vote for the first time (A Samad)
• 1968 First incidence of corruption in
  electoral process
• 1972 Women began selling labour in agricultural
  field
• 1974 Famine
• 1976 First Deep Tube Well installed in the area
• 1980 Girls begin to attend school
• Severe flooding
• Severe flooding
• 1988 Migration to Bogra, Dhaka Chittagong
  begin
• 1990 Credit NGOs begin to work
• Amlagachi market developed by CARE
• Para was 100 sanitized

10
Para Profile

• 97 Households
• 11 HHs are women headed
• Muslim para
• relatively limited economic differentiation
• 4 NGOs

11
LAND DISTRIBUTION
12
Well Being Grouping and Economic Relations in
Jalagari
Own 2-8 bigha land F.S. Round the Year Share out
lives stock They help extreme poor (Fithra, money
etc) They can sell rice after consumption.
Well off A-12
Own 1-2 bigha land F.S. 8 months Share in
livestock Very few sell labour. Some migrate to
Dhaka
Medium B-28
Low. Mid. C-19
Own 20-30 decimal land F.S. 6 Months Sharecropper
Some sell labour. 6 month RPA
Out side Para
Poor D-29
Own only homestead F.S. 1 2 Months Van
puller Sell labour Some are sharecroppers
Women-headed households Own only homestead No
Food Security Works in others home / sell
labor. Take help from well off families
Extr. poor E-9  
Sell labor
Rare
Provide assistance or capital
 
13
Kinship Patterns

• - Five kin group that vary in terms of number of
  households
• - Fairly even class distribution among kin groups
• Fairly even NGO membership distribution with 80
  all HHs involved in NGOs

14
Network Analysis
Wealthier woman ? Very limited
interaction/relation with non kin within para ?
Very limited/no mobility outside para Wealthy and
lower middle class women ? Purdah conscious Poor
and very poor women ? Have large number of
interactions and relations with extended kin and
non kin inside and outside para ? Frequently go
to nearby market ? Have interactions with
outside service providers
15
Network Diagram of a Poor and a Rich Woman in
Jalagari