Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh

Monday marks the fortieth anniversary of the Concert for Bangladesh. Preceding Live Aid by almost 15 years, it marks the first time that a Rock n' Roll staged a massive charity concert. George Harrison forged a lot of new ground to get the concert up and running and later, getting all of the money raised to the people who it was intended for. Harrison's successes and failures were used by future Rock fund raisers  to learn from.

From the Guardian, music writer Graeme Thomson takes a look at how effective the concert was.

Rather than vanish, it expanded. The Concert for Bangladesh raised $243,000 overnight, and spawned a single (Harrison's typically literal Bangladesh, specially written for the occasion), as well as a triple album and a film. It has since raked in $17m for Unicef, funding projects not only in Bangladesh but in trouble spots from Angola to Romania, and is currently the focus of a Month of Giving in aid of the famine in the Horn of Africa. But not everything it achieved can be so easily measured. In paving the way for popular music to explore what Americans like to call its "better self", it still encapsulates much of what is perceived to be the best and worst about rock fundraising: a pile of money, heightened awareness for a clear cause, and a rich cultural and musical legacy on the plus side; confusion, mismanagement, excess and ego on the other.

Having hosted the concert with entirely honourable intentions, Harrison stumbled into what has become a perennial problem: getting the cash to the intended destination. "I don't know how much money actually reached where it should have gone, early on," Boyd says, recalling that Harrison believed that some of it "went walkabout".

"It was uncharted territory, the scale of it," says Jonathan Clyde, of Apple (the Beatles' company, not the tech company), who oversees the Concert's legacy, alongside Harrison's widow, Olivia. "The money did eventually reach Bangladesh, although perhaps not in time to help the refugees at that point. The big mistake was that Unicef wasn't chosen beforehand, and so the IRS [the US tax service] took the view that because the charity wasn't involved in the mounting of the concert, they'd take their cut. This distressed George hugely, it really angered him. There was an ongoing tussle for years, but I'm afraid even now the IRS still take their slice."

Many of these lessons have been learned by those seeking to replicate Harrison's pioneering work, but raising cash through making music remains oddly inefficient. "It's simply unavoidable that there will be costs which must be recovered," says Brendan Paddy, communications director at the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC), which received half the £1.3m proceeds from Everybody Hurts, the charity single released last year in response to the Haitian earthquake. "It's a balance between keeping those costs down and making it happen quickly, and the public finds that difficult to understand and accept. If your single concern is that every penny of your donation goes to the cause, then you may well find a more efficient way of giving, but that's not really the point."

So what is the point? For all its problems, the Concert for Bangladesh resonated because it united those two lightning rods for 60s idealism – Dylan and, in the form of Harrison and Starr, the Beatles – at a time when music was still regarded as a counter-cultural force powerful enough to change the world. The result, Clyde says, "put Bangladesh on the map. For the generation involved in the war of liberation it meant a huge amount. It helped their independence become recognised."

The Concert for Bangladesh did more than simply raise money, it left a deep imprint on the times. So did Live Aid, partly because it was the first major music event given blanket TV coverage, but also because Geldof, born in 1951 and very much a child of 1968, the high watermark of pop and politics, understood the relationship between the two and how it could be harnessed. In an age of defined ideological divisions, framed by the 1984/85 miners' strike, Live Aid tapped into a desire among musicians to address social issues, and a willingness among audiences to accept that.

Muhammad Yunus hopes to still do something for Bangladesh

Muhammad Yunus may have been ousted from the Grameen Bank but he is still keeping busy. Yunus still works to promote social business throughout the world including the launch of new institutes in Glasgow and Paris. His heart still is in Bangladesh as he seeks to still develop new social businesses for that country to help alleviate poverty.

The Guardian was able to obtain an interview with Yunus, one of the very few he has given since being ousted from his Grameen Bank by the government of Bangladesh. Writer Madeleine Bunting says that Yunus is still trying to be graceful even though he doesn't understand why the government started a smear campaign against him.

"I'm not hurt by the vilification in the press; I'm disappointed and I'm worried. I don't want to see an organisation which has come all this way and brought so much good to the country and brought power to the people, come to this. Many people are angry but anger doesn't solve anything," he says.

