Grameen Swapna

In Bangladesh, a large majority of the Bangladesh population, especially the rural poor, are dependent on natural resources to sustain their livelihoods. The natural environment is the basis of basic livelihood elements- income generation, nutrition, water, health and sanitation. Climate change and environmental degradation exist as a threat to this natural resource base, and more directly to the livelihood characteristics of these communities. As the climate changes due to the anthropogenic (man-made) enhanced greenhouse effect, communities in Bangladesh are likely to face greater livelihood challenges and more frequent disasters.

Grameen Swapna is formed in Sherpur district, one of the remotest and disaster prone 1363.76 square kilometers northern part of Bangladesh. It is heartening to mention that Sherpur is one of the extremist disaster prone areas of Bangladesh. Flood is often common during the monsoon. Reversibly there is prevalence of drought almost every dry season of the year. Most miseries in the life of the people is river erosion and this rendered a large number of people homeless, land-less, assets-less and also in loss of valuable belongings. River erosion is one of the serious causes of poverty in this disaster prone district. The number of poverty stricken people is increasing day by day where the country situation is reverse.

There is widespread unemployment scenario in the absence of mills and factories at Sherpur. Only option for a large number of people is selling the manual labour mainly in agricultural sector. And when either crop sowing/plantation of harvesting is over the labour class has almost nothing to do as their income, other time of the year brings untold sufferings in their life either starvation or eats far below the calorie and nutritional requirement. Having no other alternative a large number of labour class migrate to other potential areas in urban and wealthy areas. The Socio-Economic story of Sherpur district does not end here. Temporary migration for a large number of people creates so many new problems in their families. The women and the children of the migrated wage-earning members become more helpless as a result of the migration of their guardians. Women’s dependence of men in many aspects of living and livelihood brings scope of male domination on women and this subdues the women’s voice. Striking social problems in and around Sherpur are dowry, polygamy, separation with husband, abandoned wife, early marriage during childhood, divorce, physical and mental torture on the wives render the life of women and children miserable.

The main function of the GS is to undertake an extensive and intensive participatory sustainable development process through empowerment of the underprivileged by supplementing and complementing the government development initiatives in the project areas of GS. Over the period, the founder members of the organization have had the opportunity to participate in many development programs and initiated a good number of development activities to improve the socio-economic conditions of the poor and marginalized people. The founder members keenly observed the living conditions of the poor and underprivileged people, their hardship and sufferings for merely survival and over all their shortcomings and ignorance in improving their lot in the society. All these had inspired the founder members to initiate some development interventions involving like-minded social development activists and the GS is an outcome of these initiatives and effort.