Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee Research Articles

Institutional capacity assessment in the lens of implementation research: Capacity of the local institutions in delivering WASH services at Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh.

The influx of Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs) has left the Southwest coastal district of Cox's Bazar with one of the greatest contemporary humanitarian crises, stressing the existing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) resources and services. This study aimed to assess the existing capacity of local institutions involved in delivering WASH services and identify relevant recommendations for intervention strategies. We used a qualitative approach, including interviews and capacity assessment workshops with institutions engaged in WASH service delivery. We conducted five key informant interviews (KII) with sub-district level officials of the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) to have a general idea of WASH service mechanisms. Seven capacity assessment workshops were organized with the relevant district and sub-district level stakeholders from August 2019 to September 2019. These workshops followed three key areas: i) knowledge of policy, organizational strategy, guidelines, and framework; ii) institutional arrangements for service delivery such as planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, and reporting; and iii) availability and management of human, financial and infrastructural resources. Data were categorized using thematic content analysis. The majority of stakeholders lacked awareness of national WASH policies. Furthermore, the top-down planning approaches resulted in activities that were not context-specific, and lack of coordination between multiple institutions compromised the optimal WASH service delivery at the local level. Shortage of human resources in delivering sustainable WASH services, inadequate supervision, and inadequate evaluation of activities also required further improvement, as identified by WASH stakeholders. Research evidence suggests that decision-makers, donors, and development partners should consider learning from the WASH implementers and stakeholders about their existing capacity, gaps, and opportunities before planning for any WASH intervention in any particular area.

Impact of market-based home fortification with micronutrient powder on childhood anemia in Bangladesh: a modified stepped wedge design.

Anemia poses a significant public health problem, affecting 1.6 billion people and contributing to the loss of 68.4 million disability-adjusted life years. We assessed the impact of a market-based home fortification program with micronutrient powder (MNP) called Pushtikona-5 implemented by Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) on the prevalence of anemia among children aged 6-59 months in Bangladesh. We used a modified stepped wedged design and conducted three baseline, two midline, and three endline surveys to evaluate the Pushtikona-5 program implemented through three BRAC program platforms. We interviewed children's caregivers, and collected finger-prick blood samples from children to measure hemoglobin concentration. We also collected data on coverage of Pushtikona-5 and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices. We performed bivariate and multivariable analysis and calculated adjusted risk ratios (ARRs) to assess the effect of program outcomes. A total of 16,936 households were surveyed. The prevalence of anemia was 46.6% at baseline, dropping to 32.1% at midline and 31.2% at endline. These represented adjusted relative reductions of 34% at midline (RR 0.66, 95%CI 0.62 to 0.71, value of p <0.001) and 32% at endline (RR 0.68, 95%CI 0.64 to 0.71, value of p <0.001) relative to baseline. Regarding MNP coverage, at baseline, 43.5% of caregivers surveyed had heard about MNP; 24.3% of children had ever consumed food with MNP, and only 1.8% had consumed three or more sachets in the 7 days preceding the survey. These increased to 63.0, 36.9, and 4.6%, respectively, at midline and 90.6, 68.9, and 11.5%, respectively, at endline. These results show evidence of a reduction in the prevalence of anemia and an improvement in coverage. This study provides important evidence of the feasibility and potential for impact of linking market-based MNP distribution with IYCF promotion through community level health workers.

The Effect of Iron-Fortified Lentils on Blood and Cognitive Status among Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh

Background: Iron deficiency is highly prevalent in South Asia, especially among women and children in Bangladesh. Declines in cognitive performance are among the many functional consequences of iron deficiency. Objective: We tested the hypothesis that, over the course of a 4-month iron fortification trial, cognitive performance would improve, and that improvement would be related to improvements in iron status. Methods: Participants included 359 adolescent girls attending Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) clubs as a subsample of a larger double-blind, cluster-randomized community trial in which participants were assigned to one of three conditions: a condition in which no lentils were supplied (NL, n = 118, but which had the usual intake of lentils), a control (non-fortified) lentil condition (CL, n = 124), and an iron-fortified lentil condition (FL, n = 117). In the FL and CL conditions, approximately 200 g of cooked lentils were served five days per week for a total of 85 feeding days. In addition to biomarkers of iron status, five cognitive tasks were measured at baseline (BL) and endline (EL): simple reaction time task (SRT), go/no-go task (GNG), attentional network task (ANT), the Sternberg memory search Task (SMS), and a cued recognition task (CRT). Results: Cognitive performance at EL was significantly better for those in the FL relative to the CL and NL conditions, with this being true for at least one variable in each task, except for the GNG. In addition, there were consistent improvements in cognitive performance for those participants whose iron status improved. Although there were overall declines in iron status from BL to EL, the declines were smallest for those in the FL condition, and iron status was significantly better for those in FL condition at EL, relative to those in the CL and NL conditions. Conclusions: the provision of iron-fortified lentils provided a protective effect on iron status in the context of declines in iron status and supported higher levels of cognitive performance for adolescent girls at-risk of developing iron deficiency.

