Efforts for Rural Advancement (ERA)

Background
Efforts for Rural Advancement (ERA) is a development, humanitarian, non-profit, non government organization (NGO) established in July 1997 with a group of local social development workers under the leadership of present Executive Director. It has been implementing integrated development activities in the district of Sunamgonj, the northern eastern part of Bangladesh. The head office ERA is located in the district headquarters of Sunamgonj. The district of Sunamgonj is located at the northeastern part of Bangladesh under Sylhet division. It is located in the bank of river the Surma. India bound the North border, Sylhet district is located in the East, Habigonj & Kishorgonj district is on the South and Netrokona district is on the west. Sunamgonj district is the one of the low-lying, disaster and poverty prone area in Bangladesh. Natural disaster like flash flood, heavy rain, sometimes earthquake is a common phenomenon in the district. River and soil erosions are one of the major disasters and natural water flow is disrupted due to situation of river and cannel. Flash flood damages crops just before the harvesting period and it is a normal phenomenon. Different water bodies (Haor and baor) bound most of the Upazilas, communication is very difficult. In the rainy season, country boat becomes the only mode of transport. During the dry season people have to walk and ride on boat (only main river way) to cross miles of distances. More than half of the year most of the areas goes under water during the rainy season. 95% of the total population are poor and among them 48% population are living under extreme poverty line and they area landless. Government services are very poor especially in education, health and employment generation. Literate rate is very below, high drop put rate from primary school, unemployment rate is very high, maternal and child mortally is comparatively very high any other district of Bangladesh. Safe water and sanitation is a burring issue in the low-lying areas. Basic rights of poor people are violated due to poverty and lack of awareness. They are also exploited by warterload (lease of haor). The livelihood situations of women are most vulnerable due to very limited scope of involvement in IGAs and they have no power in decision making process in a family. Religious binding is another barrier of women empowerment. ERA dedicated to reduction of suffering of the underprivileged people and the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty. 1

Name of the Chief Executive Designation Contact address of ERA Telephone Email

: Md. Serajul Islam : Executive Director : 49, Mollika R/A, Mollikpur, Sunamgonj-3000 : 0871-55157, Mobile: 01716-114514 : era.haor.org@gmail.com

Legal Status
ERA has obtained the following registration from the respective department of government of Bangladesh. Department of Social Service : Registration No.Sunam/ 289/99, Dated: 24 Feb. 1999 NGO Affairs Bureau Vision ERA envisage a poverty-free sustainable socio-economic equitable productive society. : Registration No 2276, Dated: Oct 11, 2007

Mission
The mission of the ERA is to establish a society where the disadvantaged people are united and organized, their basic rights are fulfilled, environment and gender friendly sustainable livelihood options are satisfying their continuous needs.

Goal
The ultimate goal of the ERA is to assist the vulnerable and disadvantaged people to develop them socially and economically their greater organization through mobilizing their skills and available local resources for the improvement of the sustainable living standard and equal social rights.

Objectives
To mobilize and organize rural poor women and men.

 To establish deprived peoples rights on local resources. To improve the health and nutrition status through providing health education and ensure health rights through access to local health services and raise awareness to prevent HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. To generate income and employment through providing livelihood skill development training and micro finance. To reduce illiteracy through non-formal and adult education. To reduce disaster risk through life skill development, protection of mound and emergency response. To improve the environment condition at haor region (low lying area) through providing education on the sustainable environment, household waste management and tree plantation and open water fisheries management etc.

Guiding Values of the organization:

Transparency Accountably Participation Gender equity Mutual respect

Governance structure
The supreme authority of the organization is General Committee, which is, consist of 21 (twenty-one) members from different professional. General Committee meets once in a year to review the organizational activity and provide necessary advice, approve the organizational audit report and annual budget. General committee elects the executive committee members of the organization for 2 years duration. Advisory committee consists of 3 (three) members to provide time to time suggestion and necessary guidance to the Executive Committee. Executive Committee members select the Advisory Committee members for 2 years duration. Among them one is the Chief Advisor. Executive Committee consists of 7 (seven) members from social development workers. The Executive member meets quarterly to review the organizational activities, provide necessary approval according to the requirement of the organization, and provide necessary advice to the Executive Director (ED) for any undecided issue. The Executive Director is accountable to the Executive committee. (Organogram of ERA is enclosed in Annex-I)

Program Operation and Management

Program Coordinator (PC) is the head of all programs. PC is accountable to the ED. Each program is headed by a Program Manager (PM). Projects are implementing under respective Program Manager through the project team. The ED provides overall guidance to the PC and PM to implement project activities.

