Bogra Foundation

Bogra is a district of Bangladesh where Buddhists, Hindus and Muslim cultures enriched its historical importance. But with passes of time the rural people of Bogra district (area 2929.91 sq km and population about 4 million) in the northern zone of Bangladesh has become now backward with respect particularly to education, employment, medicare, clean water, sanitation, communication, environment and women’s human rights. About 65% of the population constituting the rural poor who are victims of hunger, disease and oppression, have very little access to the benefits of meager development activities. There is also severe inadequacy of agencies’ funds for upliftment and leadership so necessary to ensure economic program and social dignity to the rural poor, especially women, girls and children. The World Bank, ADB,UNDP including donor agencies of developed countries and the GOB use to invest/donate funds to the traditional big NGOs and the NGOs dealing with micro- credits business like village mohajons(moneylenders)at minimum rate of interests or sometimes with no interests. But the NGOs invest funds to the poors with heavy interests and service charges not below

27%.They keep big margin of profits in borrowing and, lending in their hands for their personal gains. In spite of bitter criticism in print and electronic media including talk-shows and public meetings.. But neither any donor nor the Govt came forward to examine the reality of the criticism.

Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in a round table conference at CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital city Dhaka placed a research paper on October 4,,2007`wherein they vividly mentioned that NGOs in Bangladesh have got no accountability to any authority and yearly about Taka 2 thousand crores are being looted by the NGOs. TIB,s reports and the editorials, column,&,lead news of some dailies and weeklies e,g, Dainik Dinkal dated August 21,2002,, Dainik Uttarkon dated August 3,,2004, Dainik Jugantar October 2, 2007, Dainik Prothom Alo October 5,2007 Dainik Korotoa October 5,2007 Dainik Inqulab dated October 8,2007 & November 5 2007 and Dainik Samakal November 8 2007 expressed alarming activities of the NGOs no ‘working’ in the country. Some NGOs have become billionaires and richer than prominent industrialists and business-magnets of the country. And the mid-level NGOs having funds of the donors and GOB become millionaire .But on the otherhands the target group members (so-called beneficiaries) becoming poorer and poorers day by day and drowned under so-called micro-finance loans. If NGOs stopped reinvestment actual picture of so-called development by the NGOs will come out. This may or may not be true in case of all the NGOs since NGO Buroue or any other appropriate authority have not examined, audited or verified activities of all the NGOs now functioning in the country.NGO Buroue in last 10 years have audited only 2 NGOs (1) Proshika & (2) Gona Shahajjwa Sangstha.In the audit notes alarming information of irregularities,corruptions and looting of money and assets of above NGOs were detected which were the top news of both print and electronic medias of the time. But the people do not know the punishment of the culprits as yet.The people are loosing faith in NGOs day by day. Obviously, there are NGOs which are functioning with reputation nationally and internationally. But their numbers are very few.The above are some of the empiric factors which led to setting up of Bogra Foundation on 21-02-1992 by some dedicated social workers under the leadership of a dynamic social worker, an ex-civil servant of the Government. Bogra Foundation believes that mere micro finance will not change the fate of the poors without giving them the real inputs.