Gram Theke Shuru

"A project to provide income generating opportunities and educational stipends"

A field report from Rayed , a SpaandanB representative:

The small children scurry behind the car, grabbing on to the bars attached to its rear bumper. They squeal in excitement as the engine starts and the car comes to life. As we gradually make our way along the narrow dirt 'road', the children still hang on, smiling in excitement as to what this large moving device is, walking along with the slow pace of the car. What are they doing? Why are they hanging on? was my reaction the first time I went to gram in the summer of 2004. But this time, I understood greatly. They have never seen a car! What a wonder it would be to see something so large and quick for the first time! more...

Project History

"Gram Theke Shuru" means "starts from the village" - the name aptly portrays the main concept behind this project. More than 80% of the population of Bangladesh lives in the villages. Any economical growth of the country has to start from the homesteads of these villagers. With this goal in mind, Gram Theke Shuru project provides small scale monetary support to underprivileged villagers so that they can invest it in some kind of income generating activities - like cow or goat rearing or poultry farming. This provides a sustaining means of support to the families. Under this project, four educational stipends are provided to graduating students of grade 8 and 9.

Gram Theke Shuru is a specific donor supported and monitored project. It is a perfect example of how a donor can organize his/her own project through SpaandanB and gets involved with the activity to a greater extent.