By Garvin Karunaratne,
In the Seventies, the Government Agent’s Conference was accorded great prominence. The Government Agent was the Head of the District and presided
over as the Head of the District Coordinating Commiittee that coordinated all
development programmes in the District. He was also the Head of the District
Agricultural Committee. All allocations of funds were made to the Government
Agent and its disbursement was as
decided at the District Committee. He was in charge of a number of important
Departments.
In 1972, I attended the
GA’s Conference. I was ready with all the Papers re the development programmes
of the District, especially the Agricultural Development and the Divisional
Development Councils Programme which happened to be focused on at that time.
The Conference got on its way, presided over by the Prime Minister
Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike, with the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture
playing a major role. The achievement in
paddy production came into focus and everything was a success story. The Prime
Minister as well as the Minister for Agriculture were very pleased with the progress. Finally in the last lap the Prime Minister
called for any suggestions from the Government Agents in charge of the
Districts, to make the agricultural development programmes better. The Prime
Minister was looking at the Government Agents and continued to gaze at us
because no one spoke. It was a
formidable team including Bradman, Wijedasa and many other well known
personalities. It was fairly embarrassing.
I thought of making a
contribution.
I would suggest that in the case of paddy production we get down
to draft a plan for every cultivator, documenting the extent he cultivates, the
type of high yielding seed he uses, the inputs of fertilizer, when to use each
variety of fertilizer, find out in detail any difficulties the farmer has to
face, whether loans are required and
plan meticulously to ensure that everything goes to plan. I am suggesting this
because in actual practice such a per plot and per farmer plan are never done
today and instead the Kryushikarma Vyapti Sevaka, the agricultural overseer at
the village level makes a total of the area cultivated and does calculations on
a general basis based on the average yield of paddy in the area…”
There ensued a
stunning silence with the Prime Minister
looking at the Minister of Agriculture and then discussing something with the
Secretary to the Ministry. In around five minutes of silence, the Prime
Minister looked at me.
Do you mean that in your District the current plan for paddy
production does not function properly.”
It was clear that the Prime Minister as well as the others had not
understood what I said.
I got up to detail what I had stated when someone from behind me
held my shoulder and pushed me down.
Let me speak. I am the Director for Agriculture and I have gone
through all the progress reports from every District and can state that Matara
District has done exceptionally well.”
His authoritative words saved me..
I got up to clarify matters but the Secretary to the Ministry of
Agriculture signaled me to stop and when I tried to continue speaking told me
to stop which I did.
The Conference ended as usual.
What I was trying to state was that instead of making a general
calculation based on average yields, we would look into each farmer in great
detail, something that has never been done anywhere. We then had the trained
personnel, the Field Assistants and the Cultivation Committees of the
Department of Agrarian Services, as well as the Vyapti Sevaka- the agricultural
overseer of the Department of Agriculture.
After the Conference I met the Secretary to the Ministry and he never
inquired anything from me. The Ministry
big shots thought no end of their knowledge and we were ignored. Naturally the
country faced difficulties in paddy production in the years immediately
afterwards.
I felt very uneasy and lost. I had carved a poor figure.
Now, to what happened in Bangladesh at a later date, where I
served as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor on Youth Development to the Ministry of
Labour and Manpower.
In Bangladesh
when the new Military Government of General Ershard took over the country in 1982,
the Department of Youth Development was providing skills training to 40,000
youths annually but the vast majority of them failed to find employment and
continued to be unemployed for life. Immediately after the new Government took
over the reins of power, a Conference
was held, presided over by Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam, the Minister for
Labour and Manpower to which the former Ministry of Youth Development was
attached, to evaluate the youth development programmes He expressed dissatisfaction. He identified me to be an outsider and when
told that I was the General Advisor to the Ministry, he ordered me in a sarcastic manner:
What can you
contribute for Bangladesh”?
