women – Ubinig

6Apr

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Development

Farmers feed people

Farida Akhter || Tuesday 06 April 2021 || READ BY SUBJECT: Development Farida Akhter THE report on the State of Food and Agriculture: Innovation in Family Farming (2014) by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation estimates that 500 million small family farms, owning less than a hectare of land, are the source of more than 80 per cent of the world’s food supply. In Bangladesh small farm holdings (less than 3 acres) constitute 84 per cent of total farming households; medium farms 14 per cent and large farms (over 7.50 acres) are only 9 per cent, keeping to a 2015 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics report. Reliable vital statistics are notoriously lacking in Bangladesh making a reasonable assessment of the state of agriculture difficult. There are limitations of assessing the state...

Bangladesh: the importance of farmers’ seed systems and the roles of Community Seed Wealth Centers

30Jul

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Biodiversity, Knowledge and Culture

Bangladesh: the importance of farmers’ seed systems and the roles of Community Seed Wealth Centers

|| Monday 30 July 2018 || READ BY SUBJECT: Biodiversity, Knowledge and Culture The Nayakrishi Seed Network (NSN), known as the Nayakrishi Beez Shongho in Bangla, is the active farmers’ network of Nayakrishi Andolon with specific responsibility to ensure the collection, conservation, distribution and enhancement of seeds among the members of Nayakrishi Andolon. Women farmers are the key actors and leaders in the network. Community Seed Wealth Centers are run by farmers as the apex body of the Nayakrishi Seed Network linked with the Seed Huts (known as Beez Akhra) at the village level. Here is a Policy Brief of UBINIG on farmers seed system supported and published by Bioversity International, a CGIAR Research Centre, Rome, Italy. Bangladesh-the-importance-of-farmers-s...

Improving Maternal, Neonate and Child Health in Bangladesh

14Dec

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Maternal & Child Health

Improving Maternal, Neonate and Child Health in Bangladesh

UBINIG Background The government of Bangladesh has a goal to reduce Maternal Mortality ratio to 143 per 100,000 live births by 2015 in order to achieve the MDG 5 by 2015. So far the decline is 194 per 100,000 (as of 2010) showing a good trend of decline to be able to reach the goal by 2015. Maternal causes account for 14% of all the causes of deaths among women of reproductive age. According to Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Survey, 2010 haemorrhage and eclampsia are the dominant direct obstetric causes of death, together responsible for more than half of the MMR followed by Obstructed or prolonged labor (7%) and abortions (1%). Indirect obstetric causes of deaths account for about a third (35%) of maternal deaths. Maternal morbidity is also a big issue, especially obst...

Improving Access of Maternal and Child Health Care Service

13Nov

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Maternal & Child Health

Improving Access of Maternal and Child Health Care Service

UBINIG In early 2012, UBINIG took an initiative for improving access of maternal and child health to the government health service delivery system. For this purpose, UBINIG selected 130 villages in 23 Upazila under 15 districts, where the women of reproductive age, pregnant women and children under 5 (U5) had very little access to government health service delivery system. UBINIG also identified various reasons for poor access including transport, non-availability of health professionals and as women many of them found difficulties to move. UBINIG also recorded that the government health professionals have occasional visits from the government Health and Family Planning Services who conduct immunization campaigns. To access government health care, villagers have to travel a minimum...

GOLDEN RICE : Threat to pregnant women and foetus

5Nov

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GMOs & Genetic Engineerings

GOLDEN RICE : Threat to pregnant women and foetus

Farida Akhter WE DO not eat rice for Vitamin A since there are plenty of vegetables and Vitamin A-rich food sources that can meet our need. So, if someone looks for Vitamin A in rice, instead of green and yellow Vitamin A-rich vegetables, we will, of course, question the person’s common sense or competence in open source knowledge. But if someone tells us that they have designed rice in such a way that we can now get Vitamin A from the rice, such persons are called ‘scientists’. This is amazing, indeed! Obviously, rice does not naturally contain Vitamin A; so it must be engineered to distort its natural character to become something that it was not and never intended by nature. Why scientists have to use their talent in such an unnecessary and insensible work! So, when we he...

