Grey Shack's Photography portfolio 2018 by Grey Shack

GREY SHACK

PROFILE Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

Grey Shack Limited Bangladesh OfďŹ ce: House2/8, 3rd Floor, Block-F Lalmatia, Dhaka-12O7 Phone: 88-O2-81OO299 Australia OfďŹ ce: 4/13 Doodson Ave, Lidcombe, 2141 Aus Phone:+6144O3778211 WWW.GREYSHACK.COM

About us

Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

Grey Shack,

a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals on all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. The social development scene in Bangladesh is characterized by a strong presence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and a lot of donor funded projects are undertaken each year. But the lack of communications strategy in the development sector often result in inappropriate solutions that the people refuse to adopt because they are not perceived as relevant to their felt needs. This stems from the lack of effective methodologies to involve the people in the identiďŹ cation and development of appropriate communication channels, which address project speciďŹ c conditions, needs and problems, and take advantage of local resources and opportunities. To address these issues, Grey Shack offers communications solutions for the development sector to ensure that the people actively participate in the identiďŹ cation of problems and needs which form the basis for project planning. It also helps to identify and solve communication problems and improve dialogue among all stakeholders to ensure that the objectives of the project are achieved. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack help empower all stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole. Even though Grey Shack has recently started its journey as a company, our experience in working with the development sector in Bangladesh has helped us to create strong partnerships with the likes of Via Lisa foundation and Coders Trust.

Some of the services we provide to our clients include but not limited to

1. Communication Strategy & Planning : Whether it’s a new company or a well-established organization, our ‘Business Strategy Planning’ team is always there for you to provide with effective strategic plans for your business to kick-off or grow for everlasting sustainability in your respective industry. Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited

many more types of documents for commercial printing, electronic distribution, epub. 5. Graphics Design & Animation : We give our clients the window to see their thoughts and imaginations coming to live through our creative illustrations. Our dedicated, professional graphic designers are the painters of our client’s dreams.Through animation we explain what the mind can conceive by entertaining, simplifying your thoughts, ideas and concept in a fun & artistic way which gives you a vehicle for portraying the insightful social contents as well. Our creative designers create the look of an animation project visually interpreting scripts, developing characters and environment live from the words or a tip of pencil.

Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

2. Research : We conduct various quantitative and qualitative research works with the context of primary or secondary information based on our client’s requirements to provide them with their desired solutions following their appropriate aspects of interests. 3. Films & Documentary : Media are all around us, influencing how we think, how we interpret our social environment and how we conduct our everyday lives. The world comes to us through television, the web, new/social media platforms & mobile devices and making a short video is a great way to tell your story or get your ideas across. In short it’s all about filming/filmmaking by which we serve our clients with, being dynamic, innovative and ultimate creativity. 4. Desktop publishing : In this era of “GO DIGITAL”, it’s all about saving time and money, making things easier to mound and share, making changes possible as you want, whenever and wherever you want. Desktop Publishing is the key for all these facilities that you want and here we are to provide you with that key to unlock the door of stylish, trendy and quality publications whether it’s a journal, report, magazines, newsletter, brochure or a flyer and

6. ICT services : All of our websites are built ‘future friendly’ and adhering to web standards. It is our practice to stay abreast of the latest developments and adopt best practises as standard, from responsive designs that will render optimally on any device (from mobile to desktop) through to SEO optimizations. Our services include any kind of web based application, content management system with pixel perfect design. 7. Photography : loves photographs which tells stories about the people they are working for, their community and their livelihoods. Products they want to promote or events they want to share. No matter its documentary photography or product, we understand the story behind and deliver the best. After all it’s a story in a single frame.

OUR MISSION

We want to help our customers succeed To provide innovative and effective integrated communications solutions which help our clients achieve their goals.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about building relationships

OUR VISION

OUR VA LU E S

Our commitment to building lifelong relationships with our clients is deeply ingrained in our culture and we go above and beyond to prove it.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re passionate about what we do. We take pride in what we do. Our relationship with our clients is what matters most. We only succeed when our clients succeed.

