Economic Justice

Dear all,

Greetings! VOICE and Bank Information Centre (BIC). This is to invite you/your representative to a training workshop. Please find information below and also details in attached files.

Subject : Unpacking the World Bank Group operations in Bangladesh in the Context of Climate Change and Development

When: 2-4 March 2010

Where: The Catholic Bishops Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), 24/C, Asad Avenue, Mohammadpur, Dhaka- 1207

Who to contact: Farjana Akter, Programme Coordinator, VOICE, <farjanakter@gmail.com>

RSVP: 8158688, 01712-990078

As the number of participants are limited for better outcome, please confirm your participation soonest as possible.  We are only accepting participation through confirmation.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Best regards,

Ahmed Swapan

Some 21 civil society organizations staged a protest rally on Tuesday to denounce the role of the development partners and their allied ‘elite class’ and bureaucrats in development process, saying they were responsible for misusing foreign aid.

They [the development partners in Bangladesh, the ‘elite class’ and the bureaucrats] have made the country increasingly indebted since liberation, the protesters from rights based organizations told the rally.

Bangladesh government on Monday began a two-day dialogue in Dhaka with multilateral lenders and donor countries seeking approval of the poverty reduction strategy, a lender-driven development document.

Parallel to the ongoing BDF meeting, the rights organizations — Arpan, AMKS, Eso, Bangladesh Krishak Federation, CSRL, EquityBD, Kishani Sohva, Lead Trust, On line knowledge centre, Protikrit, Karmajibi Nari, La via campesina, MFTD, Prantik, Purbasha, RCSV, Swadhin Bangla Garments Sramik Federation, Solidarity Workshop, Sirajganj Flood Forum, Uddipan, Voice, and World Development Movement, UK—organised the rally in front of National Press Club in the city.

The organizers demanded sovereign, democratic and responsible financing to ensure that the benefits of aid and loans reach the poor through a transparent and accountable manner.

Speakers at a press conference yesterday said loans and grants of the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other international financial institutions are destructive for Bangladesh as the donor agencies take away more kickbacks than what they have provided as aid or loans.

Only 25 percent of the foreign aid and loans provided to the country go to the target group while the rest of them are attained for the auxiliary and support services, they added.

The speakers said this at the press conference organised by VOICE, a rights-based research group, and Aid Accountability Group, a civil society alliance, at the National Press Club in the city.

They called on the government to reject destructive aid and formulate an independent economic policy instead of PRSP and to make all loan agreements public ensuring transparency and accountability.

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=126405

VOICE, a rights research organisation, on Sunday called upon the government to reject ‘destructive foreign aid’ that has crippled national policymaking by robbing it of ‘sovereignty and independence’.
The rights leaders, at a press conference ahead of the meeting of the Bangladesh Development Forum, insisted that the government should announce when it will stop receiving conditional external assistance and begin to prepare the national budget with domestic resources only.
They added that only 25 per cent of foreign aid and loans reached the target group while the rest went to auxiliary and support services including the fees of foreign consultants.
‘The people of Bangladesh are becoming more and more indebted due to the loans given by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and thus have become more vulnerable to foreign manipulation,’ Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, told reporters at the National Press Club.
He pointed out that the lender-driven Poverty Reduction Strategy had failed to reduce poverty — rather the percentage of the poor has increased in recent years.

Conditions for development loans must be made public

BDF won’t accommodate people’s voices or representatives: VOICE

Rights group VOICE, complaining that people’s voices will not be heard nor their representatives accommodated in the upcoming dialogue between the government and global lenders, has demanded that that conditions imposed for, and the expenditure pattern of, foreign aid-funded development projects must be made public.

Referring to the meeting of the Bangladesh Development Forum scheduled to be held in Dhaka on February 15-16, VOICE has called for a debate on the relevance of external loans, which should involve politicians, professional groups, businesspeople, civil society dignitaries, and representatives of local government and community organisations.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the BDF meeting which will be attended by representatives of the Local Consultative Group, a forum of lending agencies and donor countries, and those of the newly emerging economic superpowers.
‘People from all strata of life do not have any access to the Forum although it demands greater participation of stakeholders,’ Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of VOICE, noted in a position paper titled ‘Destructive Aid and Bangladesh Development forum 2010’.

Subject : PRESS CONFERENCE

Title :Reclaim People's Power for National Development, Reject Destructive Foreign Aid

Date : 14 February 2010
Time : 10.30 morning
Venue : VIP Lounge, National Press Club, Dhaka

Speakers :

Organized by:

Aid Acountability Group
VOICE

Writing history’s longest suicide note

The UN office in Ratchadamnoen Ave., Bangkok, where the intersessional
global climate negotiations was recently held with glacial speed. Photo by Red Constantino

Here we are.

The morning after.

When the plane finally touched asphalt I could call home.

Kamuning in the heart and also beneath my feet.

Content canine Emil is sleeping on my left, at peace with the slow day
in the corner where he fought and defeated the ugly things that once
attempted to impose their space in our house.

In front of us, the bougainvillea planted years ago in the street.

The plant is stretching out, with multiple trunks stemming from a
single base, thorned stems shooting upwards, towards the sun, merging
with the crown of the old chesa.

The Asian Peoples' Solidarity for Climate Justice was formed to prepare the civil society program in parallel with the United Nations climatetalks, 28 September to 9 October 2009, Bangkok.

On 29 there was a press conference organized by The Asian peoples's solidarity for climate justice where Farjana Akter from VOICE read out the statement which is below:

We, the Asian Peoples’ Solidarity for Climate Justice,  are gathered here in Bangkok, Thailand to take our stand in the face of an unprecedented conflict.
It is a conflict over resources, a conflict driven by unfettered profiteering and the slavery of consumption, it is a conflict brought about the domination and ascendancy of private interest over public good.

Among the direst consequences of this conflict is global warming and the planetary impacts that are just beginning to unfold as we speak, such as rising seas, mass forced migration due to massive drought and the increase in frequency and severity of extreme weather events. The impacts also include rapid economic meltdown and the destruction of jobs and livelihoods, because the environmental ills the world is facing today are inextricably wedded to the global economic and financial system.

NEW! Troubled Waters: Water Sector Transparency and Accountability.

Initiated by VOICE in July 2008, this documentary focuses on the inherent corruption in the water management systems and the problems of the water services in the Mymensingh municipality. Not only does it bring to light the inadequacies of the water system and their effects on the people, but also the role of the administrative system.

The film also highlights how people struggle to have their needs met and recognized by policy makers and water service providers, further encouraging the development of more accountable and transparent practices. It relates the consumers opinions and suggestions on the feasibility of overcoming the water sector corruption problems. It also shows the necessity of public awareness of water sector issues so that people know their basic rights, as well as promotes the building of an accountable relationship between water service providers and the citizens.

See the complete water sector documentary on Youtube here.

Read more details about our videos on our Audio/Video page.