Sustainable Community: Peoples' Institution

Today I went on a field visit to a slum in Maniknagar, which is in Old Dhaka.  SATHI started work there in 1995.  They now have over 1,000 members in primary groups and People’s Institutions.  One of the foundation principles of SATHI sustainable community development is income generation and small enterprise.  Each group is encouraged to save together, slowly building a group fund.  The group fund can then the loaned out to group members to start small businesses that allow members to establish a source of income.  The alternative for loans have a hefty 120% interest each year for loans which makes starting up a business extremely difficult.  The group loans are given out with a 10% interest.  The group fund is also used to invest in enterprises to generate profit. 

SATHI also provides many different training programs to help people gain skills so they can use their group fund as a resource.  There are classes on running small businesses, for learning skills (like sewing clothes, painting saris, etc.) as well as literacy classes.  Today I visited Najma, a women who runs a small successful tailor business.  She got an initial loan from her group to buy a sewing machine and start her business.  She now makes 70,000 taka a year, which is roughly $1,000 USD.  Not much by US standards, but here in Dhaka Najma is helping support her family. 

She has two children, a ten-year-old daughter and a three-and-a-half old son.  She has big dreams for children.  Her daughter wanted to work in her shop, but Najma insisted that she get an education; she hopes that her daughter can continue her education and become a paramedic.  Her son is very young, but she hopes that maybe he will become a religious leader. 

Najma’s business has given her confidence and hope for her family.  She employs 5 others for her business and has taught three others about sewing so that they could go start their own small businesses.  I asked if it was hard being a mother and a business woman;  she said she is a mother, wife and business women and  it’s really really hard work.  She works hard for her family, and SATHI has helped her establish a way to support herself and her family as well as a community of encouragement.

The more I see of SATHI, the more impressed I am with their program.  The income generation is only one of six integrated components of the program.  Today I got a chance to learn more about the People’s Institution (PI).  The People’s Institution is made up of one or two representatives of all the groups in an area (usually 15-25 groups).  There are four leadership positions that are held for two years and then redistributed.  There are 5 subcommittees associated with the integrated components that work to support the primary groups and the whole community. 

I had a chance to talk to the Super Community Health Volunteer, Nargis, who is in charge of the health subcommittee.  A big part of the health component is education and awareness; There are twenty-four topics including child nutrition, pregnancy danger signs, HIV/AIDS awareness.  Every 15 days a health lesson is held using flip charts to present the information so by the end of the year all twenty-four lessons are covered.  The health subcommittee also works to coordinate the efforts of different non-government-organizations (NGO) dealing with health.  Every month the health subcommittee collects data on the community’s health and presents it to the PI.  The subcommittee also holds training for each primary group’s Community Health Volunteer.  Nargis said that her favorite part of being the Super Community Health Volunteer is learning a lot of important information and hoping to teach others in the community to improve life.  She feels empowered to improve both her family’s health and improve life in her community.

This PI is called Uter, which means increasing day by day.  I talked to Abed, who is the current cashier for Uter.  He leads the incoming generating subcommittee.  The subcommittee is in charge of doing audits and investigating any money disputes from the primary groups.  They also accept loan applications from primary groups and encourage groups to start businesses and invest in money.  They help run training for primary groups for small business skills.  Their job is to empower the primary groups by being good stewards and encouraging entrepreneurship. 

I met the members of Uter in the Uter office room.  The room was built using PI money and is used as a meeting room, a classroom for trainings, visitors, government and NGO organizations, worship, and a guest space.  The room is empty because everyone is equal; everyone sits on the floor and this allows the space to very versatile.  They built two extra rooms on the main room and rent them, generating income for the PI. 

On the wall was a diagram of how the PI and primary groups functioned, a pictorial representation of the past, present and future of the community, a list of what the PI was doing for itself, the primary groups and the community as a whole.  There was also a colorful picture of the area that was a resource map as well as a pictoral map of the structure of leadership for the primary groups.  In the room were two trunks, one with the records of Uter and the other a “treasure box”, a small lending library for community members to borrow.

SATHI is doing great things that are sustainable.  The people employed by SATHI work with communities to organize primary groups, a PI, provide training and encouragement.  The ultimate goal is to move onto a different area, leaving the established structure to help the community continue to grow. 

The SATHI programs are fantastic, but they take a long time.   SATHI has been working in the area I visited today since 1995; this isn’t just a big fundraiser event every year.  It is about transforming and empowering communities giving people the tools they need to support themselves and improve their community, bringing light to places that often seem dark and desolate. But not a flashlight, because a flashlight eventually needs a new battery.  Not a candle, that will eventually burn out.  Not an electric light, because power is expensive, and even then the power goes out in Dhaka frequently.  SATHI is pushing the clouds away, helping each individual see the light in themselves and those around them.  Soon I'll type up a summary of the SATHI principles with more details.

I’m trying to wrap my mind about SATHI’s program and success, thinking about if a similar program would work in America.  The elements seem straight forward, and the concepts are pretty clear.  The implementation is tricky because it requires trust, and trust takes time to build.  But I feel that sustainable communities are the solution to bring hope to the hopeless, where ever they are.

Somehow I just can’t picture the same program, as it is structured now working.  And I’m not exactly sure why.  I feel that the concept should apply though, cross culturally.  The only thing that comes to mind is the American mentality of individuality and that Americans might not be willing to form the primary groups.  I don’t know.  The principles make so much sense—I feel like we would all benefit as an active part of a sustainable community.  And maybe SATHI is one cookie recipe, and we just have to find the right recipe to make the concepts work in America.