They were given food completely free of cost along with soft drinks. After lunch, the kids and the members of Care For Lives enjoyed cutting cakes and distributing chocolates among the kids and they also had some playful moments with the kids.

The kids were very happy and they were expressing their gratitude with sharing their foods and exchanging hugs and kisses with the members of Care For Lives. One of the co-founder of Care For Lives, Sanjida Islam said “We find peace and happiness in spreading the love towards these children who are deprived of the love they deserve so we like to take such initiatives and in the future we want to continue our work in spreading the love.”

Another co-founder of the organization said that by doing such events we want to send messages towards the youth for coming forward and helping to make a beautiful world for the children.

The post Care For Lives is helping poor children continuously appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

“The causes of elapsing prospects are more institutional. The gradual corrosion of institutions has constrained allocation of resources to channel efficiently into the productive sectors in order for the economy to get higher returns in terms of expanded productive capacity,” observes the last issue of the UO’s monthly Bangladesh Economic Update.

The Unnayan Onneshan notes that the stagnation in the ratio of private investment to gross domestic product (GDP) and ever increasing rise of capital flight, coupled with regulatory unpredictability in economic management have appeared to be the major challenge in the economy.

The think tank shows that private investment as percentage of GDP decreased by 0.04 percent on average since FY 2008-09. Private investment stood 21.87, 21.56, 22.14, 22.50, 21.75, 22.03, 22.07, and 21.78 percent of GDP in FY 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16 respectively.

Taking account of the increasing amount of illicit financial flow from Bangladesh (USD 5409 5921, 7225, and 9666 million in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively), the research organization warns that national savings, which have declined since FY 2012-13 (30.53 percent in FY 2012-13, 29.23 percent in FY 2013-14, 29.02 percent in FY 2014-15 and 30.08 percent in FY 2015-16) may further decline in current fiscal year, and the targets of increasing private investment is unlikely to be achieved.

“The country’s quest for self-reliance based upon domestic resource mobilization has been marred by the policy shift towards ‘debt-financed-debt-trapped development financing.’ The current year witnessed the same level of debt dependence due to failure in providing strategic direction in overhauling the domestic resource mobilization to expand and increase the tax base,” notes the Unnayan Onneshan.

The think tank shows that the collection of total tax revenue as percentage of GDP has been declining since FY 2012-13. Total tax revenue as percentage of GDP stood at 9.74 percent, 9.69 percent, 9.28 percent, and 8.98 percent in FY 2012-13, FY 2013-14, FY 2014-15, and FY 2015-16 respectively.

The rate of growth in revenue mobilization has declined substantially from the level of the FY 2011-12. Actual mobilization of total revenue grew by 19.3 percent in FY 2011-12, whereas the rate of growth decline in the subsequent years and stood at 15.2 percent, 10.4 percent, 13.5 percent, and 13.8 percent in FY 2012-13, FY 2013-14, FY 2014-15, and FY 2015-16 respectively. Total collection of revenue during the first quarter (July – September) of the FY 2016-17 stood at Tk. 43539 crore against the target of Tk. 60688 crore, while the target of revenue mobilization for the whole fiscal year was set at Tk. 242752 crore.

Referring to the higher interest payment due to deficit financing induced increased government borrowing from both domestic and foreign sources, the UO shows that total interest payment increased by 4.87 percent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

Higher interest payments result in increasing non-development expenditure every year leaving the government unable to allocate adequately for financing for development in the country, adds the think tank.

Refereeing to a monumental rise in writing off of loans, meteoric rise in the default loans and nose-dive in risk and capital adequacy ratio, the Unnayan Onneshan observes that “the public in general has to pump their tax money to rescue the stripped nationalized commercial banks through recapitilsation due to loots in these banks.”

Referring to the status of low Annual Development Program (ADP) implementation, the UO presumes that public investment has not been successful to create multiplier effect in the economy because of institutional inefficiency which results in poor quality of investment.

Against the target of Tk. 123346 crore as ADP expenditure in FY 2016-17, 19.13 percent (Tk. 23594 crore) of the total allocation was implemented during the first five months (July – November) of the current fiscal year, whereas implementation of ADP during the corresponding period of FY 2014-15 and FY 2015-16 the preceding fiscal year was 20 percent and 17 percent respectively, finds the think tank.

As a result of deterioration in the balance of all four components of current account – trade balance, services, primary income and secondary income, the current account balance declined substantially in July-October 2016 compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. The current account balance exhibited a surplus of 1241 million USD in July-October 2015, whereas it shows a deficit of 16 million USD in July-October 2016.

Declining trend is also observed in the inflow of workers’ remittance in the first five months of FY 2016-17 compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Inflow of workers’ remittance declined by 15.65 percent to 5208.12 million USD in July-November 2016 from 6174.59 million USD in July-November 2015.

A large portion of expenditure on consumption, education and health in rural households is financed by remittance. Decrease in inflow of workers’ remittance is therefore likely to exert an adverse impact on socioeconomic status of rural households, comments the UO.

Referring to Labour Force Survey data, the research organization finds that the number of unemployed population increased at an annual rate of 5.29 percent during the period of 2000-2010, and increased from 1.70 million in 2000 to 2.60 million in 2010 while 10.6 million people were day labourers who did not have job security.

Income inequality together with inequality in access to health and education, multidimensional poverty, and joblessness particularly among the youth as 9.1 percent of youth labor force (15-24 years) is unemployed is likely to undermine the development already achieved by the county, comments the UO.

In view of the present economic challenges, the research organization urges adoption of a medium-term strategy, encompassing employment enhancement actions, higher revenue collection through expanding the tax base, institutional reform in financial sector, increased private investment through recovering business confidence, effective harmonization of macroeconomic policies, and development of a functional social security system.

The post Medium-term Macroeconomic Challenges Loom Large appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

Tahsina’s father was a trader of cow at the local market. In a business day, he makes a great loss in his business which cased of selling off their cultivable land, after that he remained sick, after three month sufferings Tofazzal Mridha father of Tahsina passed away, Tahsina’s mother had made a big loan for her father’s treatment. To repay the loan she was bound to sell their only asset home. Now their lives in their uncle’s home.

After the great shock, the family without an income survived on handouts and sympathy. Tahsina had no future and getting an education was beyond question. Whilst Tahsina under Help the needy charitable trust orphan sponsorship program, Tahsina is able to provide all the necessities that Tahsina’s mother once struggled to provide.

Tahsina making good progress in her study, now she has high hope to be a teacher in the future. Your generous sponsorship helps Tahsina’s education, clothing, food and health care. Tahsina and her mother’s life turned around from misery to one of hope and aspiration, all of which has been made possible with a regular support from Tahsina’s sponsor. The family grateful and thanks to help the needy charitable trust and RAF for such great and magnanimous initiative

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NGO News Desk

This program was named as “Tran Tori”. On September 2 and 3, members of the organization distributed the necessary medicines such as Flagyl, Napa, Oral Saline, Multi Vitamin and other necessary supplies for purification of water from Dokkhin Chandpur High School of Balirtek.

More than 500 people of the union were benefited by the supplies. Mentionable that, ‘Care for Lives’ is a student based Social Organization. All the Members of the organizations are the students of Bangladesh University of Professionals. The Founder President Sanjida Islam and Vice-President Md. Razit Rayhan were present at the school and distributed the medicines among the locals.

Also mentionable that a facebook group named ‘Sritimoy Manikganj’ had helped in collecting information by surveying the area and providing regional volunteers for successfully carrying out the program.

Radio 96.0 fm and Radio matrika helped Care for lives as their media partner.
They successfully finished the campaign and helped the poor people generously.

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NGO News Desk

The research organization reveals that the policy statement does not address the issue of weak banking and financial structure which is, as noticed in recent times, characterized by fraudulence, lax oversight, scam and illicit capital flight, disorganization, and captured governance.

Referring to stagnant private investment, the think-tank says that recent growth in private sector credit fails to boost private investment. Lack of business confidence in the economy coupled with recent rise in the incidence of terrorist attacks is likely to cause the stagnation to intensify.

In addition, the UO cautions that without increasing the quality, mere growth in private sector credit by the targeted level – 16.5% for the first half of the current fiscal year – may prove inefficacious in enhancing private investment and creating employment opportunities.

The Unnayan Onneshan points out that private investment has been remaining stagnant and has stood at 22.07 percent of GDP in FY 2014-15 and 21.78 percent in FY 2015-16, while increase in public investment from 6.82 percent in FY 2014-15 to 7.6 percent in FY 2015-16 has not succeed to create much needed crowding in for private investment.

The think-tank evinces that the number of unemployed population increased at an annual rate of 5.29 percent during the period of 2000-2010 and increased from 1.70 million in 2000 to 2.60 million in 2010 while 10.6 million people were day laborers who did not have job security. Taking this trend into account, the UO comments the country needs to increase employment opportunities by two percent in order to enter the middle income group by 2021.

Referring to increasing illicit capital outflow from Bangladesh, the research organization finds that during 2004-2013, illicit capital outflows amounted to USD 5587.67 million every year on average. In 2010, the amount of illicit capital outflow was USD 5409.24 million while the outflow increased to USD 5921.33 million in 2011, USD 7225.14 million in 2012 and USD 9665.80 million in 2013.

The research organization shows that twelve-month average consumer price index (CPI) inflation has assumed a slowly declining trend for the last couple of years. Average inflation came down to 5.92 percent in June 2016 from 7.28 percent in July of 2014. Food inflation dropped to 4.90 percent in June 2016 from 8.55 percent in July 2014 while nonfood inflation rose from 5.41 percent in July 2014 to 7.47 percent in June 2016. Core inflation that excludes both food and fuel components rose from 6.29 percent in July 2015 to 8.04 percent in June 2016.

The UO observes that the decline in deposit rate is higher than that in lending rate. The deposit rate and the lending rate decreased to 5.67 percent and 10.57 percent respectively in May 2016 from 7.71 percent and 12.84 percent respectively in July 2014. Consequently, the average interest rate spread decreased to 4.90 percent in May 2016 from 5.13 percent in July 2014.

In regard to increased non-performing loan (NPL) vis-à-vis the total loan in the banking system, the think tank finds that the ratio of gross NPL to total outstanding loans of the banking sector increased from 8.8 percent at the end of the second quarter of FY 2015-16 to 9.9 percent at the end of the third quarter of FY 2015-16. The ratio of net NPL also increased from 2.3 percent in the second quarter to 2.9 percent in the third quarter. Meanwhile, capital adequacy ratio (CAR) decreased to 10.6 percent from 10.8 percent during the period under report.

Referring to persistent deterioration in the financial portfolio of the state-owned banks, the research organization shows that the government allocates Tk. 2000 crore as investment for recapitalization in the budget of the FY 2016-17. This allocation implies inefficient use of public money as the investment for recapitalization seems to validate the disorganization and ineptitude in the sector.

The shortfalls in capital in the banking sector can largely be attributed to the inefficiency in the sector caused by slack surveillance, frequent incidence of scam and fraudulence, captured governance, and poor risk management, adds the UO.

Calling for a cautious harmonization of fiscal and monetary policies that would cause both the money and fiscal multiplier to work in the economy and channel adequate resources for the expansion of productive capacities, the UO urges for creating a stable investment climate that would increase private investment and thus cause the national output to grow at the targeted rate.

The post Business As Usual Monetary Policy Statement in Exceptional Economic Circumstances appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

NGO News Report

Expressing its concern over the poor implementation of ADP during July-May period of the FY 2015-16, the UO shows that only 62 percent of ADP has been implemented during this period whereas for FY 2014-15, FY 2013-14, FY 2012-13 and FY 2011-12, the implementation status was 67 percent, 66 percent, 67 percent, and 70 percent respectively.

The think tank points out that during July-May of FY 2015-16, 75 percent of total ADP allocation for roads and highways division has been implemented compared to 76 percent for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. However, only 46 percent of the total allocation of ADP for bridges division has been implemented during July-May of FY 2015-16 compared to 44 percent during July-May of FY 2014-15.

Referring to the lower status of ADP implementation in social sectors during the first eleven months of FY 2015-16 compared to that in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year, the Unnayan Onneshan demonstrates that ADP implementation status has stood at 41 percent for health, 60 percent for education, and 68 percent for social security and welfare during July-May of FY 2015-16 compared to 56 percent, 64 percent, and 67 percent in July-May of FY 2014-15 for health, education, and social security and welfare respectively.

Pointing out the poor quality of public investment in infrastructure development, the research organisation presumes that the construction of major infrastructure development projects is not likely to be completed by the planned timeline.

As regards the progress in construction of Padma Bridge, the UO finds the target of cumulative completion of 35 percent of work was revised at 20 percent in FY 2014-15 and the cumulative completion target of 45 percent was revised at 39 percent in FY 2015-16, which questions the effectiveness and proper utilization of public investment.

Along the same line, against the target of completing 12 percent of construction of Dhaka elevated expressway in FY 2014-15 only 5 percent was completed, whereas the target of completing 40 percent of the construction in FY 2015-16 was revised at only 10 percent implying unfeasibility of the target of finishing the construction by FY 2018-19.

Taking account of slow implementation against the planned duration of the infrastructure development projects, the UO comments that increase in allocation implies rising cost induced economic rent which has made the public investments inefficient. For instance, Bangladesh spends Tk. 59 crore (proposed) to build one kilometer of 4-lane highways whereas China and India spend Tk. 13 crore and Tk. 10 crore respectively.

Pointing to the fact that allocation of development expenditure for health assumes a declining trend in recent years increasing out-of-pocket expenditure in the sector, the think tanks shows that development expenditure on health stood at 9.7 percent of the total development expenditure in FY 2009-10 compared to 8.7 percent in FY 2010-11, 7.5 percent in FY 2011-12, 6.8 percent in FY 2012-13, 5.3 percent in FY 2013-14, 5.3 percent in FY 2014-15, 5.4 percent in FY 2015-16 and 5.5 percent in FY 2016-17.

