Window of Opportunity: An Asset Based Approach to Community Development in Bangladesh

Abstract

The Rural Development Academy (RDA), Bogra, Bangladesh, runs a poverty alleviation project at the village of Hatea under Gaibandha district in the northwest of the country. This study was conducted in Hatea to identify the major underlying assets contributing to changes in the livelihood patterns of people in the community. A participatory approach was used for both qualitative and quantitative data collection between May and August 2010. Participants interviewed were engaged in income-generating activities such as livestock rearing, beef fattening, poultry rearing, biogas sales, organic fertilizer packaging and selling, fish farming, fish marketing, and agricultural and home gardening.
An asset based community development (ABCD) approach might help to reduce adverse impacts on the Earth due to climate change. People, families, communities, villages, countries, and continents may be limited resources, but the world has generous resources that we can manage and nurture properly in order to lead sustainable lives for present and future generations. However, a single person, family, community, village, country, or continent cannot manage global resources at a desirable level. In light of this situation, a comprehensive effort by groups of these entities through ABCD would help to open the window of community opportunity. In addition, the provision of interest-free working capital would especially help small and marginal farmers. Keeping in mind Bangladesh's national program of “One House One Farm,” communities should be motivated by the benefits of multistory efficient housing for human and also for livestock, Use of such housing, with waste management amenities (e.g., biogas plants) and other modern facilities, should save land, encourage sustainable development, and preserve environmental quality. To ensure the healthy ecosystems of all beings, we should all bear the responsibility of sustainability, in which many windows of opportunity for present and future generations remain to be opened.