SHEVA Nari O Shishu Kallyan Kendra

ANNUAL REPORT 2003

Table of Content

Message from Chairman_ 1

Message from Executive Director 2

1. Introduction_ 3

1.1. Mission 3

1.2. SHEVA at a Glance 3

2. Program Summary 4

2.1.     Daycare: 4

2.2.     Catering: 4

2.3.     Micro-Credit Operations: 4

2.4.     Education Programs: 6

2.4.1.        Adult Literacy: 6

2.4.2.        Child Literacy: 6

Table-4:   Number of children Enrolled, 2003 6

2.5.     Training: 6

2.5.1.        Human Development Training: 7

2.5.2.        Vocational Training: 7

Table-3:   Number of Training by Category, 2003 7

2.6.     Staff Development Training: 8

Table-4:   Number of Staff Training, 2003 8

2.7.     Consultancy: 8

2.7.1.        Proyash an Initiative to Combat Domestic Violence: 8

2.8.     Social Accountability Audits: 8

2.9.     Recreational and Charitable Events: 9

2.10.       Program Monitoring 9

2.11.       Funding 9

Message from Chairman

Year 2003 marks the Sheva’s 12th anniversary of providing support to women’s entrepreneurship in diverse fields in all sectors of society. We started Sheva out of our growing concern over waste of human resources in our society and our nation due to the constraints women face in expressing their potentials and productivity. Women of Bangladesh face social economic and emotional pressures in face of changing social needs and withering away of traditional safety nets of the society. In the last twelve years we have proved that it is possible have control over one’s life and bring about positive changes in women environment with strong political will and strategic support.

With our modest means we have tried to extend a small hand towards women to enable them to become change agents of their lives. Today Sheva is offering consultancies, credit and related trainings to over twenty thousand women of Bangladesh, which is a tremendous achievements for us in our eyes since most of our programs, have been funded through our own resources and incomes earned through consultancies and service charges. I take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to all our sponsors, donors and well-wishers for all their support towards Sheva which has been so critical for our survival and growth. I congratulate my fellow colleagues for putting up such a remarkable stand over the last twelve years.

                                                                                                                        Salma Huq

Message from Executive Director

We started Sheva in 1991 to create a space where women could come, interact amongst themselves, articulate their needs, and venture into the market for remunerative occupation.  Our first project was to provide working mothers with childcare service.  The catering project was initiated to market the culinary skills of Bangladeshi women, and earn the revenue needed to sustain other projects. 

It gives me a lot of pride to see Sheva servicing our community with array of services, ranging from micro-credit for very poor women, to training garment factory management and employees on workers rights.  I take this opportunity to congratulate our board members and staff, whose hard work and relentless support for Sheva’s goals have brought us to where we are today.

In the future, we would like to add programs to our micro-credit societies that would enhance the capacity of our clients.  We want to touch the lives of our micro-credit clients to the extent that they are able to deal with their daily realties with knowledge and confidence. I thank the advisors and senior consultants whose strong guidance have given our sense of direction, I particularly thank BASIC Bank and Verite for giving us the due credence and considering Sheva a viable partner to fight poverty and mitigate the problems of hundreds and thousands of women at grassroots level.

                                                                                    Sayeeda Roxana Khan

1. Introduction

Sheva Nari O Shishu Kallyan Kendra (Women and Children’s Welfare Center) is a non-governmental organization created to provide urban Bangladeshi women with the resources they need to become self-reliant, productive, and able to make choices. 

1.1. Mission

Sheva’s mission is to support Bangladeshi women in standing up for their rights and create an environment for them to become self-reliant in society.

Women in Bangladesh are marginalized in many ways due to gender discrimination, defective and discriminatory laws, misperceived religious and cultural norms and denial of basic rights. As an organization created by women Sheva’s efforts have been devoted to secure and protect women’s rights by implementing programs to support women at work and create avenues for them to enter the world of work. Lessons learned from working with women at grassroots level have formed the basis of adding new and meaning full dimensions to ongoing programs.