As regards the allocation of development expenditure for education, the UO shows that development expenditure on education stood at 13 percent of the total development expenditure in FY 2009-10 compared to 12.8 percent in FY 2010-11, 12.4 percent in FY 2011-12, 13.1 percent in FY 2012-13, 13.5 percent in FY 2013-14, 15.4 percent in FY 2014-15, 12.3 percent in FY 2015-16 and 15.3 percent in FY 2016-17. Low allocation and slow implementation will create skill shortages in addition to deteriorating quality of education, adds the research organisation.

Referring to the declining allocation of development expenditure for social security and welfare, the UO evinces that development expenditure on social security and welfare stood at 5.4 percent of the total development expenditure in FY 2009-10, whereas the allocation was 5.3 percent in FY 2010-11, 5.3 percent in FY 2011-12, 4.5 percent in FY 2012-13, 4.7 percent in FY 2013-14, 4.5 percent in FY 2014-15, 3.8 percent in FY 2015-16 and 3.4 percent in FY 2016-17 .

The Unnayan Onneshan points out that private investment has been remaining stagnant and has stood at 22.07 percent of GDP in FY 2014-15 and 21.78 percent in FY 2015-16, while increase in public investment from 6.82 percent in FY 2014-15 to 7.6 percent in FY 2015-16 has not succeed to create much needed crowding in for private investment.
Observing the declining trend in national savings, the research organisation finds that total national savings stood at 29.23 percent of GDP in FY 2013-14, 29.02 percent in FY 2014-15, and 30.08 percent in FY 2015-16, and warns that such trend may induce national output to decline.

In addition, lack of adequate capital formation due to large scale illicit capital outflows every year causes national savings and investment not to rise significantly. Statistics suggest that during the period of 2004 to 2013, illicit capital outflow amounted to USD 5587.67 million every year on average. In 2010, the amount of illicit capital flow was USD 5409.24 million whereas the amount increased to USD 5921.33 million in 2011, USD 7225.14 million in 2012 and USD 9665.80 million in 2013.

Taking account of the unsatisfactory quality of public investment in physical and social infrastructure and current state of sluggish private investment due to infrastructure shortage and lack of business confidence, the research organisation emphasises that the government must focus on stimulating private investment and ensuring effective utilisation of public investment in addition to channeling adequate resources into social sectors that give particular impetus to the improvement in human development.

The post Lower ADP, Sluggish Private Investment and Macroeconomic Challenges appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

They wanted to do something special for the deprived people in this Eid. So they made a plan of launching their First event before Eid. The Team ”Care for lives” targeted “Baganbari Slum” to execute their plan. They took donation from their university by arranging an “Iftar party”. Half of the donation was invested into iftar and the rest of donation was used for buying “Eid Bazar” and clothes for the poor people. Finally they finished their event successfully on 30th June. They provided 40 packets Eid bazar to 40 families of Baganbari Slum.

The packet contains food items- 1kg polao rice, 1kg sugar, 200gm Shemai and half liter fresh oil. They provided clothes to more than 120 people of that Slum. They will arrange more and more events for helping out the poor people and the street animals. Care for lives is looking forward to help the discriminated living creatures. They want help from people and media to run this organization for the well- being of the poor people. Their Tagline is – “We don’t just care for humans, We care for lives”

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It is wonderful to see this dedication recognised.” Of more than 500 development organisations worldwide, NGO ADVISOR placed BRAC first, based on its impact, innovation and sustainability. BRAC was praised for its holistic approach to fighting poverty, treating it as a system of interrelated barriers that must be addressed concurrently. The ranking also highlighted the organisation’s history of designing and implementing solutions at scale.

Other notable NGOs in the top 500 include Doctors Without Borders in the second position, Oxfam in fifth, Save the Children in the ninth, and Grameen Bank in the 12th position. NGO ADVISOR combines academic rigour with journalistic integrity and autonomy, evaluating each organisation based upon its objective merits. Co-founded by Jean-Christophe Nothias, a journalist formerly with The Global Journal, the rankings methodology was first developed in 2009. Over the years, Nothias enlisted experts at The University of Geneva and partners from the non-profit sector to improve the evaluation metrics.

Today, NGO ADVISOR presents its findings to an international audience of donors, volunteers, journalists, researchers, diplomats and non-profit leaders to showcase best practices and mirror the evolving values of the global community.

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Noting the linkage between expansion of credit and growth in investment, the Unnayan Onneshan cautions that sluggish rate of growth in private sector credit will further drag down investment and consequently slide down the expansion of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Pointing to the increased non-performing loans and low returns on asset and equity, the think-tank observes that the sector is inundated with severe structural rigidities resulting in the disappointment of risk management in the sector.

As regards the public and private sector credit, the think tank states that domestic credits experienced a decrease of 9.93 percent at the end of December 2015 over December2014 against the ceiling of 13.8 percent set for December 2015.

The rate of growth of credit to the private sector in FY’11 was 25.84 percent which drastically fell to 19.72 percent in FY’12and then further fell to 10.85 percent in FY’14.In FY’15 it slightly increased to13.19 percent where the target was set to 15.5 percent in monetary policy of July-Dec’15. In the first quarter of FY’16, the credit growth stood at 12.9 percent and in December 2015 jumped to14.19 percent(year to year basis) mainly due to a slight decrease in lending rate in second quarter of FY’16 and tranquil political situation.

The think tank evinces that the point to point inflation came down to 6.07 percent in January of FY2015-16 from 6.36 percent in July of FY2015-16 representing 0.29 percentage point decrease.

The UO cautions that continuous incidents of heist in the financial sector like recent theft from Bangladesh Bank, hall mark scam, BASIC bank scam,collapse of the share market, multilevel marketing business trapping people for excessive profit will makethis sector more vulnerable.

The research organization observes that captured governance through politically determined directorship for the nationalised banks, and family and friends domination in the board rooms of the private sector banks, meager actions against the perpetrators, and slack surveillance by the central bank hinder the maintenance of prudential system of management.

The spread of lending and deposit rate is stable hovering near 5 percent. In January 2016, it increased to 4.84 percent in from 4.77 percent in August, 2015. It was 4.87 in March’15 whichwas 5.15 percent in March’14. The rates of interest on depositor and lender were 7.26and 12.32 percent respectively in January’15 and stood at 6.21 percent and 11.05 percent respectively in June’16. Of late the lending rate is on slight decrease, the rate is still too high to attract the small and medium investors and enterprises in the economy.

Referring to the piling up of excess liquidity in the banks due to the dispirited investment environment in the country, the Unnayan Onneshan reckons 7.41 percent increase in the excess of liquidity between the periods of June’15 and December’15. Excess of liquidity in the banking system amounted to Tk. 120678.9 crore at the end of Dce’15, whereas the amount was Tk.1123851 crore in June’15.

Besides the incidences of large scale scams, the risk management has weakened to a dismal proportion. The research organisation evinces that the non-performing loans have increased to 10.5 percent in March 2014 from 8.9 percent in December 2013.

Pointing to the incapacity of the banks to recover loan, UO shows that the classified loan and written-off bad debt both are increasing. The classified loans increased to 54700 crore in the July- September quarter of FY 2015-16 from Tk.52500crore in the March-April quarter of FY 2014-15; representing an increase of 7.41 percent. On the other hand, written-off bad debt increases by 17.13 percent from Tk. 321.1 billion in June’14 to Tk. 376.5 billion in June’15.

The performance of the banking sector in regard to risk management has been deteriorating since FY2013. Returns on asset (ROA) and capital adequacy ratio are continuously decreasing after 2011. In 2011, overall ROA which measures the efficiency of the management in generation of earning to assets in the banking sector was 1.5 percent whereas it stood at 0.64 percent in 2014. In June of FY 2014-15, the ROA decreased to 0.47 percent and Return on Equity (ROE) decreased from 8.09 percent to 6.61 percent.

Examining the balance sheet of BB, UO finds that BB incurs a loss of Tk. 26.24 billion in FY’15 where it enjoyed profit of Tk. 33.5 billion in the previous fiscal year.

The Unnayan Onneshan recommends improvement in supervision and regulatory capacity of the central bank and streamlining of enforcement of prudential guidelines in order to check the incidences of scams and fraudulence and thus to ensure efficacy of risk management in the banking system.

The post Institutional Fragility of Central Banking in Bangladesh appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

NGO News Report

The two-day long workshop was organized at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre (BICC), Dhaka.

The workshop featured the findings from the ‘Documentation of UPPR Learning and Good Practices’ – the country’s single largest urban poverty reduction project which was implemented during 2008-2015. UNDP hosted the two days long regional exchange workshop to validate multiple lessons learned so far prioritizing the need to expose the good practices to national and international high level specialists, receiving feedback and consolidating the findings through an intense exchange among the actors.

In her welcome address, Ms.Pauline Tamesis, Country Director of UNDP noted that there is no one-stop complete recipe to urban poverty reduction and development. Every settlement has its particular characteristics and that is why it is imperative for all of us to learn from good practices and models that have been successful in UPPR.

She also said “If we can get urban development right, we can create positive economic opportunities, improve social inclusion, protect local eco-systems, and build overall resilience of the people.”

Mr Abdul Malek, Secretary, Local Government Division (LGD), MoLGRD&C chaired the opening session with the distinguished guests –Ms SomsookBoonyabancha, Secretary General, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), Bangkok, Thailand, Mr. R Parthasarathy, Director,Gujarat Institute of Development Research, India and Urban  Knowledge Network of Asia, UKNAand Professor Nazrul Islam, Honorary Chairman, Centre for Urban Studies (CUS), Dhaka.

Mr. Abdul Malek, Secretary, Local Government Division said, “A partnership between the Government of Bangladesh, UNDP and UK Aid, UPPR has reduced urban poverty on a scale never before witnessed in Bangladesh. The results have been significant, ranging from improved infrastructure, women’s empowerment and community-led development planning.”

Ms SomsookBoonyabancha emphasized on recognising poverty as a structural issue and that change should be in the hands of the people. Furthermore, she noted that importance of housing development and land security for poor people and celebrated the successes of UPPR’s Community Housing Development Fund (CHDF) for its innovative work in communities.

Presenting the UPPR Learning, Best Practices and Processes, Professor Yves Cabannes, Professor Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London noted that UPPR has been hugely and broadly innovative. He also stressed the importance for building long term relationship between communities and LGIs and urban poverty reduction programmes need to shift from neighbourhood/slum scale to city-wide scale.

He also added, “The new Agenda SDG 2030 reflects the strong role of our urban centres. Not only is SDG 11 dedicated to our cities and towns; but in no less than five other goals and forty targets, urban areas are part of the solution.”

The regional exchange will engage community people, high profile national and international experts to validate the lessons learnt and good practices from the UPPR project implemented in 23 cities/towns across Bangladesh.

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The aim of this event was to sensitise Bangladesh’s Readymade Garments (RMG) industry on including skilled workers with disabilities in the mainstream workforce. The “International Day of Persons with Disabilities” is globally celebrated on 3 December and this year’s theme is “Inclusion Matters: Access and Empowerment of People of all Abilities”.

The prime objective of this event was to inaugurate “Champions of Inclusion”- a platform of RMG factory owners of Bangladesh to promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the mainstream workforce. GIZ has organised this event in cooperation with Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Centre for Disability in Development (CDD) and Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP).

During this event, the RMG factory owners were sensitised on national policies and international standards governing the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities through presenting success stories of workers with disabilities. There was also a discussion session, where Mr Khorshed Alam, Chief Executive Officer of NSDC, and Mr Syed Ahmed, Inspector General (Additional Secretary), Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) along with RMG workers with disabilities and owners of RMG factories took part. It was discussed in the session that, equal access to dignified employment for persons with disabilities is currently being promoted by several national and international policies and documents.

In collaboration with Government of Bangladesh, NGO partners and private sector, the primary objective of the Inclusive Skills Development component is including persons with disabilities in the mainstream workforce of Bangladesh’s RMG industry by providing disability inclusive skills training, ensuring sustainable employment and promoting equal opportunities for all.

The “Bangladesh Rights and Protection of Persons with Disabilities Act” 2013”, calls for action to create work and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in public and private sectors. The Government of Bangladesh has already signed and ratified the “UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)” in 2007. Article 27 of the convention states that parties recognise the rights of persons with disabilities to work on an equal basis with others. So far, ISD has completed auditing in 92 RMG factories for barrier-free access and disability inclusive HR policies.

In the presence of the Chief Guest, Honourable State Minister, Md Shahriar Alam, M.P., Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Guest of Honour, His Excellency, Dr Thomas Prinz, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; and the Special Guest, Honourable Mayor, Dhaka City Corporation-North, Mr Annisul Huq; along with the Special Guest, Mr Mohammed Nasir, Vice President (Finance), BGMEA, the logo of “Champions of Inclusion” was unveiledin front of the leading RMG business owners and related stakeholders in Bangladesh.

Change Agents: owners from Bangladesh Readymade Garments who responded to the calls for action at the event were- Bitopi Group, Fakhruddin Textiles Ltd, Urmi Group, Saiham Knit Composite Ltd, Vintage Denim Ltd, Pandora Associates Ltd, Viyellatex Group, Mohammadi Group, Pride Group, Evergreen Sweaters Ltd, Interstoff Group, and Renaissance Group & Sweater Makers Ltd.

The post ‘Inclusion Matters: Looking Towards 2021’ appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

NGO News Report

The current account balance stood at USD 1406 million in FY 2013-14, whereas the balance became negative and stood at USD – 1645 million in FY 2014-15. The deficit in trade balance increased significantly and stood at USD 9917 million in FY 2014-15, whereas the deficit was USD 6794 million in FY 2013-14.

In line with recent decline in total import, import of capital machineries is also on the decline implying the lack of entrepreneurship and productive capacity expansion, which together with current unemployment of large productive capacities in manufacturing sector may cause the rate of growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) not to reach the target.

