Feature

USAID- Bangladesh
Student Outreach Tour

Yamin Tauseef Jahangir

CHANGE although is a relative term, if taken in terms of betterment of a nation, then it takes the whole country forward. To work hand in hand provides the opportunities to bring a change and make a difference in people's lives. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a helping hand that focuses mainly on people overseas who are struggling to live a better life, recover from disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. The humanitarian assistance which is being provided by USAID is indeed remarkable as they reach to the grass root level to improve the lives of millions of people in this country. Be it in education or growing awareness, health or fostering economic growth through peace and stability, it is the relentless effort of USAID which promise to build a nation towards prosperity.

USAID recently organised a Student Outreach Tour on March 18th where sixteen students were selected from the University of Dhaka and from two departments; one was Department of Population Sciences and the other, Department of Women and Gender Studies. The main objective was to make the students be aware of the current situations related with education, health care and awareness issues. Projects such as PROTEEVA, a visit to Social Marketing Company (SMC), Smiling Sun Franchise Program (SSFP) and Bandhu, Social Welfare Society HIV/AIDS Centre for Male Sex Workers are a few that USAID supports and were the venues for the students to learn beyond all barriers. Since the schedule was pretty tight, the team started off early morning for visiting PROTEEVA at Gazipur. It is a project that supports and nurtures the untapped potentials of children, especially the poor and the underprivileged. The students had the option to interview the teachers and the Project Coordinator who explained the activities being performed in grooming the children for a bright future. There is also a section of PROTEEVA which deals with pre-schooling and allows the child to learn from the basics. Save the Children mainly carries out this project. After the first visit the next stop was that of Social Marketing Company (SMC), situated in Bhaluka. There the students learnt about the commercial marketing techniques to motivate people to practice socially beneficial behaviours. A small presentation was arranged where the main speaker was Dr. AZM Zahidur Rahman, Head of Disease Prevention along with Dr. Sukumar Sarkar, Clinical Advisor, USAID/ Bangladesh. Pranab Majumder, Fartory In-charge, Akhteruzzaman Bhuiyan, Production In-charge, Mahbubur Rahman, Manager, Materials Management were also present. Students were simply impressed by the way SMC reach out to the local people by arranging a mass media and community level activities to grab the attention and simultaneously making a point that everyone knows about the health and population related issues.

After a sumptuous lunch at SMC the team headed out for SSFP, a health care project located at Mymensingh. Students were eager to know about family planning, where extensive counselling are carried out by the doctors apart from primary health care and vital tests such as HIV and blood grouping are also conducted regularly. There is a satellite team consisting of nurses and doctors which visits remote areas in the village to provide treatment for the people who find it difficult to come to the centre. Students were briefed on the functions of the centre and they also got the chance to talk to the beneficiaries. Overall it was a good response and many were content with the way the treatment procedures are carried out. As the daylight began to fade with no time to spare, USAID members went for the last stop at Mymensingh, the Modhumita project which is being carried out by the NGO Bondhu. USAID that supports the programme with the help of Family Health International Bangladesh (FHI/BD), and they mainly focus on people who are or can be affected with HIV infection. Students were given the opportunity to ask questions to the Project Coordinator and a lot of information was exchanged in the process. Few volunteered to give demonstrations on counselling methods and was highly appreciated by faculties as well as the students.

On our way back to Dhaka I had a conversation with Sharmin Jahan Pallabi, a masters student from the Department of Population Sciences (MPS). When asked about how she got involved with this tour, she said since she had a bit of field level experience under her hat, that gave her the interest to be a part of this educational tour. "Since I worked with Primary Education before, so I was keener to know about the PROTEEVA project", she said. According to Pallabi, the common ground for all the projects was mainly health; either in nutrition through education, family planning, maternal and child health, different community interaction and awareness, it was health that was the focal point. The project that she found outstanding amongst all was that of Modhumita as she never experienced the life of a different community. "People are very stigmatised, "she added, "and there is a tendency of not to judge properly. After this tour, I atleast will not have a conventional perception about this class of people, and I think the project should be highlighted even more." Aumio Srizan, a student from Department of Women and Gender Studies (MSS) expressed his thoughts saying it was a learning tour and the experience was indeed very different as they all got out from paper works and learnt it from the field level perspective. Talking about the beneficiaries, Srizan said, "A lot has been done, but a lot also needs to be done." Change is what the country is craving for and although it is in baby steps but things are progressing, he believes. The Modhumita project impressed him, as he came to realise how many are prone to HIV infection, and so much work is going on to reduce the threat and increase the safety measures. To him it was a great journey and the whole day event paid off well.

Linda Quamar, DOC Assistant USAID Bangladesh was an all-smiling face as she spoke to me. "First and foremost Mahin Rashid, the Outreach and Communications Specialist at USAID/Bangladesh, for instating the concept of student outreach in USAID and believing in me with this responsibility", she said. "Second, the Professors of Dhaka University who made the process such user-friendly for us to get in to the departments, meet professors, dept chairs, students and present them the idea of this outreach tour. Then of course to the students who showed interest and became a part of this initiative and finally USAID/Bangladesh Mission Director Denise Rollins and my colleagues at Program Office, Health and Education Office, and other support offices at USAID for their utmost support in every step of the way. Last but not the least, my outreach teammate Wasif Hasan for keeping our spirits up throughout the process", she added. Asking her about how were the programmes picked and connected to students, Linda answered, "We reached out to the Social Science faculty of Dhaka University and found interest from Population Sciences which relates greatly with USAID portfolio of Population, Health, Nutrition, and Education. Also going through the department profiles, we figured that Women's & Gender Studies curriculum also matches with the this portfolio, especially with emphasis on population, maternal and child health, safe motherhood, early childhood education, HIV/AIDS, so this is how it was done". Linda said there are future plans regarding outreach tours on flood and disaster management for the students and more tours on other fields will follow shortly.

The Outreach Tour served its purpose and the students did get a thorough knowledge related to their study. United we stand, divided we fall-this is in fact true in all cases, so a sense of togetherness is necessary to make a difference in our lives. Let it be a small step initially and who knows may be we can put long strides in future.

Photo Credit: Yamin T. Jahangir