Some Post Cyclone Sidr Update: Will the Micro-Credit Installment -Collection Non-Interest Loan Plan Really Stand Up?

TWO THREE long weeks have passed since Cyclone Sidr roared ashore in Bangladesh and killed at least 3400+ people, injured many more, and devastated land, businesses, and futures. Many people have documented the profound losses, experiences, reflection, need for massive relief-fundraising now & better coordination of relief and such fundraising, and in the future, extensive reconstruction efforts. The United Bangladesh Appeal have launched the Sidr Victims' Compensation fund for survivors along with other donors' appeals. Nonetheless the Bangladeshi English media and blogosphere continue to have fewer reports on relief, but these few continue to report higher than expected damage estimates, disparities in relief distribution & recovery including safe water, requests for more donor funds by the CA, and also new loans given to a big micro-credit NGO to expand its activities, while at the request of the CA and Army Chief, key microcredit-NGOs announced suspension of installment collections.

Speaking of survivors: what about compensation, cancellation of micro-credit debt for Sidr's dead victims, and repayment pressures on struggling survivors???? More conflicting stories have appeared since I first posted this story at the end of November. As my long title shows, the stor(ies) still are unclear. At first, the media reported that some NGO staff members had been pressurizing borrowers for interest-loan payment. These borrowers had survived Cyclone Sidr, but lost their businesses-capital-customers and could not make repayments.

On 4 Dec, the media reported that the CA had met with a group of multi-lateral donors to request $1 billion for long-term reconstruction of shelters, embankments, and coastal areas. The donors urged best practices from other rehabilitation efforts and the need for more shelters, but also voiced their concerns, “that the caretaker government needs to be more careful because of its short tenure, especially as the donors feel the project would compel the government to make some tough decisions.”

Then starting from 5 December onwards, the CA and Army Chief have asked NGOs to tell their field staff to end the pressure and to forego payments at least until March and one newspaper opined that the NGOs should take these actions upon themselves, too. The CA and Army Chief also asked the Bangladesh Bank to consider waiving agriculture loan payments and disburse approved loans. Have the micro-credit field staff gotten these messages?

As of that previous week, no. As I wrote before, on Nov 26 the Caretaker government had asked NGOs not to demand loan repayments right now from cyclone survivors. Nonetheless, in a Daily Star article, Bilkis Begum would like her tk 80,000 microcredit debt cancelled because she feels like repayment is at least one year away. Md. Yunus of Grameen Bank explains why such debts cannot be cancelled, but that GB would offer 'interest free loans' tk 10,000 towards rebuilding account holders' houses, more time to pay off their debts and offers of new loans, e.g, more debt.

Then on 27 Nov 07, the Daily Star reported that micro-credit NGOs may have to cancel tk 600 cr (tk six billion) loans because of rules that if borrowers died, then their debts must be canceled. According to this article "In 12 south and south-western districts, some Tk 1,159 crore in loan remains outstanding with 15 lakh people, with 42 microcredit organisations operating in the region."Over 1227+ borrowers have died leaving the NGOs with many debts to cancel. These NGOs included Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, organizations affiliated with PKSF, and other smaller organizations.

Another official commented, "Although the microcredit providers are not going to make an announcement of the write-off right now, they might finally write the loans off since the small borrowers lost most of their houses, businesses, and other assets". Other officials indicated that they did not want to announce any more plans because people who could repay their loans would try to have them canceled, but they had advise their staff to 'suspend' their collection efforts from cyclone affected borrowers for the time being.

These debt cancellations will impact the micro-credit sector, but to what extent will only be seen over time. Critics have noted that many NGOs have used micro-credit operations as money makers among their other activities. Last year, as New Age noted about a World Bank report most NGOs survive and run their programs on micro-credit interest and not local donations (for bn version or full report) . Others have complained that although national offices made announcements about suspension of collection, often this message failed to trickle down to field staff who were under pressure from higher levels to collect loans.