Core program of ERA

1. Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Response (DRRER) 2. Quality Education and Good Governance (QEGG) 3. Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock (ALF) 4. Health, Nutrition and Family Welfare (HNFW) Brief description of each program activities:

1. Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Major activities Provide life skill development training on disaster risk reduction Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC) formation and their capacity building Mound protection and extension, tree plantation for wave protection Community volunteers group formation to disseminate and forecasting and warning of disaster Rescue and evacuate flood-affected people and provide emergency support (relief goods, first aid etc) during disaster Post flood rehabilitation; Repair/replace tube wells, distribute agriculture seed and fertilizer and micro finance support, repair/install hygienic latrine, cash for work, house construction/repair, distribute livestock feed etc. Organizational capacity building

2. Quality Education and Good Governance (QEGG) Major activities Provide non-formal education Provide adult education Mass awareness raising on literacy Organize educational campaign 4

 Provide pre-schooling education for early childhood development Provide adolescent life education Local resource mobilization and establish rights of the poor for local resource utilization and kash land Facilitate fishers community to manage open water bodies and use of local resources Capacity building of local government bodies (Union Parishad) Advocacy

3. Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock (ALF)

Major activities Promote sustainable agriculture technology in the haor areas Promote floating and roadside vegetable cultivation Establish homestead vegetable garden Tree plantation and nursery development Cage culture and pond culture Open water fisheries management Lobbing and advocacy for fishers community to establish their rights and access in open water bodies Product market linkage Provide training and technical support to fishers community, livestock rearer, marginal farmers

4. Health, Nutrition and Family Welfare (HNFW) Major activities Awareness raising on primary health care and family planning through focus group meeting and door to door visit Maternal and adolescent nutrition, child health care and nutrition Awareness raising to prevent HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) Ensure safe water and sanitation through awareness raising, flood protected tubewell and ringslab installation Ensure poor peoples access in government health institutions Identify disabled people and provide primary treatment Develop referral linkage for disability treatment

Support Division
Finance and Administration: Headed by a Manager Training: Headed by a Training and Empowerment Officer Monitoring & Evaluation Unit: Headed by a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Human Resource: A total of 97 full time staff is working with the origination. Among them 55 female and 42 male. Staff categories are given below; Staff category Full time Part time Volunteers Total Working area of ERA District Name of Upazila # of Union 03 05 04 01 02 02 17 # of Village 19 43 26 07 26 34 155 Female 82 0 270 325 Male 36 0 270 312 Total 118 0 540 637

South Sunamgonj Deari Sulla Sunamgonj Thairpur Dourabazar Dharampasha Total 06

Development Partners (target group) of ERA ERA has been working with the following target group since its begging
Landless, hardcore poor women and men Fisherman Children Marginal farmers Adolescent girls Disabled people Adhidasi (Ethnic Community)

Total number of development partners: Total- 97,786, Female: 53,782 & Male: 44,004

List of ongoing projects and donors

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At present ERA is implementing 09 integrated development projects with the financial support from national and international donor agencies

Sl.

Name of Project

Name of Donor NGOForum

Project Duration Start Complet date ion date Jan 2010 Dec. 2011

Major Task The objective of the project is to build capacity of UNION PARISHAD is to plan and manage water and sanitation projects effectively and efficiently, and to increase access to water supply services Provide non-formal education for drop out children. Community volunteer group formation, Provide disaster risk reduction and management training, organizational capacity building, emergency response during disaster, Post flood rehabilitation Contribute to sustainable well being and resilience of poor and extreme poor households of Derai, Sulla, south sunamgonj of Sunamgonj district through social and economic empowerment To contribute to effective pro poor local governance. To empower the poor women and marginalize group to claim there rights and to benefit from effective services provision by the local govt. in Derai, Sulla and South Sunamgonj Upozila in Sunamgonj District Base line survey, Kash land distribution through advocacy, establish linkage between government and landless people etc Creating enabling condition of the targeted beneficiaries of project areas to alleviate poverty through secured and sustainable livelihood Provide adolescent life skill education, provide reflect education, skill development training, income and employment generation through microfiance support etc Identify disabled people, provide primary treatment, referral network development for disability treatment etc. Establish of a coo management system for natural resource in the entire Tanguar Haor, which ensure sustainable usages of the resource base institutional community livelihoods in a way that is sensitive to RAMSAR value.