PORTFOLIO Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

PHOTOGRAPHY Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

Project: Alleviating poverty on the riverine island of north-west Bangladesh Client: CLP

PHOTOGRAPHY

CONTENTS LIFE ON THE CHARS

CHARACTERISTICS OF

INTRODUCTION TO CLP

THE CLP JOURNEY

SIX YEARS OF ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS

CLP’S THEORY OF CHANGE

PRIMARY OUTCOMES FOR CLP FAMILIES

IMPACT: GRADUATION OUT OF EXTREME POVERTY

SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

CONCLUSION

Life on the chars The rivers of Bangladesh are a key feature in the landscape of the nation and in the lives of its people. Totalling around 700 in number, these rivers generally flow south towards the Bay of Bengal. The larger rivers, sometimes reaching five miles in width, serve as the main source of water for cultivation and as the principal arteries of commercial transportation.

Though life on the chars is tough, there is great potential, as has been demonstrated by CLP and its achievements.

Flooding in the monsoon months from June to October can cause enormous hardship and hinder development, but also deposits rich silt on the agricultural land and replenishes the soil. This great river system is, therefore, a great resource and hazard. The chars are sand islands formed from silt deposits that generally accumulate during the drier seasons of the year, when the rivers are less full and currents are slower. Some of these islands are attached to the mainland, but only during the dry season, and they can range from a few metres wide to several kilometres. Prone to erosion and flooding, they are constantly changing size and shape. Historically, the chars were seasonal grazing grounds for mainland cattle. In recent decades, however, due to the country’s population density and land shortage, they have become a permanent home to hundreds of thousands of citizens, many of whom are extremely poor. Because they are schools that do exist are poorly resourced. Families wishing to sell produce such as milk, meat and vegetables are constrained by this remoteness as limited availability of inputs such as ready feed for cattle and other livestock. The principal source of income for poor char households is selling labour. In rural Bangladesh, the demand for labour fluctuates throughout the year. For example, between planting and harvesting of aman rice (September and November), many men who live on the chars become unneeded in the fields and thus temporarily migrate to cities in search of work because it is not locally available.

This publication explains and highlights the key activities, results and achievements of the second phase of CLP (2010-2016), a six-year programme jointly funded by UKaid through the Department for International Development and the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign The Programme aimed to help under-privileged families living on the northwest riverine char islands of Bangladesh. The first half of the publication summarises the Programme’s primary activities, and the second half highlights results, presented thematically: 1) livelihoods and markets 2) food security and nutrition 3) women’s empowerment 4) water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) 4) resilience, and finally 5) graduation.

Meet Mosiron Meet Mosiron Begum, our CLP Ambassador. Mosiron is a former CLP participant who received support from 2010-2011. Her experiences will be shared throughout the second half of this booklet. My husband married me 17 years ago. We have a son and a daughter. Before joining CLP, we were very poor, and only my husband worked. People have limited working opportunities and are poorly paid. Many people must move to other places to earn a living. This becomes even worse during the monsoon. No one has access to work during that time, and we used to struggle to manage food... We both had to skip meals often so our children could eat. I once starved for three days, which was the most terrible experience of my life. – Mosiron Begum, CLP Ambassador

07 clp-bangladesh.org

clp-bangladesh.org

PHOTOGRAPHY

Flood protection & employment generation

Water, sanitation and hygiene activities

While the mighty rivers that surround the chars were a source of livelihoods such as fishing and agriculture, they could also be a source of hardship during the annual floods from June to October if a family was ill-prepared.

Families on the chars sourced their drinking water from shallow tube-wells, which tube-wells were often surrounded by floodwater or submerged, which increased the risk of contamination that could lead to various health issues.

During these floods, thousands of char families were forced to leave their inundated homes in search of shelter on higher ground. For many, houses were damaged, assets were swept away, and waterborne diseases became a bigger threat. To make things worse, the end of flood season—from September to November—corresponded with the beginning of a period of underemployment and relative food insecurity on the chars that occurred after planting and before the harvesting of the aman rice crop. For a family that likely already endured hardship and loss during the flooding, the economic shock of losing a critical source of income could be detrimental.

To mitigate the general underemployment scenario during these times, CLP gave extreme-poor households the chance to build homestead plinths in a cash-for-work scheme. Known as the Infrastructure Employment Project, the scheme operated during this lean period (September-December) each year. This project served a dual purpose: households received much-needed income during the lean season, while the construction of homestead protected families during floods. With CLP's support, an alternative form of labour, and additional source of income during the lean season, was introduced to chars communities.

