About Proshika

PROSHIKA- A Center for Human Development is one of the largest non-government development organizations in Bangladesh. During independence war, Pakistani army destroyed the infrastructure and retarded the economic structure and production system. After war, people faced socio-economic severe hardship. Industries remain closed and several millions people became jobless and suffered from social instability. To rescue poor people from these problems many international aid agencies started relief work in Bangladesh. Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO) was one of them. The local staffs of CUSO with experiences of service delivery and mobilization formed an organization named "PROSHIKA" in 1976. After establishment of PROSHIKA it has changed its development approach from relief delivery to community/group-based development approach. Then started work on social economic and cultural empowerment of the poor both rural and urban areas. PROSHIKA realized that without formation of peoples’ organization it was not possible to bring change to the lives of poor. Organization is one of the means to unite people and develop their consciousness and make people capable so that they can take initiatives to change their poverty condition. People’s organization is popularly known as group and in Bangla it is called samiti and the samiti finally has transformed to community infrastructure of poor. PROSHIKA equally emphasizes on both women and men development. Therefore, separate groups are formed for male and female members. In course of time, their social and economic condition improved and most of them achieved self-reliance. They have developed leadership capacity, project management skills, communication skills, mobilization skills and get entrance in the product market, and participation in community and social functions.

As time passed, PROSHIKA undertook several social and economic developments programs in order to make the poor self-reliant. To do this PROSHIKA adopted two-pronged strategy, namely economic and social empowerment. Due to lack of knowledge and skills, the poor could not approach nor get entry to the government and non-government institutions which are responsible for serving people with different services and assistance. Through building poor peoples’ organizations and imparting social development training, PROSHIKA develops their capacity so that they can claim their due rights from the government’s service delivery institutions as well as ensuring life security.