Gender-specific tobacco control measures and Women’s leadership

5Nov

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Tobacco

Gender-specific tobacco control measures and Women’s leadership

Farida Akhter || Wednesday 05 November 2014 The World Health Organization (WHO) took the lead in 2003 to formulate a global treaty called the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. It was the first treaty that was designed in developing a regulatory strategy to address addictive substance, such as tobacco and that asserted the importance demand reduction strategies as well as supply issues. The FCTC was unanimously adopted on 21 May 2003, at the 56th World Health Assembly, and was opened for signature, for a period of one year, from 16 June 2003 to 22 June 2003 at WHO headquarters in Geneva and thereafter at United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 30 June 2003 to ...

Beijing Plus 20 Review: Incoherence in Women and Environment Link!

2Nov

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Environment & Ecology

Beijing Plus 20 Review: Incoherence in Women and Environment Link!

Farida Akhter Policy making in a country like Bangladesh is not an easy task, a meaningful policy position is impossible without serious efforts from the policy makers to involve stakeholders; secondly, it is necessery to involve various groups and organisation active through empirical reserach or programmes that government wishes to address. Without a meaningful base of empirical reseach and participation of relevant stakeholders, a policy document could hardly be of any value. If policy makers ignore these very basic essentialities policy documents are reduced into statements related to few projects, lacking conceptual clarity and coherence with blurred or misplaced objectives. A recent report of Women and Children Affairs Ministry is no exception. This year (May 2014) ...

13Mar

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Women's Issues

Women Learning from Egypt

Farida Akhter || Sunday 13 March 2011 || READ BY SUBJECT: Women's Issues Farida Akhter Inspired by Nawal in Egypt This year (2011), on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, perhaps the most interesting thing to discuss is the uprising in the Arab world particularly in Egypt and Tunisia. It was really inspiring to see the young generation active in the movement and not giving up till they have achieved their goal. In Cairo, there were hundreds of thousands of men and women in Tahrir Square. Some of my feminist friends, living in other countries, raised issue of the visibility of women in Tahrir square compared to men. I am afraid that this perspective may undermine the participation and the leadership role of women in such a massive popular protest agai...

14Mar

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Women's Issues

Quilt

Narigranta Prabartna 100 years of International Women's Day, Celebrating Women's Struggles 6 – 8 March, 2010. Jointly organized by: Narigrantha Prabartana, UBINIG and Odhikar QUILT: EXPRESSING WOMEN… "SHOTO BOCHORER SHOTO KANTHA": HUNDRED QUILTS CELEBRATING 100 YEARS Quilt making, commonly known as Kantha making is a very favourite collective activity of women in Bangladesh. On the occasion of 100 years of celebration of International Women's Day with the participation of women from rural and urban areas, it was considered very important to involve a greater section of women to record how they feel and how they wanted to express themselves. Kantha making, that is expressing without pen and paper, was the best way to bring all women, literate or illiterate, together to expr...

20Jan

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Women's Issues

Celebrating Women’s Struggle

Narigrantha Prabartana and UBINIG Celebrating Women's Struggles (on the occasion of 100 years of International Women's Day) Introduction The International Women's Day on 8th March, 2010 is going to be very significant for the women's movement around the world, and particularly for the women in Bangladesh as it is the completion of 100 years of declaration of the International Women's Day. This Day has become very familiar to the Women's Movement as "Antorjatik Nari Dibosh" and is celebrated all over the country. Women's organizations in Bangladesh are preparing for celebrating the occasion with many events. The International Women's Day was first declared by German Socialist leader Clara Zetkin at the Second International Conference of Socialist Women in 1910 held in Cope...