Finally, this past week of 1-7 Dec 07, the national NGO offices gave their post Sidr plans. Grameen Bank announced suspension of installment payments for Cyclone Sidr survivors until end of June 2008 and interest free ‘realisable’ loans, and other interest free loans for rebuilding houses, livelihoods (which still increase debts), and cancellation of debts and return of savings to families of debtors who perished in Cyclone Sidr. ASA and PKSF announced similar packages. More recently BRAC announced that it would write off loans of tk 100 crore, discontinue installment collection until March, and provide loans to recover economic livelihoods. Interestingly, a few days earlier, BRAC announced a new $55m unsecured loan of seven years to expand taka microfinance from a consortium of international lenders . There have been no reports on what the smaller micro-credit NGOs will do about their loan write-offs for borrowers who died in Cyclone Sidr and/or borrowers-survivors who may be unable to service their loans given the lost of their businesses, dwellings, and customers. Or their viability: since most small NGOs have depended on loan repayments to fund their activities how they will continue to fund their programmes?

Nonetheless, by all accounts of the devastation in the coastal region, many surviving borrowers may never be able to recover much less with the micro-credit debt burden and pressurization on the survivors' backs. One author noted recently that in some areas so much food had come that some younger workers sold the excess food to meet other living needs and did not want to work in reconstruction. Further, his respondents’ “experience pertaining to default in payment of installment was not pleasant.” From this, readers-activists might ask: could surviving micro-credit debtors have to sell relief food-materials to make payments now and/or when installment collections resume?

Some previous micro-credit researchers has noted that often times women loan recipients skimped on food and household expenses to make their payment, e.g. eating their installments. Will the additional loans & debt to stimulate economic recovery be enough, especially if customers have no funds to make purchases from micro-credit businesses? What will happen to the borrowers and NGOs once the no- installment period passes and their debts-service have continued to accumulate through the interest free loans? This is how NGOs have padded their repayment rates—by giving more loans to pay off old loans and/or borrowers have taken multiple loans and/or borrowed from smaller micro-credit NGOs to pay off debts to larger NGOs. How long can borrowers--especially women borrowers-- and small NGOs in cyclone stricken areas survive these payment patterns?

So what is/are the real situations throughout the Cyclone Sidr area in regard to micro-credit installments and relief; for NGOs & survivors-borrowers?

note: this is a revision-update of a 28 Nov 07 post

cross-posted in Drishtipat

Eve-teasing/Day 2.5/16 days Gender Activism VAW

Day 2 Theme: Occupy All Spaces

Around the world, women have to reclaim their spaces and rights on the streets, public spaces, schools, transportation, cyber cafes (w/o other customers viewing disturbing images in the next seat), and and google searches on the internet. Many women face restrictions on their access to education, streets, and finding a secure space in a cyber cafe and internet.


They even have a hard time using their mobiles in a safe and secure way. As I noted in my earlier post, missed calls and/or phishing phone calls can also harass women users. Mobile cameras have been used to take and distribute graphic images of women (see Hana's post).

At the same time, mobile or cell phones can be life lines for battered-abused women; many shelters in USA and elsewhere seek donations of older & unregistered mobiles so that abused women can communicate easily with the shelter or authorities if the abuser blocks her phone usage or to have a safe-secure line. More recently, mobile phones enabled Bangladeshis to communicate with their near and dear ones during Cyclone Sidr.

Another issue on for women to occupy all spaces is eve-teasing--or men's street sexual harassment or molestation of young (any) women who travel their own streets to and from work, school, or their assorted tasks. For an excellent analysis, see Shoma Chatterji's post on eve-teasing in Kolkata and elsewhere in Fighting eve-teasing: rights and remedy.

Eve-teasing occurs in urban areas as well as in rural areas in South Asia and elsewhere although its name varies from country to region. In 2004-5 the Bangladeshi women's group, Mahila Parishad distributed a poster and conducted a campaign against eve-teasing because several young women, students, and even young girls committed suicide owing to social pressures-shame-daily harassment. In 2007, Advocate Habibun Nessa of Naripokkho, reported 29 suicide deaths in the last four years. In some cases the police colluded with the eve-teasers and blamed the women for their own problems. Bangladesh has no laws against eve-teasing, much less respect for women who dare to venture alone or even in groups in the streets.

These pressures also affect women's travels to Nari Jibon, which usually occurs with one or more friends. We've found that if a friend or travel companion stops coming to Nari Jibon , then the other student drops out unless she can find another friend to come to Nari Jibon.

