DAM at work

Prize Distribution cere-mony of Ahsania MissionCollege held

Seminar on MultigradeTeaching learning held atIER, University of Dhaka

Mock-drill on Earthquakeheld

Training on Finance, Ac-counts and Administrationheld

Smoking-free life can en-sure happiness

Activities of DAM CLC

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Contents

MarchECDH

E-bulletin of Dhaka Ahsania MissionMission Barta

As in the past, Dhaka Ahsania Mission(DAM) has observed InternationalWomen Day this year also on 8 March.Marking the day, an exceptional pro-gram containing expressing opinion, de-livering speech, rendering song, visionbased open discussion was held at theDAM head office. DAM President KaziRafiqul Alam, Executive Director D. M.Ehsanur Rahman, PRD Director KaziAli Reza, Program Director KhawjaShamsul Huda, Training and MaterialDevelopment (TMD) Director RabeyaSultana and officials of different divi-sions, units and [rograms were present

and took part in it.DAM President Kazi Rafiqul Alam said,Dhaka Ahsania Mission has been work-ing relentlessly to empower and developwomen. The organization has alreadyensured the participation of women inits various programs and institutes. DAM Executive Director Dr. M. Ehsa-nur Rahman said, we have already pre-pared a strategy paper for 2015-2025where the equal participation of womenhas been focused highly. Alongside thehalf-day program at DAM head office,various projects at field level also ob-served the day.

DAM observes Int’lWomen Day Mission Barta

visit : http://www.ahsaniamission.org.bd

/mission-e-bulletin/

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 2 3

Prize Distribution ceremony of An-nual Sports & Cultural competitionof Ahsania Mission College washeld at the College ground on 21March 2015. Dhaka Ahsania Mis-

sion (DAM) President KaziRafiqul Alam was present as chiefguest. Director of Public RelationsDivision Kazi Ali Reza, USA Sec-retary of the organization AnisulKabir Jasir, College Principal Pro-fessor Sheikh Syed Ali, Vice-Prin-cipal Md. Mafizur Rahman and themembers of governing body werepresent in the program. The main program was dividedinto two parts. At the first part,chief guest Kazi Rafiqul Alam andProf. Sheikh Shahid Ali handedover the prizes to the winners aftertheir welcome address. A festiveenvironment was witnessed withthe presence of almost 13 hundredsstudents and their guardians. Noted educationist Khan BahadurAhsanullah (R.) established DhakaAhsania Mission (DAM). As partof various educational and socialdevelopment based activities, Ah-sania Mission College wasfounded in 2002. Principal of thecollege Sheikh Syed Ali hoped thatwith the assistance of guardiansand teachers, the school will reachits idealistic destination.

Prize Distribution ceremony ofAhsania Mission College held

FundamentalTraining of Micro-

finance To enhance the capability thefield activists DAM Foundationfor Economic Development(DFED) organized a 3-daylong fundamental training forthe field activists at the train-ing centre of Vekutia, Jessoreon 21 March 2015. SeniorPrincipal Officer of DFED agri-culturalist Md. Niamul Kabirand Principal Officer (ME) S.MIqbal Hossain were present asthe resource persons. SeniorArea Manager, Jessore andJhenaidah area Md. KhairulIslam acted is the assistanttrainer. A total of 15 field or-ganizers and branch account-ants including 5 from Jessore,3 from Jhenaidah, 3 fromSathkhira and 5 from Bargunaattended in the program.

With the financial support of PalliKarma Sayahok Foundation(PKSF), “Samriddhi” project ofDhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) or-ganized free health camp for preg-nant mothers and children atSukundi Nazimuddin High SchoolPremises under Monohordi Upazilaof Narshingdi District. A team ofgynecologists and child specialiststested pregnant mother and chil-

dren ranging 0-5 age. Upazila Nir-bahi Officer (UNO) of MonohordiMahmud Hasan inaugurated thecamp. Sukundi UP ChairmanAbdul Gani Farazi, MicrofinanceHead of DAM Md. Asaduzzamanspoke on the occasion. Free IodineTablets were distributed among thepregnant mothers. A large numberof people of Monohordi partici-pated.