Export earnings declined by 13.91 percent in September 2015 compared to the month of August 2015 and stood at USD 2.37 billion. In addition, export earnings fell by 6.98 percent in September 2015 compared to that in September 2014. However, latest statistics suggest exports fell short of target by 3.73 percent during July-October of 2015-16.

Total import payments during the period of July-August 2015 decreased by 2.98 percent and stood at USD 6.56 billion compared to USD 6.76 billion during the corresponding period of 2014. The import of capital machineries declined by 30.85 percent during the period of July-August 2015 and stood at USD 416.3 million compared to USD 602 million in July-August 2014.

Noting large imbalance in service in the balance of trade, the UO finds a gap of USD 4099 million in FY 2013-14 and USD 4628 million in FY 2014-15. In FY 2013-14 and FY 2014-15, the amount in credit in service was USD 3115 million and USD 3017 million respectively, whereas the amount in debit was USD 7214 million and 7645 million respectively.

Referring to declining rate of growth in inflows of remittance, the think tank shows that the inflow of remittance declined by 3.08 percent and amounted to USD 2584.58 million during the period of July-August of FY 2015-16 compared to USD 2666.84 million during the corresponding period of FY 2014-15.

Referring to the decline in disbursement of foreign aid, the research organization demonstrates that total foreign aid disbursements during the period of July- September of 2015-16 decreased by USD 0.11 billion or 17.66 percent and stood at USD 0.50 billion compared to USD 0.61 billion during July-September of FY 2014-15. Net receipts of foreign aid were also lower and stood at USD 0.26 billion in July-September of FY 2015-16 compared to USD 0.29 billion in the corresponding period of FY 2014-15.

As regards unsatisfactory inflow of FDI, the think tank shows that inflow of FDI decreased to USD 1480.34 million in FY 2013-14 from USD 1730.63 million in FY 2012-13, although FDI inflow reached USD 1833.87 million in FY 2014-15. Such inadequate inflow of FDI into Bangladesh in comparison with other countries of the same economic characteristics can be largely attributed to lack of infrastructural facilities and business confidence in the country, adds the UO.

Calling for a thorough reexamination of the current trade and industrial policies to address the structural bottlenecks, the UO urges for the adoption of new strategies aimed at expanding country’s productive capacities that enhance utilization of productive resources through efficient entrepreneurial capabilities and increased production linkages.

The post External Sector: Recent Trends and Challenges appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus inaugurated the Jobra Museum and Archive, on September 19, in the village of Jobra where Grameen Bank was born in 1976.

Interesting feature of the event was the gathering of most of the former staff of the first branch of Grameen Bank as well as Professor H. I. Latifee who had coordinated all the activities of Professor Yunus during early years. The opening ceremony was also attended by distinguished guests from Chittagong, Chittagong University, Mr ASM Mohiuddin, Acting Managing Director, Grameen Bank, senior executives of the bank. Professor Yunus narrated the story how it all began in Jobra with collaboration between the people of Jobra village and an academic from the university. He recalled the role played by the village youth and the elders in his initiative of creating Nabajug Tebhaga Khamar in 1974 for producing an irrigated crop in the village, to add a third crop in their crop cycle.

Professor Sekander Khan, former Chairman of Department of Economics, Chittagong talked about the role played by students of various departments of the university to make the project successful.

The post Dr. Yunus inaugurated the Jobra Museum & Archive appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

The Design Lab was chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. He opened the lab with welcoming remarks to the audience including those tuning in via live stream. Professor Yunus explained the process of the Lab, to review and assess social business plans of entrepreneurs. He reported that to date since January 2013, a total of 1553 projects have been presented during last 107 Design Labs of which 1528  projects were approved for investment, and most of these already in operation.

At today’s Lab, six new social business plans were presented. Out of them four were Nobin Udyokta businesses presented by young entrepreneurs coming from Grameen Bank borrowers’ families and two were guest projects. It includes a range of interesting businesses with colorful products including Jannat Fabrics producing ladies clothing by Shilpy Akter, Parul Beauty Parlor providing skin care by Parul Akter, Mahamuda ledies corner selling cosmetics and boutiques, Nayan Departmental Store selling Grocery items and a wide range of consumer goods. Two guest projects were also presented. They were a social business on sustainable coastal housing in Guatemala by Julio Linares from Guatemala and a project titled Photopreneurs by Prito Reza and Shazeeb M Khairul Islam which aims at creating Photo Entrepreneurs to combat unemployment.

These business plans were presented by each of the young entrepreneurs including all details of project plan, marketing plan, and sustainability plan. There were several rounds of discussions on how each social business could be improved and strengthened during the main session as well as in breakout sessions. All six of the social business projects were approved for funding from various social business funds. These projects would be reviewed in the upcoming Labs, and through regular reports on Social Business Pedia.

Professor Yunus thanked the participants for the innovative social businesses and noted that it was exciting that so many ideas were now a reality and how impressive it was that entrepreneurs coming from so far away could present their business plans and defend them in front of distinguished international audience.

Professor Yunus also invited participants to join next Social Business Design Lab, to be held on 17 September 2015.

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The research organisation in its ninth monthly issue of the sixth year notes that in FY 2014-15 (July-May), the total outstanding domestic debt has increased by 13.7 percent while the total outstanding external debt burden increased to by 8.5 percent in FY 2013-14. Meanwhile, during the period from FY 2012-13 to FY 2013-14, the debt service payment increased by 18.6 percent.

The outstanding domestic debt as percentage of GDP was 15.2 percent in FY 2011-12, 15.11 percent in FY 2012-13, and 15.04 percent in FY 2013-14, finds the think tank.

Government borrowed more from non-banking system than the banking system in FY 2014-15, although, as shown in previous years, deficits are usually financed by government borrowing from the banking system, observes the UO.

The domestic debt stood at Tk. 222573 crore in FY 2014-15 (July-May) crore in FY 2013-14, which was Tk. 203163 crore, Tk. 181184 crore, Tk. 160423 crore and Tk. 139220 crore in FY 2013-14, FY 2012-13, FY 2011-12 and FY 2010-11 respectively. Debt has increased by Tk. 26788 crore during the period from FY 2013-14 (July-May) to FY 2013-14 (July-May).

The external debt has increased by USD 319 million in FY 2013-14 compared to FY 2012-13, whereas the debt increased by USD 547 million in FY 2012-13 compared to FY 2011-12. In FY 2014-15 (July-February), external debt stood at USD 1495 million.

The total outstanding external debt, however, stood at USD 27036 million in 2013-14, whereas it was USD 23608.8 million, USD 23537.1 million and USD 24907 million in FY 2010-11, FY 2011-12 and FY 2012-13 respectively.

The per capita external debt was USD 115.52 in FY 2001-02, which stood at USD 136.45 in FY 2006- 07, USD 157.7 in FY 2010-11 and USD 173.53 in FY 2013-14, finds the research organization.

The per capita domestic debt was Tk. 3433.36 in FY 2001-02, which reached Tk. 5533 in FY 2006-07, Tk. 9292.95 in FY 2010-11, Tk. 12968 in FY 2013-14 and Tk. 13989.49 in FY 2014-15 (July-May). Taking the growth path of increase in per capita domestic debt into account the UO projects that the per capita domestic debt is likely to rise to Tk. 16000 in FY 2015-16.

The think tank further observes that the foreign debt-service payment is increasing over the periods, which indicates a decrease in the net foreign asset of the country. In 2013-14, the total service payment was USD 1294 million among which USD 1088 million was paid as principle and USD 206 million was paid as interest. The payment, however, reached USD 794 million where principle payment was USD 659 million and USD 134 million until February 2015.

Increasing allocation for non-development expenditure due to financing the deficit does not allow the government to allocate adequately for development expenditure resulting in barrier to the expansion of productive capacity in the economy, says the Unnayan Onneshan.

The research organisation shows that while the rate of growth in non-development expenditure has stood at 19.66 percent in the budget of FY 2015-16 compared to the budget of 2014-15, the rate of growth in development expenditure stood at 18.78 percent in the budget of FY 2015-16 compared to FY 2014-15.
The think-tank evinces that the deficit amounting to five percent of GDP stands at Tk. 86657 crore without grants in the budget of FY 2015-16, whereas the deficit was Tk. 67552 crore in the budget for FY 2014-15 which was later revised at Tk. 76297 crore.

As a result, the target of government borrowing in the budget of FY 2015-16 increases and amounts to Tk. 80857 crore, which was Tk. 61346 crore in the budget of FY 2014-15 causing a 31.8 percent increase in target of government borrowing, finds the think tank.

Increasing government borrowing from domestic sources may, however, crowd out the private investment by causing the interest rate to rise. In July-May period of FY 2014-15, total domestic debt has increased by 32.93 percent from the corresponding period of the FY 2013-14.

Financing of budget deficit in July-May period of FY 2014-15 stood higher at Tk. 33883.09 crore compared to Tk. 27379.43 crore during the corresponding period of FY 2013-14, representing an increase of 23.8 percent.
In order to check the ominous effects of debt and deficit, the Unnayan Onneshan urges for the adoption of an immediate debt management policy through a harmonisation of the macroeconomic policies that ensures an effective fiscal management in the economy.

The post Bangladesh Economic Update Of September 2015 appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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To create employment opportunities for released prisoners by providing them with various marketable skills to increase their opportunities for employability, a public-private collaboration has been initiated by the Prison Directorate on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and UK Department for International Development (DFID).

As a part of this initiative, the first-ever training course on “Moccasin Shoe Stitching” was launched where 21prisoners have successfully completed their training on 10 August 2015. The training was initiated by the Prison Directorate and conducted by the Center of Excellence for Leather (COEL) Skill Bangladesh Ltd. in coordination with Dhaka Ahsania Mission. GIZ provided the technical support for this training. The certificate-giving ceremony was held on 27 August 2015 at Kashimpur Central Jail Part 2.

Dr. Md. Mozammel Haque Khan, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, was the Chief Guest and the event was chaired by the Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin, Inspector General of Prisons, Prison Directorate. A.K.M Afzalur Rahman (Babu), Vice Chairman and  KaziRoushanAra, Head of Operation, COEL, Bangladesh Ltd.; Mr. Proshanto Kumar Banik, Senior Jail Superintendent; Ms. Tahera Yasmin, Senior Program Advisor, Rule of Law, GIZ and representatives from Dhaka Ahsania Mission and GIZ were also present at the ceremony.

“Historically, prison was considered to be a place mainly for punishment, today prison has gradually transferred into place for rehabilitation ” -said the Senior Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs,Dr. Md. Mozammel Haque Khan, during his speech at the certificate-giving ceremony. He also expressed that this training will provide the prisoners with capacity of not only finding a job after release but will also help them to be self-employed.

Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin, Inspector General of Prisons said,” Through technical education provided to the prisoners will gain confidence to be reintegrated in the society”. He also hoped that the trained prisoners will not reoffend and come back to prison. He wished that the prisoners will live a respectable life as a functional member of the society once released.

One of the trainees shared his enthusiasm about the artful nature of the training and mentioned,“the helplessness of returning to the society without a means of living use to make me very depressed, but not anymore. Now after receiving this training I know I can get a job in a shoe making company or be self-employed after release.”

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Today ICVA (International Council for Voluntary Associations), BNfWHS and COAST jointly has organized a seminar title “Principles of Partnership : Learning and Way Forward” in Brac center, where local, national and international NGO leaders given emphasize Mutual Accountability relation in Partnership. The seminar was moderated by Dr Jamie Munn and Mrs Jessica Darby from ICVA and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury from BNfWHS and COAST. Mrs Rokeya Kabir of ADAB, Mr Snehal Soneji from Oxfam, Mr Jerome Sayar of CLS, Ms. Hasin Jahan from Practical Action, Nayeem Warha from Disaster Forum, Mr Khaled Hasan from PKSF, Mr Abdul Awal from CDF, Mr Abdul Awal from NRDS and Kazi Sahidur from UN OCHA have spoken as panelist.

Mrs. Nurun Nahar Lovely from DSK (Dustha Shastho Kendro) given the presentations on the key findings of BNfWHS field level consultations, which given emphasize on equality and dignity based partnership especially with international NGOs (INGOs), donor organizations, and UN organizations. Dr Jamie Munn of ICVA has given background on Principles of Partnership which was adopted during 2007 almost all INGOs, donor organizations and UN organizations, basically which are Equality, Transparency, Result Oriented Approach, Responsibility and Complementarities. On the eve WHS held in Istanbul May 2016, ICVA globally reviewing this principles in different region.

Mrs Rokeya Kabir said that INGOs should have more development education in their own country to have more positive attitude toward development aid. Mr Snehal Soneji of Oxfam has said that he is fully agreed on the spirit that INGOs should not go for competition with local NGOs to raise fund in national level. He said that local NGOs should raise fund targeting local middle class in the country. Ms Hasin Jahan said that local NGOs should take targeted program to the young generations. Mr Nayeem Gowhar Warha express worries of developing sub contracting culture and top down and domination approach of some INGOs and bilateral donor agencies.

Mr Abdul Awal of CDF mentioned that Bangladeshi micro finance NGOs doing more on holistic development so principles of partnership important for them. Mr Hasan Khaled of PKSF said that leadership commitment and flexibility is fundamental in partnership. Kazi Sahidur Rahman of UN OCHA mentioned that , all development stakeholder will have the need of a platform to continue this discourse. Mr Abdul Awal of NRDS mentioned that basically development partnership will have to be integrated to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) from next year.

In conclusion Rezaul Karim Chowdhury from COAST and BNfWHS said that the discourse will continue up to grass root level, as there is a need of minimum coordination and understanding of all development stakeholders especially among INGOs, Local NGOs and UN agencies, as NGOs or development organizations are the main vehicles to promote human rights, secularism and democracy.

