ABOUT AUNGKUR

About the Organization

Aungkur Palli Unnayan Kendra, a centre for Rural Development, is a Bangladeshi, local, non-political, non-profit organization. It was established in 1989. It has been operating her development activities since 1991 under Madaripur District in Bangladesh and dedicated to the socio-economic development of the poor specially the oppressed & exploited women folk in Bangladesh. It aims to mobilize the poor to form grassroots level organizations that could become involved in the development process and eventually challenge the unequal rural social order. APUK believes that the personal and institutional capacity building can explore and invent human potentialities to mobilize and manage resources for improving their quality of life so that they can establish sustainable and justifiable society.

 Legal Status

Aungkur is registered under:

Department of Social Welfare, Government of Bangladesh having registration no. MADA 112, Date 04-05-91 NGO Affairs Bureau under FD No.-711, dated 6 June 1993.

Micro Credit Regulatory Authority Registration No. 00245-02077-00134, Date: 30.01.2008

Tax Identification Number: 8272 5830 9563/Circle-144 (Madaripur)

PKSF Membership no- 277, Date: 28 March 2022

Vision

Establishment of a prosperous, healthy, self-reliant & empowered community free from all sorts of exploitation & oppression. Economically productive & equitable, socially just and moralist, environmentally sound and truly democratic.

Mission

The mission statement of Aungkur is to create an intensive and far reaching participatory sustainable development process for social structural change through empowerment of the poor stratum. The organisation is committed to improving the quality of lives of the disadvantaged people by making need development services available to them in education, training, health, micro-finance, agriculture, institutional capacity building, legal and human rights, gender capacity with special focus to climate change and disaster risk reduction.

Goal

The Goal of Aungkur is to explore human potentialities, capacities, knowledge of the poor, ultra poor and disadvantaged communities for mobilizing & managing resource for improving their quality of life and support the process of poverty alleviation, community health improvement and the creation of socio economic equity through promotion of sustainable community based people institutions.

Broad Objectives

1. To help the disadvantaged rural people for building up necessary organizational structure for undertaking united and collective efforts to eradicate poverty and socio-economic backwardness, social injustices & gender discrimination.
2. To help the poverty stricken people so that they can realize and analyze their situation, can identify their problems & the causes there of and can take appropriate action collectively to solve these problems.
3. To help to build the poor and weaker section of the society to be a self-reliant and balance maintaining collective forces so that they can have a place in the power structure.
4. To help the disadvantaged target people to formulate plan; manage and evaluate their organizational projects.
5. To take various activities among the organizations on safe water, sanitation and health, social forestry, income generation and employment creation activities, environment supporting agriculture development and maintaining balance, education, training, legislative assistance, human rights, good governance, relief and rehabilitation, popular theater, family planning, social movement against dowry, women and children rights, lessening discrimination between men and women, programs for physically and mentally disabled persons and the old in order to help the poverty stricken disadvantaged people for the maintenance and implementation of these activities.
6. To support & impart methodological training to target groups in order to enable them to carryout efficiently & effectively the plans and programs of the organization.

Organizational Principles

Formulation, implementation and evaluation of development activities on the basis of equality and partnership. Participation of the backward rural women in the social, political and economic development on the basis of equality among men and women.

• Strengthening Village based micro- institutions of grassroots people through self-sustained development process with the increase of capacity building.
  • Establish self respect to all human beings and dignity, uniqueness and intrinsic worthy of every person. • Advocate human Rights & women rights democracy & good governance.

Development Strategy of Aungkur

•  Follow integrated approach to implement organizational programs or activities and make the people resourceful in all respect.
• People’s participation is considered to be one of the key elements in development initiatives and it helps to keep the organization’s values in right tract for the development of the poor people.
• Development priorities are based on the felt need of the targeted people.
• Aungkur follows empowerment process of the poor people for protecting their legitimate rights, preventing injustice and access to resources & leadership.
• The poor have minimum access to their basic needs, which is the first cycle of poverty alleviation.

