Organization Details
Name of the Organization: Ehsan Proshikkhon Seba Foundation (EPSF)
Legal Status of the Organization: Joint Stock Company of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Registration No- S-10386.
Size of the Organization: As of June 2015, total number of members of the organization stood at 15,235 and that of regular staffs were 80 of which 15 were working at its head office and the rest 65 were field level staffs.
Size of Annual Budget: Total annual budget of EPSF for the fiscal year 2015-2016 is Tk. 5,600,5500.
Institutional Strengths /Expertise of EPSF
Social Mobilization:
Social mobilization is the key activity of community development. Mobilization is the process by which people get together, organize themselves and take self-driven action to change the society. EPSF implemented a huge number of donor funded projects through social mobilization, various groups like community volunteers, frontline workers, Local Project Society-LPS widely known as Project Implementation Committee-PIG, Adolescent group, children group, women group, mothers group, Union Human Rights Watch Group-UHRWG, Union/Upazila Civil Society Group-UCSG etc. make a commendable contribution to social mobilization in implementing EPSF,s different projects. Thus EPSF gained sufficient knowledge on social mobilization by working at village level, ward level, union level, Upazila level,Pourashava level, district level and national level as well.
Identification of poor and ultra-poor household:
Identification of ultra-poor/ poor household is the key task at the initial stage of a project. EPSF implemented a huge number of donor funded project where poor households were selected based on the prescribed criteria. In some cases, participatory tools and techniques were applied to identify the poor households. So in case of identification of ultra-poor households, EPSF has the capacity to do the same using its vast experiences.
Implementation of Rehabilitation Centre:
EPSF is 6 day care centers in Dhaka city. These are located at Betagi in Barguna. The children of working mothers (who are also group members of EPSF ) are enrolled in these day care centers. EPSF is providing educational materials, technical assistance, health services, and supplementary foods for their smooth growth both physically and mentally.
Experiences with Government/Donors:
EPSF implemented a huge number of projects with the financial/technical assistance of foreign donors as well as Government of Bangladesh. By receiving fund from different agencies, EPSF gained knowledge and skill on their rules/regulation, policy/procedure/ planning and implementation strategy. Following those learning's EPSF develops its own mechanism for successful implementation of actions. EPSF provides health and family planning services.
Interaction with Different Stakeholders:
EPSF beliefs that for successful implementation of the project, it is necessary to build rapport with concerned stakeholders. With the proper cooperation and coordination of all concern it is possible to achieve project goal and objectives. As EPSF implemented a huge number of projects at different levels it has developed a good communication and professional relation with different stakeholders such as project participants, community leaders, local elected bodies, local administration (NGO monitoring committee, UNO, OC, SP, DC, ADC, DLO, DEO, DRRO, ULO, PIO), civil society groups, professional groups association of lawyers, Imam Shomiti and NGO activists and likeminded NGOs. EPSF participates in NGO coordination meeting at DC office regularly and submits its progress report.
Active Role Play in Policy Dialogue and Advocacy Process:
EPSF being a national level NGO has been playing a vital role in organizing policy dialogue at different levels. So far, EPSF has organized various types of policy dialogues such as violence against women, child rights, equal wages, education for all, ensure governance at union level, study circle, human rights, and voter rights of minority groups and empowerment of women at district, divisional and national level. The participants of the dialogue were the Members of the Parliament-MP, civil society members, lawyers, teachers, students, religious leaders, project participants, NGO activists, social workers, women activists and high GoB officials and development partners. Most of the cases, the Minister of the concerned ministry attended the dialogues as the chief guest.
Civil construction work:
EPSF is experienced in the management of civil contraction work. It has experiences in managing Environmental Sanitation and Hygiene Education project in northern zone of Bangladesh .. constructed school building, renovation of school building, two chamber latrine, RCC drain, latrine complex, community latrine and community tube well etc.