Women Empowerment in Bangladesh NGOS

The main objective of this study is to investigate women empowerment in nongovernmental organizations’ profile in Bangladesh. It discusses the scope of the women empowerment concept of the four big nongovernmental organizations in Bangladesh such as Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, Proshika and Association for Social Advancement. This paper is based on the literature and studies that highlight the women empowerment issue of these four NGOs. Results showed that two NGOs such as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and Proshika consider their women empowerment issue comparatively from a broader view that includes a number of programmes. On the other hand, the rest of the two nongovernmental organizations initiated the women empowerment activities comparatively from a narrower perspective. The overall findings indicate that the concept of women empowerment in all four nongovernmental organizations is concerned as a global concept where contextual perspective in of women empowerment is less considered. In this connection, this paper argues that due to the low level of focus on the contextual perspective, the contribution of nongovernmental organizations to the women empowerment in Bangladesh is not up to the mark in consideration to the duration they are working towards women empowerment. The findings of the paper would be an important guideline to the policy makers, managers of nongovernmental organizations and development practitioners. NU Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences &amp; Business Studies Vol. 7 &amp; 8, No.2 &amp; 1, July 2021 - December 2022 p. 111-126

From Minnow to Mighty: A hegemonic analysis of social accountability in BRAC - the world’s largest development NGO

• NGO growth reflects political-ideological shifts that redefine civil-state relations. • A timeline analysis of the world’s largest and number one ranked NGO, BRAC. • Hegemonic transition has proved difficult for BRAC. • NGOs dependent on hegemonic groups are unlikely to advocate radical change. • Cultural and moral leadership produce hegemony that may shift the focus of accountability. • Growth leading to large size and commercialisation pursued to fund and aid social goals brings greater functional accountability and, paradoxically, can inhibit desired social accountability. Based on fieldwork in Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), the world’s largest Non-Governmental Organization in Bangladesh, focusing on a Gramscian perspective of hegemony and Gramsci’s military metaphors, this paper examines whether and how BRAC’s cultural and moral leadership helped build a counter-hegemony through a ‘war of position’ and extended its functional accountability into social accountability. We found that BRAC endeavored to disseminate an ‘alternative’ hegemony and develop a ‘historic bloc’ for waging a ‘war of position’. Our approach informs the difficulty large hybrid NGOs such as BRAC face in effectively combining functional and social accountability and pursuing their financial and social goals simultaneously given the political, cultural, and ethical factors paradoxically confronting them. While functional accountability survives through changing regulations and directions of state apparatuses demanding to see NGO’s accounts for legitimacy purposes and appearing to enact regulation within the dominant hegemony, BRAC has become large conglomerates, and their more effective delivery of social and economic welfare programs give them an appearance of an ‘alterative state’ and reinforces their advocacy. To this end, they involve beneficiaries through continuous social accountability practices, but due to their desire to be financially independent, they maintain a commercial orientation based on neoliberal ideals being propagated in LDCs.

‘Powerless, poor and needy?’: Reproducing colonial discourses of gender and Muslim women through educational interventions by I-NGOs in Afghanistan

International development initiatives in the Global-South are often shaped by Western and Eurocentric constructions of gender, female agency and empowerment embedded in popular narratives of universal rights and white mainstream feminist ideals. Through a qualitative desk-study and documentary-analysis, this paper explores the cases of two I-NGOs: Canadian Women for Women of Afghanistan (CW4WA) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) to unravel how colonial discourses of gender and educational development, and homogenous and pathological notions of Muslim women are mobilised in Afghanistan to deliver various political agendas and reproduce patriarchal relations, as well as wider Global South/North divisions and entrenched inequalities. We engage with epistemic shifts. We argue that I-NGOs educational interventions take bottom-up approaches informed by local knowledges and contexts and decolonised notions of gender, power and participation, which promote and sustain a more socially just and transformative education in the developing world. We also argue that epistemic shifts are required informed by post-colonial and critical realism approaches to gender and development, both in terms of research/theory and policy formulation.

