Innovative way of empowering women

The Adolescent Development Programme (ADP) of BRAC, reportedly incepted since 1993, could be considered one of the most innovative approaches to women's empowerment in rural areas. It is neither microcredit nor ivory tower meetings on empowerment. It is rather some simple practical orientations for adolescents in villages. A small number of people know about that programme.
There is a saying that an idle brain is the devil's workshop and the majority of our younger generation is doomed to be spoiled because of remaining idle - no matter what age group they belong to. Therefore, the idea is to help adolescents in villages so that they could anchor on a sound survival strategy by keeping themselves busy through physical, social and economic engagements. The house that accommodates a BRAC School in the morning is used as a club for adolescents in the afternoon. Each of the clubs has 30-40 members aged between 11 and 19 years. The equipment for indoor and outdoor games as well as for cultural activities is supplied regularly and there are about 100 books that the adolescents usually like to read. Adolescent boys and girls come twice  a week to the club and spend two hours: one day is stipulated for games and cultural activities and the other day for attending classes on developing an efficient livelihood strategy. The leader of the club - of course compulsorily a girl-is selected through various tests and she has to take a 5-day training course on club management at a nearby BRAC centre. As this scribe was told, inter-club cultural festivals are held in the name of "Meghe Dhaka Tara" (Stars covered by the cloud) and the finalists are helped to perform in electronic media. Thus, the talented from the very poor families- who are always unheard of or unsung in our society - are exposed to the outside world for recognition.  
By now about 9,000 of such clubs are spread all over the country. These clubs contain roughly 225,000 members, of whom 76 per cent are female members. The contents of ADP are worth the praise. For example, training covers a wide spectrum of subjects such as beauty care, photography, computer, poultry raising etc. There are also a theatre for enlightening adolescent girls about empowerment, sexual and reproductive health rights etc. The ADP also provides sports teams for females such as football, cricket, safe swimming, and Karate training. Inter-club competitions are regularly held where females participate in a number of games such as football and cricket. Furthermore, there are tutorial initiatives for adolescents. A student studying at the HSC level is trained on teaching students subjects like mathematics, English and science so that she can help her comrades from poor economic status gain knowledge at lower costs. Training on safe swimming is imparted in flood-prone areas where the trainee imparts the knowledge to children aged 5-10 in her areas.
There is a long list of such activities, but the story today is focussed on karate training for girls. To tell the truth, such news raised this scribe's eyebrows with a simple question: Karate training for rural girls? Why?  Upon a request, Nurunnahar of BRAC Learning Centre (BLC) at Poba in Rajshahi, who looks after the training, took this scribe to a training session consisting of 30 girls coming from different villages. They are poor but powerful in protest.  They are being trained by a coach hired from Kishoreganj. There this scribe met Konok, a girl from a poor family of Upsherpur under Noaga upazila. Asked why she was interested in karate, Konok revealed an episode of her own.  She was in eighth grade, and while returning home from school one day she fell victim to teasing from village 'vultures'. Furious as she was, Konok beat a scoundrel with her sandals. But the boy's father was an influential person in the locality who forced the authority to take Konok to task. Knonk took the challenge and could convince the authority that the boy was at fault by teasing her, and the culprit was punished eventually. Meantime, Konok came to know about ADP courses, and after a serious scrutiny chose to learn karate to protect her from sexual harassment.
Another girl, Nasreen, was a student in the tenth grade. She dreamt of a better future through serious studies. But the problem was that in her village (Mantoil, Rajshahi), the rate of under-age marriages was very high and many of her under-aged friends had to drop out from schools to become mothers, and thus leave lessons. Nasreen could not "abide by the unacceptable mandate' of Mantoil villagers. She vowed to obtain training on ADP, as some of her friends from the same village do. However, coming back home she got the news that a 10-year-child was forced into a marriage. Nasreen opposed it, and left no stone unturned to convince the parents and the neighbours of the abuses of child marriage. In this campaign, unfortunately, she found no friends but foes all around. Very soon indomitable Nasreen alone travelled 20 km to reach Godagari Upazila level officials to complain against the child marriage. Happily, the marriage could be stopped but not the aspersion on her. As a result of her alleged "excesses", the whole village went against her. Later, the ADP arranged a workshop on child marriage in that village to lend support to Nasreen. Now Nasreen is being hailed as a healer and the same villagers shower praises on her. Not a single incident of child marriage had happened after that. But to protect herself from the village 'vultures' Nasreen is here to take training on karate. She informed us that she would impart her knowledge to others.
While returning to Dhaka, the stories of Konok and Nasreen haunted the scribe for a while. It was training on 'tit for tat'. Like BRAC, other non-government organisations (NGOs) should develop innovative programmes to raise awareness among villagers against all odds and help develop a mechanism to cope with any crisis. After all, learning is light and you can impart it to others cost-effectively, if you have the real commitment to avert crimes and promote decent livelihoods for villagers. Remember as we sow, so we reap.
Abdul Bayes is a Professor                  of Economics at                    Jahangirnagar University.                [email protected]