Origins of RDRS
RDRS came into being at the time of Bangladesh’s War of Independence, in 1971. Set up by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) to help refugees fleeing conflict across the border, it returned with them after liberation to carry out much-needed rehabilitation in the devastated and long-neglected northwest – greater Rangpur + Dinajpur Districts.

In 1976, a sectoral development programme was launched to assist the poorest in agriculture, community development, health and women’s economic activities. Construction of roads, bridges, markets and schools continued.

During these years, RDRS established itself as the leading non-governmental agency in the northwest. It is also credited with introducing many major innovations into the area: the treadle pump (its most famous invention, allowing crops to be grown in winter); wheat production; vegetable gardens; and, women’s advancement, not least the picture of women on bicycles.

By the late 1980s, an integrated Comprehensive programme superseded its sectoral work, focused on conscientisation and group organization of the poor, emphasizing social, educational and economic elements. Physical infrastructure development continued under the Rural Works Project.

Since then, RDRS successes have included the ‘greening the north’ through its roadside tree plantation programme; improving life on the chars (the river islands on the Brahmaputra); raising awareness of women’s rights; promoting savings, credit and skills training to improve the livelihoods of the poor and, the emergence of Union Federations - self-managed people’s organisations, of, by and for the rural poor.

The RDRS programme has continued to evolve over the past decade, but the empowerment of the landless and near landless through their groups and, later Federations remain the focal point. Successive studies and evaluation provide evidence of the positive impact in livelihood and lifestyle of those participating in the programme, two-thirds of whom are now women to take place in the last decade and the present organisational structure is of one development programme with smaller projects shoring up the main Group and Federation-based development activities.

The RDRS Working Area

RDRS is unusual is maintaining a concentrated geographic programme, working in 46 contiguous Upazilas (sub-districts) in NW Bangladesh, far from the economic and political power centres in Dhaka, Chittagong, even Rajshahi.

Once the two regions of Rangpur and Dinajpur were considered among the remotest parts of the country, and their people among the poorest and least developed. But the years since Independence in 1971 have seen great changes in the area, in both the physical and the social landscapes; the opening of the Jamuna Bridge in 1998, an historic event in itself, was merely the latest cog in the wheel of development bringing new vitality to the region.

This corner of Bangladesh remains one of its most vulnerable, with regular flooding and riverbank erosion of the Brahmaputra and other rivers dominating life, particularly in the east of the region. The climate is colder and drier than the rest of the country, also causing problems for the poor, and drought in the west.

RDRS working area covers 10 districts – Panchagarh, Thakurgaon Dinajpur, Rangpur, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Jamalpur, Moulvibazar and Habiganj. The field headquarters of RDRS are situated in Rangpur town, including North Bengal Institute (NBI), for Research and Advocacy.

The Development Philosophy

RDRS presently works with the rural poor: the landless and marginal farmers. Its development aim is to achieve sustainable increases in their living standards. With this aim, RDRS enables those who participate in its programme to gain the necessary skills, understanding, confidence, institutions and services; and ensure that the rural communities have the necessary economic, social and environmental resources.

RDRS’ Development Programme

RDRS reaches some one million villagers through its integrated development programme, through a Group approach (working directly with Primary Groups and, through Federations, with more developed Secondary Groups.

When it began work in 1972, RDRS was the only NGO in the area, but today there are many other actors – large and small – promoting ‘development’ particularly micro-credit. While RDRS is held in great respect among the villagers with whom it has worked for over a quarter century, many of its Group Members now have other options for support. Consequently, RDRS is having to work harder today to promote its more progressive empowerment approach, to maintain the interest and active involvement of its constituents and to attract financial resources from donors and partners.

The continuous evolution of the RDRS programme has shown the organisation as dynamic and capable of adapting to face new challenges. As well as making its programme work more efficient and effective, growth of micro-finance and skills training, the emergence of self-managed federations, and new initiatives in areas such as women’s rights, homestead production, disaster preparedness, people’s theatre have been added to the ‘empowerment package’ extended by RDRS.