1.2. SHEVA at a Glance

Daycare: As Sheva is created for women and children; it offers daycare service for working mothers. Believing that children benefit from having confident mothers who need to work to express their potentials and become self-reliant, Sheva offers Daycare support to workingwomen in Dhaka.

Catering: Sheva’s catering service has earned a reputation in the social circles of Dhaka for its excellence in culinary standards.  The success of Sheva’s catering program generates a portion of the funding for other activities, such as Daycare, Micro-credit and the Consultancy Department.

Micro-credit: Sheva provides small-scale micro credit loans to the urban poor. Sheva enables entrepreneurial women with no resources to become independent by accessing credit.

Training: Training is the key component of the Sheva development process. It gives vitality to all other components and combines them into an integrated whole, Sheva’s training activities are arranged for the workers of Sheva, members of Sheva’s Micro Credit Society and the people of the Community that Sheva is serving.

Consultancy Department: Sheva’s consultancy department conducts research and training in the garment industry sector. Sheva has designed and implemented training modules for garment industry management and workers in order to ensure workers’ rights, and promote awareness about social accountability by holding seminars and discussion sessions.

The consultancy department also conducts independent research and studies development on various social development issues.

1.3. Program Objectives

• To secure and protect women’s rights in all walks of life.
• To participate in the Poverty Alleviation Program by providing women with micro-credit loans.
• To guarantee the effectiveness of micro-credit loans by providing education and training to borrowers.
• To protect garment factory workers’ rights by initiating discussions with corporate managers on social responsibility issues through training, workshops and seminars.
• To undertake studies and develop programs to support women’s rights in our society.

2. Program Summary

The year 2003 has been significant for Sheva. Remarkable achievements have been made in many areas in some cases beyond expected targets. A brief summary of program is presented below:

2.1.   Daycare:

Sheva provides workingwomen with a warm and safe environment for their children. Sheva’s child minders create a nurturing atmosphere, children are dropped by their parents and also are picked up from school, provided with lunch, a shower (for the school going children), and a naptime. They complete their homework voluntarily, alongside playtime and other recreational activities. Sheva’s Daycare accommodates 15-20 children, usually between 8:30am and 6:30pm. Since its inception in 1991, Sheva’s daycare service has been extremely positive for children, as well as for their working mothers.

2.2.   Catering:

Sheva’s catering service has been a successful story since it’s opening primarily because of its exceptional quality control by expert management. Since 1991, Sheva’s home style cooking in a hygienic environment has proved to be one of its keys to success. Sheva provides its service under two categories: Steady and By Order. Sheva supplies steady lunch orders to many offices, of which Grameen Bank, Beximco, British council, CIDA, Basic Bank, City Bank are some of the regulars. Sheva also takes catering orders by phone, for small and large parties, and weddings up to 1,000 people. Caterers do all types of cooking including Bangla, Indian, Mughlai, Chinese and continental. Sheva’s staffs do the grocery, preparation of the food and delivery is available. All cooking is complete on premises except for big weddings where Sheva’s chefs go to the community centers. All chefs are trained at Sheva and are fulltime Sheva employees. On an average Sheva provides 200 lunchboxes (steady) and 12-15 caterings by order each day. Sheva also has frozen snacks available upon order.

2.3.   Micro-Credit Operations:

Sheva’s micro-credit program was launched in 1993. Credit is disbursed to women mobilized into functional groups. Sheva believes in social mobilization in groups so that the targeted beneficiaries can fight unitedly against the constraints in meeting their day-to-day needs. Since 1993 credit was disbursed to 36,179 women of which 20,451 were from rural areas of peripheral regions of Dhaka and 15,728 were from urban Dhaka. Credit disbursement and outstanding loans with the borrowers is presented in the figures below in Table -1.