"I want to calm things down. If we are prepared, we can do damage control."

This is his first interview since the crisis broke early this year. Yunus is refusing to talk to the Bangladeshi media for fear of further inflaming the controversy, and he is adamant that he will not be drawn into speculating as to why the government has forced his recent resignation. He simply says: "I can't see the purpose, I can't see what the country gains, what the government gains."

There is certainly a lot to lose. Any bank depends on confidence and the last few months have been turbulent for Grameen's 22,000 employees and 8.36 million borrowers, 97% of whom are women. So far, repayment rates on the millions of small loans are holding steady and borrowers are not withdrawing deposits – either could bring the bank to collapse. Yunus's calmness in London is all about steadying the confidence of his Bangladeshi audience. As one of the most efficient and stable economic institutions in a desperately poor country, there are many who are hoping he will succeed and that Grameen will weather this storm.
...

"We never said microfinance was a silver bullet," he insists. "Or why would I bother to create 50 other companies ranging from agriculture to telecommunications? Job creation is the solution to poverty. Loans should only be given to fund enterprises. They mustn't ever be used for 'consumption smoothing' or how can people pay back the loans? It has to be about income generation."

"When microfinance spread across the world, some people abused it. Some went berserk. In my opinion, if there is any personal profit involved, it should not be called microfinance, which should be totally devoted to the benefit of poor people. People used the respect for microfinance. In every country where there was microfinance they needed proper regulatory authorities to oversee the sector and legislation to define it. I knew that the sector was crippled by an inadequate legal framework."

Yunus recognises there was some "overbilling" of microfinance, but sees that as part of the way you win donors' interest in a project. He certainly used powerful rhetoric to urge on efforts in tackling poverty. But beyond that he is unapologetic. He didn't oversell it; when he talked of putting poverty in a museum it was a "hope", he says, it was not a plan. And he is emphatic: "Microfinance does reduce poverty. Look at the people who have joined Grameen. It's the most intensively researched organisation in the world."

Taking the cooperative spirit of microcredit a step further

One of the best qualities microcredit was the improved relationship between the lender and borrower compared to traditional banking. That relationship that was based on working together to improve the borrower's life and to later repay the loan seem to have gotten lost somewhere. Now, there is an effort developing to take the cooperative and communal spirit that was once featured in microcredit a step further.

Again, the Inter Press Service brings us a story of a microcredit cooperative that is a part of this effort. A group of women in Bangladesh. have pooled their savings together first, then borrow against it later. The women work together to make sure the loans a payed back, otherwise their savings are gone. Writer Naimul Haq tells us of the Pally Bikash Kendra cooperative.

Unlike the traditional microfinance arrangements where credit comes from external sources or development partners, the local NGO Pally Bikash Kendra (PBK) has taken a different approach where beneficiaries themselves generate and save money to help small businesses survive.

Called "Self-Help", the programme was launched four-and-a-half years ago in the wetlands of Mithamoin in Kishoreganj district in central Bangladesh, less than 150 kms from the capital Dhaka. Today, the 317 women’s groups operating in the area have a combined fund of roughly 15 million taka or over 200,000 dollars.

Twenty-eight-year-old Bishan Chkraborti is one of hundreds of beneficiaries who virtually had nothing at the beginning but, after joining the "samity" or group, now runs her own business raising cygnets and selling adult swans at a local market.

Four years ago, her eight-year-old son had to drop out of school, since she could not afford the boat fare to take him to the only primary school in the 200-hectare swampland. "I had no income as my disabled husband could not work. We lived in a tiny one-room bamboo-shed home," said Chkraborti, who comes from Puran Borgadia village.

Now she has a bigger house with a tin roof, mud floor and bamboo fence. She also grows vegetables and sells them to locals with a slight profit margin. Her son is also back in school.

The Self-Help programme, designed for very poor women, is a simple system based on the discipline of raising and saving money, creating small funds to be loaned out to beneficiaries at negligible interest rates.

Every samity is made up of about 15 women – mostly the landless, widows, beggars and divorced – who deposit 10 taka (13 cents) every month when they meet for discussions to approve fresh loan applications. In those meetings, they also discuss what to do with the loan money, how to use it efficiently, and other social issues that affect women like education and health.

