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Project proposal submitted by SAMS: Sunderban Adibashi Munda Songstha

Jishu Nam Ashrom

Village: Sripholkati, P.O.: Iswaripur

Thana: Shyamnagar, District: Satkhira

Contact Person: Krishnapada Munda, Director.

e-mail: krisna_grande@yahoo.com

SMALL INTERVENTIONS FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN THE SUNDERBAN MUNDA VILLAGES

Project submitted to AND APPROVED BY

IDEA Onlus,

Address: via Guardazocca, 1 – 24047 Treviglio – Bg – Italy

e-mail: info@ideaonlus.org

About SAMS

Centuries and centuries of caste discrimination have reduced the 45 tribal groups living in Bangladesh to a life of deprivation and humiliation. And this to such

an extent that today’s tribal people (adibashi) are confined to a sort of handicapped existence where induced superstition and social discrimination have

undermined their own strength, cultural values and traditions. At the margins of main stream society, the adibashi of Bangladesh often live at sub-human level.

The Munda are one of the 45 tribal groups referred to above. Known by different names, they are often referred to, derogatively, as untouchable, kli, sordar.

scheduled caste, forest people, etc. Illiteracy, dire poverty, malnutrition etc. are some of the problems they suffer from. These have on the other hand given rise

to another series of social problems like alcoholism and children marriage etc. SAMS was created in 2003 with the precise intent to do something for the

Munda and bring them into mainstream development. Made up by young Munda people, SAMS dreams of an equal and just society where the Munda people

may occupy an honoured place recognised in their cultural diversity, worthy and active citizens of Bangladesh. SAMS believes that freedom from exploitation

at all levels may come about only if the Munda themselves get organised in a spirit of solidarity. SAMS may thus be the beginning of the Munda’s re-birth to a

full human life.

SAMS Vision

To free the human dignity of all Adibashi people, to awaken them to a world of justice and peace and dignity.

SAMS Mission

To rebuild the spiritual world of cultural and religious values of the Munda in order to do away with untouchability, caste discrimination, and poverty.

SAMS Actions

To work against poverty; To create job opportunities; To organise cooperative credit unions; To salvage Munda culture and language through the creation of

cultural groups; To fight illiteracy and raise the literacy rate of the Munda; To give awareness on Munda social problems (alcoholism, children marriages,

discrimination against women etc.); To give a sense of our own value and dignity against and beyond caste discrimination etc.

SAMS Approach

SAMS strongly believes in a participatory approach. The targeted people of SAMS concern are also the main actors of their own development. SAMS’ role is

only that of being a help to the development which must come from the people themselves. SAMS may gather resources, point them out, give awareness etc.

but the actual development work must be directed and carried out by the people themselves. Only in this way development may be sustainable.

SAMS References

1) Father Luigi Paggi

Jishu Nam Ashrom

Village: Sripholkati

P.O.: Isvaripur

Thana: Shyamnagar

District: Satkhira

e-mail: paggilui@yahoo.it

2) Milon Das

PARITTRAN Director

Village: Laksmanpur

P.O.: Shubashini

Thana: Tala

District: Satkhira

e-mail: parittran@yahoo.com

Project background

The Munda communities in Bangladesh are mostly resident in the South-West of the Country, in Khulna District and Satkhira District, at

the limits of the Sunderban costal forest. They are considered tribal people; most of them are considered of Hindu religion, however they

maintain a specific ancient and rich cultural heritage, with their own language and traditions.

Munda people originate probably from the Indian States of Jarkand and West Bengal, India. They owned a special skill in forest clearing

and earth movement works, such as pond digging and embankment construction, together with the capacity to live in extreme

environmental conditions. For these reasons, during the British period, the landlords of the south-western regions brought them to

today’s Bangladesh to cut the Sundarbans to obtain agricultural land, to dig ponds to collect rainwater and make embankment to hamper

the saline water from entering into the cultivable lands. They received the property of some land in the areas were they lived and worked,

with the condition that people not belonging to the Munda communities were not allowed to buy Munda land. This law, aimed to protect

their properties, was not observed and, with the time, almost all the Munda communities were deprived of their lands and become

landless.

Nowadays the Munda communities survive by traditional works in land digging, by farming other people’s land, fishing and collecting

few resources from the challenging environment of the Sunderban forest. The massive introduction of shrimp cultivations in their areas

added new problems to the Munda community in maintaining the land on which their own village reside and in finding jobs to survive

with their families during the whole year.

All the conditions of these communities are still much far away from the targets of reducing poverty, illiteracy and discrimination,

individuated by UN as Millennium Development Goals.

The Munda communities are now in serious needs for the reaching of sustainable economical conditions, since most families can be

considered, based on their average income, as hardcore poor; they need the access to basic resources, such as drinking water and

sanitation; they need to improve the education level, since the portion of illiterate persons is still dominant. They need vocational

trainings and, subsequently, the real possibility to put in practice the skills they acquired. They need to access basic technologies and

resources, like electricity and information by media, but they need, at the same time, to preserve their ethnic identity and cultural

heritage for the coming generations, favouring a peaceful integration without loosing the added value of cultural specificity.