Table . 1

In the year 2003, Sheva was able to offer micro-credit through its seven branches located in Dhaka city and Narayangonj district. A total of Taka 4,47,04,00 was disbursed to 10,466 members in the year 2003. Sheva’s loan profile in the reported amounted to BD Tk. 11,06,24,600. The field workers have the responsibility of going to designated centers each morning to recollect loan installments from members.  Disbursement, in turn, takes place in the branch offices each afternoon.  Branch officers are responsible for accounts and book keeping.

A total of 487 groups were formed with 3,434 new of members under Sheva’s micro-credit umbrella in the year 2003. Sheva’s credit operations were extended to Rupgonj Tarabo and Futulla Naraygaonj adding two new branches. A total of 400 IG (income generating) programs were given credit support from Sheva’s revolving credit fund in the handloom sector for weaving “Jamdani Saris” a traditional handicraft of Dhaka having a heritage of 200 years.

Against the target of BD. Tk. 5,00,000,00 budgeted for credit disbursement for 2004 only BD. Tk. 4,47,04,000 could be disbursed recording 89% achievement of the target. 100% of the target could not be achieved due to sudden revision of Basic Banks Policy to limit our credit disbursement ceiling to BD. Tk. 1,00,000,00. Cumulative loan recovery rate of Micro-Credit program in 2003 was 98%.

2.4.   Education Programs:

Sheva offers functional literacy training to the community members living in the locality of each of Sheva’s branch offices. The literacy program has two components:

1. Adult Literacy
2. Child Literacy

2.4.1.     Adult Literacy:

Sheva provides adult literacy programs to micro-credit clients to develop basic accounting and calculation of their business and micro finance transactions.  So far, Sheva has opened 10 adult literacy centers and the number of graduates so far stands at so far stands at 11,780. Sheva uses its own adult literacy curriculum with emphasis on gender, environment, democracy, communal harmony, poverty alleviation, and human rights. Sheva’s long experience in this field shows that this program contributes largely to changing the values and attitudes of the poor besides increasing their earning and bargaining capabilities. Many of the neo-literate group members use their literacy and numerical skills in performing their group activities such as maintaining savings pass books, savings accounts, and accounts of income-generating projects. Literacy has also increased the leadership quality of the group members and solidarity of the groups.

2.4.2.     Child Literacy:

Sheva also provides non-formal education for children of the members and those in neighboring communities. In the year 2003, ten Child Literacy Centers were run through its branch offices. Last year, 600 children were given literacy trainings, and 456 graduated to be enrolled into regular schools. Thus, responsibility blends with social recognition of the poor to make the program work. These feeder schools provide basic trainings in literacy and facilitate children’s entry into regular schools. Special attention is given that children are regular in attendance, basic literacy and Numerical skills and personnel hygiene. Sheva’s school enrolment program has created a trend among the poor parents to send their children to formal primary schools. Thus, responsibility blends with social recognition of the poor to make the program work. Enrolment of children in 2003 is shown in Table-2.

Table-4:   Number of children Enrolled, 2003

2.5.   Training:

Sheva offers human and skill development training to the members of the community it serves. The aim of these trainings is to raise awareness and build the capacity of community members so that they can become active participants in their own development. A total of 27 courses on human development were offered which was 90% achievement compared to the targets set. Training is conducted both in formal and non-formal settings. Formal training programs are held at the branch offices of Sheva, non-formal trainings and workshops are held at Grassroots level.

Sheva imparts two categories of trainings:

• Human Development Training
• Skill Development Training.

2.5.1.     Human Development Training:

Human Development Training (HDT) greatly influences the success of all other Sheva programs. It helps develop analytical skills, positive attitudes, management and operational skills of both Sheva workers and organized group members. To enhance the skills of the women in the micro-credit, Sheva provides training workshops on gender awareness and protection of basic rights, personal health and hygiene, and reproductive health.  Workshops are held with group leaders, who are responsible for relaying the information to their other group members. The behavioral change caused by these trainings is conducive to the efficiency of both the Sheva staff and group members.

