Background of Swanirvar Bangladesh
Swanirvar Bangladesh came into existence on the 25th of September 1975 as a formal organization through the joint efforts of the Non-Governmental and Governmental bodies. Swanirvar workers are determined to sustain their activities for the cause of “Total Village Development” (TVD) through the active participation of the people of all levels, governmental agencies and public representatives. Swanirvar Bangladesh is recognized nationally and internationally as a non-profitable organization for rural development activities. The main objective of Swanirvar Bangladesh is to attain the all-round socio-economic development of rural people of Bangladesh on the basis of self-reliance.
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Objectives of Swanirvar Andolon
To promote literacy and skill development, health care, nutrition and general family welfare, micro-enterprises development, income generation and poverty alleviation, environmental improvements and the like leading towards economic advancement, social up-liftmen and empowerment of awards Swanirvar Bangladesh is a useful bridge between local government and the people.
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Swanirvar Movement Bangladesh
Only about two and a half years after winning Independence through a disruptive war, Rehabilitation assisted by massive UN relief operations, a grave misfortune struck Bangladesh due to devastating floods and loss of all crops in 1974.
With severe food shortages and no food assistance being available from the international community, disastrous famine followed perishing hundreds of thousands of people. Undaunted, the Government resolved to achieve self-reliance in food production by starting the well known Swanirvar
Movement through a Swanirvar Cell headed by a Special Secretary to the Government under the Ministry of Agriculture. Its main task was providing motivational leadership, and implementation in the field spearheaded by the Deputy Commissioners of the then 19 Districts of Bangladesh.
The movement continued with many other associated developmental works with good results. But after the change of Government in 1981, the Swanirvar Cell was abolished terminating the Government led the movement for achieving food autarky.
The inertia caused the volunteer workers to continue the activities for a while. To give them an organizational structure, a non-government organization (NGO) was established in Swanirvar Bangladesh, obtaining necessary registrations from the relevant authorities.
Field activities of Swanirvar Bangladesh gradually became multi-sectoral, including literacy, family planning, primary health care and nutrition, rural infrastructure development, crop production, livestock, poultry and fisheries development, tree plantation etc. It also started a minor micro-credit program beginning with the famous Dheki Loan, which gradually encompassed many other rudimentary production, processing and service activities by the rural 1/3 About Swanirvar poor with loans provided by the Nationalized Commercial Banks.
The organization had continued with loosely bound management, primarily by volunteers both at the headquarters and in the field. Although the spirit of self-reliance reigned, there were many limitations; mainly, the credit program pursued by volunteer workers was not very satisfactory.
To give the organization a corporate structure for the sake of sustainability and dynamism, making room for expansions ensuring proper transparency and accountability in management, the Memorandum and the Rules and Regulations of Swanirvar Bangladesh was radically revised, registered with the Registrar Joint Stock Companies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 in May 2008. In the meantime, to meet the structural and systemic requirements imposed by the Micro-credit Regulatory Authority, Registrar, Joint Stock Companies and own changing needs of Swanirvar Bangladesh, as decided by its Governing Body, the existing Memorandum and Rules and Regulations are being further revised. Swanirvar Bangladesh is a non-political, Not-for-Profit and non-governmental voluntary social welfare organization (NGO) working at a national level.
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Basic Concept of Swanirvar Movement
a) To transform the hands of beggars into the hands of workers;
b) To work with what one possesses, not to wait for what is not in this hand;
c) To utilize the manpower, local resources fruitfully and use every inch of land for productive purposes;
d) To organize the grassroots people of the society by forming their own organizations voluntarily and training them to become self-reliant.
Principles of Swanirvar Movement
1. Preparation and implementation of development plans through local initiative. Proper distribution and utilisation of local resources through government assistance (financial and other
2. Preparation and implementation of various projects through the committees formed at the village, union, upazilla levels and organise the people of all levels to involve them in development activities
3. To facilitate communication between government officials and rural community and ensure co-ordination of development activities
4. To organise village co-operatives for taking the leadership of the village to discharge the 2/3.
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Programmes of the Swanirvir Andolon
Micro-credit Programme
Swanirvar Bangladesh started Micro Credit Program for poverty alleviation in 1978. This program aims to reduce poverty and increase GDP, create job opportunities for unemployed men & women, and empower women for sustainable socio-economic development. Swanirvar credit program is operated through three state-owned Commercial Banks: Sonali, Janata, Agrani and two other specialized Banks: Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB). Initially "DHEKI LOAN" project was started in 1978 while the loan ceiling was Tk. 400-500/-. The loan was disbursed for making Crushed Rice, Fried Rice, Puffed Rice etc. Later on it was expanded as “Swanirvar Credit Program” and engaged in various income-generating activities (213) in 159 Upazilas. Credits are being delivered to groups consisting of 5 members, and 5 groups form a centre composed of 25 members.