Health camp in Narshingdi

2 DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin3

Dwail UPC h a i r m a ndistr ibutedworking cap-ital amongthe vegetable

cultivators at DwailUnion of SharishabariUpazila under JamalpurDistrict in March 2015.With the technical sup-port of Helvetus SwissInter-Cooperation and fi-nancial assistance of Con-c e r nUniversal-Bangladesh,Dhaka Ahsania Missionhas been implementingCATT Project in Ja-

malpur District. As partof this activities, workingcapital was distributedamong the 2318 familiesof 5 Unions under the up-azila. Among these bene-ficiaries 30 vegetablecultivators received thisresource to build exhibi-tion plots. Field facilitatorof Dhaka Ahsania Mis-sion (DAM) Md. Mah-mudul Hasan andCommunity MobilizationOfficer Md. Jahidul Islamwere present at the distri-bution program.

Working Capital distributedin Sharishabari

Reception for A+achievers

Like children of many other schools,learners from UNIQUE II Project ofDhaka Ahsania Mission alsoachieved `A+` and `A` grade in thelast PSC examination held on 2014.To encourage these successful chil-dren, a reception was given them re-cently by the community. In thereception, a gift box with a commen-dation letter from UNIQUE II projecthas been provided to 46 learners ofDhaka and Mymensingh region.Each gift box contained (i) Schoolbag (ii) Oxford Advanced Learner’sDictionary (iii) Geometry box (iv)Scale (v) Color box (vi) Water pot(vii) 6 Pens (viii) 6 Pencils and(ix) Clip board. This recognitionsupplemented by small gifts andcommendation letter have pleased thechildren and their parents to a greatextent.

Seminar on Multigrade Teachinglearning held at IER, University

of DhakaA seminar titled MultigradeTeaching in the Asia pacificregion (Bangladesh scenario)was held on 25 February 2015at the Institute of Educationand Research (IER), Univer-sity of Dhaka. The key notepaper was presented by Prof.Nazmul Huq, IER and DrZia-us Sabur of BRAC Uni-versity. Among others, Dr M

Ehsanur Rahman, Executive Di-rector, Dhaka Ahsania Mission,Dr Jalal Uddin, Director, IER,Dr. Janyandra Biswas, Addi-tional Secretary, Ministry ofEducation and Md, Alamgir,DG DPE were present on theoccasion. UNIQUE II projectis being implemented throughmultigrade approach sup-ported by European Union.

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 4

A Match Making workshop between ‘mediumand small entrepreneurs’ and ‘input and outputmarket actor, LSP and Money Lending organi-zations’ was held at Sharishabari Upazila on 19February 2015. The workshop aimed at easingthe relationship with the financial institution toget loan and creating market connection forselling their goods at fair price. Managers ofGrameen Bank, ASA and Sakti Foundationpromised to help the entrepreneur from their re-spective position. Sharishabari Area Coordinator of Dhaka Ahsa-nia Mission Raghab Nandan Datta and Com-munity Mobilization Md. Jahidul Islamfacilitated the workshop.

Match MakingWorkshop held in

Jamalpur

A Mock-drill to enhance aware-ness on Earthquake and Firewas held at the Baghchar Gov-ernment Primary School andBaghchar Ideal High Schoolground under Kadamtali Thanaof Dhaka City on 21 March2015. With the financial assis-tance of Cofra Foundation,Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM)and Plan InternationalBangladesh jointly organized

the program under “DisasterPreparedness and Mitigation :Build Safe And Resilient Com-munities” project. The project isplaying vital role to form volun-teer team, plan implementationfor ward based a disaster riskreduction at 5 wards of DhakaSouth City Corporation (DSCC).Sixty Government and Non-government Schools of those 5wards are implementing various

activities regarding disaster riskreduction. Students of Baghchar School,School disaster managementcommittee, Student Council,Local and National Volunteersparticipated in the mock-drill.Bangladesh Fire Service andCivil Defense supervised theoverall program. District reliefand rehabilitation officer ofDhaka Anowarul Islam waspresent in the program as chiefguest while President ofBaghchar Government PrimarySchool and Baghchar IdealHigh School Tazul Islamchaired. Assistant Social Serv-ice Officer of Dhaka Zone-05Afzalur Rahman, Officer inCharge (OC) of ShyampurThana Nur-e Azam Mia, OC ofKadamtali Thana Abdus SalamMia and Unit Manager of PlanInternational Bangladesh AbdulMannan were present as spe-cial guests. Assistant Director of Dhaka Ah-sania Mission Jahangir Alamdelivered the welcome address.