In order to enhance the general water situation on the chars, CLP improved existing tube-wells by adding platforms or increasing the depth- both of which are proven to improve water quality- and installed new ones where needed. All tube-wells were placed on plinths so they would be located above flood levels. Due to the lack of hygienic latrines and hygiene knowledge on the chars, many extreme-poor households admitted to practicing open defecation before joining CLP. Latrines that did exist were often little more than a hole in the ground- a definite catalyst for the spread of disease. To tackle the problem of open defecation and other poor hygienic practices, CLP constructed hygienic latrines and raised awareness of hygienic issues. The

To help families become more resilient during such times, CLP raised thousands of households onto engineer engineered, earthen enginee red, ed, ear ea rthen then plinths two feet feet above the highest known flood line. Both CLP and non-CLP families moved onto these plinths along with their assets and CLP-provided infrastructure such as water points, latrines and cattle sheds. Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited

PLINTHS RAISED

INFRASTRUCTURE EMPLOYMENT PROJECT WORKERS EMPLOYED

its working areas to fund the construction of hygienic latrines built above flood levels. To promote improvements in WASH practices such as hand-washing, female household members and adolescents were trained in sanitation and hygiene skills through local Social Development Groups.

AVERAGE INCOME PER WORKER

HOUSEHOLDS WITH ACCESS TO A SANITARY LATRINE AFTER PROGRAMME INTERVENTION

HOUSEHOLDS WITH ACCESS TO AN IMPROVED WATER SOURCE AFTER PROGRAMME INTERVENTION

PEOPLE TRAINED IN IMPROVED HYGIENIC PRACTICES THROUGH SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT GROUPS

19 clp-bangladesh.org

clp-bangladesh.org

Resilience in the face of environmental and economic shocks Erosion caused by the rivers, annual flooding, a family illness, seasonal unemployment—these are just some of the factors that had a significant bearing on the financial wellbeing of extreme-poor char families.

With the Programme’s support, households were much more able to withstand these environmental and economic shocks. They were significantly more resilient. Upon joining the Programme, families owned productive assets of very little value. With the transfer of an income-generating asset, in addition to training and support, targeted families were able to ‘grow’ the value of their productive assets and diversify their livelihoods so they no longer had to rely purely on selling wage labour. Before joining the Programme, on average, Cohort 2.2 households had assets of less than Taka 689 (£6). By 2015, the value of their productive assets had grown to an average of Taka 78,532 (£683). MEAN VALUE OF PRODUCTIVE ASSETS OVER TIME Taka 100000

78532

80000

59839

60000 40000

26433

20000

72269

35039

0 689 October 2010 Pre-CLP

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Productive Assets Value

clp-bangladesh.org

PHOTOGRAPHY

Conclusion The eradication of poverty requires a multi-dimensional approach that considers the wide range of factors that cause people to fall into poverty and keep them there. CLP took exactly this kind of approach among the chars-based communities it worked with, covering social, livelihoods, health, environmental and market-based vulnerabilities that the extreme-poor were faced with on these isolated riverine islands. The data presented here shows that CLP has been a success: 88% of participants ‘graduated’ from extreme poverty, measured by CLP’s rigorous multi-dimensional graduation criteria (Cohorts 2.1-2.5). Despite this success, there are always some questions left unanswered and some debates to which there is never a simple, easy-to-accept answer. Should CLP have tried to work with more participants, for example by -poo , but financing extending its definition of ‘extreme-poor’ this by providing a less-generous or ‘leaner’ assistance package? Should participants have been grouped into cohorts that spent more than 18-20 months in the Programme? What balance between beneficiary-focused livelihoods support and market-focused commercial considerations is appropriate? Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited

While the answers to these questions will always be CLP provided considerable lessons in many of these areas, along with a wealth of rigorous and documented data to inform the debate. Along with the vastly improved quality of life enjoyed by its participants and communities, this will be a significant legacy of the Chars Livelihoods Programme. If you would like to learn more about some of CLP’s key lessons, please refer to the website www.clp-bangladesh.org

47 clp-bangladesh.org

PHOTOGRAPHY

THE CHARS LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME LESSONS LEARNT SERIES Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited Grey Shack, a communications and consultancy company which provides support to development organizations, multi-nationals, large corporations, SMEs, NGOs, institutions and individuals in all aspects of Communication Solutions, ICT Solutions and Strategic Business Consultancy. We provide special assistance in social awareness raising, behavior change communication, advocacy campaign, information education and communication, visibility and branding. By creating an end to end communication strategy and carefully planned implementation, Grey Shack helps to empower all its stakeholders understand the project goals and to contribute actively to the decision-making processes of development as a whole.