"We don’t have any defaulters," said a proud and confident Padabi Rani Das. "If a member fails, we all fail. We don’t let anyone fail as we have a system of helping members overcome their difficulties."

Yunus gives first interview since his ousting from Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus has given his first public interview since being ousted as the chief of his microcredit bank. Yunus only said that the Bangladesh prime minister who led the charge to remove him was "badly advised"

Yunus was removed from his Grameen Bank because of a seldom enforced Bangladeshi law that says leaders of the country's licensed financial institutions have to be below the age of 70. Critics say that the Bangladesh ruling party made Yunus the target of smear campaign. At one time, Yunus briefly flirted with the idea of entering politics with a competing party.

From this AHN story that we found at Gant Daily, writer Saleem Samad summarizes the interview for us.

In an interview with the BBC’s Lesley Curwen broadcast on Wednesday, Yunus said he was forced to stand down last month. He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had only done so because she had been “badly advised.”

Yunus spoke to news media for the first time since he was forced out of Grameen Bank following a brief legal battle.

Microcredit guru Yunus was alleged to have siphoned money from Grameen Bank. Hasina on Dec. 5 last year told journalists that he was “sucking blood from the poor.”

Hasina, criticizing Yunus, said “there is no difference between a person who enjoys taking interest on money and one who takes bribe.”

The pioneer of microfinance contested the prime minister’s observation that the bank of the poor failed to play its role to eradicate poverty.

Bangladesh concludes investigation on Muhammad Yunus

The Bangladeshi government has concluded their probe on Muhammad Yunus and his Grammen Bank. The findings of the investigation contain a mixed bag or results. The probe has cleared Yunus of any allegations of evading taxes. However, they did uphold the central bank order that Yunus must quit his post at Grammen Bank due to advanced age.

From the Guardian, we find the government's statement on concluding the probe.

Yunus denied any wrongdoing and a Norwegian government investigation later also cleared him of any malpractice.

The Bangladeshi finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, told reporters on Monday that a committee appointed by the government to investigate Grameen Bank's operations had also found no evidence of financial irregularities.

But officials and experts said the finding would have no impact on the government's decision to fire Yunus as the bank's managing director, because he had overstayed the official retirement age for bank managing directors in Bangladesh of 60 years.

Associates of Yunus say his removal was government retaliation after he briefly considered a political career to challenge the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladeshi girl whipped to death in bizarre sharia law case

Because of a ruling by a Muslim imam a 14 year old was whipped to death as a punishment for being raped. Hena Akhter wasn't even old enough to marry but a bizarre use of Muslim sharia law doomed her to never be able to. The iman judged both Hena and her attacker guilty of adultery. But the supposed "adultery" was far from consensual as Hena was ambushed and raped when she went to visit a public restroom. Her attacker managed to escape his beating after only a few lashes.

From CNN, writers Farid Ahmed and Moni Basu give us the graphic details.

Mahbub Khan came back to Shariatpur from a stint working in Malaysia. His son was Hena's age and the two were in seventh grade together.

Khan eyed Hena and began harassing her on her way to school and back, said Hena's father. He complained to the elders who run the village about his nephew, three times Hena's age.

The elders admonished Mahbub Khan and ordered him to pay $1,000 in fines to Hena's family. But Mahbub was Darbesh's older brother's son and Darbesh was asked to let the matter fade.

Many months later on a winter night, as Hena's sister Alya told it, Hena was walking from her room to an outdoor toilet when Mahbub Khan gagged her with cloth, forced her behind nearby shrubbery and beat and raped her.

Hena struggled to escape, Alya told CNN. Mahbub Khan's wife heard Hena's muffled screams and when she found Hena with her husband, she dragged the teenage girl back to her hut, beat her and trampled her on the floor.

The next day, the village elders met to discuss the case at Mahbub Khan's house, Alya said. The imam pronounced his fatwa. Khan and Hena were found guilty of an illicit relationship. Her punishment under sharia or Islamic law was 101 lashes; his 201.

Mahbub Khan managed to escape after the first few lashes.