Reconsidering the Relationship between the State, Donors, and NGOs in Bangladesh (Distinguished Lecture)

The growth in size and significance of NGOs and particularly of Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh challenges the idealtypical relationship between the state, donors and NGOs. Such an ideal envisions a clear demarcation of roles in which NGOs compete with other NGOs for resources from the state and/or donors and one in which NGO activities and programmes are regulated or held accountable by their respective funding sources. The emergence of large multitasking NGOs in a relatively small and weak state such as Bangladesh belies this ideal. Grameen and BRAC compete with government ministries for donor funding; statal institutions designed to regulate the activities of such NGOs are functionally ineffective; and international donors face insuperable hurdles in assessing accountability.

Implementation barriers and facilitators to a COVID-19 intervention in Bangladesh: The benefits of engaging the community for the delivery of the programme

BackgroundBRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), the largest NGO globally, implemented a community-based comprehensive social behavior communication intervention to increase community resilience through prevention, protection, and care for COVID-19. We conducted implementation research to assess fidelity and explore the barriers and facilitators of this intervention implementation.MethodsWe adopted a concurrent mixed-method triangulation design. We interviewed 666 members of 60 Community Corona Protection Committees (CCPCs) and 80 members of 60 Community Support Teams (CSTs) through multi-stage cluster sampling using a structured questionnaire. The qualitative components relied on 54 key informant interviews with BRAC implementers and government providers.ResultsThe knowledge about wearing mask, keeping social distance, washing hands and COVID-19 symptoms were high (on average more than 70%) among CCPC and CST members. While 422 (63.4%) CCPC members reported they ‘always’ wear a mask while going out, 69 (86.3%) CST members reported the same practice. Only 247 (37.1%) CCPC members distributed masks, and 229 (34.4%) donated soap to the underprivileged population during the last two weeks preceding the survey. The key facilitators included influential community members in the CCPC, greater acceptability of the front-line health workers, free-of-cost materials, and telemedicine services. The important barriers identified were insufficient training, irregular participation of the CCPC members, favouritism of CCPC members in distributing essential COVID-19 preventive materials, disruption in supply and shortage of the COVID-19 preventative materials, improper use of handwashing station, the non-compliant attitude of the community people, challenges to ensure home quarantine, challenges regarding telemedicine with network interruptions, lack of coordination among stakeholders, the short duration of the project.ConclusionsEngaging the community in combination with health services through a Government-NGO partnership is a sustainable strategy for implementing the COVID-19 prevention program. Engaging the community should be promoted as an integral component of any public health intervention for sustainability. Engagement structures should incorporate a systems perspective to facilitate the relationships, ensure the quality of the delivery program, and be mindful of the heterogeneity of different community members concerning capacity building. Finally, reaching out to the underprivileged through community engagement is also an effective mechanism to progress through universal health coverage.

Economic and social inclusion of person with disability and transgender through skills development program of BRAC: A qualitative study

AbstractThis article is based on the Skills Training for Advancing Resources (STAR) project for the youth initiative of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh. The objective was to explore the consequences of social and economic inclusion of this project for the persons with disability (PWDs) and transgender (TG) youth people. The research focused on how inclusive programmatic interventions created multidimensional impacts among the “marginalized” and “excluded” PWD and TG youths at the grassroots level. This study adopted a qualitative approach where in‐depth case interviews and observation were applied for data collection. PWD and TG graduates, master craft persons (MCPs), employers, and program staff members were the participants in this study. Results found that PWD and TG youths faced vulnerabilities and social stigma in their lives and livelihood trajectories due to their physical inability and low level of social dignity. The STAR project has a certain level of contribution to the livelihoods of PWD and TG people, where these helped them to gain their social, cultural, and economic capital. Findings would be an important guideline for policymakers, NGO managers, and human rights workers.

