Dear FSN Moderator,
Thank you for inviting me to participate in the call. Please find attached my contribution in the complete form attached.
I look forward to your feedback and further discussions.
Best regards,
Dr. Nepal C. Dey
Resilient Food System Research, Research and Entrepreneurship Development (RED), Dhaka, Bangladesh
1. Introduction
Community engagement is a powerful tool for fostering inclusive rural transformation and promoting gender inequality in Bangladesh. It involves actively involving local communities, including marginalized and vulnerable groups, in decision-making, planning, and implementing programs that impact their lives and livelihoods. This approach not only strengthens social cohesion but also builds resilience and empowers individuals, particularly women, to participate equally in rural development processes (Kibria, 2017). Here’s how community engagement supports these goals:
2. Promoting Gender Equality
2.1. Participatory Decision-Making
Community engagement often uses participatory approaches that give women a voice in decisions about resource allocation, agricultural practices, and community projects (Wei et al., 2021). This involvement enhances their status within households and communities, leading to greater equality.
2.2. Skill Development and Livelihood Opportunities
Engaging women in community activities often includes skill-building initiatives, which provide them with the knowledge and tools needed to pursue sustainable livelihoods. In Bangladesh, this can mean training women in sustainable agricultural techniques, handicrafts, or entrepreneurship (Emon and Nipa, 2024).
2.3. Leadership Development
Community engagement projects often establish women’s groups, cooperatives, and other forums that encourage female leadership. Such platforms build confidence and allow women to take on decision-making roles traditionally reserved for men (Islam, Wahab, and Benson, 2020).
3. Reducing Poverty and Enhancing Livelihoods
3.1. Inclusive Economic Opportunities
Rural transformation requires expanding economic opportunities for marginalized groups (Trivelli and Morel, 2021). Community engagement initiatives, such as village savings and loan associations, provide accessible financial support that enables poor households to invest in small businesses or agricultural activities.
3.2. Resource Management
Inclusive rural development engages communities in managing resources (Ryan et al., 2020) like water, forests, and grazing lands. Such programs encourage sustainable resource use, reduce conflicts, and ensure that benefits are shared equitably across the community, including with women and low-income families.
4. Building Resilience to Climate Change
4.1. Climate-Adaptive Agriculture
Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change, especially in rural areas. Community engagement in climate-adaptive practices (Shapna et al., 2024), such as water-saving irrigation techniques, crop diversification, and climate-resilient crops, builds resilience among smallholder farmers, who are often the most affected by climate change.
4.2. Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction
Many community programs focus on preparing for and responding to natural disasters like floods and cyclones (Seddiky, Giggins, and Gajendran, 2020). Women and marginalized communities are actively involved in disaster risk reduction activities, which ensures that all members of the community benefit from preparedness efforts and are better equipped to recover.
5. Social Equity and Inclusion
5.1. Engaging Marginalized Communities
In Bangladesh, community engagement initiatives (Masud-All-Kamal and Nursey-Bray, 2021) often focus on reaching groups marginalized by social, economic, or geographic factors. By involving diverse groups in the planning and implementation phases of development projects, these initiatives can ensure that everyone benefits, leading to more equitable development outcomes.
5.2. Addressing Cultural and Social Norms
In many rural areas, cultural norms may limit women’s mobility or restrict their participation in community activities. Community engagement can address these barriers by fostering dialogues and awareness campaigns (Khatibi et al., 2021) that encourage shared values of inclusion and respect for all.
6. Supporting Local Governance and Policy Development
6.1. Strengthening Local Institutions
Community engagement often includes capacity-building for local institutions, such as village councils or community-based organizations, which become key advocates for gender equality and rural development. By strengthening local governance, communities can better advocate for policies that support equitable resource distribution, access to services, and sustainable economic growth (Uddin, 2019).
6.2. Policy Advocacy
Engaging communities can amplify their voices in advocating for policies that prioritize gender equality, poverty reduction, and rural transformation. Community organizations often partner with NGOs and government bodies to push for policy changes that address local needs and align with national development goals (Islam, 2024).