Project: The Chars Livelihoods Programme Client: CLP

PHOTOGRAPHY

MONITORING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT TIMELINE The following timeline presents significant events in the process of developing tools for measuring women’s empowerment:

March 2010 CLP2 begins

CLP

June 2010 First empowerment survey. Very detailed questionnaire (Baseline for Cohort 2.1) Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited

October 2010 Second empowerment survey. Very detailed questionnaire. (Baseline for Cohort 2.2)

April-June 2012 Review of the approach to measure women’s empowerment. This helped to define a new approach to measuring women’s empowerment

June-August 2012 First survey using the Chars Empowerment Scorecard (CLP1 and Cohort 2.3 and 2.3 control group).

August 2014 Review of the relationship between women having their own income and other indicators of empowerment. CLP’S EXPERIENCE IN MEASURING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

PHOTOGRAPHY

LESSONS LEARNT SERIES |39

CLP SELECTION CRITERIA From the beginning, CLP used a set of rigorous criteria: every participant needed to be land-less, asset-less, income-less, credit-less. Each of these criteria had specific indicators. A potential participant also had to be able to meet certain residency and participation requirements. Together, these criteria were considered good proxies for the identification of extreme poverty in the context of the chars.

Land-less

• Absolutely zero decimals of land ownership, including homestead land • No access to agricultural land, including share cropped land • No land to be inherited under Bangladesh law • Households renting homestead land are still eligible

Asset-less

Income-less

• Ownership of no more than 2 goats / sheep, 10 fowl & 1 shared cattle • Must have productive assets valued at less than 5,000 taka • Not receiving cash or asset grants from any other asset transfer programme • Irregular Income

• No loan outstanding from any microfinance or credit programme Credit-less

Residency

• Must be a resident for at least 6 months in a village which has been classified by CLP as an island char

• Must be able and willing to participate in weekly meetings Participation

CLP’S EXPERIENCE IN SELECTING CORE PARTICIPANTS

LESSONS LEARNT SERIES |09

PHOTOGRAPHY

VALUE FOR MONEY The concept of VfM has always been enshrined in CLP’s operations, but the overall approach has evolved over time. CLP’s VfM Strategy uses the “3Es” conceptual framework based on the three VfM tiveness. These respectively link money with inputs, inputs with outputs, and outputs with outcomes ness spans all three “Es” – see the figure on the next page. As the figure clearly shows, in order to calculate the various aspects of VfM, a project needs to have good systems and data: financial systems; regular and high-quality operational monitoring; and good monitoring & evaluation (M&E) systems.

CLP’S EXPERIENCE USING VALUE FOR MONEY PRINCIPLES

PHOTOGRAPHY

LESSONS LEARNT SERIES |51

PHOTOGRAPHY

Project: Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Client: UNDP

PHOTOGRAPHY

SUSTAINABILITY

REPORT 2016

Project: Sustainability Report 2016 Client: DBL

PHOTOGRAPHY

Learning is Growing Sharing is Caring

PHOTOGRAPHY

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

PEOPLE PROGRAMS Women Health Program Initiative (WHPI)

Mini Fire Brigade

Starting from March 2013, the program targeted all the female workers at in DBL Group. It has a long-term objective to ensure good health and hygiene for all female workers. The initial activity was providing women with sanitary napkins at discounted price: thus, not only limiting to teaching women but providing opportunities for safe health as well.

The Mini Fire Brigade is DBL Group’s first public-private partnership, which is in collaboration with GIZ (through the German Cooperation) and the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD). The objective of the Mini Fire Brigade rapid response and risk reduction unit is to prevent fire in the industrial buildings around Kashimpur, Gazipur area. The unit is located outside the Jinnat Complex of DBL Group which will also serve other factories in the Kashimpur-Konabari industrial cluster.

Analysis and follow up are done in order to encourage women to make proper use of these products. For instance, in order to maintain the privacy of workers, the pads are now made available in the female washrooms. Counselling sessions are also done regularly to aware women regarding the health beneﬁts of the products. The effectiveness of these initiatives has been visible from the substantial increase in sales.

13,234 Pads sold in 2015-16

116%

Increase in sales compared to 2014-15

The foundation stone was laid on 7 October 2015 by H.E. Dr. Gerd Müller, Honorable Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany, and H.E. Mr. Tofail Ahmed, Honorable Minister of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh. DBL Group is providing land, a suitable construction for the Mini Fire Brigade and volunteers. The Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense will undertake the initiative to organize training for volunteer firefighters and provide infrastructure support. GIZ will facilitate the procurement of fire-fighting equipment. The facility will be staffed 24 hours a day with a target to respond within the first critical 10-15 minutes to both industrial fire and building collapse.