Darbesh Khan and Aklima Begum had no choice but to mind the imam's order. They watched as the whip broke the skin of their youngest child and she fell unconscious to the ground.

"What happened to Hena is unfortunate and we all have to be ashamed that we couldn't save her life," said Sultana Kamal, who heads the rights organization Ain o Shalish Kendro.

Bangladesh is considered a democratic and moderate Muslim country, and national law forbids the practice of sharia. But activist and journalist Shoaib Choudhury, who documents such cases, said sharia is still very much in use in villages and towns aided by the lack of education and strong judicial systems.

Bangladesh high court rejects Yunus' challenge

A news source from India gives us an update on the legal proceedings for Muhammad Yunus and his Grammen Bank. Yunus is fighting in court the forced dismissal of his post as head of his Grammen Bank. The government of Bangladesh is citing seldom enforced law for his dismissal. The law sets a age limit on who can have leadership positions at Bangladeshi banks. Yunus at the age of 70 has surpassed the age limit.

The legal proceedings have not started out very well for Grameen. The Indian website Sify says that the High Court rejected the banks petition to challenge the law. The article from Sify only briefly mentions this at the end. This the only source we have found so far on this update to the story.

The Dhaka High Court Tuesday rejected Yunus's writ petition challenging the legality of his removal as managing director of Grameen Bank.

It's not every day that Nobel Peace Prize winner gets fired

The Central Bank of Bangladesh says that they have relieved Muhammad Yunus of duties at his Grammen Bank. Bangladesh says that Yunus is past retirement age and was improperly installed into his office as the bank's managing director. Grameen is going to take the matter to the courts. 

From the BBC, we find out more about the politically motivated firing. 

The government owns a 25% stake in Grameen, which pioneered the microfinance concept of lending small amounts of money to the poor which has been replicated worldwide.

Our correspondent says that the dispute over Prof Yunus' sacking is now likely to end up being resolved by the courts.

Bangladesh Bank, the country's central bank, said that Prof Yunus had violated the country's retirement laws by staying on as Grameen's head long past the mandatory retirement age of 60. Prof Yunus is 70.

"Bangladesh Bank has relieved Yunus of his duties as managing director of the Grameen Bank," Muzammel Huq, the government-appointed chairman of Grameen Bank, said.

Mr Huq also said that Prof Yunus had did not received the required approval from Bangladesh Bank when he was appointed managing director in 1999.

"Grameen Bank by-laws clearly state that the managing director should be appointed by the board with the prior approval of the Bangladesh Bank,'" he said.

Mr Huq said a letter from the central bank ordering the removal of Prof Yunus had been sent to Grameen Bank.

"The bank's senior-most managing director automatically becomes the [interim] managing director. I will convene a board meeting very soon and it will soon appoint a committee to find a [permanent] managing director."

But a Grameen Bank statement later on Wednesday said that the matter was now "a legal issue" and that the bank had complied with "all applicable laws in respect of appointment of the managing director".

"According to the bank's legal advisers, the founder of Grameen Bank, Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is accordingly continuing in his office," the statement said.

US puts pressure on Bangladesh to stop harassing Yunus

The US is putting pressure on the Bangladesh government to stop harassing Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. US diplomats have told Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to give Yunus time to find a successor at the bank and not force him out prematurely.

Bangladesh is calling for Yunus to step down from his microcredit bank Grammen. They say a Bangladeshi law prohibits people past a certain age from working in the country's financial sector. The law is rarely ever enforced but is being used against Yunus because he has somehow been made an enemy of the government.

From the paper New Age, writer David Bergman tells us more.

Hasina was told directly by US officials that a possible visit to Bangladesh early April by the US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, following her trip to Delhi, was contingent on a resolution of this high-profile crisis.

Hasina, who is planning to visit Washington in April to take part in the World Islamic Forum, has also been informed that she will not be given a meeting with the US president, Barack Obama, unless Yunus is personally agreeable to the terms of any compromise.

The prime minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said that he could not comment since he was unaware that these conversations had taken place. He added that he did not know that there was a possibility that Hilary Clinton might come to Bangladesh.

While many countries share US concerns about the Bangladesh government’s handling of the Grameen bank, no other country is known to have come close to the US in imposing these kinds of sanctions in support of Muhammad Yunus.