Disaster preparedness, response and rehabilitation program: Since its inception in 2007, EPSF has been working on disaster preparedness and response. As a component/issue of group meeting, MSI incorporated disaster preparedness issues with the members of Women's Credit Program.. EPSF gained skill on disaster preparedness, disaster awareness, contingency plan development, capacity building of Union Disaster Management Committee-UDMC /Pourashava Disaster Management Committee-PDMC through partnership with YARDIMELI & Concern World Wide. MSI has an Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) which has been developed in consultation with YARDIMELI.
Skill on TOT conduction:
EPSF has skilled and qualified persons who have received TOT on different social development issues on participatory planning approach, community led approach, governance, gender, group management, human rights, facilitation, objective oriented project planning, advocacy etc. Depending on the project needs, these professional trainers provide TOT to the frontline staffs, community educators/volunteers who in turn provide training on the concerned issues to the project participants/other stakeholders directly at the community level. Apart from providing training for internal staff EPSF has carried out several TOT for its partner organizations.
Prepare Training Plan and Module:
All training plans and modules/guidelines are prepared by the training section of EPSF. So far EPSF has developed various types of modules, flipcharts and guidelines as per requirements of different projects for using at the grassroots level. In case of donor funded project, training plan and module are developed in consultation with the specialized professionals. Some of the modules developed by EPSF are human rights education, savings and credit management, leadership development, TOT module, group dynamic and leadership, accounts management, paralegal and advocacy skill development.
Skill on IEC/BCC materials development:
EPSF has vast experiences in developing Information Education and Communication-IEC materials as well as Behavioral Change Communication -BCC materials by implementing quite a good number of projects with the financial assistance of different international NGOs and donors. Booklets, leaflets, stickers and posters etc. have been developed for various projects.
Skill on imparting life skill and income generating training:
EPSF is well experienced in providing training on various issues including life skill and income generating activities. Through these trainings EPSF has created many skilled persons who are engaged on self-employment. Following are some of the life skill and income generating trainings carried out by EPSF.
Farming Activities: Home gardening, nursery, Poultry ra1s1ng, cow/goat rearing, cow fattening, maize cultivation and homestead tree plantation.
Off Firming activities: Sewing, Boutiques, food processing, handloom, driving, electrical repairing/wiring.
Course of on Life Skill Training: Reproductive health, prevention of dowry, voter education, human rights education, adult literacy and numeracy, prevention of domestic violence , health and nutrition, family planning and child care and prevention of child marriage/illegal divorce.
Human Resource:
The implementing team of the organization is led by visionary and dynamic leadership with strategic views to take the challenges ahead. The senior management with huge track record in the f field of development bears strong commitment for organization and towards its vision. The midlevel management positions are staffed with enthusiastic trained personnel with multi-disciplinary background. The dedication of the organizational staff from field level to senior managements is one of advantageous factors to make the program of MSI successful regardless of complexity or hurdles. A total of 80 staff members of EPSF are located at different field offices and head office as well.
Financial Management Capacity:
EPSF has instituted prudential accounting practices in all level of financial dealings. The whole system is guided by a strong financial manual and following International Accounting Standard. External audit is a regular process selected by the Board. The organization has credibility of strong financial monitoring to ensure that the services are properly delivered to the people through the cost effective utilization of the resource supplied. All the fund of organization in its Bank Account which is operating by the joint signature as rule of constitution and fund are withdrawn as per decisions of the Executive Committee meeting. Accounts are maintained as per accounting and audit standard. For the smooth functioning of the project activities all sorts of Bank Accounts of EPSF have been maintaining with joint signature system. The authorized signatory powered personnel of MSI are the chairman, Executive Director and the Finance Director. All sorts of voucher or advance are to place in the Executive committee meeting and according to the approval of the meeting money is withdrawn from the Bank Accounts by the signature of any the two of the authorized signatory personnel.
Conclusion:
Organization has an approved constitution by NGO Affairs Bureau over Bangladesh and the organization is being run and guided by this approved constitution.