PHOTOGRAPHY

ACHIEVING FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY IN THE CHIT CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS Wasif Gaws Creative Director Grey Shack Limited

Improving livelihoods through sustainable management of natural resources and technological innovations in agriculture

Project: Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in the CHT Client: FAO

PHOTOGRAPHY

COOPERATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH, FAO AND ECHO

The Government of Bangladesh, particularly through the Ministry of Chittagong and the socio-economic development of this region. In recent years, FAO has partnered with MoCHTA and other CHT institutions to pursue food and nutrition security based on:

A bio-physical and socio-economic assessment of the region The formulation of strategies for sustainable agricultural development The implementation of projects at field level Commissionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).

IMPROVED ACCESS TO AGRICULTURAL INPUTS AND TECHNOLOGIES Poverty, resource scarcity and poor service delivery are some of the main challenges of men and women in the hill tracts, particularly in remote areas. Small farmers do not tive storage items. If they had access to improved resources, technologies and services, men and women farmers would be able to grow more and better. To achieve this, FAO provides key inputs tura productivit tural productivity to help farmers raise their agricultural productivity, invest in additional livelihood activi activities and contribute to greater food security and income generation. These are combined Wasif Gaws

Balanced fertilizers

Quality rice seed

Vegetable seeds

Watering cans for irrigation

Seed and grain storage silos

Fruit saplings

Poultry, shelter, feed and medicine

PHOTOGRAPHY

DIVERSIFICATION OF LIVELIHOODS TO INCREASE FOOD SECURITY Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to activities are employed by people around the world. A household with only one means of CHT, most rural households are highly vulnerable as they depend overwhelmingly on jum key to reducing risk and vulnerability, giving men and women greater opportunity for additional sources of income and food.

Development of fruit orchards

Local poultry rearing

Production of quality rice seed at community level

Homestead vegetable gardening

CONTINUOUS DIALOGUE WITH MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDERS

Working in partnership is crucial in development. Continuous dialogue with all levels of stakeholders, from individual to community to national government, is key to ensuring mutual respect, legitimacy, lessons learning and continuous adaptation to emerging needs and realities. Engaging with men and women can also be a powerful tool for empowerment and gender equality. In CHT as elsewhere, FAO puts a lot of emphasis on continuous dialogue as vital to the success of the development process.

PHOTOGRAPHY

FAO Representation in Bangladesh House # 37; Road #08, Dhanmondi R/A, P.O. Box 5039 (New Market) Dhaka-1205, Bangladesh Phone +88 02 9126673, +88 02 8118015-8 E-mail: FAO-BD@fao.org Web: www.fao.org/bangladesh

Concept and design by

www.greyshack.com

PHOTOGRAPHY

Project: Smart City Campaign (Event photography) Client: UNDP

PHOTOGRAPHY

Activating village courts Annual report 2017 Concept and design by Grey Shack Limited Photography by Wasif Gaws Wasif Gaws, Creative Director, Grey Shack Limited House: 2/8, 3rd Floor, Block - F, Lalmatia, Dhaka Phone +880 2 8100 299

Activating

Village Courts in Bangladesh Phase II Project Annual Report 2017

Project: Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Phase II Project Client: UNDP

PHOTOGRAPHY

Section 1 Key Results and Achievements

Access to justice Village courts in 1,078 Union Parishads are now operating and reaching approximately 24% of the population that live in rural areas. A cumulative total of 21,000 cases have been reported between July-December 2017 and 14,400 have been resolved. Of the resolved cases, 11,900 (83%) decisions have been implemented.

Cases Reported 21,000

Cases Resolved 14,000

Decisions Implemented 11,900

Increased recognition by district courts A total of 1,600 cases are transferred from district courts to village courts in project areas between July to December 2017 and this number rose significantly on the baseline with 0.12 cases (per year per UP) referred from district courts. Increased awareness of judges and the district court officials are gradually reflecting that village courts are closely embedded in the justice seeking behavior of Bangladeshi citizens. This is saving time and money for the parties (complainants and defendants) and referring cases to village courts indicates more cases are resolved efficiently at the local level.

Number of reported case per month per UP has been increased from 1.37 (Baseline) to 3.00 (December 2017).