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The research organisation finds that the rate of growth in revenue mobilisation has been on the decline since FY 2011-12. Actual mobilisation of total revenue grew by 23.3 percent in FY 2011-12, whereas the rate of growth decline in the subsequent years and stood at 11.8 and 9.4 percent in FY 2012-13 and FY 2013-14 respectively.

Of the total tax revenue, NBR tax revenue grew by 20.16 percent in FY 2011-12, 12.82 percent in FY 2012-13, and 7.83 percent in FY 2013-14 while Non-NBR tax revenue grew by 9.33 percent, 13.43 percent, and 11.84 percent respectively during the corresponding period.

In addition, in view of the fact that Bangladesh lags far behind other developing countries in terms of the total general government revenue as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the research organisation finds that the average total revenue for the period from 2010 to 2014 as percentage of GDP was 35.7 percent in advanced economies, 24.9 percent in emerging and developing Asia, 21.8 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 19.8 percent in ASEAN-5, 19.4 percent in India, 18.9 percent in Nepal, 13.7 percent in Pakistan, and 13.4 percent in Sri Lanka, whereas in Bangladesh, the average total government revenue as percentage of GDP for the corresponding period was only 10.8 percent.

In FY 2014-15, the target of revenue collection was set at Tk. 1829.5 billion which was later revised at Tk. 1633.7 billion. In the first nine months of FY 2014-15 (July’14 – March’15), the total collection of revenue stood at Tk. 1032.1 billion which is 56.4 percent and 63.2 percent of original and revised target respectively.

Referring to the latest data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the UO shows that the total collection of NBR-Tax stood at Tk. 1180.42 billion until May’15 of FY 2014-15 against the original target of total NBR-Tax of Tk. 1497.2 billion set in the budget of FY 2014-15 and the revised target of Tk. 1350.28 billion.

Taking account of the unsatisfactory collection of revenue from income tax which is proposed to be the largest source of revenue and is critical to the total revenue mobilisation, the think tank evinces that against the original target of Tk. 565.8 billion and the revised target of Tk. 483.44 billion in FY 2014-15, the actual collection of income tax stood at Tk. 377.40 billion until May’15, which is 66.7 percent and 78 percent of original and revised targets respectively.

On the contrary, the actual collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) at the local level vis-à-vis the target is satisfactory. Against the original target of Tk. 387.8 billion and the revised target of Tk. 324.08 billion in FY 2014-15, the actual collection stood at Tk. 297.03 billion until May’15. Unsatisfactory performance in collection of revenue from income tax compared to that from VAT implies higher tax burden on low income groups than high income ones, says the UO.

As regards the total non-NBR tax, the research organisation finds that against the revised target of Tk. 56.5 billion in the FY 2014-15, the actual collection of non-NBR tax stood at Tk. 33.7 billion until March’15 representing 59.65 percent of the revised target.

Pointing out the sluggish collection of non-tax revenue, the think tank further demonstrates that the actual collection of non-tax revenue stood at Tk. 128.2 billion until March’15 against the original target of Tk. 276.62 billion and the revised target of Tk. 226.9 billion for the FY 2014-15.

Referring to the higher interest payment due to deficit financing induced government borrowing from both domestic and foreign sources, the UO shows that against the target of total interest payment of Tk. 310.42 billion set in the budget of FY 2014-15, which is 20 percent of the total non-development expenditure of the fiscal year, the expenditure on interest payment reached Tk. 203.23 billion until March’15 constituting 24.8 percent of the corresponding period’s total non-development expenditure.

Higher interest payment results in the increase in total non-development expenditure every year causing the government to become unable to allocate adequately for development expenditure in the country, adds the think tank.

Urging for increasing strength and effectiveness of the tax administration, the UO suggests that the government must administer its fiscal management in a way that would broaden the taxpayers’ base on the one hand and ensure the provision of necessary services to the citizens in return for their payment of tax on the other.

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Prior to visiting Uganda Professor Yunus visited Washington to be the Chief Guest at the 35th Anniversary Celebration of RESULTS International The event was attended by congressmen, senators, policy makers, NGO activists and academics.

On 24 July Professor Yunus delivered a public lecture at the World Bank on social business and microcredit for the end of poverty, at Preston Auditorium in World Bank Group Headquarter. In the public lecture Professor Yunus told a packed audience that “present civilization that we created is on an irresistible path of self-destruction. Before it destroys itself we have the opportunity to lay the foundation of a new civilization which will be progressive and sustainable.” The over-flown audience included World Bank senior officials, dignitaries and participants from a diverse background.

During his stay in DC, Professor Yunus was invited to meet with U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Congressman Joseph Crowley, all of whom are long term supporters of Grameen’s anti-poverty efforts led by Professor Yunus.

Professor Yunus left from DC to Uganda on 26 July to visit the social business programs initiated by Yunus Social Business, the global implementing arm of Professor Yunus’ social business program. Yunus Social business has started its work in through its office Uganda since 2013.

Professor Yunus was received by President of the Republic of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on 29 July. He had a one hour meeting with the President who was joined by Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, and the State minister of ICT. Ugandan President is a great admirer of Professor Yunus and his microcredit and other innovative initiatives since 1997 when he attended the first Microcredit Summit in Washington DC. Professor Yunus briefed on all the social business initiatives already undertaken by his organization in Uganda. President was particularly interested in a new social business software outsourcing company as a joint venture with a giant European company. This will create thousands of IT jobs for unemployed youth of Uganda, particularly young women. Professor Yunus invited the President to inaugurate the company when it rolls out its business next year. President immediately accepted it but made a condition that Professor must be present with him at the launch. President wanted to understand in how social business can help youth unemployment, agriculture and forestry. Professor Yunus gave examples of such social businesses undertaken with his initiative in other countries.

Professor Yunus called on the Vice President of Uganda, Edward Ssekandi at his office. He organized a meeting of the board of directors of Green Efforts Foundation founded by him for developing Green initiatives, with him as the chair. The Vice president and the Board of the Foundation wanted advice from Professor Yunus on building social businesses to achieve the goals of the Foundation. The Vice-President then came to the National Social Business Conference of Uganda organized by Yunus Social Business Uganda, held in an international hotel to inaugurate the conference along with Professor Yunus. In his inaugural speech the Vice-President announced that the government of Uganda is very happy to put the seal approval to all social business initiatives in Uganda and will support them in all possible ways. Professor Yunus was the chief guest of the National Social Business Conference of Uganda attended by Government officials, country heads of various UN organizations, ambassadors, university professors, various foundations, NGOs, corporate bodies, local media as well as international and local development agencies.

Professor Yunus also visited several social businesses which are partnering with Yunus Social Business. These enterprises are working in health, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, such as Green Bio Energy which produce Clean cook stoves & solar lamps to low-income households to reduce emissions and fight deforestation, Impact Water supplying Safe and Healthy Drinking Water for Schools, Hospitals, and families through high performance water purification systems and Markmat Enterprises, an enterprise that works to equip local farmers with best farming practices to increase yield and quality of their crops.

Professor Yunus addressed a gathering of over 300 university students specially assembled organized by five leading universities in Kampala.

During his visit Professor Yunus had separate meetings with African Development Bank, US Ambassador, USAID, and UNHCR, to discuss issues related to poverty alleviation, sustainable development and social business. He signed an MOU with UNHCR to undertake joint venture social businesses in the Ugandan refugee camps.

Founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Saskia Bruysten, and Sophie Eisenmann, Yunus Social Business (YSB) promotes and finances social businesses around the world. YSB is active in seven countries, including Uganda where local teams coach, and mentor entrepreneurs, subsequently providing financing and post-investment support to the most promising ones. YSB has deployed over $7 million in 28 social businesses, which have already impacted over 200,000 beneficiaries.

Professor Yunus left Uganda on July 30 after attending a reception given by Bangladeshi community in Uganda.

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Bangladeshi civil society activists, Asgar Ali Sabri, Mohshin Reza and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury participating in the conference termed the AAA as a document of business as usual of developed countries and said, the Developed Countries somehow are reluctant to come up with new finance even though they are reluctant to take tangible action to tackle illicit financial flow. This will ultimately drain more capital from developing countries compared to what developed country provide as ODA.

Tove Maria Ryding, the Policy Advocacy Manager for Tax Justice of Brussels based European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD) said that, after three days of bullying, developing countries finally are run over. The consequence of the Addis Ababa outcome is that more than 100 developing countries will remain excluded from decision making on global tax standards, she added.

Dr Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to UN spoke as one of the panelists in a side event organized by ACG (Addis Civil Society Group), Third World Network and Eurodad held at Elilly International Hotel. He said, “There is a need for reform in global financial architecture and global governance where developing especially least developed countries have little policy space. He urged global community especially developed countries to come forward with a new challenging financing model like Marshal Plan to finance and support UN Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Implementation of SDG is imperative to save planet and humanity, he added in his speech.

The side event was moderated by Tessa Khan of APWLD (Asia Pacific Women on Law and Development) while the other speakers are Mr Adrian Nador, Ambassador of Argentina, Ms Bhumika Muchala of Third World Network and Mr Manuel Montes of South Centre.

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Addis Ababa 14th July 2015. On the second day of FFD Conference the civil society delegation from Bangladesh Mr Asgar Ali Sabri of Action Aid Bangladesh, Mr Mohshin Reza of Bangladesh Teachers Association and Mr Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD / COAST meet the leader of Bangladesh government delegation, the State Minister MA Mannan and plead to speak for UN intergovernmental tax body to stop illicit flow.

Bangladeshi CSO along with Tove Ryding of Eurodad meet the full delegation team of Bangladesh yesterday at the sideline of opening plenary and different side events and requested them to raise demand for intergovernmental UN tax body, sustainable international debt management framework, and inclusion of CBDR (Common But Differentiate Responsibilities) principles in the outcome documents.

Today in an official roundtable renowned economist Mr. Joseph Stiglitz placed his analysis on why the international legal regime in respect of tax and debt management is needed for the sake of people interest and to achieve Post 2015 SDG (sustainable development goals) agenda. He also said that the over influence of some of IFI (international financial institutions) and some of the influential developed countries should be eliminated. He mentioned that this demand is imperative as countries economy is getting more and more integrated to international market and to avoid Greece crisis there must be sovereign and responsible lending and borrowing mechanism.

South African representative spoke on behalf of G77 plus China at the negotiating group today in the official round table. He reiterated the group position on inclusion of CBDR principles in the outcome documents, international cooperation and tax bodies to stop illicit flow, intellectual property right issue, rights of developing countries in proposed technology facilitation mechanism and sustainable debt management mechanism. He uttered to include these in the outcome document and agreements of the conference.

The rumor in the corridor says, India and Brazil has taken strong position in favor of G77 and China while EU (European Union) is partially supporting the demand of International Tax Body except UK and USA who are opposing this along with the other developing country demands.

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The conference is being held for 13 to 16 the July in UN Africa Economic Centre in the city. A Bangladesh delegation headed by the State Minister Mr. MA Manan is in Addis Ababa for participation in the conference.

Still there are major differences between developed and developing countries especially in aid, debt and intergovernmental tax committee to stop illicit financial flow, but there are options to be agreed by the delegations. Yesterday in the concluding session of the Civil Society Organization (CSO) Forum on UNFfD, UNSG Ban ki Moon mentioned that the conference is a fundamental base i.e. the means of implementation in respect of financing of Post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which to be announced in September UN General Assembly and global climate deal which hope to be signed in Paris in December this year.

The two-day CSO forums a preparatory meeting for UNFfD is held in Addis Ababa during 10 to 12 July at Hotel Deselegn and around 500 CSO delegates participated including EquityBD delegate Rezaul Karim Chowdhury. Civil society forum released a declaration with dismay on critical unresolved issue and expressed hope that global leaders will not produce an unattainable agenda, which only reflects business as usual. Ban Ki Moon, the UNSG expressed that a bold transformative agreement is necessary for “one planet and one future” i.e. to reduce global inequality and poverty.

The major unresolved issue is the most of the developing countries and civil society demand for an intergovernmental political tax body, which will work for a convention to stop illicit financial flow, setting tax and bank transparency and which will stop the present major drain of resources from developing countries to developed ones. The amount is around $600 billion per year while the aid flow towards the opposite is only $300 billion. The pressure from Developed countries to accept OECD process of BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) lacks participation from developing countries.

The current Expert Tax Committee with 2.5 person staff by UN is not well resourced. The latest outcome document released on 7th July only accepted to increase annual meeting days and an appeal to fund more to these committees. But the demand from developing countries and CSOs is to establish a political body or a commission on this with regular budget of UN.

In respect of aid, developing countries demand tangible timeframe and periodical review on the aid commitment of developed countries of GNP 0.7% particularly 0.15% to 0.20% to LDC. They also demanded tangible timeframe and roadmap on the commitment of additional climate finance of $100 billion from 2020. Developed countries don’t want to give any measurable commitment and timeframe in this regard. Developing countries also argued to include the principles of CBDR (common but differentiate responsibilities) as agreed in RiO principles and in the AAA (Addis Ababa Action) agenda. But they already have shown their obstinate position of not mentioning this in the outcome document.

Another contentious demand from developing countries and civil societies is inclusion of debt cancellation of highly indebted countries, a charter on sovereign responsible borrowing and lending, and a fair orderly management of debt. This is also to avoid Greece kind of crisis in developing countries, as some of those cases especially in LDCs debt situation are deteriorating. Civil society also demands debt cancellation of Nepal. But developed countries are not agreeing on a global debt mechanism.

Developing countries and CSO also expressed worries on developed countries’ overwhelming pressure on private financing and so called approach of “blended financing” including PPP (private public partnership). The demand of developing countries is the state supremacy while civil society demand is not to promote private financing with public money, and no private financing in essential public services like water, health, education, telecommunication and electricity.

Developing countries and CSO are eagerly and anxiously waiting for the final outcome whether the developed countries come forward with their term.