HDT courses provided to the members and leaders of the organized groups in 2003 were:

• Social Mobilization;
• Women and Development;
• Legal Literacy and Legal Aid;
• Gender relations;
• Credit and savings related financial management;
• Training of trainers (ToT) on Adult Literacy;

2.5.2.     Vocational Training:

Practical Skill Development Training largely contributes to the effective implementation of Employment and Income Generating (EIG) activities through providing information and technical support. Sheva provides vocational training to its micro-credit clients in order to enhance their respective business skills in food processing, tailoring, fabric decoration, handicrafts, nursery gardening and livestock training. In the year 2003, training on tailoring and fabric decoration (embroidery, batik and block printing) was given to 280 women in Demra, Pagla and Tarabo branches. Training was offered to 60 women on goat rearing and nursery gardening. Twenty-four women were given training on weaving “Jamdani Saris”.

Table-3:   Number of Training by Category, 2003

2.6.   Staff Development Training: 

To enhance staff competency, trainings are offered on office management, credit and savings operation, program monitoring and evaluation, and gender & development. Workshops are provided primarily for the community organizers, who are in charge of loan disbursement, recovery, and general interaction with micro-credit clients. In 2003, sixteen training sessions were organized for the general staff, three for branch managers, and four for mid-level officers.

Table-4:   Number of Staff Training, 2003

2.7.   Consultancy:

The major consultancy activities undertaken in Sheva’s consultancy department are social audit research, participating in advocacy campaigns on the rights of urban poor, garment workers and domestic violence. Sheva’s consultancy department researches current social issues.  These currently include dowry related domestic violence, and implications of the World Trade Organization sponsored Multi-Fiber Arrangement phase-out, and it’s possible alternatives.

2.7.1.     Proyash an Initiative to Combat Domestic Violence:

Sheva has initiated a project for raising awareness on domestic violence with a focus on resisting dowry related violence upon women called “Proyash” in December 2003.   The goal of Proyash is to create awareness through trained peer education to resist cultural practices, which have negative impacts on women and society emerging from the illegal practice of practice.  Funding for Proyash was procured through charitable fundraising, and from Sheva’s catering service.

2.8.   Social Accountability Audits:

In partnership with Verite, a U.S. based non-profit organization, Sheva conducts factory audits to ensure factory workers are employed under conditions, which meet international human rights and labor standards.  In 2003, Sheva conducted nine factory audits, bringing the total to forty-three audits since the program began in 1998. Customized training programs and remediation are delivered to factories when problems are identified during audits.

2.9.   Recreational and Charitable Events:

Sheva participates in various national and community events, such as national women’s day, international literacy day, and international children’s day. Fairs and exhibition of handicrafts certificate distribution events for vocational training, for community members. Musical events and annual picnics for staff members are organized for positive motivation of Sheva’s staff members.

2.10.Program Monitoring

The responsibility of implementation and monitoring of the Development Program activities has been put under a monitoring unit headed a program manager in the year 2003. Special emphasis has been given on all areas of Sheva activities to ensure the participation of the project beneficiaries. Workshops are also organized at different locations to identify the strengths and weaknesses of program activities. Through these workshops the groups review the targets and achievements of different programs and set their future plans. The findings of the workshops provide important input to Sheva management for further improvement of the program.

2.11.Funding

Sheva has its own income generation programs to finance its development activities, which are; The Commercial Catering Service & Consultancy Services. Most of Sheva’s funding for the micro-credit program comes from Bank of Small Industry Ltd. (BASIC) Bank Limited as loan. In the year 2003 Sheva received BDT. 90,00,000 ($ 150,000) form BASIC as loan and repaid BDT. 42,99,957($ 71,666) in equal monthly installments.