The government’s attack on Yunus has already resulted in the loss of some US financial support.

The US Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent US foreign aid agency funded by the US congress, decided in January against putting Bangladesh on its ‘threshold’ programme where countries must ‘demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, investments in the people of a country, and economic freedom.’

Humayun Kabir, who until 2009 was the ambassador to the United States, told New Age, ‘Maintaining high-level contacts is important for both the countries as these are building blocks to the relationship which is a very important one for Bangladesh. United States is one of the country’s most important trading partner and a partner in security.’

Although Hasina has shown no signs of relenting, it is understood that discussions between Muhammad Yunus, the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, and former Grameen Bank chairperson Rehman Sobhan, took place in Delhi over the last few days where they all attended the same conference.

‘Muhith has been told what the Grameen Bank wants. It is now in the minister’s hands,’ said a person privy to the conversations.

Biggest cholera vaccine trial ever to begin in Bangladesh

The biggest test for cholera vaccinations is about to begin in Bangladesh. The new vaccine developed in India is cheap enough so that those who are in poverty can afford it. If the the test is successful, Bangladesh will begin to immunize the entire country.

From the BBC, writer Anbarasan Ethirajan tells us more about the vaccination trial.

The study involves nearly 250,000 people near the capital, Dhaka.

If the results are positive, the programme can be replicated in other countries where cholera is a big problem, officials say.

Cholera outbreaks every year during the monsoon season kill hundreds in Bangladesh.

But many oral vaccinations are considered too expensive for millions of people in this impoverished country.

The latest initiative aims to test an affordable version of an oral vaccination, which is one-tenth of the cost of the current available vaccines.

Two-thirds of the 250,000 people involved in the trial will receive two doses of the Indian-made vaccine.
'At high risk'

The remainder will not receive the medicine and the two groups will be monitored over the next four years.

"It is a study that will demonstrate that we can deliver the vaccine to the population that needs it the most, the people at high risk of cholera," Firdousi Qadri, one of the scientists involved in the project said.

Yunus will not leave Grameen Bank

Yesterday, we posted on demands for Muhammad Yunus to retire. The Finance Minister of Bangladesh says that Yunus should retire citing a seldom enforced law. Yunus is now firing back and says he has no plans to leave his Grameen Bank.

From CNN, writer Farid Ahmed gives us Yunus' reaction.

"We established Grameen Bank through a special ordinance, with rules that are specific, according to which my current term as managing director is fully valid. Government has three representatives on the board and they have unanimously approved these rules," he said.

Bangladeshi Finance Minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith has said that Yunus is too old to continue as managing director of the bank. "Normally the retirement age of a bank's managing director in Bangladesh is 65, and Professor Yunus is now 70," Muhith has said.

Yunis has been the target of three recent lawsuits.

Muhith said the move had no link to politics, but many analysts said Yunus was still under fire at home for criticizing politicians and trying to form a political party four years ago during an interim, unelected government that was backed by the military. That party was later abandoned.

Bangladesh government calls for Yunus to retire

Several years ago Muhammad Yunus toyed with the idea of entering politics. He began to set up a new political party in Bangladesh. Ever since he attempted that he has been at odds with the Bangladeshi ruling party.

A recent Norwegian documentary alleged improprieties within Yunus' Grammen Bank. He was since cleared of any wrongdoing by the Norwegian government. Despite that clearing Bangladesh started their own investigation.

The government of Bangladesh is now calling for Yunus to retire. From the BBC, writer Anbarasan Ethirajan finds out more about how a seldom used law is being used against Yunus.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith told the BBC that Professor Yunus has reached the normal retirement age for executives at private banks.
...

Mr Muhith said that the government began talking to Prof Yunus around a year ago about who would succeed him and redefining the bank's role.
'Give it to others'

The finance minister pointed out that according to Bangladeshi rules, the retirement age for executives at private banks had been set at 65 and that Prof Yunus was five years beyond that.

"He should give it to others to continue because you never continue all the time in any institution," Mr Muhith told the BBC.

But the minister conceded that retirement rules in Bangladesh had not been imposed for many years.
...