Who does Aungkur’s Development Efforts are for?
Aungkur provides development services and supports to the rural poor irrespective of race, cast or credit. The organization specially focuses to destitute women, widow, landless and hardcore poor, who own less than 0.1 acre of land or have a monthly income of around Tk 6000 and survive mainly by selling manual labour. Generally landless peasant, weavers, artisans, slum dwellers, occupational working groups, small traders are eligible to become the partners of the development efforts.

Development Programs of Aungkur
01. Village based Micro-institution Building
02. Human Resource Development Program
03. Income Generation and Employment Creation Program
04. Primary Education (PE)
05. Primary Healthcare and Support Service Development Program
06. Water Sanitation & Arsenic Mitigation Program
07. Human Rights, Democracy and Good Governance Development Program 08.
09. Sustainable Natural Resource Development and Management Program Gender Development Program
10. Folk Culture
11. Relief and Rehabilitation Program

Description of Programme Activities

• Village based Micro-institution Building
One of the key elements of developing the poor mass is organising them in small groups and mobilise them to fight injustices, inequalities, disparity and unjust social structure. The formations of groups enhance solidarity, coherence, understanding & beliefs mutual economic development, education, employment opportunities, social justice and empowerment of women through respectable position in the society. These micro institutions are the basis of implementing all development programs of Aungkur. In the second phase broader organizations are formed with these grassroots level small groups of the poor people.

• Human Resource Development Program
Human Resource Development by providing training, workshop, seminars and other educational activities, aimed at making people more resourceful. It is an essential element for investing people in order to develop their capacity and capability to access & manage resources, concretization of people, and building of their institution. It is a major key component of Aungkur programs which threads together all its activities to make them an integrated whole. Since the problem of poverty in Bangladesh is structural in nature, any development action should attempt to bring about a change in the prevailing unjust social structures. In view of this reality, the Human Resource Development programmes of Aungkur cover a wide range of intertwined social issues and practical skill themes reflecting all the
programmes.

• Income Generations and Employment Creation Program
  All of Aungkur’s Development endeavors revolve round economic emancipation of the poor because economic bondage often restricts the other aspects of development. Specially, poor women folk are doubly burdened.

Therefore, alternative modes of development need to be devised for the empowerment of the poor section which will allow them to overcome the prevalent inequitable system quite effectively. Self- employment provides a significant opportunity in this regard. The Income and employment generating activities of Aungkur facilitate this self-employment process to make the poor people economically self-reliant and help them to attain a respectable social standing.
It is provided with sustainable credit supports and professional development training to the primary group members in order to access to financial market and to upgrade their family level income. The program aims to alleviate poverty through income generation and human resource development & self-employment creation.

• Primary Education
  As a part of universal education program, Aungkur has been implementing PE Program covering dropout children of age 8 to 11 years from unprivileged and disadvantaged rural poor families. These children has no access to education because of poverty of their families and lack of consciousness about education The main objectives of this program are to accelerate the literacy rate of the country and ensure education to the poor mass. Aungkur has been successfully implementing this program for a long time and all cost including books and other education materials is borne by Aungkur.
• Water Sanitation & Arsenic Mitigation Program
  Aungkur is committed to implement programs relating to safe drinking water sanitation for improvement of health status of the community people. In Bangladesh, one of the main reasons for child death, ill health & high mortality is lack of safe water & sanitation facilities for the rural unprivileged & disadvantaged people. Aungkur is trying to reach these people with accessible, affordable and sustainable water supply & sanitation facilities through integrated hardware & software programs. Arsenic problems have become severe in Madaripur & neighboring district causing panic among community people.
  Aungkur has taken up various arsenic mitigation programs to disseminate basic knowledge and information among community about serious problems of arsenicosis and how to get rid of this problem and provide treatment and support services to arsenic affected patient on a community based development approach.
• Primary Healthcare and Support Service Development Program
  This program focuses particularly on health problems related to women and environment. Besides these, it provides information and skills about primary health care and helps the participants acquire knowledge of preventive measures. The main objectives of this program are to raise awareness among community people about root causes of health program and health hazards and to find out ways & means for a clean & hygienic living environment. The program includes trainings on different health issues like preventive health care, water borne diseases, arsenicosis, TBA, health nutrition education and medicine support for poor patients.
• Human Rights, Democracy and Good Governance Development Program
  Human Rights, Democracy and Good Governance Development Program by providing training, organizing conference and seminars, promoting information and education campaign and developing networking with partner organization involved in local & national level. The objectives of the program are to improve the organizational capacities to promote human rights, democracy and good governance and enhance people’s participation in the promotion of free and democratic electoral process. The program also focuses to establish women’s right and participation and decision making process in civil society and Govt. institution.
• Sustainable Natural Resource Development and Management Program

