Power back to the common people of Bangladesh (proposed)

Corruption is not something new to our ears. It has been rooted in our history ever since the country was constitutionalised. Of course there are many causes - poverty, lack of employment, lack of law enforcement. But the biggest of them all is the lack of education (only 35% literacy).
This causes a big problem, not only because the uneducated majority is unable to achieve much significant but also because they are unable to recognise, choose and elect good leaders to get them out of this predicament.

As election campaigns go, it is one big marketing hype in Bangladesh. And the product for sale? Not the policies and promises of a better future. Instead politicians sell themselves as the ultimate solution to all problems. The saddest fact is that the public buy it. Why do they buy it? Because there is not alternative on offer – one politician is just like the other, offering much the same things, so the public can only hope they have chosen the best from the worst when they put the marks on the ballot papers.
And once those bad leaders have been elected and installed into office, the public once again fail to keep the politicians on their toes.
There is a very good reason for this however. Because of high illiteracy in the country, most voters do not actually know what a party stands for, let alone the policies they have proposed.

In most countries legal and civic advice is freely and widely available and the public are much more clued up about the governments pledges and obligations. Not in Bangladesh it seems. The logic behind it is obvious: if the population cannot read, they cannot understand and hence there is not need to make the information available. And it is this weakness of the population the government exploits time and again to swindle public money while failing to deliver on obligations.

The purpose of this project is to tackle the problem of public stupor by creating an awareness program, which teaches the public

1) What the parties stand for
2) Central and local party policies
3) Pledges parties made before election
4) General legal rights
5) Highlight bureaucratic malpractices
6) Constitutional rights
7) What central and local governments are obliged to do
8) Highlight the failings for government bodies
9) Other general issues

The projects will be orchestrated in several steps as listed below:

Identifying the problems

We already know the general problems that exist all across Bangladesh. However each issue may be problematic to a varying degree depending on the region. This is why a survey of the area must be carried out in order to identify the problems faced by local residents and business so that the information we give out is relative to the issues the general populous of the region face.

One of the many ways we can do this is though video documentation, not only for the information it provides, but it can also serve as a marketing tool for the project.
Other methods can be excercised at the discretion of the members.

Seek out the necessary information regarding the problems

Well-established barristers in the Bangladesh and in the international arena back the project. They will provide all necessary information regarding the problems for administration.

Creating a self-sustained project

With any project its crucial to keep the motivation going. And anyone trying to organise a voluntary project knows too well that motivation is an extremely hard task and the members need constant re-buffing. Monetary incentive is extremely important in this case as it can offer an effective substitute for the “good will” people tend to loose throughout the course of execution. I call this “money will” as people “will” do things if the money is there for the taking.
I am not suggesting that money is the only motivator as indeed its essential the recruitment is done among those who feel strongly about making a change to the nation. But the “money will” is easier to do than constant motivation.

Although the project is a relatively low-cost undertaking, it will have to sustain its members in order to keep the momentum going. This is very important for any project as loss of momentum eventually grounds the project to a halt.

A suggested method of raising funding is through sponsorship from the beneficiaries of our work. Such beneficiaries include general and specialised legal firms. Other funding can be sought through direct advertising on our marketing material. The last option, reluctantly suggested is taking donations. Image is very important; so an organisation that takes donation may not cast itself as strong as we’d like it to. However the option need not be ruled out altogether.

Execution

The program will be organised with the co-operation of the student population to build a network of cells, distributing information to the local population.

Members will be recruited in different parts of the country, covering the most populated parts. Sub-divisions may be formed in larger areas in order to make the management easier.

Seminars will be organised to inform small groups of people (usually less than 20) in communal places such as bazaars, mosques and villages.
Invitations for the seminars will be posted for the attention of the audience prior to the seminars, as it will allow interested parties to make arrangements to attend.