"I suggested to Professor Yunus after instituting the inquiry... that it might be a good thing for him to withdraw himself temporarily during the period of the review," Mr Muhith said.

"Professor Yunus told me that no, if he withdraws now, the whole of Grameen will collapse."
...

The finance minister's comments came days after supporters of Prof Yunus - including former Irish president Mary Robinson and former World Bank president James Wolfensohn - launched Friends of Grameen to "save the bank from a government takeover".

The bank's borrowers and savers own 75% of the company, while the government has a 25% stake.

Bangladesh to make immediate purchases of grain

Bangladesh is taking steps to purchase more food to prevent future shortages. They are going to buy grain at a faster rate than ever before prices increase any more. The Bangladeshi government hopes that this will prevent unrest in the streets and provide food even during times of crisis.

From Reuters Alert Net, writer Ruma Paul describes the new purchases of grain.

"We are thinking to raise the volume of grains in tenders," an official at the Directorate General of Food, who declined to be named, said on Friday.

The government is under increasing pressure to contain prices. Analysts say Bangladesh faces unrest if prices continue to rise, given that nearly 40 percent of its population survive on less than $1 a day.

"If possible, for wheat tenders we may ask for 100,000 tonnes instead of the earlier 50,000 tonnes. For parboiled rice we can seek 50,000 tonnes from an earlier 30,000 tonnes to cut time and build stocks as quickly as possible," the official told Reuters.

"If it is not possible, we will issue tenders for wheat and rice every week," he said.

U.S. wheat futures rallied to near 2.5-year highs on Friday as concerns mounted about yields from the U.S. winter wheat crop and boosted by stronger oil prices. [GRA/]

Soaring prices pushed Bangladesh's food inflation rate to 11.01 percent in December, the highest level in three years.
...

The government seeks to import 2.2-3.0 million tonnes of rice and wheat in the year to June, up from around 550,000 tonnes in the previous year.

Bangladesh, which suffered badly during the 2008 spike in global food prices, wants to build reserves of basic commodities such as wheat, rice, oils and sugar to avoid a similar situation..

Overnight links for December 23rd

The government in Bangladesh is raising more questions about the operations of the Grameen Bank. From BD News 24 we find out what the new complaint is about. 

China already has a fifth of the world's population and is able to manage feeding them all fairly well. A story in the Guardian says that commodity food price shocks might make it harder for China in the future. Writer Jonathan Watts recorded the comments of a U.N. expert on the subject.

Nepal's education system still faces one stiff challenge, continuing the classes during natural disasters. From the IPS writer Damakant Jayshi talks about the eduction system efforts to become secure during tragedy.    

Bangladesh caps microcredit interest rates

The government of Bangladesh is going to start imposing limits on the amount of interest that microcredit lenders can charge. The new rules are due to concerns that for-profit microcredit lenders are gouging the poor with excessively high interest rates. Microcredit companies counter that high rates are the only way they can stay viable to extend services to more of those in poverty.

From this AFP story that we found at MSN News, we read more details of the new rules.

The government's Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) has approved new rules banning microfinance lenders from charging more than 27 percent interest on loans, MRA director Sazzad Hossain said.

"Many microlenders have earned a bad name for charging high interest rates. There are also isolated incidents in which lenders have used force to compel borrowers to repay loans," Hossain told AFP.

One out of every five of Bangladesh's 146 million citizens is a micro-credit borrower, relying on one of more than 1,200 micro-finance institutions whose interest rates vary from 20 percent to 51 percent, according to the MRA.

"We oppose the interest rate cap. It will be hard for micro-lenders to stay afloat charging just 27 percent interest," said Mosharraf Hossain, head of the Credit Development Forum, a microfinance industry association.

Hossain said local microfinance institutions have high costs as many borrow money from private banks at around 13 percent interest, then lend the money on, adding that there are extra costs when operating in remote, rural areas.

Video: Concern's Child Survival program in Bangladesh

From Concern Worldwide, a story about their child health care programs in Bangladesh.

A challenge that could prevent health care for Bangladeshi sex workers

From IRIN, a story about a political fight in Bangladesh that might prevent sex workers from receiving HIV prevention health care.