A multi-approach programme is thus needed to bring the Munda communities living in the Sunderban area to the basic level required to

begin an independent self-development process. The present program will integrate educational programs, already running at community

level, to allow the beneficiary to fully express the potentialities acquired by improved education and vocational trainings.

Target communities and location

The project is aimed to improve the life quality of 100 Munda families in 7 villages of the Sunderban area of Satkhira district, Syamnagar Upazila.

Serial

No.

Village Latrines Water Tailoring Solar Cultural

1 Koikali 16 2 1

2 Parsamari 11 1

3 Dumuria 10 2

4 Chuno 6 2 2 2

5 Datinakhali 10 2

6 Taranipur 2 1

7 Kalinchi 7 1 1

Duration

SAMS intends to run the proposed project preliminarily for a period of one year starting from February 2009. The period will be extended, if possible, for the

subsequent year, according to the results of the monitor and evaluation outputs.

Objectives of the proposal

General objective

Through this project SAMS would like to improve the life quality of the Munda communities through an integrated

approach by supporting different aspect of the most pressing needs of the communities by providing small to very small

interventions, directly arising from the basic needs of the target communities. The small scale of the intervention,

although not interfering with the established local equilibrium, will be calibrated in order to allow the starting of

virtuous cycles tended to the progressive enhancement of the life quality and awareness of the communities, leading to

self-development.

Specific objectives

1- To create sustainable access to safe water resources, reducing the great health risks caused by the very limited

availability of sweet water and the consumption of water affected by microbial and chemical contaminants;

2- To provide sanitation devices to the largest number of families, contemporarily increasing the awareness on the

need of better hygienic practices, to reduce the high risk of epidemic infections due to poor hygienic practices and

lack of sanitation devices.

3- To reduce the conditions of extreme poverty affecting most of the families of the communities, providing the

practical possibility to start income generating activities.

4- To create sustainable access to renewable energy sources, in order to improve the sustainable development of the

communities on a social and technological point of view.

5- To facilitate the preservation of the typical cultural heritage and the ethnic identity of the Munda communities by

promoting cultural events, and the formation and activity of artistic groups who will transmit traditional culture to

the new generations with songs, dances and other events.

6- Expected results

1- In each of the target communities (6 villages), 25% of the families have access to a safe water source for at least 6

months per year.

2- To have 42% of the needed sanitation devices installed in each target village (6 villages). To obtain increased

awareness on the importance and proper utilization of sanitation devices and hygienic practices within 90% of the

people of the communities.

3- To reach an increase of the average income of the target families, as requested to overcome the level of extreme

poverty, allowing at least the adequate nutrition of all family members, especially children.

4- To have solar energy devices installed in 2 of the target villages, in order to provide one light point to 55% of the

families.

5- To have no. 1 group of artists regularly performing cultural events in the main celebrations in the largest Munda

communities.

Actions

1- Safe water supply. The very scarce availability of sweet and clean water sources is tremendously harmful for the

health of the communities. The coverage of long distances to reach the few sweet water sources, sometimes

microbiologically unsafe, forces the women to long travels outside their villages. Consequences are the drastic

reduction of their time to be dedicated to the care of the family, including the babies, and to possible income generating

activities. Moreover, invalidating osseous pathologies due to the carrying of heavy burdens may arise. Even more

concerning, however, are the microbiological infections often arising from the use of biologically contaminated water.

The insurgence of diarrhoeal diseases still endangers the health of most children and even the life of part of them;

epidemic infections are a menace for the whole community.

To overcome these primary dangers to the health of the communities, the present project will provide sweet water

sources in those villages where the access to water points is more problematic. Due to the presence of saline water both

in the rivers and in the subsurface (the latter might be affected by arsenic pollution as well). In the condition of the

costal Sunderban forest area, rain water harvesting represent the main sweet water resource. Collecting pipes will be

connected directly to tin roofs, or, alternatively, plastic foils could be used as collecting clean surfaces for rainwater.

The pipes will convey the water to plastic tanks, easy to be cleaned and periodically disinfected. Together with the

rainwater harvesting plant, the necessary training for the correct use, maintenance and cleaning will be provided to the

families.

2- Sanitation. To provide sanitation devices is the other basic strategy to limit the danger of epidemic infection and the

diffusion of dangerous microbiological diseases. Latrines will be constructed by assembling five cement rings buried in

the ground and the small bathroom made by tin, bamboo or mud or brick walls.

3- Income generating activities.

i) Tailoring. To attend vocational training courses is very important to give opportunity to the young generations to

learn more remunerative jobs. However, the acquisition of the new capacities after the training can be completely

invalidated by the economical impossibility for the families to afford the expenses needed for the starting of the

activity. For instance, a group of 10 (9 girls and 1 boy) received training for sewing and tailoring during the past years.

