Project description

Title: Promotion of legal and social empowerment of women
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Bangladesh
Lead executing agency: Bangladesh Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MWCA)
Overall term: 2005 to 2011

Context

From the time of the country’s independence in 1971, Bangladesh has made steady progress toward achieving legal guarantees of equal rights for women and the protection of women from discrimination and violence. However, the provisions of international conventions and the guarantees of full equality contained in the constitution have not yet been fully transferred to national legislation. Although existing national legislation does ensure far-reaching gender equality and protection against discrimination and violence, ignorance of the law is widespread. There is also significant resistance in the courts, the law enforcement agencies, and in society at large to the implementation of gender equality – especially in the rural areas of Bangladesh.

Objective

Women in Bangladesh can uphold their rights through the formal and informal justice systems in the country. Women and men participate equitably in and benefit from the development process.

Approach

The project enters into partnership with decision makers in the communities, villages, police, local NGOs and media, in order to build trust between civil society and the legal authorities. It provides gender training for the shalishes – traditional gatherings of male village elders – and supports alternative dispute resolution committees which, helped by local NGOs, build on the shalish tradition. Members of the local government also receive training to implement arbitration processes in accordance with the Muslim Family Law Ordinance and other laws.

In cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the project is promoting gender-responsive, community-based police interventions as well as legal advisory services and assistance for women. Together with other development partners and national stakeholders, it is encouraging a stronger normative framework and better legislation related to women’s rights and empowerment.

The project has provided training on women’s rights awareness to units of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MWCA). These units should facilitate a policy dialogue between MWCA and other ministries and civil-society organisations, and support budgeting and monitoring initiatives in the field of gender.

Together with civil society groups and local NGOs, MWCA and GIZ are using formal and informal rural village systems to help women access the rights and protection the law affords them, and to raise awareness of women’s rights. Activities also include technical cooperation to help establish an information system at the upazilla (sub-district) and district levels, to collect data on violence against women according to key indicators. This will allow the authorities to plan and take action on the basis of sound information.

Results achieved so far

In October 2010, Parliament passed the Bill on Domestic Violence, which provides a stronger normative framework and legislation for women rights.

The second countrywide awareness campaign has already been launched; it is promoting preventive approaches and the use of the existing mechanisms to access women’s rights.

The staff of the Department of Women Affairs now have a better understanding of women’s rights, which is reflected in better quality services in the intervention areas. This means that when women seek justice, their cases are investigated more thoroughly and they have better chances of upholding the rights and protection afforded them by law.

At upazilla and district levels, meetings have been arranged on a regular basis to discuss issues related to violence against women. Representatives from the Department of Women Affairs, local NGOs and other stakeholders all participate in these committees.

Women in the communities are better informed about their rights, with 20% of them now considering access to the available justice systems (formal and informal) to be a genuine option. The overall number of women seeking justice has increased.

Fairer arbitration and mediation practices have been implemented in the formal and informal justice systems in the rural villages.

Further information

• Working Paper: Gender-Responsive Community-based Policing in Bangladesh:
  A Pilot Initiative
  developed by T. Yasmin, Ch. Brendel, Ch. Mialkas, under the guidance of P. Sengupta, GTZ, Dhaka 2006.
  Working-Paper-Gender-Responsive-Community-Bangladesh.pdf, 0.15 MB (English)
  Working-Paper-Gender-Responsive-Community-Bangladesh2.pdf, 1.80 MB (English)