Civil society is preparing to challenge a recent government decision in Bangladesh to exclude “prostitution” as a profession on new voter cards on the grounds it effectively blocks sex workers’ access to HIV prevention and life-saving health care.

On 17 August the Bangladesh Election Commission (BEC) announced “prostitution” would be recognized for the first time as a profession on new voter ID cards. But pressure from conservative religious groups led the BEC to reverse its decision, according to Shahnaz Begum, president of Sex Workers Network (SWN), a local NGO that works in half of the nation’s 64 districts.

Election commissioner Sohul Hossain told IRIN the term “sex worker” was omitted in order to prevent commercial sex work, in line with Article 18(2) of Bangladesh’s constitution, which states that “gambling and prostitution” should be “discouraged”.

But activists are seizing upon Article 40 of the constitution, which gives citizens the right to “enter upon any lawful profession or occupation”, arguing that women, therefore, can choose sex work as a profession.

This decision is “ripe for a public interest challenge”, said Khaled Chowdhury, a lawyer at the Supreme Court. “Sex work is not illegal, but as moral and social issues are involved, it is not encouraged. The decision of the EC [Electoral Commission] may have an impact [on the acceptance of sex workers], as voter ID cards are now essential in many aspects of a citizen’s life.”

ID cards are necessary to open a bank account, apply for a passport, and to register property. While not required for health services, almost all other government forms require an ID card as proof of identity.

Limited legality

When the government tried to shut down two large brothels in Dhaka, the capital, a decade ago, 100 sex workers fought back - and won. As a result, sex work is now legal for women over 18, pimps and brothel owners.

But the ruling offers sex workers little protection, as police still frequently harass them, which, according to Begum, can lead to unsafe sex practices. “Clients are often taken to a dark alley and the sex workers have to rush because they are on the lookout for police. If sex work was properly recognized they could take the time to convince their clients to use a condom.”

To make matters worse, a sex worker in Dhaka who gave her name and age as Tania, 28, said police often demand half her average daily earnings of US$7. And without police protection, she has little recourse when clients are abusive. “Yesterday a client gagged and beat me. I don’t want to live this life any more.”

Health care

The government has offered no-cost health care to sex workers at designated clinics around the country since 1978, but the Health Ministry reports that only 2,000 sex workers used these services in 2009 (0.5 percent of the 400,000 sex workers the NGO SWN estimates are working nationwide).

Begum said the government’s mixed messages about sex work are hurting the fight against HIV because sex workers who seek medical treatment are often turned away on the grounds they are “bad women”.

A consistent government stance on sex work would help prevent such discrimination, she added. “The legal framework for sex workers exists, but it is not implemented. The mixed public health messages from the government and Election Commission are undoubtedly harmful for reducing the spread of HIV.”

NGO clinics

There are dozens of NGO-run drop-in centres nationwide that provide free HIV counselling, condoms and medicines, and a referral system for HIV testing to sex workers and their clients. IRIN spoke to 10 sex workers: All said they preferred to visit NGO clinics due to the conservative attitudes of public health staff.

In 2007, 67 percent of sex workers reported using a condom with their most recent client, according to the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) 2008 Progress Report.

According to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), in 2009 estimated HIV prevalence among Bangladesh’s 160 million people was less than 0.1 percent. The rate for sex workers was about 1 percent, according the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

However, the Global Fund warned that a highly mobile population, coupled with poverty and a low level of awareness about HIV, threaten to increase prevalence.

And until the law can protect sex workers and guarantee their access to health care, civil society leaders taking their case to court say that Bangladesh's status as a low HIV prevalence country may change.

“HIV is not spreading at an alarming rate, but I believe it would decrease further if the government gave [it] full recognition,” said Begum.

Legal protection is one of the issues to be addressed at the first UNAIDS consultation in Asia on sex work and HIV to be held 12-15 October in Pattaya, Thailand.

Dhaka the fastest growing city in the world

From the PBS Newshour, a profile on the growth of Dhaka, Bangladesh the fastest growing city in the world. People move to Dhaka hoping to find jobs, but instead remain poor in the rapidly growing slums.

