Live-in- Field Experience

Spring 2013

LFE-201

Prepared for

Asst. prof. Talim Hossain

School of social science and humanities

Independent University, Bangladesh

Prepared by

S.M. Imran Hasan

ID# 1020878

Group#2

Date of Submission: 31-01-2013

LFE Spring 2013

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

January 29, 2013

Tapash Kumar Paul

Department of Economics

Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB)

Bashundhara, Dhaka.

Sub: Letter of Transmittal for the assigned LFE report, spring 2013

Sir,

I, the undersigned, would like to submit herewith the �Live-in-Field Experience (LFE) Report

Spring 2013� for your perusal. Upon completion of LFE study on Jogonnathpur (Gu Gu Jari

Para) in Thakurgaon district from January 3, 2013 to 13 January 2013 , this report has been

prepared.

By using questionnaire survey, observation, and preparing case stories, we tried our best to learn

about the demography, geography, social condition and change, economy and agriculture, the

impact of seasonality on various aspects of agriculture, health and environment, and the market

and haat serving the needs of the village. The analysis of data gathered from our field survey

helped us in understanding the lives of the villagers.

We would be glad to clarify any matter whenever you require so.

Sincerely yours,

SM Imran Hasan

ID# 1020878

ACKNOLEDGEMENTS

We express our honest gratitude to our teachers, Tapash Kumar Paul, Nusrat Farah, and Sadia

Haque for their restless guidance in the field.Our special thanks go to our teachers, Professor

Haroun Er Rashid and Asst. Prof. Talim Hossain for educating us on various aspects of LFE.

We also owe many thanks Manab Kallyan Parished (MKP) staffs, the most hospitable people.

Without the constant help and guidance of our assigned LFE monitors, the study would not have

been this thorough. We are really grateful to them.

Last but not the least, our honest gratitude goes to the inhabitants of Jogonnathpur (Gu Gu jari

Para), for their warm and hospitable treatment. Without their enthusiastic cooperation, it was not

possible to make the study successful.

INTRODUCTION:

Live field experience (LFE) is a mandatory course for all students of Independent

University, Bangladesh. Students have to go to a specific rural area to experience the life style

of rural people. Our group was taken to Thakurgaon, a newly added area for doing LFE; we were

given specific villages to understand the people of that area. The area which we were given is in

village named Jogonnathpur village. It was a para called Gu Gu Jariparapara.

When we first thought about going to the village and talking to the people there we thought the

people would be unfriendly also they would not co-operate with us. Afterwards our thoughts

were changed, they were very social, informative and of course friendly. It helped us to know the

people, their culture and lifestyle very vividly.

We know that about 74% of the population in Bangladesh is in the rural area it is very

important as business school students to know and understand how the rural economy works.

Their culture, social norms, educational level everything is correlated.

Bangladesh has an agro based economy it contributes to 30% of the country's GDP and

employed around 60% of the total labor force. The area we went to was also agriculture based in

our assigned Para out of 25 people we surveyed, 12 people were agriculturist. LFE made us

realize how important the farmers of our country are and how much effort they are giving to

support this country.

Through LFE we have seen the real picture of the rural area. The farmers of the rural area

were never in that good condition. They have always been in dire straits. They were struggling to

keep up the supplies of food all over the countries. However the scenarios are changing all over

the countries. Now a day people are not starving anymore. Their income had increased

comparing to the immediate post liberation period. The number of floating people had decreased.

That indicates that fundamental needs like food, clothing, and living places are not burning

issues anymore. But medical facilities and education are not adequate.

Recently, NGOs’ have got involved and are offering many services to develop the situation of

villagers. And they also are offering micro credits and trainings which are improving their

economic situation.

OBJECTIVES:

LIVE-IN-FIELD experience is not only an academic course but also a platform to discover the

root of ourselves. It can also be said as Change in life experience. Until we experienced it we

could not realize the true importance of this course’s objective.

It is hard to limit its objective in words; the objective of this course is and will be used

throughout our entire life. It made us understand who we are? What is our root? It introduced us

with ourselves. Staying in city places and living a robotic life we almost forgot the reality of our

belongingness to this country and to the country people. LFE has opened our eyes to observe the

real picture.

We were taken to Thakurgaon, a newly added area for doing LFE; we were given specific

villages to understand the people of that area. The area which we were given is in village named

Jogonnathpur village. It was a para called Gu Gu Jaripara.

Our study objectives were following:

Our main objective was to find out information about Rural Economy & Development, which

included following specific objectives

1. Farm and non farm economy.

2. Infrastructure, economic change & development.

3. Analyzing the microcredit functions.

4. Income distribution among the villagers.

LIMITATIONS:

A certain precinct within which friars were allowed to beg or exercise their functions also the

time during which they were permitted to exercise their functions in such a district. This is quite

normal to face and handle some limitations during the program. But the art is how nicely

limitations are handled appropriately.