Most of the girls, however, had not the possibility to buy the sewing machine to start their tailoring activity. The present

project will provide them the conditions to finally take advantage from their training course and begin their activity.

4- Renewable energies. Most of the villages where the communities live are at the margins of the Sunderban forest,

where they are very difficult to be reached by the electric line. The utilisation of solar panels for photovoltaic current

generation is thus a necessary solution. Moreover, the use of eco-friendly and renewable energy sources is greatly

desirable for a sustainable development. The present project will help the communities to achieve at least one solar

plant for each target village, providing a light point to five/seven families. Special beneficiaries will be the students,

who will have the possibility to extend the hours devoted to their studies after sunset, avoiding the problems connected

to reading and writing in the ill-illuminating conditions of kerosene lamps.

5- Cultural and artistic activities. The artistic activities are of basic importance in preserving the cultural identity of

the Munda groups and to transmit their ancient and valuable cultural heritage to the new generations. Traditional

dancing and singing are a central component of the Munda culture. In spite of the great manual skill of the Munda

artists in obtaining simple musical instruments from the wood, some instruments, like harmoniums and drums, are more

costly and produced only by specialized craftsmen. The present project will help the group of artists to have the needed

tools to perform cultural events aimed to maintain and transmit Munda culture.

Implementation plan

Sl Activities N. 2009-2010

February-

March

April-June July-October November-

February

01 Baseline survey 1

02 Awareness activities 1x7x12

03 Installation of safe water options 10

04 Installation of latrines 60

05 Provision of sewing machines 5

06 Installation of solar energy plants 3 (65 watt)

07 Promotion of cultural activities 7 (once for

each

village)

08 Monitoring and follow-up Every 3

months

Prior to any activities, the Munda village community will be sensitised to and made aware of the development activities being planned. Groups will be formed.

They themselves will try to pin point their more stringent needs and particularly they will be helped to take responsibility of the activities being decided. Their

economic participation and involvement will be sought as a condition to anything else. Development must become something of their own doing. SAMS will

just be an intermediary and a helper to the whole process.

Project management

The project will be managed by the members of SAMS in close collaboration with the members of the Munda communities involved. The groups formed in

each village will consist of villagers and their headmen. Munda people will be primarily involved in the running of the project. However, local authorities (UP

Chairman, UP members, respectable civil society members etc.) will be informed and their cooperation sought to strengthen the Munda people will and

determination.

Monitoring and evaluation Community based Monitoring Mechanism for the monitoring of the project activities will be developed, so that the community people can monitor their own progress and

practices by themselves. Village monitoring groups will be formed. These groups will review the progress on a certain interval using very simple tools and undertake

corrective measures if necessary. SAMS will collect progress information, review and analyze the findings. SAMS will share the progress information and monitoring

findings with IDEA through reporting. In addition to the community based monitoring mechanism, SAMS will monitor the consequences of the project in terms of social and

economical impact, improvement of health and hygienic conditions, enhancement of the general life quality level, in both short and long period. This will be done in

collaboration with the village monitoring groups.

Sustainability

The extreme poverty of most families in the target communities does not allow the communities to undertake the necessary activities for their self-development

by themselves without additional inputs. The present project is aimed to provide the necessary input that will allow the achieving of the critical mass to start

self-development of the communities. The communities will be directly involved since the very beginning, providing 20-25% of the total amount required for

each development action. The beneficiaries will totally provide the maintenance and correct management of the goods acquired with the present project. The

consequent improvement in awareness and economic condition will allow them to fix or replace the devices when needed without further external inputs.

Moreover, it is expected that the positive effects of the projects on the target families will encourage neighbouring families and communities to spontaneously

adopt similar behaviours, especially in the field of hygienic practices, acquisition of safe water and sanitation options. In the long period, the passage to

independent self-development is expected.

Tentative budget SI Head of expenditure Total unit Unit cost

(BDT)

Total cost (BDT) Total cost (Euro)

01 Baseline survey 1 10,000 10,000 117.64

02 Awareness activities and trainings 84 240 20,160 237.17

03 Installation of concrete latrines 5 12,000 60,000 705.88

04 Installation of simple latrines 55 6,000 330,000 3882.35

05 Installation of safe water options 10 10,000 100,000 1176.47

06 Provision of sewing machines 5 7,000 35,000 411.76 07 Installation of solar energy plants 3 50,000 150,000 1764.70 Buying musical instruments 10,000 10,000 117.64

08 Promotion of cultural activities 7 500 3,500 41.17

09

Personnel cost

-Project Manager -1 1 3,000 36,000 423.52

- Field organizers- 3 2,000 72,000 847.05 Monitoring and follow-up 1x4x7 300 8,400 98.82

11 Overhead cost (stationeries, logistics etc) (10%) 85,000 1000.00

TOTAL 920,060 10824.17

The euro has been calculated on 85 Taka. At the moment the exchange rate is very volatile. Of the total amount SAMS asks 6,000 Euro from IDEA. SAMS will

attempt to collect the remaining amount, i.e. 824 Euro, locally.