It is with deep sadness that we let you know that the first female Mathematician and Academician Professor Rowshan Ara Rashid, mother of Mr Anir Choudhury, founder member and Governing Body member of D.Net is no longer with us (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon). She passed away in the morning on July 30, 2010 at the Square Hospital. She was suffering from bronchitis.
She spent most of the time of her life for achieving knowledge and in teaching. She started her professional life as Lecturer at Eden Collage in 1967 after completing her education in 1966. Then she successfully fulfilled her duty as Vice Principal, Responsible Principal and Principal in this college. She retired in 2002 from her loyal duty. Her body had laid to rest at Mirpur Intellectuals Graveyard after Asar prayer at 30th July.
May her soul rest in eternal peace, and may the healing effect of time help her family bear this misfortune with the grace that she always embodied.
GEM (Gender Evaluation Methodology) is a guide to integrating a gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for social change. GEM provides a means for determining whether ICTs are really improving women's lives and gender relations as well as promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community and broader social levels. GEM is not simply an evaluation tool. It can also be used to ensure that a gender concerns are integrated into a project planning process.
The Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) developed GEM to facilitate the process of learning about using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for gender equality.
Currently in Bangladesh various ICT4D projects are taking place. So it is the best time to take initiatives for properly addressing gender issues in the implementing process of these projects. In this context D.Net is going to organise GEM Adaptation training workshop for NGOs, Research organisations and ICT4D Initiatives is aims to help the project designers, project managers and project staff to integrate gender perspective in their project planning, implementing, evaluation plans to asses their project activities through gender lens.
This tow day-long dynamic discussion and group work will assist you to become successful person of judging your entire work and achievement through gender lens. Through this workshop one thing can be guaranteed that we will finalize how our work can be evaluated and undoubtedly not considering gender issues in project design phase but also in the implementation stages.
Why GEM adaptation for:
Some people believe that technology has nothing to do with gender because technology is neutral. Others believe that technology is not for women – they are not technically minded and not interested in technology. Some believe that for as long as there are poor men, opportunities should be given to them in as much as they are the main breadwinners. And some believe that if men got benefit, it will also be benefited for women. But the reality is, we know that because of how women are socialized, how women are brought up to behave as women – to behave correctly as women – women cannot often enjoy the benefits as they should. Without doing a situational analysis and gender identification perspective, we will worsen the situation of women vis-á-vis that of men. Without taking into consideration women’s starting point and the effects of past and current discriminatory practices towards women, we will increase absolute and relative poverty of women.
Gender evaluation methodologies, therefore, can be used to investigate whether ICTs are being used in ways that change gender biases and roles and do not simply reproduce and replicate existing ones.
Date & Time: Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Resource Person : Shaheen Rahman,
Gender Consultant and Development Communication Expert
... Resource Person : Mahmud Hasan,
Joint Director, D.Net
... Resource Person : Fatema Begum Labony,
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Resource Mobilisation for Social and Community-based Organisations
The development community faces interesting times. The changing tides of official Development Assistance leave some regions of the developing world with less assistance, others with more. According to Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), research partners put themselves in a precarious situation if they insist on relying on one or two funders, since their accustomed sources are, or will no longer be reliable. Donor scoping studies commissioned by IDRC in 2004 and 2008 showed that multilateral and bilateral agencies are now more focused on large-scale, sector-wide funding, awarding bigger grants to fewer organizations, with less money available for medium to small groups. As IDRC observes, dependence on international funding is proving to be insufficient, and compromises financial sustainability.
The viability or survival of development groups depends on the organization’s ability to adapt to changing donor trends, and the willingness to explore alternative sources of funding.
This situation is not unique to the world of development research. Non-profits, non-governmental organizations, and foundations from all sectors that have long enjoyed the patronage of a few benefactors now find themselves wondering where next year’s budget is going to come from, or how a particular program is to be sustained over the long haul, or how staff development can be funded when grant monies are restricted to programmatic work. Increasingly, non-profits and NGOs realize that they need to wean themselves away from once-reliable sources, and learn how to cast a wider net to draw in a wider variety of donors.
The advantage, though, for organizations that provide direct services to communities is that there is a plethora of material and training on resource mobilization strategies and techniques, and these have been further customized for non-profits in developing countries. But there is virtually no material for featuring customized methods to access funding for development research organizations.
Thus the birth of this Resource Mobilization workshop, with the distinct feature of addressing the resource mobilization needs of community-based development research organizations, contained within Bangladesh contexts.
The large range of organizations engaged in development activities – from international think tanks to community-based groups – makes it impossible to generalize the challenges they face sector-wide. However, there are shared concerns:
First, the ‘case’ for supporting development work is quite difficult to articulate often the immediate outputs of projects, have a limited direct audience. There needs to be significant repackaging for these to produce the desired social impact;
Second, development research is seen by many as a tool or component in development work. As such, the funding for development activities is not that apparent;
Third, grants are generally restricted, leaving no room for development organizations to establish and maintain their own research agendas, and as a result undermines efforts towards local empowerment; and
Lastly, and true for other non-profits as well, is the over-reliance on restricted project funding from grant making organizations. While not undesirable in itself, restricted grants usually leave too little room for funding organizational core costs such as staff development and marketing expenses.
Date & Time: 26.03.2010 Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Resource Person : Mahmud Hasan,
Joint Director, D.Net
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Numeric Data Analysis for Social Research Using SPSS
The use and analysis of numeric data in the social sciences and the quantification of social data and the development of means of analysis were crucial in the efforts of the social sciences to secure acceptance as legitimate academic disciplines. From the end of the Second World War and coincident with academic recognition, the quantitative perspective in the social sciences enjoyed a golden period when the computerised analysis of social data became generalised. Now a day tools like SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) became popular among research as it can produce expected result with less effort maintaining accuracy of data. For a scientist and social researcher knowledge of SPSS became important. This training is expected to build capacity to apply SPSS in day to day research purpose.
Date & Time: Time: 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Resource Person : Md. Forhad Uddin,
Deputy Programme Director
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This course focuses on the most essential and fundamental elements that are necessary for you to build, launch and manage a CMS based dynamic web site. This course is designed to save you the months of work and frustration that you might otherwise experience if attempted to assemble and apply this knowledge on your own.
The successful participants will learn from this training:
> Why Joomla might be the best thing ever
> How to apply a structured methodology for
planning and building a website in Joomla
> How to assemble and manage web site content
> How to conduct basic site administration
> How to avoid potential pitfalls and time wasters during web site construction
Date & Time: 6 pm to 9 pm
Resource Person : Md. Masum Billah,
Deputy Directot, D.Net
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Compliance and Practices of NGO Affairs Bureau Rules
The focus of the workshop is to elaborate the standard practices and guidelines of NGOAB for the participants to reduce the gap between what they practice and what they should do. There will be appropriate discussions of the Laws and Rules during the whole period of the workshop. Participants' questions will be attended on any topic of Rules & Regulations, VAT, Tax etc.
Date & Time: 26 February, 2010
Resource Person : A High Official of Concerned Government agency will conduct the Workshop,
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