The first obstacle was the weather; it was hard for us to work in such a low

temperature, because we are not used to face this level of cold. The fogs and the

mist in the morning made it quite difficult to get up early in the morning and

proceed for the survey.

In the first day at village the villagers were confused about our motive and felt

inconvenient to talk to us. We felt lack of Communication.

The respondents were not sometimes comfortable to answer the questions as they

felt unsafe to talk about the topic.

As we surveyed the respective village during the working hours of the day, most

of the male were out of their houses. As a result the quantity of female

respondents is higher which may reflect in getting biased answers regarding some

questions.

There was a shortage of informative sources as most of the respondents were

confused.

METHODOLOGY:

Methodology is system of broad principals or rules from which specific methods or procedures

may be derived to understand different situations or solve different problems within the scope of

a particular discipline. Unlike an algorithm, a methodology is not a formula but a set of practices.

As this study required the participation of human respondents, specifically human resource

professionals, certain ethical issues were addressed. The consideration of these ethical issues was

necessary for the purpose of ensuring the privacy as well as the safety of the participants. Among

the significant ethical issues that were considered in the research process include consent and

confidentiality. In order to secure the consent of the selected participants, the researcher relayed

all important details of the study, including its aim and purpose. By explaining these important

details, the respondents were able to understand the importance of their role in the completion of

the research.

The respondents were also advised that they could withdraw from the study even during the

process. With this, the participants were not forced to participate in the research. The

confidentiality of the participants was also ensured by not disclosing their names or personal

information in the research. Only relevant details that helped in answering the research questions

were included.

PROFILE OF THIS VILLAGE:

Location of the Village:

At first we went to MKP, Thakugaon where we were assorted to different villages. Our

village is Jogonnathpur, which is situated around 2 kilometers on the right side of MKP.

A brief description of the village:

Jogonnathpur is a village near Thakugaon town. It takes 15 minutes by rickshaw. It is a

very big village consisting of around 15-20 paras.

My para was gu gu jari para, which is in jonnathpur union, Thakurgaon. once upon a time there

were a lot of gu gu birds in there. There is a big pond which is surrounded by bamboo forest and

there are a lot of gu gu birds still now. This is why the para is called gu gu jari para.

Village Map

BANKING SYSTEM OF GU GU JARIPARA PARA:

In Simpler term micro means small and credit means loans. ‘Microcredit is the extension of very

small loans (microloans) to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals

lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even

the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit. Microcredit is a part of

microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services to the very poor.

Microcredit is a financial innovation that is generally considered to have originated with the

Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In this country, it has successfully enabled extremely

impoverished people to engage in self-employment projects that allow them to generate an

income and, in many cases, begin to build wealth and exit poverty.

There are many NGOs which are giving micro credit to the villagers. I found many NGOs those

are Brac, Grameen Bank, Asa, Islami Bank etc. We tried our best to find out each and everything

about micro credit to find out the real picture of Micro credit schemes.

Sources of loan:

While conducting our PRA in our para, we have found that there were a number of NGOs (Non-

Governmental Organizations) which are active in the Taltolipara and provide micro-credits to the

villagers. Such as-

GRAMEEN Bank

BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee)

ISLAMI Bank

KRISHI Bank

ASA

Though majority of the people of Gu Gu Jaripara are not that poor but most of them have taken

micro credits or loans. So, the NGOs are playing a very important role in changing the socio-

economic structure and development of the overall para. We have conducted our survey among

20 households in Gu Gu Jaripara.

Source: LFE Field survey, 2013 Sample size: 20 households

Yes 84%

No 16%

Household Took Loans or Not

Yes 28%

No 72%

Households Having Savings or Not

Facilities provided by different NGOs:

We found that mostly the middle class and poor class people are the loan takers from different

NGOs operating in Jogonnathpur village. The purpose is different in different sectors. The

following table extracts the facilities provided by different NGOs operating in Jogonnathpur

village.

Name of the

Institutions

Grameen Bank BRAC ASA Islami Bank

Particulars

Amount Of Loan

given (Tk.)

Tk.1000-1000000 Tk.5000-400000 Tk. 6000-150000 Tk. 5000-10000

Collateral Nil Land

Documentation

Nil Land

Documentation

Requirements for

Membership

Must be literate,

have less than 50

satak land

Literacy,

Recommendation

of figurehead

Literacy,

Recommendation

of figurehead

Taking Loan

Purpose of loan Agriculture,

Poultry, Buy

vehicle, establish

bakery, Education

Sanitation,

Business Loan,

Hygene, cattle

Poultry, Cattle

fattening

Agriculture

Satisfaction Moderately

Satisfied

Partially satisfied Trust is increasing Satisfaction is

decreasing

Actions taken by

institutions

Increase the time

for repayment,

seize collateral

Seize Collateral,

seize savings,

Money is

deducted from

the savings

deduction of

money from the

savings account

Increase the time

for repayment,

change the

installment size

Purposes of Loan:

People require loans for different purposes. Most of the villagers earn their livelihood

from agriculture but house building and business have the highest demand for taking loans.