01

HYSAWA Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) Oxfam International Emergency Capacity building Project (OIECB) SAMRIDDHI (LEAF Page-3)

02

BRAC

January 2003

December 2014

03

Oxfam-GB

Oct 2009

ongoing

04

Intercooperation and SDC

April 2007

Aug. 2013

05

SHARIQUE

Intercooperation and SDC

Februar y 15.2011

August 2013

06

Land Right Livelihood Security Program (LSP) Efforts for Capacity building of Community based Organization (ECCO) Project Community Approach to Handicap in Development ( CAHD) Community Based Sustainable Management of Tangua Haor Project (CBSMTHP)

Self
OxfamHonkong

Jan 2007 Nov. 2007

ongoing April 2011

07

08

Stromme Foundation

December

2007

June 2011

09

Self financing

September 2007

On going April 2012

10

IUCN
Bangladesh

October 2008

List of completed project and name of donors

Project Duration Completio Start date n Date Jul 2000 Mar 2001 May 2001 Jun 2001 Mar 2002 Apr 2003

Sl 01 02 03

Name of the Project Promotion of the technology on Bamboo preservation CAGES Project Promotion of Integrated Homestead Production System for Sustainable Livelihoods of the poor people Dissemination of Agricultural Technologies for improvement of Livelihoods for the Rural People through an Integrated Approach. Dissemination of Proven Technology through an integrated Approach for Sustainable Development of the family Community. Community Based Fisheries Management Project Non Formal Primary Education Program Community Managed Watsan Program Emergency Post flood Rehabilitation, Water & Sanitation Activities, 2004 phase I (Software information) Emergency Post flood Rehabilitation, Water & Sanitation Activities, 2004 phase II (Hardware information) Emergency Post flood Rehabilitation, Water & Sanitation Activities, 2004 phase II (Hardware information) Post flood rehabilitation -2004 Community Based Disaster Risk Management Project Community Based Disaster Risk Management Project Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Project (CBDRM)

Project Location Sunamgonj Sadar, Sunamganj Sunamgonj Sadar, Sunamganj Sunamgonj Sadar, Sunamgonj Tahirpur and Jogonnathpur Upazila, Sunamgonj Bishowmberpur & Jamalgonj Upazila, Sunamgonj Sunamgonj Sadar & Derai Upazila, Sunamgonj Tahirpur Upazila, Sunamgaonj Sunamgonj Sadar, Sunamganj Sunamgonj Sadar, Derai & Sulla Upazila, Sunamgonj Dourabazar Upazila, Sunamgonj Derai & Sulla Upazila, Sunamgonj Tahirpur Upazila, Sunamgonj Tahirpur Upazila, Sunamgonj Tahirpur Upazila, Sunamgonj Tahirpur Upazila, Sunamgonj

Donor Winrock International CARE Bangladesh ASRIF-DAEGOB ASRIF DAEGOB ASRIF- DAEGOB World Fish & IFAD BRAC NGO Forum & DANIDA NGO Forum, GOB & UNICEF Phase I NGO Forum, GOB & UNICEF Phase II NGO Forum, GOB & UNICEF Phase II Oxfam-GB Oxfam-GB Oxfam-GB Oxfam-GB

04

Nov 2002

Mar 2003

05

Nov 2002

Mar 2003

06 07 08 09

May 2002 May 2003 Jan 2004 Oct 2004

Mar 2007 May 2006 Dec 2005 Jan 2005

10

Oct 2004

Jan 2005

11 12 13 14

Jan 2005 Jan 2005 Jan 2006 Jan 2007

Apr 2005 Apr 2005 Apr 2006 Apr 2007

15

Oct 2005

May 2009

Executive Committee
9

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Name A.T.M Badrul Islam Md. Serajul Islam Debesh Chandra Talukder Gonesh Chakraborty Md. Jahirul Islam Habiba Rahman Md.Azizul Hoque

Designation Chairman General Secretary Treasurer Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member Executive Member

Qualification BA (Hons.) MA B.Sc (Hons.) M.A.C MSS H.S.C BA H.S.C. Class ten

Occupation Development worker Development worker Development worker Development worker Business House wife Farmer

01 02 03 04 05 06 07

10

ORGANOGRAM
General Committee Executive Committee Executive Director

Program Manager Disaster & Humanitarian Manager Finance & Administration

Program Manager Health & Watsan

Project Coordinator

Program Manager Education & Program Manager Monitoring & Evaluation

Program Manager Ecological

Program Manager Training

Program Development Officer

Assistant Accounts Officer

Support Service Staff

Project Implementation Staff

Program Organizer Micro Finance

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Contact details:

Md. Serajul Islam

Executive Director Efforts for Rural Advancement-ERA 49 Mollika, Mollikpur-R/A Sunamgonj-3000 Phone:- 0871-55157 Mobile: 01716-114514 E-mail: era.haor.org@gmail.com