Sustainable Natural Resource Development and Management Program by promoting environment-friendly agricultural practices with diversified cropping system among the primary group members which do not hamper soil degradation, but ensures better yields and maintain ecological balance. The program includes ecological based crop cultivation, home gardening practices, fruit gardening, promotion of fish culture activities, social afforestation, integrated farming, natural fish conservation etc. The program emphasizes the use of bio-fertilizer and pesticides.

• Gender Development Program
  Aungkur believes that the development goal can only be achieved if both men & women regardless of class, religion, ethnicity and race can be involved in the development process particularly rural poor women need special attention and should be trained and motivated to participate in development process for social and economic empowerment. Gender Development Program aims to achieve equity, rather than equality by formulating policies, procedures and budgets for mainstreaming the gender issues in organization level. In order to ensure equality

between men & women, public awareness of women’s rights and empower the women, the organization will provide training, workshop, seminars and supporting women’s organization & women-focused programs undertaking women’s participation in productive economic activities and in the development process.
• Folk Culture
The Program is organized to provide the participants with the ideas, methods and techniques of using popular cultural medias such as drama, songs, punthi as means of expressing their problems, their efforts of solving those problems and thereby becoming increasingly conscious and united to deal with broader socio-economie issues like social injustice, dowry, gender discrimination, illiteracy, unjust possession of public resources by the power-cliques, superstitious health practices, degradation of environment and their consequences and the positive impact of various development actions on the lives of the people constitute a large variety of potential elements for dramatic representation.
• Relief and Rehabilitation Program
Relief and Rehabilitation Program through providing awareness build up training on disaster preparedness, emergency relief supports and rehabilitation measures. The rehabilitation program includes tube-well installation and repairing, horticultural seed distribution, house repairing, CI sheet distribution etc.
Aungkur’s New Direction
Aungkor’s long term Participatory Strategic Planning Workshop was finalized in December 2018. As per recommendation of the “Long Term Strategic Planning Workshop”, Aungkur has already prepared an action for future 10 years. The action plan emphasizes the liillowing program activities:
Aungkur will take initiative to increase organizational capacity building for providing better services to poor people and to attain organizational, financial and environmental sustainability.
• Aungkur will try to establish small enterprise in rural areas, with easy and indigenous technology through which rural poor can have access to regular service delivery.
Aungkur will initiate life oriented, professional based education program for her organized beneficiaries, their youths, so that they can engage themselves in productive activities.
Aungkur will strengthen and extend program activities highlighting poverty alleviation situation, health, education, professional skilled development, human rights and other social issues pertaining to development of the poor giving special emphasis to hard-core poor.
Aungkur will give special attention to ensure safe water & sanitation to the less privileged & disadvantaged community particularly the vulnerable women group whose lives are directly affected by the lack of facilities. Various Watsan Programs will be taken up for educating people with regard to the importance of safe water & sanitation, hygienic & healthy environment, combating arsenicosis HIV/AIDS, malaria, dengue & other diseases. Aungkur feels that gender inequality in the society is a serious barrier to the development process. So Aungkur will pay highest attention to minimize the gender discrimination at all levels and improve social position of the women through more and more women’s participation and involvement in programs.

Affiliations
• Department of Social Welfare.
• NGO Affairs Bureau.
Micro Credit Regulatory Authority
• PKSF
• Lamp Foundation-The Netherlands
• Basic Bank Ltd.
• SBAC Bank Ltd.

Contact:
Md. Ayub Ali Talukder
Chief Executive Officer
Aungkur Palli Unnayan Kendra
Village: Sreenathdi, Post office: Dattakendua
Upazila & District: Madaripur-7900, Bangladesh
Mobile: +8801711548762
Email: aungkur@aungkurbd.org, Website: www.aungkurbd.org