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BURO | Career
Non-Financial
Development Programs
Apart from Financial
Services [read more on financial services] BURO Bangladesh conducts several Non-Financial Development Programs
which are aiding development of people and society in Bangladesh in
numerous ways. In brief BURO Bangladesh is carrying out the following
distinguished Development Programs:
Business Development Services (BDS)
A Continuous Process: Employment and income generation is one of the most important area for macroeconomic stability for poverty reduction through reducing income equality within inter and intra-target groups and between the target and non-target groups. Employment and income generation is a continuous process, that is, investments in micro enterprise development shall open further investment opportunities.
Comparative Advantage: BURO Bangladesh focuses on employment opportunities in the rural areas, particularly in non-conventional businesses either existing or new with fewer risks but who have gained certain specialization in business development. The infusion of further knowledge will enhance the development of rural and urban linkages in economic activity, further resulting into modernization of economy and also linkage between the farm and non-farm sector to promote economic growth in the country.
Fundamental Barriers: Inadequate information, poor education, insufficient technical skills and inadequate access to market are the fundamental barriers to the growth of micro enterprises. The participation of suppliers of goods and services in the markets is effectively constrained because of these barriers. As such, all the stated barriers are required to address to mainstream these MEs into development process of the country.
Technology Transfer: One such means to remove the fundamental barriers is the technology transfer that BURO Bangladesh emphasizes on, instead of limiting itself to employment related skill development training on the basis of the demands from its customers BURO Bangladesh reaches the training services to individual household level that facilitates their participation in the highly competitive market. Quality seed production is one such example that spreads the technology among the active members of an individual household where each member works as both consumer and producer.
Labor Demand: The micro enterprises (MEs) are the firms and will demand labor from the households and at the same time, households will supply labor but will demand better wages, as such squeezed participation in the market by the firms will jeopardize the labor supply from the households. Thus, the program is intended to facilitate BDS to the grassroots MEs to run their businesses in a sustainable manner and create a sustainable BDS market that also benefit both consumers (firms) and suppliers (households) in the labor market.
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Food Security
Diversification of
Employment: Engaging only into non-farm activities as income sources will keep the productivity of labor for most of the hardcore poor unutilized because it requires complete macro-economic stability. Hyperinflation or inflation will push the prices of inputs for non-farm activities, as such may find many small, medium and micro enterprises in rural and urban areas are winded-up creating unemployment. This requires replenishing the income losses through either opening new employment opportunities in other sector or creating the bases of food security for the disadvantaged and poor.
Creating new Employment Opportunities: Creating and sustaining the new employment opportunities also require macroeconomic stability; for example: controlled inflation, availability of power, better communication, water–ways, marketing facilities etc.. Thus, creating the bases of food security is the priori to creating new employment opportunities to withstand pressure on household economy due to consumption and income shocks.
Agriculture: Is the fundamental and central nerve of both economic and non-economic activities. Agriculture is the consumers and suppliers to both economic and non-economic activities. Food security, which is: availability, accessibility to and utilization of food are surrounded by economical, social, and political complex phenomena. Every moment because of market - market integration within and across the national boundaries food security becomes adversely affected.
Transparency and Accountability: Two integral entities circumvent the food security issue. These are: (1) community stakeholders and (2) local government. The former largely shapes social structure and relations in the rural and urban society, and the later is the link between the community and the government developmental resources to be administered at local level. Both community stakeholders and local government works as the consumers of, and suppliers to each other. As such, the uniformity in approaches from community stakeholders and local government will be expected to develop an integrated services delivery environment where both the entities participate with shared sense of ownership feeling.
Institutional Capacity Building: A specialized microfinance institution requires continuous improvement in skill to maintain its supply provision regularly meeting the demands of the community. The capability functioning of the organization to ensure proper service delivery is imbibed in two inter-winged products and/or services. These are: (1) infrastructural development and (2) horizontal and vertical growth of the organization. The former relates organizing infrastructural facilities that makes the internal environment of the more comfortable for the organization, and the later relates to horizontal expansion of the organization.
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Human Resource Development
This initiative began since 1994 to increase the productivity of the staff along with customer and capital growth of the organization. The increased productivity of the organization is directly proportional to the skill of the staff and availability of the physical and infrastructure facilities, assuming all other factors held constant.
Customer Development Training:
BURO Bangladesh provides four types of training to its customers, which include the following three areas:
Basic Life Management (BLM): The BLM training is imparted when the customers meet regularly to carry out financial transactions and discuss the basic issues of their lives.
Awareness Raising: The training addresses a variety of social and human issues that encompasses group mobilisation, literacy, afforestation, family planning, health and sanitation, income generation, savings, and human rights.