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NGO News Desk ::

The Design Lab was chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. He opened the lab with welcoming remarks to the audience including those tuning in via live stream. Professor Yunus explained the process of the Lab, to review and assess social business plans of entrepreneurs. He reported that to date since January 2013, a total of 1260 projects have been presented during last 92 Design Labs of which 1235 projects were approved for investment, and most of these already in operation.

At today’s Lab, six new social business plans were presented, all of which were Nobin Udyokta businesses presented by young entrepreneurs coming from Grameen Bank borrowers families. It includes a range of interesting businesses with colorful products including Borsha Handi craft producing ladies clothing and decoration products by Mst. Bithi Begum, Bibiyana Beauty Parlor providing skin care by Sharifa Khatun, Sohani Fashion Tailors producing ladies clothing by Mrs. Sohani Akter Jhumur, Rojoni Gondha Layer Farm Producing poultry meat and eggs by Md. Riazul Islam, Mahim Enterprise selling Grocery items by Md. Kamruzzaman Milon and Rajib Bansh House by Md. Rajib Hossain.

These business plans were presented by each of the young entrepreneurs including all details of project plan, marketing plan, and sustainability plan. There were several rounds of discussions on how each social business could be improved and strengthened during the main session as well as in breakout sessions. All six of the social business projects were approved for funding from various social business funds. These projects would be reviewed in the upcoming Labs, and through regular reports on Social Business Pedia.

Professor Yunus thanked the participants for the innovative social businesses and noted that it was exciting that so many ideas were now a reality and how impressive it was that entrepreneurs coming from so far away could present their business plans and defend them in front of distinguished international audience.

Professor Yunus also invited participants to join next Social Business Design Lab, to be held on 29th August 2015.

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The UO in its monthly publication notes that expenditure on health and education in Bangladesh is quite low vis-à-vis other developing countries. Allocation for non-development expenditure on both sectors comprises the large portion of the total allocation resulting in inadequate allocation for development expenditure. In addition, poor implementation status of Annual Development Programme (ADP) in the Ministry of Health and Family Planning and the Ministry of Education poses challenge to the development of these two sectors.

In view of the current challenges in the development of health and education sectors, the think tank finds three major issues that characterize the two sectors. These are – structural inequality emanating from socioeconomic differentials, lack of universal coverage in the provision of social services, and social inequality due to citizens’ lack of access to social services.

The research organisation says that Bangladesh lags behind other developing countries in accumulating public spending adequately to provide its citizens with necessary social services while the allocations for social sectors, particularly education and health, as percentage of total programme expenditure have been on the decline in recent years.

Statistics suggest that for education and technology, the budget allocation has declined by 1.5 percentage point and been proposed as 11.6 percent of the total budget outlay in FY 2015-16 compared to 13.1 percent in FY 2014-15. Allocation for health also declined by 0.1 percentage point from 4.4 percent of the total budget in FY 2014-15 to 4.3 percent in FY 2015-16.

The think tank finds that Bangladesh lags behind other developing countries in regard to health expenditure as percentage of GDP. In 2013, the actual allocation for health in Bangladesh stood at only 3.7 percent, whereas it was 4 percent in India, 6 percent in Vietnam, 6 percent in Nepal, 7.5 percent in Cambodia, and 10.8 percent in Maldives.

Consequently the per capita health expenditure is also quite low in Bangladesh vis-à-vis the other developing economies. For instance, the per capita health expenditure in Bangladesh stood at USD 32 while it was USD 61 in India, USD 111 in Vietnam, USD 39 in Nepal, USD 76 in Cambodia, and USD 720 in Maldives.

The UO further demonstrates that the out-of-pocket health expenditure as percentage of private expenditure on health is much higher in Bangladesh than in other developing countries. In 2013, the out-of-pocket health expenditure as percentage of private expenditure on health was 93 percent in Bangladesh compared to 85.9 percent in India, 85 percent in Vietnam, 81.4 percent in Nepal, 75.1 percent in Cambodia, and 88.3 percent in Maldives.

The research organisation evinces that in 2013, the public spending stood at 32.21 percent of GDP in the developing and emerging economies, whereas Bangladesh accumulated only 16.79 percent of its GDP as public spending. The volume of public spending is far lower in Bangladesh than in its two neighboring countries – India and Myanmar, whose public spending as percentage of GDP reached 27.26 percent and 27.18 percent respectively in 2013.

Statistics suggest that the actual allocations as percentage of the total programme expenditure for education and technology were 17.1 percent, 16.9 percent, 18.6 percent, 18.4 percent, 16.6 percent, and 16.1 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. In FY14, the revised allocation stood at 16.3 percent, whereas in FY15, the budgeted allocation stood at 15.6 percent. Projection says that the allocations may stand at 15.5 and 15.6 percent in FY16 and FY17 respectively.

The think tank demonstrates that the actual allocations for health as percentage of the total programme expenditure were 7.2 percent, 7.1 percent, 7.3 percent, 7.1 percent, 6.6 percent, and 6.4 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. In FY14, the revised allocation stood at 5.7 percent, whereas in FY15, the budgeted allocation stood at 5.3 percent. Projection suggests that the allocations may stand at 5.3 and 5.4 percent in FY16 and FY17 respectively.

Referring to the substantial gap between the allocations of non-development and development budget for health and education, the think tank shows that in FY 2015-16, Tk. 66.81 billion has been allocated as non-development expenditure on health compared to Tk. 53.24 as development expenditure. In the same vein, Tk. 200.44 billion has been allocated as non-development expenditure on education and technology in FY 2015-16, whereas development expenditure has stood at Tk. 121.26 billion.

Noting the poor implementation status of ADP in health and education sectors, the think tank finds that during July’14 – May’15 period of FY 2014-15, the implementation of revised ADP has been only 56 percent in the ministry of health and family planning and 64 percent in the ministry of education.

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He was a keynote speaker at the Social Enterprise World Forum that took place in Milan from the 1st to the 3rd of July. The Social Enterprise World Forum (SEWF) is an international event where social enterprises all over the world to come together and discuss policy and practice, to learn from one another and to network. Over 1,000 delegates from all over the globe are set to descend on the Social Enterprise World Forum organized by the ACRA–CCS foundation of Italy and Social Enterprise UK.

Professor Yunus participated in a panel discussion with Mr. Maurizio Martina. Italian Minister of Agricultural, Food and Forestry on ways to address global hunger together with Hon Giovanni Melandri former Minister of sports of Italy and President of Human Foundation, Emma Bonino, former foreign minister of Italy and leading Woman activist of Europe. They discussed possible ways to respond to global hunger.

Professor Yunus addressed an event organized by Cariplo Foundation the foundation of largest Italian bank and met separately with is Chairperson Mr Giuseppe Guzzetti to discussion creation of a Social Business Fund which will focus on youth unemployment.

On 7th July Professor Yunus delivered keynote speech in a program titled “The other Half of the Planet-Women’s Weeks” at the Expo Milano 2015. In the program Professor Yunus said “Women’s performance is the best when they have the same opportunities.” Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni also spoke at the conference alongside Professor Yunus.

Professor Yunus also addressed as keynote speaker a special forum organized by Letizia Moratti, former Mayor of Milan on the subject of Women in Business. Professor Yunus also addressed a conference organized by France based social business fund Danone Communities.

Professor Yunus’s visit to Italy culminated with a grand ceremony on July 8 to confer the honorary citizenship of the city of Bologna on Professsr Yunus.

Mayor of Bologna Virginio Merola conferred this honorary citizenship of the City of Bologna, in an elaborate ceremony at the City Hall participated by the Speaker of the Italian Parliament Ms Laura Boldrini who flew in from Rome to participate in the ceremony, and attended by Former Prime Minister of Italy Mr Romano Prodi and his wife, President of the City Council Ms Simona Lembi, and over 350 elite of the city. Ms Boldrini was the main speaker in the ceremony who delivered a special speech eulogising the accomplishments of Professor Yunus and their relevance to Italy and the rest of the world.
The event took place at Bologna’s City Hall on July 8, 2015 in Bologna, Italy. Around 350 distinguished guests participated in the event. A Tagore song presented by Bangladeshi community made the ceremony more attractive to the Italian participants.

Earlier in the week, Professor Yunus joined in a special train journey on July 4 from north of Italy to Naples in the south of Italy. During the train journey Yunus conducted intensive discussion on the role of youth to 50 Italian youth, who joined the journey to participate in the conversation with Yunus. In Naples Yunus visited Scampia, a nearbourhood of 100,000 people with 70 percent youth unemployment and proliferation drug and violence. Yunus gave an outline to leaders of the community how to overcome their problems.

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They said that, the allocation for agriculture in the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year is inadequate and suicidal for future self-sufficiency in food. They also urge to establish a National Price Commission to ensure fair price for the agricultural products to save the local farmers.

The press conference titled “National Budget 2014-15: Farmers’ expectations and reality. Inadequate budget for agriculture is suicidal for future self-sufficiency in food” was jointly organized by Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Bangladesh Bhumihin Samity, Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation, Labour Resource Center, Kendrio Krishok Moitri, Bangladesh Kishani Shova, Bangladesh Krishak Federation (JI) , Bangladesh Adibasi Somity, COAST Trust and EquityBD.

The press conference was moderated by Badrul Alam of Bangladesh Krishak Federation, while the key note was presented by Md. Mujibul haiq Munir of COAST Trust. Among others Subal Sarker of Bangladesh Bhumihin Somity, Jayed Iqbal Khan of Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Golam Sarwar of Bangladesh Agricultural Farm Labour Federation, Aluaddin Shikder of Kendrio Krishok Moitri, Biswanath Sing of Bangladesh Adibasi Somity, Aminur Rasul Babul of Unnayan Dhara and Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of COAST Trust also spoke at the occasion.

Md Mujibul Haque Munir said, size of the national budget has been increased by 23,13% compared to the last year budget, but allocation for agriculture has been increased only by 3.43%. Last year budget for the agriculture ministry was 5.12%, for 2015-16 it is only 4.30% of the total budget.

Proportionately it is the lowest allocation in last five years. Allocation for agriculture is declining in a regular basis. Only 1.9% of the Annual Development Plan (ADP) is allocated for agriculture ministry, it is the same as the last year allocation.

Agricultural subsidy of 90 billion Taka remains unchanged from last year but its affect will be decreased due to projected 6.2% rate of inflation. Increased price of fuel and water will affect it as well. It will cause more food import in the coming years..
From the press conference farmers organizations placed some specific demand such as: allocation for agriculture should be increased compared to the size of the total budget, subsidy should be increased and effective utilization of it should be ensured, national Price Commission is must to ensure just price for farmers, import of harmful foreign seeds must be stopped, jute should be given special priority to regain its golden era.

Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said, Still 2.62 crore people of Bangladesh are suffering from hunger. Bangladesh is still to achieve food sufficiency. Time will come when we will not be able to collect food from others even with our money, if we cannot emphasize in achieving the real food sufficiency by promoting our agriculture.

Subal Sarkar said, this budget is meant to ensure various facilities for the people who are doing business with agriculture and farmers. This budget is not farmers’ friendly rather it will benefit the middlemen and businessmen. Jayed Iqbal Khan said, the Agriculture Minister demands that, farmers are getting just price for their products. This is in fact far from the reality. But government does not see any problem with this. That is why ensuring just price for farmers is not in the prlority list of the government for the next two years.

Aminul Rasul Babul said, all sectors related with agriculture should be given special rebate. Vehicles carrying agricultural product should be allowed to use bridges and roads tool free.

Golam Sarwar said, control of seeds must be with the farmers. Government should facilitate that. If the sector is controlled by multinational companies it will suicidal for us.

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The gathering is organised every year as an opportunity to meet, connect, had have discussion among with the global social business community with the purpose of developing effective solutions to solve society’s most pressing problems, for example, unemployment.

This event discusses the innovative ways to fight social and economic problems through social businesses. This year’s Social Business Day, as before, will be a daylong programme which will include plenary discussions among distinguished participants. Participants will hear first-hand accounts from representatives of social business organizations around the world.

The event which will be hosted by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus will be attended by more than 1600 participants, among them over 250 international participants from 30 countries including Andrea Jung, President and CEO, Grameen America, Ms. Sharifah Hapsah Shahabudin, Senior Consultant, Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia, Mr. Hans Reitz Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Creative Lab, Mr Alex Counts, Founder of Grameen Foundation, Mr Peter Hunt, Chairman of Grameen Australia, Mr Mitsuro Izumo, CEO, Euglena Japan, Mr Robert Johnson, President of Becker College, USA, Mr. Nirvana Chaudhary, CEO Chaudhary Foundation/ Nepal Social Business among many others. Professor Muhammad Yunus will give the keynote speech.

There will be a Social Business Marketplace which will showcase the products and programmes of social business. As a highlight, there will be special Mela or fair of Nobin Udyokta’s (new entrepreneurs) products which will be displayed at the marketplace.
There will be three plenary sessions including Meet the Nobin Udyoktas, Sharing Experiences in Social Business around the World, and the Road Map Forward, with speakers from around the world giving their insights and programmes in discussions moderated by Professor Muhammad Yunus.

In addition, there will be 12 concurrent panel sessions such as Social Business and Academia, Methodology of Nobin Udyokta (new entrepreneur) programme, Microfinance as Social Business, Social Business and Technology, Sources of funds for Social Business, Meet the Nobin Udyoktas (new entrepreneurs) and Question & Answer on Social Business. There will be a special panel on Social Business in Greater China. This year about 90 participants are attending from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These panel sessions will cover concept and best practices, present status, future plans of social business around the globe and enable a rich interaction among speakers.