Along with these the people of Gu Gu Jaripara have showed different other purposes also to take

loans.

Source: LFE Field survey, 2013 Sample size: 20 households

Case Studies:

We got to know different stories of different people regarding their repayment of loans.

Some people failed to repay the loan for various problems. But it is not a very common scenario

in this locality. In the following part we have gathered some NGO loan success & failure cases.

The case studies are given below-

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Purpose of Loan

Successful Story:

Rizina Islam, a resident of Gu Gu Jaripara, took a loan amount of Taka 1 lakh from ASA under

the GOB loan group. According to the ASA procedure she had to repay this loan in 10 months.

She had no savings on this loan. She took this loan for business purpose which was the rice mill.

By using this loan she built her house, increased livestock and brought electricity. The interest

rate charged by the ASA is 12.5% on GOB loans. But the actual rate of interest is 25%. The

calculation is shown below-

Borrowed amount = 100,000

Installment per month= 10,000

Installment with interest=12,500

100,000*12.5%=12,500

Number of installment= 10

Actual interest rate = ((12,500*10 - 100,000)/ 100,000) * 100

= (25,000/100,000) * 100

= 25%

Ultimately, she repaid all the loans and it helped her to improve her financial condition.

Unsuccessful Story:

Anwar Hossain (22 years old), took a loan amount of Taka 6,000 from Brac under the Dabi loan

category. According to the Brac loan procedures he had to repay his loan in 46 weeks. He had to

keep a savings of Taka 22. By using this loan he brought a van with Taka 5,000 and repaid Taka

1,000 to his personal loan lenders. The interest rate charged by the Brac is 15% on Dabi loans.

But the actual rate of interest is % 34.17. The calculation is shown below-

Borrowed amount = Taka 6,000

Savings amount= Taka 22 per installment

Installment per week= Taka 168

Installment with interest= Taka 225

6,000*15 %*( 1/4) = Taka 225

Number of installment= 46

Actual interest rate = [[{(225-50)*46}-6,000]/6,000]*100

= [{(175*46)-6,000}/6,000]*100

= (2,050/6,000)*100

= 34.17%

At the end he was unable to repay his payments. As a result he had to sell his goat and

repay the loan of Brac. This loan has made his financial condition very unstable.

Effects of Micro Credit on Gu Gu Jari Para:

There is no doubt that micro credit has improved the financial condition of the people of

Gu Gu Jari para. Though there are very few of failure cases. We have surveyed 25 respondents

and out of those people maximum has said that micro credit has changed their way of living.

However all the NGOs charge higher interest rate than they state to the loaners. There were also

some other hidden charges which we failed to reveal as people could not portray the actual

scenario. As a result we excluded all those charges while calculating the actual interest rates.

Positive & Negative Changes

All our findings indicate towards significant social changes that have occurred over the last half

century. We have summarized the positive and negative impact on society in the table below:

Positive changes

o Education and awareness

o Increased sources of earning

o More employment

o Empowerment of women

o Telecommunication

o Improved sanitation

o Electricity

o NGO support

Negative changes

o Loan dependency

o Deforestation

o Decreased soil fertility

o Lower family bonding

CONCLUSION

In conclusions, we can see on the above information. A social change can improved the people’s

life style in the village. We founded so many changes in the Jogonnathpur village of Gu Gu Jari

para in the last 13years (2000 to 2013). After the liberation period, people were getting

advantages occurred by those changes by reason of different NGOs contribution.

It is very great pleasure and privilege for me that I took a part of LFE 2010 in Spring from IUB. I

have learned many things from LFE. Basically most of the student of our student of our group is

from urban area. We don�t know much about the village and village market. So in LFE we

learned a lot of things about the village market, hat and the buying behavior of the villagers.

From this survey we realize that Bangladesh is mainly a country of villages and the village

market plays a vital role in the life of the villagers. It is an integral part of village life. It save the

villagers from the trouble of going to distant places to buy things of daily use. A village market

is not only develops village life but also promote the export of the country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

o Principles of Marketing by Philip kotler & Gary Armstrong.

o Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

o Economics: Principles, problems & problems, Campbell R. Meconnell & Stanley. Brue

11th edition. Mcgrew � Hill, 1990.

o Reference book: - H.W. BOYD, O.C. WALKER, �Marketing management� Third

Edition.

o www.asa.gov.bd