SOCIAL FORESTRY FOR WOMEN LIVELIHOOD IN THE RURAL SOCIETY OF JESSORE, BANGLADESH

Women’s rights and privileges are now global issues. Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh has reviewed all its policies and programmes to remove gender discrimination and to bring women in the mainstream of development arenas to warrant their roles are significant. In the very recent past women participation was emphasized in forestry activities in Bangladesh. Social forestry programme is such an important sector where rural poor and destitute women have actively been participating during the last decade. Data were collected from 100 randomly selected women who have been working in the social forestry programme of the Forest Extension Division and two national NGOs namely Jagoroni Chakra and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) supported by the Social Forestry Extension Circle, Jessore, Bangladesh. This study demonstrated that the social forestry programme contributed for the livelihood improvement of the rural women through their active participation in the programme. Social awareness, health consciousness, family decision making power, and income generation capability built by the social forestry programme for the rural women in Bangladesh. Sustainability of the livelihood for women from social forestry programme would be an issue, need to be addressed in future studies.

Women Empowerment Through Microcredit:

For the time being, efforts are continued by the different organizations of Bangladesh to empower rural women who were so vulnerable in their premises that no money-lending organization trusted them. For last few decades, microcredit- a collateral free credit support, has been disbursed for the betterment of women and their empowerment. This study investigates the contribution of microcredit in empowering rural women and how the credit beneficiaries are facilitated by nourishing it. The perceptions of female borrowers are also assessed here. Following the mixed method, 42 female credit borrowers of two root level units equally from Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) are selected for the collection of firsthand data while different credible secondary sources are searched for extra information. The study contributes to formulate public and private policy from the updated findings of empowerment and self dependency of women by dint of existing system of microcredit program. The result explores that the female borrowers are capable of increasing their income and savings that entails declining domestic violence. Few of them achieved the ability to participate in different decision making activities of their personal and family affairs. In addition, microcredit helps to improve personal skills, social status, political consciousness and legal awareness of the credit beneficiaries that really strengthen their morale. Finally, the study finds that the women perceive more empowered after the inflow of microcredit in their everyday activities. Therefore, some pragmatic recommendations based on the findings are proposed for better women empowerment of rural area.

Implementation science in nutrition: a summary and synthesis.

This paper aimed to summarise and critically synthesise the key findings of the articles included in the supplement entitled 'Nutrition Implementation Science: The Experience of a Large-Scale Home Fortification in Bangladesh'. Commentary, summary and synthesis. Low- and middle-income country. The supplement included six articles, including this summary paper. The second article presented an implementation science framework that facilitated conceptualising and evaluating the home-fortification programme in Bangladesh implemented by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). The framework encompasses five components: identifying an 'effective' intervention; scaling-up and implementation fidelity; course corrections during implementation and assessing the implementation's effectiveness; promoting sustainability of interventions and consideration of a concurrent evaluation to identify 'effective' interventions and to assess the process and outcome indicators of implementation. The other four articles in this supplement addressed the different components of the framework. For example, the third article addressed the implementation fidelity of a home-fortification programme, and the fourth article described the use of concurrent evaluation to course correct the implementation plan that resulted in improved implementation fidelity. The fifth article explained the outcome of course correction in the programme coverage, and the sixth article described the cost-effectiveness of the BRAC home-fortification programme. Overall, the supplement provides a comprehensive understanding of nutrition implementation science, which is very new in the field. The lessons learned in this supplement may enhance the capacity of researchers, policymakers and key stakeholders in the nutrition field to scale up new nutrition interventions and sustain them until malnutrition is alleviated.

Empowering Rural Women’s Involvement in Income Generating Activities Through BRAC Microfinance Institution in Sylhet District, Bangladesh

This article presented the findings on the role of microcredit financial assistance, specifically from Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Micro-finance institution to assist rural women in Sylhet District, Bangladesh involved in income generating activities. The impact on their socio-economic empowerment, the constraints of rural women in having access to loan service from micro-finance institutions and loan repayment process will be discussed. The target population of the study was those women who had availed microcredit facilities from some microcredit providing institutions or organizations in the study area. Survey method was used as a technique for data collection. The results of the analysis indicate that participation of rural women in micro-finance assisted income generating activities contributes towards socioeconomic empowerment. It also showed that most of the rural women who availed the facility of microcredit finally became empowered through acquiring the confidence level, business skills, decision making power, and self-esteem. The findings also showed that microcredit has significant impact on the up lift of socio-economic empowerment of the women’s in Sylhet district. However, constraints of rural women in accessing loan and loan repayment process should be properly addressed by the stakeholders to improve the contribution of micro- finance institutions for achieving sustainable development goal. Hence, accessing microcredit has been able to empower women financially and it is suggested that microcredit loan be made accessible to poor women who are keen to uplift the family’s economic wellbeing.

