Project Name : Strengthening the Role of Non-Government Development Organizations (NGGOs) and Civile Society Organization for people Centered and Sustainable Development continuations.

Doner : Bread for the World, Germany (BftW)

Sector : Coordination

Area : Coordination, Networking and Capacity Bulding

Time Line : January 2016 to December 2018

Brief of activities :

Institutional capacity of ADAB: The institutional structure comprising secretariat at
central level and chapter functions at divisional and regional level was found as one of the
limitation in effectiveness of network function and its image. The secretariat staffing was
weak and unable to act and cope with present external situation at policy and program
level as well as capability was not enough to meet expectations of Member Organizations
(MOs) at grass root and national level. Based on organizational assessment the ADAB’s
secretariat has been restructured and made functional at central and district level enabling
to play effective role at policy and program level. Despite reinstatement of ADAB and its
restructuring the level of performance is not strong enough like in the past and its voice is
not found strong to address national or Member Organization (MOs) issues for protection
and establishing legitimate rights with stakeholders at government and donors’ level.
Despite increased numbers of membership of NGOs following this new structure, still they
could not build their full confidence because there is inheriting interest among Member
Organization (MOs) to get benefit from ADAB rather than an actor and contributors of this
apex body.
New structure: ADAB’s secretariat at central level has been reformed with provisions of
some professional roles and positions under the leadership of a Director for network
operation and management its program. The structure of this apex body and its secretariat
has been redefined. ADAB secretariat is led by a Director. He is supported by, Program
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Coordinator and 7divisional coordinator to carry out ADAB’s roles at policy and Program
level. There are also an Administration & Finance Officer and a communication Officer in
Support services. All units maintain horizontal and vertical relationship for better
coordination and smooth implementation of organizational plans and programs. Thus the
core management team led by Director coordinates among all the functional units and
district Coordination Committee. Director, Program Coordinator and Communication
Officer Posts have been fulfilled and other posts like accounts officer and support staffs are
continuing with same role. In the current context and ADAB’s position in development
sector, highly competent personnel capable to deal with government, Members
Organization (MOs) Civil Societies and Donors is essentially required to lead and represent
the network in local and global forum. Despite strong recommendation to form different
units enabling to strengthen network’s capacity is yet to be initiated.
Figure-2: New structure
General members are the highest authority of ADAB. In each district, they will elect a
District Coordination Committee to implement district and Upazila Level activities. Each
General Members
Divisional Coordination
unit
District Committee
Executive Committee
ADAB Secretariat
Policy Research
and Advocacy Unit
Organizational
Development Unit
Resource
Mobilization and
Communication
unit
Operation Support
Unit
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District Coordination Committee will nominate one-fifth members delegates/councillors to
central level for participate Annual General Meeting (AGM). The members of the AGM are
to approve annual plan, budget, report and audit and also elect the Executive Committee in
every two years. Executive Committee (EC) is the highest decision making body of the
organization. There is a secretariat to implement the decisions of Executive Committee
(EC) and perform day to day activities.
Executive Committee (EC) comprises of 15 members who are elected by General Members
for two years period. This EC is formed by 4 representatives from national level
organization, 8 from local level organizations, and 3 from women headed organizations.
The Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Treasurer are elected by these members. For
institutional management a Director is appointed who acts as ex officio Member Secretary
as per constitution. EC has been elected recently for another two years term.
Present program activities: From evaluation it has found that ADAB being an apex body
of NGOs mainly kept confined with certain and conventional types of activities like
organizational coordination meetings, different day observations and organize some PR
events to develop/refresh relationships with other stakeholders in development sector.
But ADAB needs to strengthen its capacity for strategic support for policy advocacy,
protection of NGOs interest in development fields, strategic support for organizational
capacity and good governance and networking locally and globally for collective action and
resource mobilization for sustainable development.
Coordination: A very basic work of any network is coordination, and ADAB has no
exception of it. However, the coordination works of ADAB involves, not only coordinating
the work amongst its member organizations, but also with the Government, Civil Society
Organizations, Development Partners, Media, Technical Organizations and other Networks.
It establishes and strengthens GO-NGO relationship for creating enabling environment for
NGDOs and partnership in implementation of policies and providing services to
complement government development initiatives.
Policy Advocacy: Being the representative of the Non-Government Organizations, ADAB
participates in the advocacy and campaign for policy & legislation for the interest of people.
It also leads any emerged issues related to NGO regulation and operation. ADAB works
from the formulation to implementation of new policies and for changing the existing
policies to cope with changed situation and requirements in the specific field. It advocates
for necessary law, rules, regulations & actions to support the policy. It continues advocacy
and networking with its partners, actors in policy-making, local and national level civil
society, media and sectoral stakeholders.
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Rights Promotion: All programs and functions of ADAB are aimed at upholding the rights
& privileges of people and defending people whose rights are violated. Basic tools for
promotion of rights are on different UN Conventions: a)Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948); b) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination (1965); c)International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1966); d) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(1979); e) Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); f) International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990);
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006).
Image and Visibility: ADAB was found visible in 17 districts where ADAB chapters had
existence. In other districts visibility is almost absent except the basic information about
ADAB is available with limited numbers of NGOs who have been working in development
sector for long time. This limited visibility and information about ADAB does not fit with
present context in consideration with current issues and representation of NGOs from all
corners of the country.
Membership with ADAB: Non-Government Organization (NGO) registered with
government system and working in Bangladesh is eligible for membership of ADAB. In the
past, ADAB had two different types of membership: a) central member at ADAB central
level and chapter member at chapter level. Up to December 2012, there were 1174
members in which 319 were central members and 855 were chapter members. In such
cases, some organizations had double membership. In the new membership policy, one
organization will have one membership and it will be registered under central level but it
can represent in different district.
Support to MOs: ADAB’s role in capacity building of member organizations has been
recognized as core function. ADAB supports the Member Organizations both in
organizational development and quality program implementation. Institutional policy
development, governance, training, mentoring and monitoring are basic approaches for
capacity development of member organizations. It also involved in lobbying for the
engagement and representation of their member organization in different policy and
strategic issues.
Project and its effectiveness: After withdrawing the ban on fund clearance of ADAB, the
organization successfully implemented a project with a pilot and main phase for last four
years focused to strengthen NGOs and CSOs for people centred sustainable development.
This project has been recognized as a unique scope to rebuild ADAB platform for its own
sustainability as well. The project activities were undertaken at ADAB Head Quarters and
in 17 chapters at divisional and district level. This project delivered some results and
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renewal of NGO registration was one of them that helped ADAB to open its horizon for
approaching for donor’s funding and further partnership opportunities. It has increased
participation and representation in government forums and meetings. Other networks
recognized ADAB as one of the largest network and found potential for collective actions.
Recommendation on different women policy and rights issues recognized ADAB at national
level and most of the member organizations re-gained confidence on ADAB’s leadership
because of its reactivation and visibility. But still substantial numbers NGOs are out of
membership because of they do have still some reservation on ADAB.
Relationship with different forums and networks: The ADAB in the past had strong
networks globally and locally with different forums, groups, organizations, but for long
silence during organizational crisis of ADAB, the relationship was breached with many
national and international networks. At present ADAB has membership and relationship
with few networks within and outside of the country without any effective role.