7. Key Examples in Bangladesh
Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) developed a Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Program (CPRP) using a sustainable livelihood approach, which integrated service delivery and rights-based development approaches to address poverty comprehensively through community engagement. The key thematic areas of the program include strengthening community-based organizations (CBO) through livelihood and food security, health and water, sanitation and hygiene, education and culture, societal peace, local-level advocacy, gender justice, and pro-poor market development (Dey et al. 2023). Programs like the Village Development Program by the Government of Bangladesh and PKSF’s Gender Action Plan have shown success by integrating community engagement, emphasizing gender equality, and focusing on sustainable livelihood improvements (PKSF, 2023). The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee also runs extensive development programs as well as social enterprises that help to address gender disparities, promote women’s empowerment, and foster community-led development across rural areas (BRAC 2023). Furthermore, the community-led Village WASH Committee (VWC), consisting of 11 members with a gender-balanced representation of six women and five men, has played a crucial role in facilitating rural transformation by shifting sanitation behaviors from unhygienic practices to hygienic ones at the household level, while also promoting gender equality in the implementation of WASH programs (Dey and Akhter, 2013). A study by Dey et al. (2019) demonstrated that community-based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programs effectively reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in children by improving the monitoring of hygiene behaviors and maintaining toilet cleanliness at the rural household level; periodic monitoring from the community as well as programme level to ensure proper sanitation and child waste management at the rural household is crucial for sustainability of services.
8. Conclusion
Community engagement serves as a cornerstone for achieving inclusive rural transformation and addressing gender inequality in Bangladesh. By actively involving marginalized groups, particularly women, in decision-making, skill development, and leadership initiatives, it empowers individuals to contribute meaningfully to their communities and fosters equitable development. The integration of sustainable livelihood strategies, climate resilience measures, and social equity initiatives ensures that these efforts are comprehensive and impactful.
Successful examples from organizations like CCDB, BRAC, PKSF, and government programs highlight the transformative potential of community engagement in addressing structural inequalities and building a more inclusive society. These initiatives not only enhance economic opportunities but also challenge cultural norms and strengthen local governance, paving the way for sustainable development. Moving forward, scaling up such programs and integrating their best practices into national policies can further accelerate progress toward gender equality and rural transformation in Bangladesh.
References
1. Kibria, G., Haroon, A. Y., & Nugegoda, D. (2017). An innovative model for engagement of rural citizens/community of Bangladesh with climate Change. Journal of Climate Change, 3(2), 73-80.
2. Emon, M. H., & Nipa, M. N. (2024). Exploring the Gender Dimension in Entrepreneurship Development: A Systematic Literature Review in the Context of Bangladesh. Westcliff International Journal of Applied Research, 8(1), 34-49.
3. Islam, E., Abd Wahab, H., & Benson, O. G. (2020). Structural and operational factors as determinant of meaningful community participation in sustainable disaster recovery programs: The case of Bangladesh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 50, 101710.
4. Wei, W., Sarker, T., Żukiewicz-Sobczak, W., Roy, R., Alam, G. M., Rabbany, M. G., ... & Aziz, N. (2021). The influence of women’s empowerment on poverty reduction in the rural areas of Bangladesh: Focus on health, education and living standard. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(13), 6909.
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6. Ryan, B., Johnston, K. A., Taylor, M., & McAndrew, R. (2020). Community engagement for disaster preparedness: A systematic literature review. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 49, 101655.
7. Shapna, K. J., Li, J., Kabir, M. H., Salam, M. A., Khandker, S., & Hossain, M. L. (2024). Strengthening adaptation in coastal Bangladesh: community-based approaches for sustainable agriculture and water management. Disaster Prevention and Resilience, 3(2), N-A.
8. Seddiky, M. A., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2020). International principles of disaster risk reduction informing NGOs strategies for community based DRR mainstreaming: The Bangladesh context. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 48, 101580.
9. Masud-All-Kamal, M., & Nursey-Bray, M. (2021). Socially just community-based climate change adaptation? Insights from Bangladesh. Local Environment, 26(9), 1092-1108.
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12. Islam, S. (2024). Community-based strategies for localising SDG in Bangladesh.
13. Dey, N.C. Rasul, G. M. (2023). Evaluation of Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Program (CPRP) Phase-V, Final Report. Research and Entrepreneurship Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh, www.redint.org
14. BRAC (2023). BRAC SDG Contribution, Voluntary Review-2023. https://www.brac.net/downloads/BRAC-SDG-Contribution-Voluntary-Review-2023_spreads-1.pdf (Entered on 10 Dec 2024).
15. PKSF (2023). Gender -equality (https://pksf.org.bd/gender-equality/; (Entered on 10 December 2024).
16. Dey, N.C. and Akter, T., “Women in water-hygiene and sanitation management at household in rural Bangladesh: changes from baseline to endline survey”, In: Achievement of BRAC-WASH program towards Millennium Development Goal and beyond, 2013, pp. 69-83:BRAC Research Monograph 60.
17. Dey, N.C., Parvez, M., Islam, M.R., Mistry, S.K., Levine, D. (2019). Effectiveness of a community-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) intervention in reduction of diarrhoea among under-five children: Evidence from a repeated cross-sectional study (2007–2015) in rural Bangladesh, Intl. J. Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2019, ,222 (8): 1098-1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.08.006.
Prof. Nepal Dey