Announcement will be made by Japan Auto-mechanic Training School, Grameen Intel Social Business Ltd, Grameen Euglena Ltd, Grameen Caledonian of Nursing college, Yunus Social Business Health Hub, University of New South Wales, Australia, Yunus Social Business Center at RMIT, Australia, Social Business Short Courses at Dhaka International university and Eastern University, The Centennial Fund of Saudi Arabia, requirements for Prince Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah International Award For Entrepreneurs from Centennial Fund. In addition a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed to set up Yunus Social Business Center at Becker College, Worcester, USA.
On May 29, an exclusive meeting of academics will take place as a follow up of the Social Business Day. It is expected to be attended by 120 academics including 50 from 26 international universities.

The meeting will review the progress made in offering social business courses, research programmes undertaken at various universities, academic publications around the world, and future plans. On 1 June 2015, Professor Yunus will be the keynote speaker at three more events to be organised by International University, Eastern University, and Social Business Youth Association.
The Social Business Day is observed every year on June 28.

This year because of Ramadan the date has been shifted forward to May 28. Next year, also for the same reason, the Day will be celebrated on May 28, 2016. The first Social Business Day took place in Dhaka on the 28 June, 2010.

For more information, please click: https://www.socialbusinesspedia.com/ or contact Mr. Faisal Khaled (Tel.: +8801835067807 E-mail: [email protected])

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The monthly Update of April 2015 presents a critical analysis of the ten major economic challenges relating to growth in GDP, revenue collection, government expenditure, budget deficit, foreign aid, private sector credit, export, inflation, non-performing loan, and saving-investment gap which the economy has underwent during the FY 2014-15 and should be taken into account for the upcoming budget for FY 2015-16.

Calling for public debates for shifting the focuses of policies and functions of the Ministry, the research organisation suggests three core areas – expansion of productive capacity, effective provision of social services to the citizens, and sustainable development – for the next national budget of 2015-16.

In addition to shifts in policies, the UO urges for restructuring the present functioning of the Ministry of Finance by dividing the functions into six divisions, i.e. Public Finance Management Division, Revenue Division, Economic Relation Division, Social Security and Development Management Division, Banking Division, and Productive Capacity Expansion Division, in order to ensure enhanced effectiveness, strengthened capabilities and greater accountability, suiting to the need of the country.

Noting that the growth in GDP has been falling short of target in recent years, the think tank projects that if the business as usual situation continues, the targeted rate of growth in GDP of 7.3 percent will not be achieved and may stand at the maximum of 6.26 percent.

Observing the shortfall in collecting revenue vis-à-vis the target, the UO finds that in FY 2014-15, the target of the collection of revenue was set at Tk. 182954 crore, whereas the actual amount of revenue collection has stood at Tk. 66697 crore during the first half of the current fiscal year, representing only 36.5 percent of the target.

Taking account of unsatisfactory implementation of government expenditure, the research organisation evinces that the actual amount of non-development expenditure and annual development programmeme expenditure has stood at Tk. 59789 crore and Tk. 17009 crore during the first half of FY 2014-15 against the whole fiscal year’s target of Tk. 170191 crore and Tk. 80315 crore respectively, representing only 35.1 percent and 21.2 percent of respective targets.
Referring to the low budget deficit due to low implementation of budget in the current fiscal year, the think tank shows that against the target of Tk. 67552 crore in FY 2014-15, the actual budget deficit has become Tk. 10104 crore during the first half of the fiscal year, which has been financed by Tk. 1458 crore from foreign sources and Tk. 8646 crore from domestic sources (Tk. 5755 crore from banking system and Tk. 2891 crore from non-bank sources).

Referring to declining foreign grant and increasing foreign loan, the UO demonstrates that foreign grant and foreign loan have stood at Tk. 393 crore and Tk. 5275 crore respectively during July-December period of FY 2014-15 against the target of Tk. 6206 crore and Tk. 4502 crore set in the budget of FY 2014-15 for the whole fiscal year.

Growth in private sector credit has fallen short of the target at the end of the first half of the FY 2014-15 signaling sluggishness in business activity in the economy, comments the research organisation. The actual growth in private sector credit stood at 13.5 percent against the target of 16.5 percent set in the monetary policy statement announced by the central bank for the first half – July-December – of FY 2014-15.

Pointing at sluggish growth in export, the think tank evinces that the total amount of export earning has stood at USD 14914.2 million during July-December period of the FY 2014-15 representing only 1.6 percent increase vis-à-vis the export during the corresponding period of FY 2013-14.

The rate of inflation on point-to-point basis has been on the decline since the beginning of FY 2014-15. However, the non-food inflation has been on the rise of late, although food inflation has been declining. Non food inflation has stood at 5.7 percent, 5.8 percent, and 6.5 percent in October, November, and December respectively, whereas food inflation was 7.2 percent, 6.4 percent and 5.9 percent in the three consecutive months respectively.

In regard to increased non performing loan and availability of large amount of idle money in the banking system, the think tank finds that the non performing loan compared to the total loan increases from 10.5 percent in January-March of FY 2013-14 to 10.8 percent in April-June of the same fiscal year. Meanwhile, the net non performing loan increased to 3.9 percent in June of FY 2013-14 from 3.4 percent in March of FY2013-14.

Referring to increased gap between savings and investment, the research organisation evinces that in FY 2012-13 and FY 2013-14, the national savings were 30.53 percent and 30.54 percent, whereas the total investment were 28.39 percent and 28.69 percent of the GDP representing 2.14 and 1.85 percentage point gaps respectively.

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The human chain was organized in front of the National Press Club by Arpan, Oline knowledge society, COAST Trust, EquityBd, Udayan Bangladesh, Bangladesh Labour Federation, SDO, Coastal Development Partnership, Kishani Sobha, DOCAP, National Labour Alliance, Nature Campaign Bangladesh, Prantojon, BAFLF, Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Voice, labour Resource Centre, Sirajgonj Flood Forum, Sangram, Synergy Institute and Humanity Watch.

The human chain was moderated by Mustafa Kamal Akanda of EquityBD while Ahsanul Karim from the same organization presented the key note on behalf of the organizers. Among others Badrul Alam of Bangladesh Krishak Federation, Subal Sarkar of Bangladesh Bhumihin Somity, Sanat K Bhowmik of COAST Trust and Zayed Iqbal Khan of Bangladesh Krishak Federation also spoke on the occasion.

Ahsanul Karim said, Bangladesh government finalized the VAT law in 2012 according to IMF prescription which is supposed to be effective from financial year of 2015-2016. This law proposes 15% flat rate which will result prices hikes of various essentials. IMF does not make this type of prescription for the welfare of countries like Bangladesh; rather intention of these prescriptions is to ensure interests of multinational companies.

Badrul Alam said, the new VAT law will create additional burden for the farmers and agriculture of Bangladesh. Direct tax must be collected form multinational companies rather than imposing new tax burden for the poor.

Various multinational companies are evading taxes using various techniques. For example, four cell phone operators have evaded about 3100 crore taka, British American Tobacco evaded 1924 crore taka. These taxes have to be collected Subal Sarkar said, the main intention of IMF is not development, rather to bring Bangladesh in the trap of loan.

Their prescriptions in various countries have been failed. 18 Sub-Saharan countries are implementing VAT laws according to IMF prescription, but they have been failed clearly to achieve the goals of making the tax-GDP ratio 18-20%. Research shows, tax-GDP ratio in these countries have been decreased!

Sanat Kumar Bhowmik said, contribution of direct tax in Bangladesh is lower than other developing countries. In India direct tax is 35% of total revenue collection, Sri Lanka 38%, in rich countries it is about 70%. Focus should be given on direct tax rather than to indirect taxes like VAT, because these taxes impose additional burden on poor people.

Some other demands have also been placed from the human chain such as, no expansion of VAT on essentials, separate tax unit formation, Tax ombudsman, reduction of non-development expenditures, string actions against black money.

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On 23 April 2015, GIZ joined forces with the Centre for the Rehabilitation for the Paralysed (CRP) to commemorate the second anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse, at the CRP premises in Mirpur, Dhaka. During the event, Guest of Honour, His Excellency Dr Thomas Prinz, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, reiterated Germany’s long-term commitment to the development of Bangladesh – “The German Government has supported more than 500 people who were affected by the building collapse. However, in dealing with the tragedy, we have learned an important lesson: to include people with disabilities is not a temporary, incident-driven task. It is a continuous process”.

Mr Reaz Bin Mahmood, Vice President, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) stated, “People with disabilities are not disabled, rather they are differently-abled. If they are provided with little cooperation, they can be an asset to our economy and society.” He also added, “Skilled workforce can be a key for BGMEA to reach the target of USD 50 billion exports by 2021.”

Dr Valerie Taylor, the founder of CRP, emphasised the need to learn from the past, make the most of the present, and plan ahead for the future, ensuring as far as is humanly possible that such a disaster is never repeated.

CRP, which partners with GIZ to rehabilitate Rana Plaza survivors, presented a statement on the support provided to the Rana Plaza survivors. It committed to continue supporting such initiatives in the future.

The event was also attended by Dr Jochen Weikert, Programme Coordinator, GIZ; Ms Christine Cipolla, Head of Delegation, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); and survivors of the Rana Plaza building collapse.

After a panel discussion with the survivors, Dr Valerie Taylor inaugurated an exhibition with trained entrepreneurs who were affected by the Rana Plaza incident. Representatives from CRP’s Prosthetics and Orthotics Department and different vocational and inclusive training initiatives then discussed their experiences.

GIZ has also supported the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Coordination Cell of the Rana Plaza Trust Fund to implement a compensation scheme for the victims of the Rana Plaza tragedy. After completing professional trainings, the victims have used the compensation payments as capital to successfully operate their own businesses.

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The survey shows that 61.2 percent of the people still need to visit doctors, clinic or NGO run facilities on regular basis. Most of them (59.1 percent) are still suffering from depression & trauma. This suggests that physical wounds may have healed in the two years, but the trauma and shock from the incident is harder to recover from.

The survey was revealed on Wednesday (22nd April) at BRAC Cnetre Inn, Bangladesh in a Multi-logue just before the second anniversary of Rana Plaza Tragedy.

ActoinAid Bangladesh has conducted the survey on 1414 survivors. Among them 915 are women & 499 are men.

Of the 1414 survivors, 70.6 percent responded that they are somewhat healed. While 22.6 percent reported that their condition is getting worse.

The survey report shows that 55 percent survivors are still unemployed. While 44 percent survivors got engaged in various types of jobs. Currently 54.4 percent respondents are facing difficulties to meet their daily needs. 2% cannot meet their daily needs at all.

In the multilogue followed by survey findings sharing, stakeholder from Govt., national & international non-govt. organization, garments owner, buyers, researchers were present.

Farah Kabir, Country Director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said, “The situation of survivors are worse. The survivors don’t go to work. Physically they are in bad situation. We should take the responsibility to help them go on with their lives. Govt., Garments Factory owners, other partners should work together”.

In the discussion, compensation was a big issue. Survey shows, in last one and half year, Rana Plaza Donor Trust Fund was set up to ensure compensation for the affected people with a preliminary target of USD 40 million, which was later fixed at USD 30 million. In cash and kind PM’s relief fund provided BDT 22,93,58,720/- out of BDT 127 crore (BDT 1270 million)(as of April 9, 2015, Press Wing of PM’s Office) Altogether USD 21.5 million was supposed to be disbursed. Current deficit USD 8.5 million.

The survivors, present in the multi-logue, claimed that they didn’t get proper compensation.

Dr. Mojtaba Kazazi, Executive Commissioner-Rana Plaza Coordination Committee, said, “We have received many letters for compensation than the actual figure. So it takes times. The compensation depends on the loss and damage of the survivors”.

Ishrafil Alam, Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Labor and Employment, said, “Compensation is a endless debate. After the Rana Plaza Collapse, many parties wanted to give money. But we don’t get enough”.

“Incidents can happen. But it should not be continued. Victims are not getting the justice. It needs to be addressed. We want industrialization. But we don’t want our industrialization by death like Rana Plaza”, said Mr. Ishrafil.

Md. Shahidullah Azim, Vice President, BGMEA, said, “We have been working closely with factory owners and other stake holders to ensure security of workers. We don’t want any repetition of Rana Plaza”.

“To improve the situation of survivors and garment industry of Bangladesh, most important factor is ensuring accountability. for that the govt., owners and buyers should work together”, said Mr. Tuomo Poutiainen, Programme Manager of ILO Bangladesh.

Amanur Rahman, deputy director of ActionAid Bangladesh, presented the survey findings. Survey findings suggest some initiatives. Those are; realization and delivery of full compensation is required to address the mid-term and long-term needs; further health & livelihood support to the survivors is required to resume normal life and work; a high level multi-stakeholder coordination mechanism including GO, NGO, Trade Union, Brand, Manufacturer and Development Partner should be in place to oversee the national labour regulations and compliance auditing.

This is the 3rd time follow up survey done by ActionAid Bangladesh on Rana Plaza disaster. The incident happened on 24 April 2013 where 1,129 people lost their lives and 2,515 injured people were rescued.

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The UO cautions that if the declining trend in the allocations of public spending for social sectors continues, social developments, for which Bangladesh has been commended worldwide, will be unsustainable in the coming years posing serious challenges to the government’s responsibility to provide public services to society as defined by the social contract – the constitution – between the state and the citizens.

Assessing the states of different countries’ public spending on social sectors and the trends in their social developments, the think tank finds that Bangladesh lags far behind other developing countries in accumulating public spending adequately to invest in social sectors and provide its citizens with necessary social services.

The research organisation shows that in 2013, the public spending stood at 32.21 percent of GDP in the developing and emerging economies, whereas Bangladesh accumulated only 16.79 percent of its GDP as public spending. The volume of public spending is far lower in Bangladesh than in its two neighboring countries – India and Myanmar, whose public spending as percentage of GDP reached 27.26 percent and 27.18 percent respectively in 2013.