An assessment of the teaching and learning process of public and BRAC primary schools in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to investigate on how quality education is experienced in primary schools in Bangladesh with a focus on teaching-learning process. Qualitative approach using individual interviews and non-participant observation has been applied for analysing data adopting purposive sampling method. The study findings show that the learners are not motivated to be attentive to classes and open their curious minds resulting from traditional method of education pursued by the teachers of public primary schools. This study also demonstrates that public schools are less concerned in exercising quality teaching and learning inside classrooms and lagging behind in achieving quality teaching and are learning but Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) schools provide better quality teaching and learning by dint of teachers’ caring, classroom practices and adopting target based lesson plans and teaching. A high-quality school environment needs to be provided with a focus on the creative thinking of learners for generating their innovative ideas.

Developing accountability mechanisms in NGOs in providing health services

ABSTRACT Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate NGOs’ accountability in delivering sub-district (upazila) health services in Bangladesh Methodology: The approach of this study is qualitative and 85 respondents, including two focus group participants (each focus group consists of 8 respondents) from rural and urban areas, have been selected for the interview to collect data for understanding accountability mechanisms and NGOs in health care delivery. Findings: The study found that the staff members of NGOs ensure their accountability to their higher officials and the conditions of fund-receiving agencies. Field data demonstrate that NGOs have poor accountability to the government and the local elected representatives because of their poor coordination, lack of policy, and an inadequate legal framework. In addition, NGOs work with limited clients in a particular area, but they have no direct accountability to service users as the policy of the organization does not allow being accountable. The mechanism of supervision is cooperative and supportive which closely guides the staff to contribute to the effective and efficient health care. NGOs have limited capacity and resources for promoting health care although they use their available resources efficiently, with strong monitoring and supervision to provide satisfactory health service delivery. In addition, the positive behavior of NGO health care providers, the minimal amount of time needed in getting services, friendly insurance schemes, freedom from politics and greater fairness all contribute to the effective and efficient health care delivery. Practical Implications: The evidence of this research will promote health care management and ensure good governance in health service delivery as NGOs in supervision mechanism and resource management are highly appreciated and could be a good example for health service managers. Also, this research can be a policy guideline for health care managers for future improvement for many developing countries. Originality/value: This paper demonstrates that managerial efficiency, intensive supervision, need-based motivation, commitment and positive ethos contribute to promoting NGOs’ health service accountability and the quality health care. The ideas on accountability mechanisms promote good governance in the health service organizations and can be a valuable understanding for international health care managers around the world. Abbreviations: BRAC: Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee; CC: community clinics; GK: Gonoshasthaya Kendra; NGOs: Non-governmental Organizations; PNC: Post natal care; TB: tuberculosis; UHC: Upazila health complex; UPHCP: urban primary health care project (UPHCP)

Disciplining Microfinance Borrowers in Bangladesh

Based on expert interviews, this study aims to explore different components of cultural and administrative apparatuses, showing the disciplinary methods of microfinance organisations that work on submissive borrowers. Six policy officials of two microfinance institutions (MFIs) Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and Bangladesh Rural Development Board – and two experts from different institutions were interviewed for this purpose. Following established way of analysing expert interviews, the study concentrates on the experts’ own wording and interfaces them with theoretical and conceptual positions. Among various sets of dispositif, an ensemble of elements of an apparatus, the culture of loyalty to saviours, the discourse of empowerment, regulatory decisions and policies of MFIs, a culture of repayment habits, usage of technical measures and accessing asymmetric information of borrowers are important in the power exerting process of the microfinance industry in Bangladesh.