Or two young women students who went out on the streets for a photo assignment and to ride a bus to and from Nari Jibon had to deal with young men who pushed ahead of them and eve-teased. Many times women get on the bus and find that men have taken the 'women's seats and they feel insecure in the packed bus. Photographer Syeeda Farhana captured sequence of Moina and Sathi as they tried to board a bus c. 2005:

The good news is that these women persevered and continued to come to Nari Jibon for English and computer training, pursued their higher education and taken some teaching jobs. Nonetheless many women service holders contend with daily eve-teasing as they commute to and from their jobs and same-same for students as they walk and/or travel to their schools. Eventually, women and/or guardians decide that these pressures are too much and they drop out of school, get married for security, and in some cases commit suicide. Dhaka has tried adding a few women only buses and other countries have tried adding women-only subway cars, but these measures & added buses will not be enough until men start treating women and girls with more respect as they move through and live in various spaces.

Time for women to freely and safely occupy all spaces!

What Disaster? Category 10 Cyclone Sidr Bangladesh- NE India

For several days, I've been watching the approach of Cyclone Sidr in Bay of Bengal, which has grown to a Category 10 Cyclone (or Hurricane 4+ or bigger than Katrina--and we all saw the disaster and still unresolved mess in New Orleans & the coast of the USA). It's supposed to make landfall in the next 12 hours or so in the densely populated coastal areas of NE India near Kolkata and Bangladesh before veering still as a Category 10/ Hurricane 4 into the mid section of Bangladesh. Instead of weakening as it approached the coast, the storm intensity has increased and generating some extraordinary images.

Despite the enormous toil that Cyclone Sidr may take, other bloggers and I have seen little or no coverage in US media on this impending disaster and catastrophe that may be bigger than previous record storms in especially Bhola 1970 where 500,000 people died and another in 1991, where nearly 140,000 people lost their lives.

Over the last few days, India and Bangladesh have ordered evacuations of coastal areas where millions live in low areas barely a foot or more above sea level (and predicted storm surges of 9-12 feet). At least 10 million Bangladeshi need to evacuate, but Bangladesh has cyclone shelters for only about .5 million people.

Evacuations will not be so easy with roads clogged with poor people trying to leave with their only possessions, animals, and children. Much of the transportation in this area is by boats and launches, which have been stopped by the increasingly high winds and waves ahead of this cyclone.

Much of the evacuation burdens will be borne by women who must keep their children and animals safe & fed as well as themselves in the chaos. They will find their own mobility-safety restricted by these tasks and their own clothing-modesty ahead of storm surges, tidal waves, and floods. Many of the deaths in recent Bangladeshi floods and cyclones have been from women and children who have drowned and of the survivors through disease, little or no drinkable water, and little food or relief.

High winds, rain, and cyclone weather will affect the western and middle parts of Bangladesh until Cyclone Sidr becomes a tropical storm in about three or four more days. This will probably bring more floods to central and southern Bangladesh, which have only begun to recover from the summer 2007 floods as well as high inflation in the prices of essential goods. In urban areas such as Dhaka where just a moderate rain results in much flooding of streets, slums, and living areas owing to poor drainage & waterlogging, even more people will suffer from Cyclone Sidr and its heavy rains, winds, storms, and damage.

This impending landfall affects millions in India and Bangladesh whose lives, homes, and crops will be disrupted, displaced and possibly lost, but also generations of their near and dear ones who have migrated to Europe, USA, and other parts of the world for school, work, and family and who now watch, worry, and wait for news.

Please inform yourself about the eventual path and story of Cyclone Sidr, keep the people in its path in your hearts-prayers, and give so that they can recover from yet another disaster in the stormy Bay of Bengal.

Ending Domestic Violence

Since 2005, I have hosted a website of resources on domestic violence in Bangladesh (in Bangla and English) as well state by state resources for South Asian women in USA.

Website address: www.siu.edu/~narijibon/DADV.htm

Many women and men in Bangladesh know little of available resources due to lack of information even though Bangladeshi women experience some of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world (see Ruchira Naveed's [ICDDRB] and others' excellent work). Many women do not want to discuss their struggles and abuse outside of their families.

Knowledge of Bangladeshi and USA resources is very important because Domestic violence (and other forms of violence) travel with migrants and back and forth. Given the transnational locations of many family members, the survivors may be in one country while the abusers move back and forth; and abusers’ families threaten the survivors’ families (esp in Bangladesh).

