Proshika

Background

It has been more than three decades since PROSHIKA, now one of the largest NGOs in Bangladesh, took its first step. Although the PROSHIKA development process started in a few villages of Dhaka and Comilla districts in 1975, the organization formally emerged in October, 1976. The name 'PROSHIKA' is an acronym of three Bangla words, which stand for training, education, and action.

PROSHIKA has successfully completed one more year of its extended period of Phase VI. A constant analysis of the magnitude of poverty and its trends, the strategies effective for its reduction and eventual elimination, and their meticulous implementation has brought PROSHIKA where it is today. The central ethos, however, all the while remained the same---human development and empowerment of the poor who gradually stand tall to achieve freedom from poverty by themselves. Empowerment means that the poor are united and organized, become aware of the real causes of their impoverishment, develop leadership among themselves, mobilize their material resources, increase income and employment, develop capacities to cope with natural disasters, become functionally literate, take better care of their health, become engaged in environmental protection and regeneration, get elected in local government bodies and community institutions, and have better access to public and common property resources.

Vission, Mission and Objectives

Vision:

PROSHIKA envisages a society which is economically productive and equitable, socially just, environmentally sound, and genuinely democratic.

Mission:

PROSHIKA's mission is to conduct an extensive, intensive, and participatory process of sustainable development through empowering of the poor.

Objectives:

PROSHIKA's objectives are: i) structural poverty alleviation; ii) environmental protection and regeneration; iii) improvement in women's status; iv) increasing people's participation in public institutions; and v) increasing people's capacity to gain and exercise democratic and human rights.

What PROSHIKA Does

These objectives are achieved through a broad range of programmes in education and training leading to income and employment generation, health education, building of health infrastructure, and environmental protection and regeneration. The programmes are supported by research activities and advocacy campaigns which increasingly call for cooperation with like-minded development partners at the national and international levels. Thus the network of activities in which PROSHIKA is involved links the poorest of the poor with like-minded development actors worldwide.