Mock-drill on Earthquake held

DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin5

Capacity Building Training on Fi-nance, Accounts and Administra-tion of DAM-CLC project undereducation programs of Dhaka Ah-sania Mission was held on 21-22March 2015. The 2 day trainingwas organized in DAM RegionalTraining Center in Chittagongwhere 34 staffs including project’sRegional Managers, Accounts &Finance Officers, Regional Man-agers, 12-Upazila Area Managers,Admin & Finance assistances aswell as project’s Accounts Officer,Coordinator Basic Education andrelated staffs from 4 districts of Ja-malpur, Noakhali, Laximpur andChittagong participated. The train-ing discussed the basis of Ac-counts, Finance & AccountsManagement, DAM Financial Poli-cies, VAT-TAX, Financial Report-ing, Audit, Administration. As aresource person, Finance & Ac-counts Manager of DAM-CLCproject Khandoker Shahiduzzaman

facilitated the training. Khaduzuna-har Shapna coordinated the train-ing. Facilitator discussed the easysolution on Finance, Accounts andadministration related issue andpresented guidelines of these is-sues. On the other hand, he alsobuilt field staffs capacity throughquestion-answer session. That the training was organized

with the financial support ofEOSC, EACI, Marico Bangladesh,Cordaid- the Netherlands. It is be-lieved that through the training,DAM-CLC staffs will be more ex-perienced on Finance, Accountsand Administration that will con-tribute to project’s transparency, ac-countability as well increaseproject workforce.

Training on Finance, Accountsand Administration held

Ahsania Mission Children City(AMCC), Panchagarh observes allthe National Days like Bengali

New Year, International MotherLanguage Day, Independence Day,Victory Day every year. In this re-

gard, AMCC observed the Inde-pendence Day 2015 on March 26.AMCC’s scout team participated ina parade and conferred salute toDistrict Commissioner. The pro-gram was arranged by Panchagarhdistrict administration at Pancha-garh district auditorium. Completing the parade, childrencame back and arranged a rallyfrom AMCC to Amkathal Bazar.Returing to campus, children par-ticipated in various sports, essaywriting, art competition and educa-tion coordinator briefed them onthe importance of the Day. Then acultural program was organizedamong AMCC’s children. At noonall the children were served richfood.

AMCC observes Independence Day

DAM at work DAM E-Bulletin 6

Kajol Mia, 42, a resident of Kach-hukhet in the capital, has beensmoking cigarette for the last 10years now. At first, he used tosmoke one pack of less costly cig-arette daily. Now, he reduced thenumber and takes only 5/6 ciga-rettes daily due to sickness. He hasbeen suffering from cough, breath-ing problem, fever, loss of appetiteand pain in his whole body for thelast two months. A labour by pro-fession, he visited the outdoor pa-tient unit of Unani and AyurvedicMedical College at Mirpur in thecapital.On checking his condition, MedicalOfficer Dr. Shazzadul Alam toldhim that he faced the problems dueto smoking.Prescribing some medicines, Dr.Shazzad advised him to give up thehabit immediately.The man said that he would try hisbest to turn away. “But it wouldtake time as I am a chronicsmoker”, he said.

He said that he learnt the habit fromfriends, who inspired him to startsmoking, while he had been stayingat his village home at Tarail upazilaof Kishoreganj district.

“It is difficult to avoid peer pres-sure at young age. The smokinggave no other benefit than givingthe good feeling. Hence, I was