Pointing at the recent decline in the allocations of public spending on education, the UO evinces that the actual allocations as percentage of the total program expenditure for education and technology were 17.1 percent, 16.9 percent, 18.6 percent, 18.4 percent, 16.6 percent, and 16.1 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. In FY14, the revised allocation stood at 16.3 percent, whereas in FY15, the budgeted allocation stood at 15.6 percent. Projection says that the allocations may stand at 15.5 and 15.6 percent in FY16 and FY17 respectively.

Opining that the allocations of government spending on health are unsatisfactory, the research organisation demonstrates that the actual allocations for health as percentage of the total programmme expenditure were 7.2 percent, 7.1 percent, 7.3 percent, 7.1 percent, 6.6 percent, and 6.4 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. In FY14, the revised allocation stood at 5.7 percent, whereas in FY15, the budgeted allocation stood at 5.3 percent. Projection suggests that the allocations may stand at 5.3 and 5.4 percent in FY16 and FY17 respectively.

Considering the public spending on social security and welfare inadequate, the think tank shows that the actual allocations as percentage of the total programme expenditure for social security and welfare were 5.5 percent, 11 percent, 8.1 percent, 7.6 percent, 7.8 percent, and 7.5 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. In FY14, the revised allocation stood at 7.1 percent, whereas in FY15, the budgeted allocation stood at 7.3 percent. Projection reveals that the allocations may further decline and stand at 6.9 percent in both FY16 and FY17.

Pointing at the stagnant allocations of government spending on housing over the years, the UO evinces that the actual allocations as percentage of the total programme expenditure for housing were 1.2 percent, 1.9 percent, 1.5 percent, 1.3 percent, 1.2 percent, and 1 percent in FY08, FY09, FY10, FY11, FY12, and FY13 respectively. Both the revised allocation in FY14 and budgeted allocation in FY15 stood at 1 percent.

Taking account of the current state of public spending on social sectors and the absence of an effective social security system, the research organisation calls for a thorough reexamination of the current social policies and urges for undertaking prudent reform measures that would enhance institutional capacities and make the social policies work effectively.

The UO further emphasises that the government must focus on raising public expenditure through increased collection of revenue to allocate sufficient resources for social sectors and developing an efficacious social security system in order to empower the citizens particularly the poor and marginalised population of the country.

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NBR taxes mainly come from income and profit, Value Added Tax (VAT), import duty, export duty, excise duty, supplementary duty and other taxes and duties. In contrast, non-NBR taxes consist of narcotics duty, motor vehicles tax, land tax and stamp (non-judicial). Non-tax revenue is collected from dividend and profit, interest, administrative fees, penalty and forfeiture, services, rent and leasing, tolls and levies, non-commercial sale, defense, non- tax receipts, railway, post office department, T&T Board, and capital receipts.

From FY 2007-08 to FY 2011-12, the NBR revenue collection surpassed the targets, but from FY 2008-09, non- NBR revenue started to fall short of the target, although it was above the target in previous years. Total tax collection has started to fall below the target since FY 2012-13. In case of collection of NBR and non-NBR taxes, the actual collections were Tk. 120819.8 crore and Tk. 4612 crore in FY 2013-14 against the target of Tk. 125000 crore and Tk.5178 crore. Moreover, in FY 2012-13 both NBR and non-NBR have failed to satisfy the target of revenue collection with total shortage of Tk. 40777.5 crore. In the first half of the current fiscal year of 2014-15, Tk.2000 crore has fallen short of its target; NBR able to collect 58449 crore (39.22 percent of the total target 149320 crore) which is 16.55 percet higher than the same time of the previous year where the target was fixed to collect 60453 crore for first half of the FY 2014-15.

The highest shortfall has been found in collection of VAT(local), largely caused by sluggish business activity. The wing faced Tk 24097 crore shortfall against its target for the period where the shortfall was Tk 20136.45 crore in the same period of previous fiscal year that is a increase of Tk. 3960.55 crore or 20 percent increase in the shortfall although the VAT collection has increased by 18.25 percent.

Lately, government is giving emphasis on direct tax i.e. income tax in the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The collected income tax is Tk 18721 crore where the target was Tk 56580 crore that is 33.09 percent of the target is collected where 67 percent of the target is yet to be collected, though the present business scenario says that will be very challenging.

In the first half of FY 2014-15, the import duty amounts to Tk 6965 crore where the target was set to Tk 14376.7 crore, denotes that 48.45 percent of the target has been collected. But collection of remaining duty will be difficult because of increase in cancellation of LC opening. In the H1 of FY 2014- 15, the cancelation of LC has increased by 24.54 percent worth of USD 890.45 million were cancelled in the first six months of the FY2014-15 while the figure was USD 728.71 million in the same period of the FY 2013-14. LCs for import of items worth of USD 623.34 million were cancelled in the first half of the FY 2012-13.

The target of non tax revenue is Tk 27662 crore, but a total of Tk 7279 crore has been collected till October 2014 which is

26.31 percent of the total target whereas it was Tk 11464 crore in the same period of the previous year, represents a

36.2 percent decrease compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year. This revenue collection may face a huge short fall because the major non tax revenue payer like Bangladesh Bank (BB), Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and land revenue pay less than the previous year.

Tax revenue from most of the sources has depicted positive growth till December, 2014 compared to the December, 2013. The rate of growth in major tax sources like VAT, Income tax and import duty are 17.90 percent, 17.78 percent and 9.07 percent respectively.

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The research organization employs two methods in estimating the shortfall in the collection of revenue in FY 2014-15. First, the shortfall in revenue collection has been estimated by taking account of the historical trend. Second, the trend in the revenue collection of the fiscal years as regards political standoff due to national parliamentary election has been taken into consideration with a view to estimating the current fiscal year’s revenue collection.

The first estimate, based upon historical trend analysis, shows that the shortfall in revenue collection vis-à-vis target may be to the tune of Tk. 26775 crore at the end of the FY 2014-15, whereas the second estimate taking the trend of political standoff fiscal years of national parliamentary elections into consideration suggests that the shortfall may be around Tk. 34000 crore.

As regards the shortfall in revenue collection during the impasse years of parliamentary election, the research organisation finds that in FY 1990-91 (election held on February 27, 1991) the rate of growth in revenue fell from 16.42 to 15.4 percent and then rose to 21.67 percent in the following year when new government was formed. Similarly, in FY 1995-96 (election held on February 15 and June 12, 1996) the rate of growth in revenue collection slipped from 15.71 percent to 9.16 percent and then increased to 10.52 percent in the following year.

In the first half of the current FY 2014-15, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has collected Tk. 59063.59 crore, which is 39.44 percent of the total target of Tk. 149720 crore for the whole fiscal year. In FY 2013-14 and FY 2012-13, the collection of total revenue, however, stood at 96 percent and 97 percent of the target respectively and therefore the gap was Tk. 25856 crore  and Tk. 10847 crore respectively.

The UO, however, fears that this shortfall in revenue collection is likely to cause the budget deficit to rise to 7 percent of GDP in FY 2014-15, if the current expenditure limit is maintained, which is most unlikely because of the lower annual development expenditure, and thereby exerting immense adverse impact on country’s economic growth.

Pointing to the lag in collecting Value Added Tax (VAT), the UO finds a that the collection of VAT(local) has stood at Tk. 14683.7 crore (37.86 percent) during the first half of FY 2014-15 against the target of Tk. 38780.42 crore for the whole this year, indicating an underperformance at the end of the fiscal year.

Along the same vein, the collection of income tax, which has been envisaged in the budget as the largest source of revenue, may undergo a hefty deficit at the end of the fiscal year as well. The collection of income tax has stood at Tk. 18721 crore (33.09 percent) during the first half of FY 2014-15 against the target of Tk. 56580 crore for the whole fiscal year.

As regards the import duty, the collection reached Tk. 6965 crore (48.45 percent) during the first half of FY 2014-14 against the target of Tk. 14376.7 crore for the whole fiscal year. The collection of import duty may, however, fall during the second half of the current fiscal year due to increasing cancellation of letters of credit.

Meanwhile, the collection of non-NBR revenue has also slowed down. The collection of non-NBR tax has stood at Tk. 1407 crore (25.25 percent) during the period of June’14 – October’14 against the target of Tk. 5572 crore for the FY 2014-15. These lags in collecting taxes can be attributed to current political unrest-induced reduced business activities, adds the research organization.

During the period of July’14 – October’14, the collection of non-tax revenue decreased by 36.5 percent compared to the corresponding period of the FY2013-14. The collection of non-tax revenue has stood at Tk. 7279 crore during the period of June’14 – October’14 against the target of Tk. 27662 crore for the whole fiscal years, whereas the collection was Tk. 11464 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal year, finds the UO.

Pointing to the economy’s lagging behind other developing economies in collecting tax, the Unnayan Onneshan demonstrates that the tax-GDP ratio stood at 9.7 percent against the target of 11 percent in FY 2013-14, whereas the ratio stood at 13.9 percent and 12 percent in 2013 Nepal and Sri Lanka respectively.

Noticing the status of low ADP implementation, the think tank finds that during the first half of FY 2014-15, the implementation of ADP stands at Tk. 27305 crore that represents 32 percent of the total allocation for ADP in FY 2014-15. The research organisation, therefore, cautions that the total implementation of ADP may fall short of target at the end of the current fiscal year amidst the continued political unrest.

Against this backdrop of gaps in collecting revenue, the Unnayan Onneshan urges for an inclusive political dialogue amongst the political parties to reach solutions that would boost the business activities in the economy and thus foster the collection and mobilisation of revenue.

The post Revenue Collection: Recent Trends and Challenges appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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The UO in its January issue of Bangladesh Economic Update 2015 cautions that this trend of shortfall in targets of growth in private sector credit may further worsen the sluggish rate of private investment triggered by current political uncertainty, and cause the rate of growth in gross domestic product not to reach the target of 7.3 percent in FY2014-15.

The research organisation further elaborates that till November of FY2014-15 when the political unrest did not reach the current level, the Bangladesh Bank remained far away from its target of 14 percent growth in private sector credit set for the period of July-December of FY2014-15. The target of 15.5 percent for the January-June period of FY2014-15, therefore, seems to be unrealistic amidst the current state of severe political uncertainty since January 2015.

Referring to the gap between the targets and actual of private sector credit growth, the UO demonstrates that the rate of growth in private sector credit became 12.7 percent in November of FY2014-15 against the target of 14 percent. Similarly, the rate of private sector credit growth was calculated at 10.8 percent and 12.3 percent during FY2012-13 and FY 2013-2014 respectively against the target of 18.5 percent and 16.5 percent respectively.

The “cautiously restrained” policy may face the challenges of increasing real interest rate due to the recent discrepancies between the decrease in inflation rate and the decrease in nominal interest rate, comments the research organisation.

The think tank evinces that the point to point inflation came down to 6.21 percent in November of FY2014-15 from 7.04 percent in July of FY2014-15 representing 0.83 percentage point decrease, whereas the nominal interest rate decreased to 12.49 in November of FY2104-15 from 12.84 percent in July of FY2014-15, representing 0.35 percentage point decrease. Consequently, the real interest rate is on the rise and stood at 5.74 percent, 5.89 percent, and 6.28 percent in September, October, and November of the FY2014-15 respectively.

The UO observes that the decline in deposit rate is higher than that in lending rate causing the interest rate spread to remain high. The deposit rate and lending rate decreased to 7.40 percent and 12.49 percent respectively in October of FY2014-15 from 7.79 percent and 13.10 percent respectively in June of FY2014-15. Meanwhile, the spread, however, decreased to 5.09 percent in October of FY2014-15 from 5.31 percent in June of FY2014-15 and 5.15 percent in March of FY2014-15.

In regard to increased non performing loan vis-à-vis the total loan and availability of large amount of idle money in the banking system, the think tank finds that the non performing loan compared to the total loan increases from 10.5 percent in January-March of FY2013-14 to 10.8 percent in April-June of the same fiscal year. Meanwhile, the net non performing loan increased to 3.9 percent in June of FY2013-14 from 3.4 percent in March of FY2013-14.

Referring to persistent deterioration in the financial portfolio of the state-owned banks, the research organization shows that the government plans to allocate Tk. 6000 crore to the four state owned banks in FY2014-15, which was Tk. 4100 crore in December of FY2013-14 representing a increase of 46.34 percent.

The shortfalls in capital in the banking sector can largely be attributed to the inefficiency in the sector caused by slack surveillance, frequent incidence of scam and fraudulence, captured governance, and poor risk management, adds the UO.

Calling for a cautious harmonisation of fiscal and monetary policies that would cause both the money and fiscal multiplier to work in the economy and channel adequate resources for the expansion of productive capacities, the UO urges for an inclusive political dialogue between the political parties that would create a stable investment climate and increase the private investment by restoring business confidence and cause the national output to grow at 6.26 percent in FY2014-15, as projected by the UO.

The post Monetary Policy Statement (Jan.-June 2014-15): A Rapid Assessment appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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This year’s theme for World Wetlands Day – ‘Wetlands for our Future’ – highlights the vital importance of wetlands to the survival of humanity. It underpins the importance of keeping these ecosystems healthy and resilient into the future so that they can continue to support both human livelihoods and the unique biodiversity that depend on them.

Wetlands include our lakes, rivers, marshes, mangroves, sea grass beds, lagoons and coral reefs. At the global level, wetlands provide fish and rice that feed millions. Furthermore, they are the ‘kidneys’ of our planet owing to their important function in purifying the water that we depend on daily. In the Pacific islands, wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services that result in significant economic and conservation benefits, such as fisheries production, water storage and flood control, drought mitigation, shoreline stabilisation and protection, atmospheric carbon storage, maintenance of coastal water quality, recreation and tourism opportunities.

Unfortunately, the functions of wetlands and the benefits they provide are not widely known, understood or appreciated. This has resulted in the loss of approximately 64% of wetlands around the globe since 1900 and it is highly likely that this dismal trend is continuing.

