[Oe List ...] OE/EI/ICA in Bangladesh?

[Richard and Maria Maguire]

Hi everyone who might see this-

Sorry, this comes to you much later than intended- it stayed in Drafts 
unnoticed for a long time. Sorry! This turned out longer but we have no 
time now to sharpen or clarify it, unfortunately.

Maria and I have been in Bangladesh 5 times for several weeks, between 
2007 and 2012 (twice in 2007, then 08 following the Takayama 
Conference,  2011 and 2012 after the Nepal Conference to help with 
training, program development and planning. Hutchinson's had been there 
for the same purpose at least once before we went and possibly others.

We had planned to go only once, but the caring and dedication of the 
members of ICA Bangladesh as well other Bangladeshis we met and the 
needs of the organisation and the country/society/people led us to 
decide to put in more effort.  They already had many positive contacts 
with other organisations and we helped them extend them, including 
possible guardians. We helped with organising and teaching trainings to 
enable members to do more themselves.  We worked with them in their 
community development project in Ghoramara, close to Chandpur in a 
recently resettled community of different tribes and dialects. We led a 
big community event in Open Space there and guided the Bangladeshi 
trained colleagues to teach a course there including with illiterate 
people.  We went there every time, supported many visits and projects 
there, along with ICA colleagues from other nations.

We also supported their Children's Program in Dhaka in various ways and 
membership drives, as well as funding efforts. We, ICA Australia and 
other ICAs such as Taiwan and Japan or Canada. We kept in contact over 
the years , heard of some impressive actions.

Unfortunately in the later visits the national director/CEO seemed to 
not stimulate leadership in the team, neither in decision making nor in 
teaching.  We continued our efforts and were impressed (as were many 
other people) at how many people from Bangladesh attended the ICA 
conference in Takayama, Japan. However it turned out that many didn't 
seem to have had much connection with ICA Bangladesh.

To our surprise the director left for Canada before our visit in 2011. 
He stated beforehand that he wanted us to "teach a public course" to 
teach members and others who supposedly "were not ready yet" to 
participate in the teaching. There was no course and other programs set 
up when we arrived.  We spent the time training the members further in 
ToP and they seemed eager to learn and do more themselves.  We 
encouraged them to clean up and design or intentionalise their ICA 
office space. It turned out to be a quite energising and also 
discouraging experience.

In the course of that action, we discovered bookkeeping which showed 
that a very large amount of ICA money had been transferred to an ICA 
Associates account, and from there into the personal account of one 
person.  We and others were surprised that an "ICA Associates" even 
existed.  The possibility had been floated, but we had not heard that it 
had been organised.  We asked at least a dozen of the members what they 
knew about it, and they stated "only the idea of it". The flow of the 
money was the opposite of that in other countries.  In Canada and 
probably elsewhere, ICA Associates earn money through programs and pass 
some of this to the national ICA.  Here the flow was the other way 
round, from ICA to ICA Associates and then to a certain member of the 
board.

We could not find any record of Board decisions in all of this, and when 
we later inquired further, including with Kevin Balm on line, the 
evidence became that neither the creation of ICA Associates nor the 
money transfers had been known to or authorized by anyone, apart from 
him and his wife who had since left Bangladesh.

We were also concerned about contradictory stories about the funding and 
work of their local development efforts in Ghoramora, many stories about 
the break-down and selling of the community sowing machines when it 
turned out they had been transferred to a private business. There also 
were negative stories about the animosity of the Madrasa Schools to the 
ICA project which we did not find o to be the case when we visited there 
with several of them. It pained us when we checked with other colleagues 
from other places that they felt we were doing injustice to the project 
and ICA Bangladesh with our concerns and did not want anyone to hear 
about it.

We visited one more time in 2012 following the ICAI Nepal conference and 
again found the members willing and eager to do things, but there was no 
overall leadership, guidance or encouragement.  One of the members 
contacted a Bangladesh businessman whom we met in Nepal and he set up a 
basic ToP course in hjis office space.  We encouraged members to lead 
the course and supported them in the preparation and fcilitation.  We 
felt they did an excellent job and they were quite pleased about it. we 
also heard some voices of people who had withdrawn commenting that it 
often hapens in Bangladeh that people set up an organisation and the 
leader manages to use it and any money for their advantage and then 
"take off" and that they hoped the ICA was not one of them.

After our visit in 2012 we decided that we could not do much more for 
Bangadesh ICA from Australia because of the time and expense. We kept up 
correspondence with them for a while. Over time many of the members 
left.  We checked the website often but did not see any evidence of ICA 
program activity, especially in the village project or 
teaching/facilitation.  ICA Bangladesh sent a proposal for funding to 
ICA Australia in 2013.  It was rejected because it was about* "*keeping 
a program going", with no evidence of how this program would promote 
human development.

A couple of other ICA members' took on supporting the development of a 
few individuals but we have not heard what the results were.

On reading the correspondence on the O:E list we checked on ICA 
Bangladesh.  They are still on the ICA International website as 
Associate Members, but no mention of activities.  When attempting to 
visit the ICA Bangladesh website the message in Firefox, Chrome and 
Nortong came up that the site was dangerous and on a URL*blacklist*.

We are very sad about the way things have gone in Bangladesh.  We felt 
that the people we met were motivated and caring and hard working.  They 
deserved better. And in the midst of hurricanes and political 
corruption, stalemates and some unpleasant Islamic attempts there always 
were many caring and committed people and leaders in permaculture or 
small loans for example, such as Muhamad Yunus who got the Sydney Peace 
Prize here in 1989 and still tries to play a major role in rebuilding 
democracy in Bangladesh given the current disturbing developments. 
Recent events in Bangladesh show how much they and others of similar 
spirit have to contend with and depend on trustworthy leaders for renewal.

We are glad you raised the question and hope that some other people from 
inside and outside the country have energy to help them move forward 
together, however many people are left there to care for the whole- we 
are worn out and too engaged still here and quite challenged healthwise 
these days (at the age of 83 + 84 years). ICA still is and was amazing 
and has much story/history, wisdom and a practical legacy to pass on 
everywhere, we believe.

All the best for all of you and all who keep caring for a common, just 
and sustainable future for all,

Richard and Maria

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