The application of Foucault's disciplinary power to microcredit programmes in two villages of Sylhet, Bangladesh

ABSTRACTThis article aims to explore the loan recovery mechanisms of two internationally-reputed microcredit and development organisations in Bangladesh. The organisations are Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC). We conducted an institutional ethnography to study the phenomenon of loan recovery from the poor. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, case studies, informal discussion, and direct observation. Purposive sampling methods were adopted to select the respondents. We administered 49 intensive interviews, conducted case studies of 19 typical respondents, and had interview/informal conversations with four Grameen Bank and BRAC field staff. The study finds that both Grameen Bank and BRAC apply disciplinary power to the borrowers for the recovery of loans. Grameen Bank and BRAC bind poor women into programme discipline and oblige them to comply with institutional norms through formal credit practices. Institutions’ rigid policies in relation to loan recovery exclude impoverished women, who do not comply with loan recovery requirements, from future participation in microcredit programmes. Borrowers having stable work and regular cash flow can reap longer-term benefits from microcredit and because they are able to repay loans and thus continue in the programmes. Exclusion for loan defaults thus acts as a punishment, which is rigidly practiced in these development institutions.

Agency, empowerment and intra-household gender relations in Bangladesh: Does market-oriented microcredit contribute?

ABSTRACTThis article seeks to probe the influence of microcredit on the development of agency and empowerment of poor women in rural Bangladesh. The study was conducted on the clients of two leading NGOs—Grameen Bank (GB) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)—in Bangladesh. The qualitative findings of the ethnographic study confirmed that poor women’s involvement in microcredit programs does not contribute to the development of their agency and empowerment in a transformative sense due to structural problems in the programs and the patriarchal social structure of Bangladesh. It is true that microcredit has increased the mobility of women through group networks and organizations, but it has not added to their broader empowerment by easing their access to market transactions, unlike their male counterparts. An overwhelming majority of women do not have control over loans and credit-driven activities, although repayment responsibility rests entirely with them. In some instances, microcredit leads to spousal conflicts regarding repayments. Therefore, microcredit has not been very effective in promoting rational economic choices by women that would lead to their empowerment in the true sense of the term.

Exploring the Factors Affecting Employee’s Satisfaction in Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) of Bangladesh: An Experience from Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)

The paper contributes to research on employee satisfaction theory through analysing relationship between Job security (JS), job innovativeness (JI), internal communication (IC) and compassion & self-sacrifice (CSS) as antecedents of employee’s satisfaction (ES) in NGOs sectors in Bangladesh, and the moderating role of education & training (ET) in this relationship. The conceptual framework is examined using structural equation modelling. Data analysed has been drawn from 260 employees of BRAC NGOs located in Comilla and Chandpur districts of Bangladesh. The findings of this research positively strengthen the Non-government Organizations (NGOs) of Bangladesh with providing the job satisfaction to the employee by exploring the antecedents of employee’s satisfaction in NGOs. These outcomes of the study are consistent with the conclusion that employers of NGOs working in Bangladesh should cordially focus on employee’s satisfactory factors for the sake of assuring better performance and productivity.

Application of Qualitative Information System in Assessing Household Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Behaviors in Rural Bangladesh: A Cross-sectional Comparative Study

Ensuring the condition of water, and sanitation facilities is the early step to behavior change. However, mere provision of facilities does not ensure the desired behavioral change, thus health benefits. To improve health of the rural poor, the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) program of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) has been working in rural sub-districts since 2006. The main objective of the present study is to assess the status and quality of hygiene practice of some WASH indicators by the application of qualitative information system (QIS). This was a cross-sectional comparative study between intervention and comparison areas. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to select study samples, where each sub-district was considered as a cluster. Total 880 households were selected randomly from 22 upazilas for data collection. Thirty-six interviewers grouped into twelve were trained intensively on data collection tools and techniques. Both observed (spot check) and self-reported data were collected using structured questionnaire to assess the status and quality of WASH practices. The scaling principles of qualitative information system (QIS) were applied to analyze data on WASH behaviors. The uniqueness of QIS method is that WASH practices are monitored and measured by collecting quantitative information on qualitative aspects. More households in intervention areas than comparison areas scored above benchmark in using arsenic free and protected drinking water source (69%. vs. 53%). There was no significant difference between the areas in terms of installing latrine within 12 steps of tubewell. Higher proportion of households in intervention areas had clean and two-pit latrines than comparison areas (61% vs. 34%). Drinking water was collected and stored safely from the safe source by 65% households in intervention areas higher than the comparison areas (65% vs. 52%). Unhygienic sanitation practices (e.g., open defecation, latrine without ring-slab, water seal) were found higher among the households in comparison areas than intervention areas (56% vs. 22%). More households in intervention than comparison areas reached at above benchmark in maintaining hygiene. However concern over unhygienic sanitation behaviors and relative distance between latrine and tubewell is required for enabling environment thus public health.