Recently the Daily Star reported on a Bangladeshi woman (Nadine) who is fighting for her life in New York city after her new husband, blogger-writer, and Columbia university lecturer (Sajid Huq) allegedly beat and raped her. She called the police who arrested Sajid on rape and abuse charges. Her abusive husband's elite family is threatening her family with false cases. More recently many prominent Bangladeshi women's organizations and leaders have protested the continued harassment of Nadine and her family and called for justice in Bangladesh and USA. Another blog provides insights and pictures from survivor Nadine. Some have organized on Facebook a group to provide Justice for Nadine! while others are speaking up and writing to challenge the victim-blaming anti-Nadine activities of the abuser's, family, and friends who have posted misinformation on these websites!

These adamant denials, reprisals, and harassment against an educated woman from an elite family show the continued need for more education and activism against violence against women in all contexts and classes. Many women know when they speak up and refuse to be abused or file charges, that others will step up their abuse of the woman and her family to keep them silent and/or in their place or drop charges. Or com/promises to behave are made and the cycle of abuse continues. If this can happen to an elite women, what is a poor woman to do?

At least, the USA has laws against domestic violence and rape that an immigrant woman can use if she knows of them and/or trusts the police, while Bangladesh still has no specific laws against domestic violence despite many meetings, networks, and donor dollars. Meanwhile, the results from USA immigration laws-policy on migrants seeking asylum in USA from abusive partners who hold their spousal visas have been so-so, even though abused women can seek a visa in their own right (please contact a shelter program near you in USA for more information). At the same time, the abused woman was supposed to report promptly her abuse to the local police in USA, but many women do not trust the USA police and/or do not know of any options. Further, in 2005 and onwards, I have learned that many USA and Bangladeshi organizations did not have one another’s contact information to share information about laws and programmes. I have continued to share these resources over time, for example, the excellent links on Adhunika's domestic violence post.

****Check out a new resource from January 2008: New Blogsite OUT AGAINST ABUSE to educate and organize the South Asian Community about domestic violence-gender abuse--please read, comment, and discuss this resource!****

I hope to update the article resources soon. I would appreciate any comments, updates, as well. These resources were developed as part of my research-work in Bangladesh with Dr. Rifat Akhter (who developed USA resource list), Dr. Mahmuda Islam (who visited many USA locations and informed my Bangladesh work), and Mr. Saiful Islam (who has visited many NGOS working to end domestic violence in Bangladesh and co-wrote and translated the English-Bangla brochure).

Bhalo thakben to all the brave women and men who are working to end violence against women, children, and men!

also cross posted on Bangladesh from Our View

cyber censorship bangladesh?

As an ominous prequel to the Burma blog protest 4 Oct 07 ( in response to recent events, crackdowns, closure of blogs, internets, and deaths of many protestors):

E-Bangladesh & Rezwan's The Third World View have reported that RAB (Rapid Action Battalion) and BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission) members are conducting house to house searches of fast computer connections. They have demanded this information from assorted ISPs (connection providers). Their searches are going beyond supposed searches for VOIP equipment (illegal in Bangladesh), but also seeking users' administrative and user passwords, too. Supposedly Bangladesh's submarine cable for internet services has been cut for the third time by miscreants. During the September riots in Bangladesh, the Govt ordered mobile networks to close and the submarine cable was 'cut' two times, effectively isolating Bangladesh except for people who had land-line phones and dial up computer connections.

Very difficult to teach women (and others) on how to use computers under such conditions (including frequent loadshedding) as well as conduct cyber-commerce-communication for much needed revenues and Bangladesh's development. So should we concentrate educating garment workers who average around five years of education to improve their productivity on low-end garments? In contrast with some nearby countries with garment factories, the vast majority of garment workers do not use computerized machines, but the factory owners, managers do so to receive orders and designs from abroad.

Ironically these reports emerge the day before BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Employers Association) makes its case in Washington, D.C. for maintaining good trade status (GSP--generalized system of preference) with USA despite claims by the AFL-CIO affiliates that few or no labour unions function in factories and EPZs. Bangladeshi newspapers report dramatic declines in the future orders by garment factories and their lowly paid female employees! Orders have gone to other countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, and China. Others have noted discontent among garment workers vs. usual conspiracy theories.

