Bangladesh has made great progress in achieving rights of children as enshrined in the convention of the rights of the child (care). Effective leadership and guidance, firm determination as well as spontaneous and whole-hearted participation of the people and the community have been behind this achievement.
Parents’ cravings for welfare of their children, affection of Bangladeshi mothers and their will to do everything possible for their children have been crucial in realising the rights of their wards.
For doing the momentous task of providing basic services like healthcare, water and sanitation, education, etc the entire govt. machinery up to the grassroots level was deployed, with proper guidance and leadership from the top. International organisations, international and local NGOs, different segments of the society including teachers, religious leaders, and professional groups were involved who extended their helping hands and cooperation to support the dedicated efforts of the community.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), as the lead agency for children in the UN system of organisations had been closely involved with the government of Bangladesh in the whole process of programmes and activities at different stages including planning, implementation, monitoring and interview. Appropriate adjustments were made based on feedback.
The UNICEF worked hand in hand with the relevant government departments and was committed to strengthen the government’s capacity for planning, monitoring and implementation at different levels- national, sub-national, district, upazilla and below. The most important aspect of the programmes supported by UNICEF is the advocacy for children.
Effective community participation had been considered as a key to successful implementation and sustenance of the projects. Effective community participation right from the beginning of the projects helps develop a sense of ownership of the projects in the community and thus this helps in long term sustenance of the programmes.
Now, advocacy, in general, is aimed at the overall welfare and rights of children, and specifically in relation to different program interventions to provide basic services to children.
Effective involvement of the community and parents contributed towards success of the projects aimed at providing basic services to children. As already mentioned, great love and affection of Bangladeshi mothers for their children, and their eagerness to do everything possible for the survival and welfare of their chidden were the most important contributing factor for success of the project activities, be it a nationwide project intervention or local upazila level initiative, be it in the fields of health, immunisation, education, or water and sanitation or nutrition. Parents, mothers in particular, put dedicated efforts, once they were convinced that the projects were good for their children.
Under the polio eradication programme, the first National Immunization Day was observed in 1995. In the health & nutrition section of UNICEF’s country office in Bangladesh, this scribe’s new assignment started with a regional level orientation at Bangkok on the polio eradication programme for relevant senior and mid-level managers of the govt. as well as officials of UN partner agencies -- UNICEF & WHO -- and donor agencies like Rotary International. During the first Nationwide Immunization Day all 0-6 age group children were covered by two polio vaccine doses and it was marked by the great success of covering 90 per cent children of the age group. The great love, affection and sacrificial attitude of mothers were well exemplified in the story told by Mr. Mozibul Hoque, former cabinet secretary acting as UNICEF adviser after retirement. The story he used to tell at the district level multispectral advocacy meeting on Extended Programme of Immunisation (EPI)/ polio eradication programme was about a mother of Sarail upazilla, protecting her child in her bosom, during a hailstorm. After the hailstorm was over, the people found the infant well alive on the lap of the dead mother who braved the storm and took all the beats of hails just to save her beloved child. This scribe accompanied Mr. Mozibul Hoque, a person with a great human touch, during these advocacy meetings. Participants in the meetings were moved by his story and felt inspired to work for the cause of children. Because of his honesty, integrity and human touch, he had been held in high esteem by the civil servants. In order to get support and cooperation of different departments, secretaries of those departments were approached, Mr. Mozibul Hoque telephoned them and this scribe met a few of the secretaries to brief them about the polio eradication programme.
In some areas, under the umbrella of the national programme, local upazila level initiatives registered great success and achievement: a far flung upazila in a remote district achieved its sanitation target -- no unhygienic latrines -- under the overall programme of rural water supply and sanitation.
Another remarkable project intervention was to impart elementary education to more than 10,000 children under the garments child labour elimination project. The project activities were run with the active involvement of BGMEA, and support and cooperation of UNICEF & ILO. Two NGOs, BRAC and GSS, ran these non-formal schools, mostly funded by UNICEF and partially by ILO. Parents whole-heartedly cooperated in this project and sent their children to these non-formal learning centres.
This is a glimpse of Bangladesh’s achievement in realising the rights of children. It is heartening to note that this onward march of Bangladesh towards full realisation of rights of children continues unabated, and it has gained much momentum under the dynamic and dedicated leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Bangladesh stays ahead of other countries of the subcontinent in achieving better quality of life for its people by providing basic services. Different indicators on quality of life bear an ample testimony to this.
The success in this area demonstrates the ability of Bangladesh and its people to improve the quality of life through their determined efforts. Bangladesh has now qualified for graduating to a developing country from a least developed country under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. This is a great achievement, for which every Bangladeshi feels proud.
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