Enterprise Development and Business Management (EDBM): Around 55 percent of the customers were identified as managing different small businesses/IGAs. Of these, about 20 percent have gained institutional capacity to launch micro enterprises with capital/loan and technical assistance from BURO Bangladesh.
Staff Development Training:
The staff training programme has produced discernable impact in improving the professional capacity of the staff. BURO Bangladesh has decentralized its functions, authority and responsibility down to the branches. It can now be satisfied with the managerial and operational skills of the branch managers. The staff training has three components, which include the following:
Foundation: Once recruitment of new staff for head office and branch offices is finalised, the staff is provided with a 12-day foundation training that deals with an overview of BURO Bangladesh and its operations.
On-the-Job: The training is intended to enhance the skill and set the attitude of the staff by filling in the gaps in their professional understanding, and updating them with appropriate knowledge.
Development Management Program: The program is a major priority for the organization to support the objective to create and develop awareness, capacity and skills in order to enable managers to think, analyse and act positively.
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Disaster Management
Capability
Functioning: The genesis of disaster management lies in exploring maximum utilization of capability functioning of disaster-affected victims. The infusion of knowledge from the external environment blended with the existing indigenous practices that the disaster-affected people had been practicing traditionally.
Transformation into Human Capital: The capability functioning of the disaster affected people will be unfurled and enhanced through their transformation into human capital. Disaster management is intended to reduce economic erosion of the customers through providing two services. First, the disaster preparedness service by, and second, disaster response from the disaster affected people.
Human capital at the state, community and family level are the most essential entities to transform the technological and capital assistance into building blocks for a permanent framework for mitigation and disaster reduction. Sensitization of the issue at every level is of paramount importance that will bring the use of preventive measures at the door of the community and family level.
Paradigm Shift: Disaster management is based on the paradigm shift of BURO Bangladesh from traditional interventions through relief toward more pragmatic, realistic and developmental approach for disaster management. Except under special circumstances for relief operations that depends on the magnitude of devastations caused by disaster reliance on people’s own capability functioning is the supreme maxim in disaster management by the organization.
Shared Sense of Ownership Feeling: Maximum utility in disaster management can be achieved through intermingling community people and local government, which will also avoid wastage of resources. Union Parishad one of the local government tiers is the centripetal force for the community elite who represent different institutions followed by the community people in general, as such to proliferate the public awareness at a given locality. The non-government organizations (not-for-profit sector) have emerged among the strongest means to proliferate the public awareness. There are many examples that the community people, particularly the poor, have greater understanding due to constant efforts from NGOs about the means to abate the miseries themselves during disaster. Strive for greater reliance within the limited resources is encouraging and just requires to fuel constantly to reduce their disaster losses.
Cooperation and Coordination: Sensitizing the issue at the state, community and family level will not be adequately enough rather cooperation and coordination between and among the different entities will materialize their growing awareness of interrelationships among disaster, environment and development. The potentialities of different concerned institutions as well as individuals and taking its application in combination will reduce the vulnerability of the community people, thus reducing human and economic losses due to disaster.
Cascade Effect: All the existing services delivery environment at the state, community and family level shall be symbiotic between and among each other with sensitizing the issue of disaster management and is the nucleus that will work instantaneously with all its instruments operating while disaster will be imminent. The sensitization of the issue is imbibed in significant public awareness raising thru education that will be provided not only thru training but taking cascade effect of the given services to the concerned institutions and/or individuals.
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Operations Research (R&D)
BURO Bangladesh continues to conduct operations research to enhance the flexibility and responsiveness of its financial services. The outcome is used to design and improve quality services. BURO Bangladesh is unique, in that, it always offers its members an easy access to their savings deposits compared to other well-known NGOs/MFIs in the country. It is committed to further innovate and improve the flexibility and responsiveness of its savings and credit facilities.
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Technical Assistance Service Provider
BURO Bangladesh’s operations system is being appreciated by many at home and abroad for its businesslike approach. There are many MFIs around the globe from where practitioners and others come to Bangladesh to learn about BURO Bangladesh’s systems and operations. Encouraged by this response, BURO Bangladesh has meanwhile started providing such assistance.
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Rural Water Supply
Arsenic contamination of ground water is of crucial concern in Bangladesh, And, as a development organization BURO Bangladesh can not remain indifferent to this particular issue. For reducing the health hazards due to arsenic contamination, the World Bank has planned to provide financial grants support of 40-50% for piloting village piped water supply project. BURO Bangladesh has been selected to work in this field and will implement the scheme. In this context, BURO Bangladesh is implementing the project in two villages viz. Puran Baushia and Purachack Baushia in Gazaria Upazila of Munshigonj District.
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