Number of reported case (per month per UP)

1.37

3.00

April - December 2017

Average number of casses reffered from District court (DC) to Village court (per year per UP)

0.12

2.96 April - December 2017

PHOTOGRAPHY

Activating village courts Annual report 2017 Concept and design by Grey Shack Limited Photography by Wasif Gaws Activating village courts Annual report 2017

Wasif Gaws, Creative Director, Grey Shack Limited

Concept and design by Grey Shack Limited

House: 2/8, 3rd Floor, Block - F, Lalmatia, Dhaka Phone +880 2 8100 299

Photography by Wasif Gaws Wasif Gaws, Creative Director, Grey Shack Limited House: 2/8, 3rd Floor, Block - F, Lalmatia, Dhaka Phone +880 2 8100 299

Build capacity of village courts service providers The members of DTP who received ToT provided capacity building training to 12,491 VC’s service providers. Among the service providers 1,028 (Women: 12) were UP Chair, 1119 (Women: 93) Panel Chair, 1035 (Women:37) UP Secretaries and 1088 (Women:544) Village Courts Assistants (VCAs) and 8,221 (Women: 2187) UP members. The DDLG of the respective district was responsible for organizing the training as Course Coordinator, with the assistance of the District Facilitators (DFs), NGO’s District Coordinators and Upazila Coordinators.

Training Provided in 2017

UP Chair

1,028

Panel Chair

1,119

UP Secretary

1,035

UP members

8,221

VCA

1,088

Establish clear and systematic coordination mechanisms Provided orientation to Project Area’s Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) on AVCB Phase II. Half Yearly Coordination meeting with Deputy Directors Local Government and District Facilitators (DFs) held in 2017. 27 day-long Half Yearly Coordination meeting with Union Parishad Chairmen held at the DC’s conference room of respective district where near about 2,000 participants including all project area’s DDLGs, DTP members, Superintendent of police (SP), District Legal Aid officers, District Facilitators (DFs), UP Chairmen & Panel Chairmen, Government officials, NGOs staff, representative from media and project team from AVCB Project II attended.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Success Story

Jharna Begaum got justice through

Success Story

Village Courts the trees of the mill. Enam Molla, son of Alom Mollah beaten up the goat. The legs of the goat were broken. Jharna went to the Enam’s home and asked about the incident and why he did this. An altercation was happened there between Jharna and Enam Mollah. At one stage of the altercation, Enam slapped her. She felt humiliated and went to local elites as well as Alom Molla, father of Enam for justice of the incident. Alom Mollah didn’t care her. As a rich and influential person of the society, he didn’t care the local elite persons too regarding the dispute with Jharna. Consequently, Jharna became frustrated for getting justice against causing injured her goat as well as insulting her.

Jharna Begum got justice through

Village Courts Jharna Begum (40), W/O Idris Mollah, a separated woman lives in Jugnipasha village at Fultala in Khulna district. She leads her life enduring hardship with a son as her husband has not been taking care for a long. She works in a jute mill as temporary worker based on daily wage. Her monthly income is BDT 4,000 in average. Jharna rears 5 goats besides her job to fight with hardship. Usually, the goats move around the homestead. On 10th September 2017, one goat of Jharna Begaum entered the area of Alom Mollah’s sawmill situated near Jharna’s house and ate grass and leaves from

By this time, Jharna Begaum came to know about village courts and its services through attending a courtyard meeting held in the village. As per suggestion of Village Court Assistant, Jharna registered a case at Rajghat union on 13th September 2017 against Enam Mollah complaining Tk. 1,000 as compensation. Receiving summon from union parishad, Enam Mollah became anxious for his misdeed with Jharna. Lastly, he went to the union parishad on 19th September 2017 and confessed the claim of Jharna Begaum and paid Tk. 1,000 to Jharna as compensation for causing injury to the goat before UP Chairman. Then the UP Chairman reconciled both parties and requested them to lead good relationship in future. Jharna expressed her gratitude to village court as well as UP Chairman and said “I am highly satisfied with village court’s service. Receiving the summon, Enam Mollah became afraid about judgement of village court for his misdeed and paid me Tk. 1,000 before the UP Chairman earlier to form the Village Court. I have received justice through village court within only 9 days at cost of Tk. 10 only which is beyond of my expectation. Now I am asking the community people to approach to the village court for getting justice”. Jharna further said that in absence of village court, she would not be able to realize the compensation as well as justice against Enam Mollah about the dispute happened.

PHOTOGRAPHY