Swanirvar Bangladesh selects members from rural poor and form groups & centers. Members of groups are then imparted 7 days extensive training. Banks visit the centre and give their approval. On their satisfaction of forming group/centre & training, the Bank disburses the loan to an individual member of the group. After that, Swanirvar Bangladesh field workers recover the loan every week from the centre member and deposit it to the respective bank branches.
From the beginning up to June 2015, Taka 1698.24 crore was disbursed among 1155995 poor people through 773 bank branches and recovered Taka 1534.59 crore. Total savings amount is Tk. 38.73 crore. Through this credit program, 561067 members of destitute and less earned family members have been benefited. Present outstanding loan is Tk. 612.29 crore against total borrowers of about 5.61 lac. Swanirvar Credit Program has been playing a significant role for empowering rural women. It may be mentioned here that more than 80% beneficiaries are women. Besides this, reducing illiteracy, implementing family planning, taking child health care, planting trees and making the environment friendly are integral parts of the program. This program provides the opportunity for rural people to improve their living standards.
Swanirvar Bangladesh selects members from rural poor and form groups & centres. Members of groups are then imparted 7 days extensive training. Banks visit the centre and give their approval. On their satisfaction of forming group/centre & training, the Bank disburses loan to an individual member of the group. After that, Swanirvar Bangladesh field workers recover the loan every week from the centre member and deposit it to the respective bank branches.
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Health Programme
Swanirvar Bangladesh had started Health & Family Planning activities at 10 Upazila in 1987. Activities were implemented under the “Family Planning Services Project” with financial support from USAID and technical support from Pathfinder International. The Project was continued successfully up to 1997. Activities under this Project were implemented through CBD (Community Based Distribution) model. During a decade of project implementation, Swanirvar gathered vast experience in Health & Family Planning sector. As a result, Swanirvar has got the opportunity to continue the following phases of the project named as Rural Service Delivery Project (RSDP) from 1997 to 2002, the NGO Service Delivery Project (NSDP) from 2002 to 2007 and Smiling Sun Franchise Project (SSFP) from 2007 to 2012. These three phases of project were designed to provide Essential Services Package (ESP).
After the phase-out of SSFP, Pathfinder International/NHSDP has come into action to provide technical support in program implementation. As a result of Swanirvar’s good management and implementation of former projects, Swanirvar Bangladesh enlisted again as partner NGO to carry on the project activity from January 2013. This Project is renamed “NGO Health Service Delivery Project (NHSDP)”. NGO Health Service Delivery Project has almost the same objectives and goals with special emphasis on quality of care and service to the poor. Under USAID-DFID NGO Health Service Delivery Project Swanirvar is providing ESP services (Health & Family Planning) through 55 Clinics, 1895 Satellite clinics & 1816 CSPs in 48 Upazila of 11 districts and covering 3,146,912 Population, 610,481 ELCO, 84,967 Children less than 1 year, 70,806 Pregnant Women, 468,890 children less than 5 years of age.
Resistant TB (cPMDT)
There are seventeen staff are responsible to fight Tuberculosis. Among them, one Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, one Accounts Officer, five Field Supervisors, three Lab Technicians and seven Community Volunteers are fully involved in TB control & prevention activities. The monitoring & Evaluation Officer and Accounts Officer work centrally to manage the program for better achievement. The Project activities are implemented under the direct supervision of the Project Director of Swanirvar NHSDP. All the 55 clinics of Swanirvar Bangladesh are fully involved in identifying and referring suspected TB patients. The total population in the catchments area is 412467. According to the catchment population, the yearly target for detecting TB cases in the Swanirvar Round-10 Project is 886 (all forms). Case notification from July 2014 to June 2015 total suspect/presumptive was 1733 and smear-positive new 434. The achievement rate is 105% and the treatment outcome of New Smear Positive (NSP) cases registered from July 2013 to June 2014 was 95%.
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NGOs