compelled to continue the habit”,he said.It is clear that the man startedsmoking inspired by friends and itwas then difficult for him to avoidthe peer pressure. He got good feel-ing from smoking, for which hehad been continuing the habitthough it posed a great health risk.As he was the son of a poor family,his parents showed negligence re-garding his smoking.Doctors said cigarette contain nico-tine, a substance which is responsi-ble for addiction of the users. Anti-tobacco campaigner AdvocateSyed Mahbubul Alam called uponall concerned to keep their vigil sothat children do not fall victim topeer pressure for smoking.Smoking is injurious to health andeven it may end the life of smokers.Such a situation is never expected.So, vigil is necessary.Tobacco products such as cigarette,gul, sada pata, pan masala (betelquid), khoini, jarda and nassi aremainly used in our country. Allthose contained harmful elements,which can pose serious health haz-ard including death.Take the case of another man,Nazrul Islam, an Advocacy Officerof a big national NGO. He, aged 43now, has been smoking cigarettefor the last 24 years. Though he re-gretted the habit, he cannot discardit as smoking gives him refresh-ment.“As a conscious citizen, I knowsmoking is very bad, I smoke to getrefreshment. Hence, I find it toughto quit. I acquired the habit afterseeing my friends smoking duringmy college life”.Nazrul thought that effective stepsneed to be taken to tackle the prob-lem. Some problems, prevailing inour society, make it easier tosmoke. Tough measures are neededfor its solution, he said.He cited the examples of Singaporeand Thailand where smoking is notallowed at home and many otherplaces and huge amount of fine isrealized if anyone violate the rules.The rules are strictly enforcedthere.

Smoking-free life canensure happiness

DAM at workDAM E-Bulletin76“Certain places have been kept forsmoking in those countries. Smok-ing is not allowed at any otherplaces and huge amount of fine isrealized in case of violation of therules. Inmates also do not allowsmoking at home. Such rulesbrought positive result in thosecountries and I hope it would alsobring the same if it is strictly en-forced in our country”, said Nazrul.The certain places, designated forsmoking, may not easily be avail-able to the smokers due to distanceand any other causes when they de-sire to smoke. They would also re-frain from smoking at other placesfearing huge amount of fine. If theamount of fine is raised and to-bacco rules are strictly enforced inour country, it would undoubtedlybring a good result for tobacco con-trol, he said.A smoker may not easily go to thedesignated smoking places forsmoking purpose, which may dis-courage them to go for smoking.On the other hand, if inmates taketough stance against smoking,smokers would be discouraged.Giving his opinion, AdvocateAminul Islam (not his real name)said that he failed to smoke at hishome due to objection by his minorson. He felt ashamed when his sonderided him for the habit, whichforced him to stop smoking athome.Aminul also told that his father,who was a smoker, also stoppedsmoking at home due to oppositionby his under-aged son.On curbing smoking, Nazrul pro-posed the introduction of strictmonitoring system by school teach-ers and guardians over students sothat the students cannot resort tosmoking. Strong role by all con-cerned can contain smoking.In our country, the amount of finefor smoking in the prohibitedplaces is less, people see smokinganywhere they like and anti-to-bacco laws are not enforced, saidanti-tobacco activists.While sharing their views, manysmokers told that they smoke ciga-rettes mainly to get good feeling

and refreshment though they knowthat the habit is not good.Anti-tobacco campaigners said to-bacco use never brings any good.Smoking may give temporary re-freshment, but ultimately it causeslong-lasting problems. Then, whyshould we choose temporary relief?If we want refreshment and good

feeling, we can get it in many pos-itive ways. We should not use theharmful things for getting refresh-ment. We should not seek pleasure,which ultimately proves destruc-tive.We all have to be serious and sin-cere to find out ways of putting anend to smoking.Addiction Management and Inte-

grated Care (AMIC), tobacco pre-vention institution of Dhaka Ahsa-nia Mission, suggested followingsteps in this regard. The smokerhimself has to take decision of dis-continuing the habit. Discussion onmeans of avoiding smoking can beheld with those who have alreadydeserted the habit. Frank discussionon quitting smoking can be heldwith family members or close ones.It is needed to take cooperation ofall for discarding the bad habit.Try to avoid those places which re-mind you of the matter of smoking.You have to fix a certain date forforsaking smoking. One day beforeforsaking, all cigarette packets,astray and lighter have to bethrown away. Keep busy yourselfin various works on the day of quit-ting smoking. Thought of smokingcan never be brought back intomind. Keep yourself busy in an-other work if the thought of smok-ing comes into mind. Amloki, betelnut, chewing gum or lozenge canbe kept into mouth.Boycotting smoking and other to-bacco products can help us lead ahealthy life. Tobacco use not onlyhampers our health but also causesgreat damage to our economy andenvironment. So, we should boy-cott all the tobacco products by re-moving all the barriers, whichwould help us build a happy life.

Activities of DAM CLC

E-bulletin of Dhaka Ahsania MissionMission Barta