So like the previous attempts to curtail mobile and internet use by the military backed Caretaker government, I hope that this current crackdown ends soon so the the students and Bangladeshi workers can get on with their uncensored learning, use of computers, and improving Bangladesh's presence & productivity in the emerging global-cyber economy. Also the USA, which has poured millions of democracy and women's empowerment dollars into Bangladesh and nearby countries, must acknowledge the increasing prevalence of military backed governments in the region.

(**Notably, E-Bangladesh is edited by Tasneem Khahil, a 'former' Daily Star reporter, who was arrested by GOB agents for a previous Blog posting during January-February and now is in exile in Europe; Rezwan blogs from Germany)

UPDATES: See discussions and latest links as well as Bangladesh print media's silence on these issues b/c many newspaper-publishers are under government scrutiny-investigations-financial
woes.

Meanwhile Bangladesh's testimony before the US Trade Commission on GSP status has resulted in not a single story in mainstream USA media, but only in Daily Star coverage. However, garment factory owners and BGMEA have been warned by government advisers to pay salaries and holiday bonuses by 11 Oct 07 to avoid any more protests by garment workers; such protests might deter potential RMG buyers and orders, which are already very limited.

Why I decided to start blogging

Greetings from kbw a/k/a pagol nari. I've decided to take the blogging plunge after the Nari Jibon Project received a Global Voices/Rising Voices blogging grant this summer. After learning much more about Global Voices and other assorted blogs and the growing power(s) of citizen media, I started thinking about my own blog. Then the Blogging Dol has been having much fun with their English and Bangla blogs--and I had much more that I wanted to say than would fit into a few Nari Jibon Blog posts.

I've been going back and forth from USA to Bangladesh since 2000 when first I traveled on a women's studies consultancy. During my seven trips to Bangladesh, I saw and talked many interesting women and men regarding challenges of women workers, micro-credit, and empowerment. I returned with some graduate students and started on a series of research and action projects on domestic violence resources and women's work opportunities in garments and other sectors during global restructuring. During two extended fellowships (2002-3; 2004-5), I had more opportunities to learn about women's and men's daily lives and also wonder about what women could do if they had to change or lost their jobs to economic restructuring. I met some very interesting young girls-boys on the streets, women workers in different occupations, including garment, sex, and domestic work, housewives, beggars, teachers, professors, NGO activists, businesswomen among others. I also met some men who had their own struggles-issues. I also learned enough Bangla to bargain and get in to trouble.

From these experiences, the Nari Jibon Program emerged and you can read more about this unique training program via the links and my posts. You will also hear about my ongoing research and different perspectives on women's issues, programming, so-called empowerment, and opportunistic uses of gender. I will reflect as well as on being a bideshi (foreigner) in Bangladesh-a moderate Muslim country-post September 2001, during the Iraqi invasion in 2003 (grounded-embedded in my guesthouse by the US Embassy!) and assorted floods and socio-economic-political upheavals, including postponed elections and a military backed care-taker government. However, I've learned some resilience from my stays in Bangladesh and from people who persevere nonetheless.

About my background, I grew up mostly in Western Kansas, Russell, to be specific. During my Bangladesh times, the famous quote from Wizard of Oz came to my mind: "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas, anymore." Two other (in) famous people from Russell, Ks, former KS Senator, Bob Dole and a current PA Senator, Arlen Spector. I went to Fort Hays State University for a degree in Sociology and feminist activism, then off to University of Iowa for my advanced degrees in the same topics. Then I came to scenic Southern Illinois in 1982 and have continued my research on women in global economy and other re-visioning projects since then.

Alas, I am in the USA, starting my fall 2007 semester at my university, working on research & mainstream articles on domestic violence, 2004 floods in Bangladesh, fundraising for Nari Jibon, plotting my next trip, and thinking of my flooded and waterlogged friends and staff in Bangladesh. I'm staring at my overgrown, dry, neglected native plant gardens that have been overrun by honey suckle and more virulent poison ivy in my long-term absences. Nonetheless, many of the plants-shrubs have persevered, despite obvious global warming, droughts, extended growing seasons (we can plant tomatoes mid April instead of May), and temperature extremes.

Enough about me. As soon as I get my class syllabus finished, you will be hearing more about some of the people and flowers that I met-photographed in Bangladesh and other deep thoughts.