Bangladesh receives a clean energy loan from the World Bank

Bangladesh will receive a 100 million dollar loan from the World Bank to fund clean energy activities. Most of the money will be spent on the government's solar energy programs, the remainder of the loan money will be used to purchase CFL light bulbs.

From Reuters, we read more details about the program.

The government plans to finance installation of 1.0 million solar panels over the next couple of years and will distribute about 27.5 million low-wattage CFL bulbs across the country.

"It is a massive programme for the government and will not be possible to implement without financial support from our development partners like the World Bank," said the official at the economic relations division of the finance ministry.

The state-run Rural Electrification Board and Infrastructure Development Company Limited are jointly implementing the government's renewable energy development programme.

The World Bank will provide the fund by the end of May, the official said, adding use of solar energy in Bangladesh had been rising annually by more than 50 percent since 2004.

The growing social security problem in Bangladesh

Experts are calling on Bangladesh to improve social security for the quickly growing elderly population in the country. From IRIN we take a look at the problem for the country that has 6 percent of it's population at the age 60 or older.

With a growing number of older people and a large impoverished population, Bangladesh needs to improve social security support for the country’s most vulnerable groups, experts say.

Over 6 percent of the population or 7.2 million people are aged 60 or over, according to the last census in 2001.

About 80,000 people are added to this older population every year, which is projected to be over 17 million people by 2025, growing at a rate faster than that of Europe’s, according to government officials.

However, most of these older people and many of the poor in the country - about 50 percent of the population lives on less than US$1 a day, according to the UN - are not covered by any form of social security.

Meanwhile, existing social security measures are unable to meet the needs of vulnerable people, and the scope of these programmes urgently needs to be widened, say experts.
Bangladesh is exposed to natural disasters, extreme weather events and other shocks, leaving the poorest without any form of protection, said Wahiduddin Mahmud, a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP), a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

“The vulnerable condition of Bangladesh may force people who are now barely above the poverty line into the depths of poverty any moment,” Wahiduddin told a recent NGO-organized seminar in Dhaka on extreme poverty alleviation.

“To ensure sustainable social security for the poor, the efforts of the local government units must be supplemented by a strong framework of government economic regulations,” he said.

Weak capacity

About 1.2 million people are employed by the government and are eligible for pensions after they retire at age 57, but most of the country’s labour force, which is rural, does not receive a pension.

Another 1.7 million people over 65 who are unable to work or do not have family support receive allowances through a programme introduced by the Ministry of Social Welfare.

However, few other safety nets exist, and officials and experts say that providing social security benefits to assure food, lodging and health care facilities for the impoverished should become the country’s top priority.

Minister of Food and Disaster Management Muhammad Abdur Razzaque said current social security and welfare programmes were unable to cover more than 50 percent of the extremely impoverished in the country.

Almost 25 percent of the population of Bangladesh falls within this category, he told the poverty seminar, held in Dhaka last month.

Allowances, food stamps and food rations, subsidies for basic goods, public programmes which provide livelihoods and income for the poor, and fee waivers for services such as healthcare are identified by experts as examples of needed social security nets.

VGF and VGD

The government runs two major programmes for supporting vulnerable populations.

The Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme provides food to low income and other vulnerable groups who cannot meet basic needs for survival due to natural disasters or socio-economic circumstances, such as age, illness or disease.

The Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme, on the other hand, exclusively enables the poorest rural women and their family members to overcome food insecurity and their low social and economic status.

VGD includes sustained, longer-term activities such as risk management for natural disasters, HIV/AIDS prevention, maternal and child health and livelihood skills.

Officials acknowledge the government should focus its efforts more on longer-term development programmes, rather than short-term relief efforts.

“Over time, the relief programmes such as VGF, should move towards becoming sustainable development programmes like VGD,” Naser Farid, policy research director of the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (FPMU) of the Ministry of Food, told IRIN.
“About two-thirds of food assistance programmes are now financed by the government. In the mid 1990s, this used to be only 40 percent,” he said.

Hussain Zillur Rahman, a former government adviser, said there was a disparity in spending on different poverty alleviation programmes.

“Currently the government spends more than five times more money on feeding vulnerable people than it invests on programmes that help the hardcore poor to earn their own living,” he told the poverty seminar.