RDRS is aware that access to savings and credit is important for the survival of families, Groups and Federations. But the belief that the principal aim of development is to improve the lives of the poor, and not just raise incomes, is widely held still in RDRS. So the emphasis in the development programme is on providing knowledge and creating access to skills and resources, and developing the confidence among the poor to use that knowledge and those resources and skills for the benefit of themselves and their own communities.

Thus, as it did in 1976, RDRS still promotes innovations in agriculture; encourages children’s education and adult skills’ training; raises awareness on vital health and women’s issues; constructs community buildings; and, most importantly, promotes people’s organisations as the way forward for the poor of north-western Bangladesh.

The Core Development Programme of RDRS has eight linked components: social organisation rights; women’s rights; education and training; health; agriculture; credit and income generating activities; employment generation; the environment and disaster-preparedness. Each of these is represented organisationally by one Co-ordination Unit, and their staff work with all beneficiaries in the Non-Federated and Federated Groups and Federations across the working area.

These Co-ordination Units are responsible for providing guidance and support in their respective disciplines to the field workers, based at District, Upazila (sub-district) and Union (lowest tier of government) level. The emphasis of the Core Programme is on raising awareness and general living standards among the programme participants so that they can benefit from credit and advanced skills training and play effective roles in their Federations and communities.

RDRS also demonstrates excellent in its Community Health Programme (CHP), based at Lalmonirhat, which provides a high quality of preventative and curative services to Mother and Child Health (MCH), Leprosy and TB sufferers through clinics and community-based eye care services.

Since so many of the rural poor are vulnerable to natural disaster, disaster preparedness and response remain important elements of the RDRS programme. When disaster strikes, the entire RDRS programme, if necessary, can be mobilised for relief and rehabilitation.

Training, Research and Information

RDRS upgraded a number of its training centres at all levels. There are now 13 training centres with good meeting and residential facilities for staff and beneficiaries. Built on RDRS’ own land, most of them are surrounded by demonstration farms and ponds, with livestock, bio-gas and other technical innovations, where Group Members can see new ideas and methods in action, and from where development work in action can be easily visited.

The newly-built North Bengal Institute (NBI) on the campus at Rangpur town has the capacity to facilitate and accommodate big meetings, workshops and seminars of international standards and will develop its alternative and research and advocacy focus on the northwest region.

RDRS is also building links with young people from its partner countries, who visit under its Intern and other programmes; and is hoping to expand its research and academic links (through the NBI)

RDRS publishes regular in-house newsletters, posters, magazines and periodic studies, reports and evaluations. For mass media coverage, RDRS regularly publishes development features/stories in national dailies and international magazines as well as on its website. In the electronic media, RDRS is involved in producing radio and television programmes as development education.

RDRS: the Organisation

RDRS employs over 2,044 staffs (presently one-third are women) and works with a further 1,068 volunteers and daily paid labourers. With the exception of a few part-time advisors/consultants, all staff are Bangladeshi. The vast majority of staff are in field positions, with specialist sectoral and support units in Rangpur and Dhaka.

RDRS operates field offices in 40 locations, with rural training centres in 18 of these locations, in addition to the central co-ordination office in Rangpur and Dhaka – all linked by VHF radio. RDRS-linked Federations, operate in 307 Unions. RDRS also operates its own vehicle fleet and information technology to support its field programme.

The funding of the RDRS programme is through the sustained commitment of a core group of partner church agencies from Europe, North America and Asia. The RDRS Core Programme is the basic framework for all RDRS development interventions. In recent years, additional bilateral funding has been mobilised to expand the impact of its core programme and to introduce new elements – providing additional services and opportunities for Group members and Federations. Micro-credit activities have also expanded significantly. In 2000, the annual turnover of the RDRS programme (including credit) was around $15 million,