The rural habitat of Thengamara is located in north-west Bangladesh, just beside the Rangpur-Dinajpur Highway between Mohasthan and Bogra. Thengamara Sabuj Sangha (TSS) was established in 1964 under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961, in this remote village of Bogra sadar upazila with the objective of aiding a 'Green (Sabuj) Revolution' in the country. It was accorded registration by the Department of Social Services on November 10, 1964, but all documents of the organisation were burnt down during the liberation war of 1971. Later, the management and ownership of the organisation was legally transferred to a local educationist and renowned Ashoka Fellow Professor Dr. Hosne Ara Begum in 1980, as the then authorities of the entity expressed their inability to run the organisation. Professor Hosne Ara then renamed the organisation as Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS) by adding the word 'Mohila' (women), with the goal of empowering the country's womenfolk. She became its founder chief executive and this fabled non-governmental organisation (NGO) has now expanded from a mere micro-credit entity to innumerable diverse ventures under ten sectors and services, viz. health; education and institutions; human resource development; food security and livelihood; microfinance; social enterprise; human rights and social justice; climatic change, disaster preparedness and environment; organisational development and capacity building; information & communication technology. At present, the TMSS has been registered by 11 authorities, including the United Nations, as a legal entity and now promotes the novel slogan 'Let Family be the Focal Point of Women Development'.
As Professor Hosne Ara recounts, the poor women of Thengamara banded together in groups of ten or twenty for collecting handfuls of rice in order to relieve their sufferings immediately after the country's independence. They deposited the collected rice in women's households who had good relations with their family members. The sale proceeds of that rice were treated as the women's savings. The women also used to gather in meetings during their free times to discuss ways and means of improving their circumstances. As news of these groups spread among the womenfolk of the area, 14 societies were formed soon in 14 neighbourhoods of six villages. Interestingly, the organising forces behind the formation of these groups were two beggars named Fatema Bewa and Jomela Bewa. Then at a workshop arranged by TMSS in 1985 with the participation of beggars based in four unions around Thengamara, the groups decided to give up begging and instead work hard for earning their livelihood. After this beggars' conference, the number of general members of TMSS increased from 225 to 376, and rice collection was discontinued because of differences in quality. Instead, the members were required to pay a monthly subscription fee of Taka 5.0.
TMSS was therefore started by the destitute and disadvantaged women of Thengamara, who had long suffered from deprivations, violence and social neglect. Its growth and development was possible mainly through implementation of decisions taken at the grassroots level. The mission of the organisation continues to be enhancing the socio-economic status of the poor, especially women, through implementation of local decisions and utilisation of local resources.
There are many distinctive characteristics of TMSS, which has now grown and diversified into a mammoth NGO with involvements in numerous sectors and ventures. These features include: disadvantaged, honest and persevering women were its founders; inquisitiveness and innovations are encouraged at all levels; a participatory and bottom-up approach is followed by the management through emphasising grassroots opinion seeking; democratic principles are upheld in all meetings at different layers; citizens of Bangladesh have free access and the right to investigate all its activities; decentralised management system is followed, where the domain chiefs are free to operate within rules; zero tolerance is exercised against corruption; good governance is maintained by ensuring transparency and accountability and highest priority is attached to ethical conduct. There is strong focus on women's emancipation and empowerment, with positive gender discrimination in favour of females.
The vision of TMSS 'Smiling face of womenfolk' is quite unique. Its mission is to strive for lifting poor women to a better and more dignified life in family and society through enhancing their capacity, adaptability, responsiveness, utilisation of available resources, participation in development activities and establishment of sustainable legitimacy. Its primary objective is to upgrade the socio-economic status of the hardcore poor through execution of decisions at the grassroots by utilising local human and material resources.
The specific objectives of TMSS are: optimising the use of available resources; capacity building of the target people through training; poverty reduction through financial services; promotion of gender equity and women's participation in society; employment generation and provision of human rights services for women; awareness generation through advocacy campaign; ensuring quality health, nutrition and education for the target groups; facilitating transfer of technology and establishing TMSS as a model and sustainable entity.
The commendable values upheld by the organisation include: respect to women; gender equality; faith in human resources; self-reliance and sustainability; ecological balance coupled with environmental safety; respect for all religions; honesty and justice; peace and prosperity; democracy and decentralisation; innovation and unity. Its unique strengths include effective constitution, service rules and work-friendly manuals; teamwork and regular interaction with staffs; strong networking and collaboration; skilled and dedicated staffs with well-equipped training complex; over 500 acres of land in Bogra sadar having modern infrastructures-cum-logistics; community contributions and ownership.
TMSS's interventions and functions are managed by professionals and support staffs in accordance with approved policies, rules and regulations, operational manuals and standing orders. The sectors, domains and departments constitute the management structure. Each sector is headed by a Deputy Executive Director, the domains are headed by relevant Directors, while the departments are managed by departmental heads. TMSS has a network of branches and organisations throughout Bangladesh, which covers eight divisions, 64 districts, 308 upazilas, 3,312 unions and 24,211 villages. There are 43,106 groups, 168 zonal offices and 46 zonal offices all over the country. The number of permanent staffs are 6746, contract-based 615, project-based 231, educational institution-based 325, advisers 24 and consultants 28.
The 23 educational institutions run by TMSS include Pundra University of Science and Technology, TMSS Engineering College, TMSS Medical College (with dental unit), TMSS Textile Engineering Institute, TMSS Nursing College, TMSS Multilateral Agricultural Technology Institute, TMSS Ayurvedic-Unani Medical College & Hospital, TMSS Technical Institute, TMSS Medical Assistant Training School and TMSS Public School and College.
By following the footsteps of the Grameen model for social enterprises, social enterprises and services of TMSS now include: Building Construction Ltd. (BCL), Domestic Employment Agency, Paper Mills and Dealership, TMSS Handicraft, Probin Nibash for the Elderly, Security Agency, Printing Press, Travels and Tourism Ltd., Women's Market, Saw Mill and Furniture, Welding Steel and Furniture, and TMSS Northern Recruiting Agency Limited. BCL has already launched a 4-star hotel in Bogra named 'Momo Inn Hotel and Resort Ltd.
Upcoming projects of TMSS include bags factory, ceramics industry, board mills, beverage factory, water plant, paper, spinning and jute mills.
TMSS can rightly be dubbed a conglomerate because of the diverse nature of its operations. Of late, it has been implementing programmes and projects geared towards achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) as one of the leading development organisations in Bangladesh. It undertakes half-yearly surveys and assessments to identify the impact of implemented projects and utilise the lessons as guidance for future research and planning. The areas covered under SDGs are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and forging a global partnership for development.
Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed is a former editor of Bangladesh Quarterly. [email protected]
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