A number of Pacific island countries are contracting parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and as such are obligated to formulate and implement national planning to promote the conservation of their Ramsar Sites and other wetlands within their jurisdiction. Such planning relies very much on the availability of comprehensive, good quality data on wetlands.

One initiative being rolled out within the Pacific region to collate such wetland data and contribute in the long term toward reversing the trend of wetland degradation and loss in the region, is coordinated through an ongoing partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention. During the latter half of 2014, a project to update the national wetland inventories for three Pacific island countries (Kiribati, Palau and Vanuatu) was completed.

“A first step towards planning for the conservation and wise use of wetlands is to document and understand their distribution, values and status. Up-to-date information on wetlands is currently either lacking or fragmented across the region and within Pacific island countries and territories themselves. This project is part of a wider effort by SPREP and the Ramsar Convention to progressively update the national wetland inventories for all Pacific island nations, and I am pleased that we have completed this effort for another three countries,” said Mr. Vainuupo Jungblut, Ramsar Officer for Oceania at SPREP.”

National Wetland Inventories are useful for a variety of purposes, more specifically, they can be a powerful tool in informing wetland conservation decisions, raising awareness of the importance of wetlands, influencing public perception of wetlands, creating ongoing monitoring, revealing trends over time, identifying priority sites for conservation management (e.g. for designating Ramsar Sites or other types of Protected Areas at the national level) and for planning and implementing appropriate conservation interventions for wetlands, especially in light of the impacts of climate change.

The updated national inventories were welcomed and applauded by the participating countries. “This is a great achievement for the Department and the country as a whole. The updated inventory will help towards our relevant planning and decision making at the government, province and community level,” said Mr. Trinison Tari of the Vanuatu Environment Department.

The project also trained national counterparts in Kiribati, Palau and Vanuatu to conduct future wetland inventory updates and to be able to use the information collated through the inventory process in national decision making.

“The wetland inventory training has enabled our staff to better understand the different types of wetlands found in an atoll setting, it also updated us on the existing biodiversity of our first Ramsar Site, Nooto North Tarawa. Furthermore, the training increased our understanding of the ecosystem services provided by different wetland types found in our country, this information is vital for informing planning by the government, island council and elders for the management of our Ramsar Site and other important wetlands in Kiribati,” said Mr. Arawaia Moiwa of the Kiribati Division of Environment and Conservation.

The project was made possible through financial support from the Government of Australia and the Convention for the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region (Noumea Convention).

Across the Pacific region, The Directory of Wetlands in Oceania 1993 documented available information on the distribution, status and values of wetlands in Pacific Island Countries and Territories, however, most of this existing information currently needs updating. Thus, SPREP and the Ramsar Convention will continue working together to update national wetland inventories across the Pacific region.

This project implements one of the key priorities of the SPREP Regional Wetlands Action Plan for the Pacific Islands.

The post World Wetlands Day, 2 February 2015 – ‘Wetlands for our Future’ appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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The distribution was arranged by EEP/Shiree, the Economic Empowerment of the Poorest programme, supervised by Rural Development and Cooperatives Division in conjunction with UK aid and Swiss Development Cooperation. EEP/Shiree is a livelihood and nutrition project helping to eradicate extreme poverty from Bangladesh.

The request for blankets came from EEP/Shiree’s partner NGOs who work with over one million disadvantaged people helping them to take steps (Shiree) out of extreme poverty. In response to the humanitarian need, UK aid donated about Tk. 60,00,000 (GBP 50,000) and EEP procured 19,000 locally sourced blankets.

The State Minister welcomed the partnership with UK aid and EEP and their ability to respond quickly and generously to the needs of the extreme poor. He said: “On behalf of the Government of Bangladesh, I congratulate UK aid and our EEP/Shiree project for this much needed and timely intervention for our poor and disadvantaged citizens. This distribution of blankets will help many to get through the winter without falling ill and losing their livelihoods.”

EEP/Shiree and its partner NGOs are distributing the 19,000 blankets to cold affected communities across the country. This will reduce the impact of cold-related illness on the extreme poor, especially children and the elderly.

The State Minister attended distribution in Gangachara Upazilla of Rangpur District. Local administration and locally elected bodies extended their full support for this humanitarian winter initiative in this and the other targeted districts.

Distribution is underway in Bagerhat, Bandarban, Barguna, Dinajpur, Gaibandha, Jessore, Khulna, Kishoregonj, Kurigram, Naogaon, Patuakhali, Perojpur, Rajshahi, Rangamati, Rangpur, Satkhira and Sunamgonj districts.

EEP/Shiree’s partner NGOs include CARE Bangladesh, Caritas, Concern Worldwide, Green Hill, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Mahideb Jubo Somaj Kallayan Somity, Netz Bangladesh, Oxfam, Practical Action Bangladesh, Save the Children, Shushilan and Uttaran.

The post LGRD State Minister Distributes UKAID Blankets to Combat Winter Cold appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

Professor Yunus along with four other Nobel Laureates and five scientists from India received the gold medal during the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress in the presence of more than 12,000 strong audience including Ministers, Chief Ministers, leading scientists, Vice Chancellors of dozens of Indian Universities and delegates from India and abroad.

In the Indian PM’s inaugural speech, referring to the Nobel Laureates that were honoured he said ” We have here with us Nobel Laureates, whose work in science has given new hope against dreaded diseases. We also have one whose own understanding of social science gave the poorest a life of hope, opportunity and dignity.” referring to Professor Yunus and his work.

Prime Minister Modi concluded his 45 minute long speech by saying that he would like to make science and technology for development as a top national priority for India.

The inaugural session was also addressed by Indian Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, President of the Indian Science Congress Association Prof SB Nimse, among others.

After declaring the 102nd Indian Science Congress open, Prime Minister Modi invited the Nobel Laureates to a meeting over tea for an hour long discussion about ways to bring the latest developments in science and technolgy as well as attract talent in scientific field to India in order to take the country forward.

Professor Yunus joined the tea with Prime Minister Modi along with 2001 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine Paul Nurse from London, 2002 Chemistry Nobel Prize winner Kurt Wuthrich from Switzerland, 2009 Chemistry Nobel laureate Ada E Yonath from Israel, 2013 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine, Randy Schekman of University of California, Berkeley.

The Indian Science Congress is the largest science conference in India which has taken place every year since 1914 and has grown to an international event that attracts 12,000 people from all over India, and from around the world.

The Congress is traditionally been opened by the Indian Prime Minister and attracts Nobel Laureates and leading scientists from different fields as speakers at the Conference. This year it is taking place at Mumbai University from 3-7 January 2015. The President of the Indian Science Congress Professor S B Nimse, Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University, flew to dhaka almost a year before the event today, to invite Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammmad Yunus personally to address the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai on the role of Science and Technology for Development.

On the opening day of the congress Professor Yunus addressed the plenary session in the main pandal of the Congress in the presence of 20,000 delegates. He was introduced by eminent Indian nuclear scientist and former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Professor Anil Kakodkar who also chaired the session. Profesor Yunus narrated his experience of starting Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and how it led to the creation of social business as non dividend, problem solving companies to tackle society’s problems especially those faced by the poor, both in Bangladesh and around the world. He talked about explosion of technology in the next twenty years will dranatically change the world. He said if we create technology through social business it will unleash energies and creative powers of people towards solving society’s problems. He stressed on the role of technology which, if designed properly, could help create a world without poverty and unemployment.

Professor Yunus arrived in Mumbai on 2 January, and is expected to return to Bangladesh on 5 January. Ms Lamiya Morshed, Executive Director, Yunus Centre accompanied Professor Yunus during the trip.

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After a rigorous assessment of the trends of major macroeconomic indicators during the first half of FY 2014-15, the UO projects that if the business as usual situation continues the rate of growth in GDP falling short of the target of 7.3 percent may stand at 6.26 percent at the end of the current fiscal year.

Taking account of the impact of non-economic factors such as political uncertainty together with underdeveloped infrastructure, the think tank opines that industrial production has been badly affected by the current uncertain political situation-induced risky investment climate.

As regards declining private investment, the think tank shows that private investment as percentage of GDP has been on the decline since FY 2010-11. In FY 2011-12, private investment stood at 22.50 percent, which reached to 21.75 percent and 21.39 percent in FY 2012-13 and FY 2013-14 respectively.

Referring to increased gap between savings and investment, the research organization evinces that in FY 2012-13 and FY 2013-14, the national savings were 30.53 percent and 30.54 percent, whereas the total investment were 28.39 percent and 28.69 percent of the GDP representing 2.14 and 1.85 percentage point gaps respectively.

Pointing to the economy’s lagging behind other developing economies in collecting revenue, the UO demonstrates that the tax-GDP ratio stood at 9.7 percent against the target of 11 percent in FY 2013-14. Meanwhile, the ratio stood at 13.9 percent and 12 percent in Nepal and Sri Lanka respectively in 2013.

The total number of the holders of Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) is only 17 lakh which is only 1.09 percent of the total population against 69 lakh people of taxable income. Among the total number of TIN holders, only 8.55 lakh people that represent 0.54 percent of the total population submitted their tax returns in November 2014.

Referring to the collection of tax revenue against the target of Tk. 149720 crore for FY 2014-15, the think tank states that in the first four months of the FY 2014-15, the total tax revenue collection stands at Tk. 38005.81 crore, which is 25.38 percent of the target. In FY 2013-14 and FY 2012-13, the collection of revenue, however, stood at 96 percent and 97 percent of the target respectively.

Noticing a lack of sustainable increase in implementation of Annual Development Programme (ADP), the UO explicates that despite increasing allocation, ADP implementation has been falling short of target. In FY 2012-13, 96 percent of total ADP was spent vis-à-vis 94 percent in FY 2013-14. In FY 2014-15, allocation for ADP is Tk. 80315 crore, representing a 33.85-percent-point higher than the revised ADP of the FY 2013-14. ADP implementation until October 2014 reached Tk. 11250.82 crore or 13% of the total allocation.

Pointing to financing deficit-induced increase in non-development expenditure and decrease in development expenditure, the UO illustrates that in FY 2012-13 and FY 2013-14, non-development budget stood at 12.1 percent and 13.2 percent of total GDP, whereas the allocation for ADP was only 4.7 percent and 5.1 percent respectively. In FY 2014-15, the allocation for the non-development expenditure and ADP, however, is 12.7 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.

Taking account of recent low-performance in external sectors due to tensions in international relations with the certain export destination countries, the research organization demonstrates that in July–October period of FY 2014-15, the overall balance of payment decreases to USD 1246 million from USD1649 million of the corresponding period of FY 2013-14.

Between July and September of FY 2014-15, trade deficit has increased by USD 1128 million more than that of the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Trade deficit in the first quarter of FY 2014-15 has, however, increased by 17.97 percent as export earning has decreased by USD 71 million compared to increase of USD 1199 million in import payment. Decrease in export can partly be attributed to the suspension of Bangladesh from enjoying the generalised system of preferences (GSP) in the US, says the think tank.

Both flow of remittance and number of overseas employment are on the decline since 2012. In 2012, the flow of remittance and the total number of overseas employment stood at Tk. 115816.93 crore and 607798, whereas the amount and the number came down to Tk. 108066.93 crore and 409253 in 2013 and Tk. 106062.33 crore and 382298 until November in 2014 respectively, finds the UO.

Referring to institutional weakness of the economy, the research organization says “country’s banking sector is caught in trap and is characterised by high interest spread, excess liquidity and declining growth in disbursement of credit to private sector coupled with poor risk management, fraudulence, captured governance and lax oversight.”

In FY 2010-11, the rate of growth in quantum index of production (QIP) was 16.95 percent, which decreased to 10.79 in FY 2011-12 percent and slightly increased to 11.59 percent in FY 2012-13 percent. Later on, the index drastically fell and stood at 8.3 percent in FY 2013-14.

The issue carries out the assessment against the backdrop of current economic management by the new government of which 154 members of the parliament won without any contest in the national parliament election of 2014. The election, therefore, is questioned because of its quality of not being participatory as the major opposition party did not participate in it.

The research organization has called for an expedient seven-point policy measures – improved international diplomacy, employment enhancement strategies, higher revenue collection through expanding tax base, institutional reform in financial sector, increased private investment through incentivizing investors, narrowing interest rate spread through effective harmonisation of macroeconomic policies, and development of a functional social security system.

The UO also suggests an urgent inclusive political dialogue that reducing the exigencies of current political uncertainly will ensure consolidation of democracy through regular transfer of power and cause the economy to grow faster.

The post Trading Away the Ebb: Half Yearly Assessment of Bangladesh Economy appeared first on NGO News, Latest NGO News, Fund for NGO, NGO News Update.

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They have done  the “Global Thought Leaders” ranking, through a systematic analysis of the English-speaking infosphere to determine the top 100 most influential thinkers in the world.

The list includes individuals who are influencing the way we think today, whose ideas are determining ours and whose ideas engage people most frequently. They are the most influential thinkers. With the help of software-based calculations to produce a simple “influence rank”, Gloor presents the 2014 Thought Leaders ranking. It measures the global importance of creative minds.

The top position in the list was Pope Francis,  after being included for the first time in the initial selection process, this year. He is followed in second position by  “Pope of the Internet” Tim Berners-Lee. In third and fourth places respectively are  the Indian economist Amartya Sen and Czech writer Milan Kundera.

Those occupying 6th through 10th positions on the list are held by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, physicist Murray Gell-Mann, novelist Paulo Coelho, anthropologist Jane Goodall and author Naomi Klein.

The top 100 of 2014 global thought leaders ranking were derived from a list of 236 people from around the world who invite further discourse through their ideas.

This list can be filtered according to nationality, gender, field of knowledge and age. Clicking on a person’s head opens a window with details on that person and their field, as seen in the following link that reveals the 2014 ranking in the website of Zurich based newspaper Tagesanzeiger:

https://longform.tagesanzeiger.ch/vordenker/?lang=en#rankingglobal

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