In view of the fact
that the vast majority of youth whom we train continue to be unemployed, I
would suggest that you approve the implementation of a self employment programme to supplement the
skills training programmes that are being implemented by the Department
of Youth Development, where the lecturers who train the youths in skills will
in addition, also guide the youths to establish enterprises to manufacture
items for sale and ultimately become self employed entrepreneurs.”
The Secretary to the
Treasury, the highest official in the country who was present objected:
Self Employment is
not a task that can be done. The International Labor Organization (ILO) with
all their unlimited resources have just miserably failed to establish a self
employment programme at Tangail in Bangladesh. They laboured for three years
and brought experts from all over and failed. It was a great loss – a massive
expenditure and this Government is not going to waste any more funds again.
Self Employment is not a task that can be done. That was the conclusion of the
ILO and they are the experts of international standing”
I replied:
Though the ILO
failed, I can establish a Self Employment Programme. I hold the
experience of establishing self employment units in Sri Lanka for eighteen
years and also hold the Ph.D in Agricultural Economics and Non Formal Education
from Michigan State University. I am confident of success.”
. The Secretary to
the Treasury the highest official in Bangladesh laughed loud at my attempt to
make entrepreneurs out of school drop outs- the category from which the
Department of Youth Development found youths for skills training.
. I argued that
though the ILO failed I would succeed. I quoted instances where I had
established successful employment projects providing incomes to youths
while simultaneously producing what the country imported. The battle went on
for an easy two full hours The Hon.Minister was listening in silence, making
notes, till his patience was exhausted. The Minister finally ordered us
to shut up. He asked for any Government training programmes that guided
youths to become entrepreneurs. The Secretary to the Treasury replied None”.
Then the Minister asked for the number of youths that failed to get into higher
education or find a suitable job- the youths that will be scraping the barrel
for life, unemployed. The Secretary answered that it was in the millions,
every year. The Hon Minister without any hesitation ordered that I should
establish a self employment programme.
The Secretary to the
Treasury stumped, stating‚ that he will not provide any
funds to establish a self employment programme, to which I replied that we will
find savings within the approved budgets for the skills training of
the youths and re deploy staff as necessary. The Hon Minister
approved my suggestion.
I had won the day-
the task of establishing a new development programme without writing any
feasibility report. Of course the two hour grueling battle with the Secretary
to the Treasury included facts, figures
and arguments. It was a snap decision by
the Air Vice Marshall who allowed us to argue out, sussed the facts in his
head and barked out a military like
order.
My task was to design
the self employment programme, establish it and train the staff to continue the
programme after I left.
We started planning
work that night itself. It was a do or die” assignment. The next morning I was
addressing trainees at the training centers and also training our Lecturers and
Youth Officers on how the programme should be done. The officers who had till
then done traditional youth development work were trained in concepts of
economics. All Training Institutes were immediately altered to Training Cum
Extension Institutes where the youths in training were to be guided to become
self employed. Overnight we established a countrywide special extension service
for the lecturers to go out on inspections and help the youths when they
faced problems. The youths were
guided to draft their own projects to become self employed, starting small
farms even with a few cows or chicks. Dresses were sewn using the machines at
the training centers that were kept open after work till ten at night.
The method was to
intensively guide the trainees in the management of their enterprises. Every
action from the planning of their projects, to the purchase of raw materials,
the chicks, the feed, the process of manufacture, the process of the growth and
sale of cattle, the making of garments and their sale was all monitored on a
non formal education basis where the youths were trained to look at the
advantages and disadvantages of each course of action and act on their own.
They were monitored closely and helped when they failed. . The trainees were
taught basic economics related to their ventures‚ The training included
understanding the free market economy and the youths were guided to think,
understand and increase their ability and capacity in the process. This was non
formal education in action. The achievement was within the village setting
where the projects became family concerns with brothers and sisters becoming
involved. On our visits, training sessions were provided impromptu where
everyone could participate.
The effort was to
make a youth movement to make youths establish ventures and guide them till
they are income bearing equal to the earnings of a clerical officer in the
Public Service.
This Programme began
at the end of March 1982 with a few trainees and was expanded to 2000 by
October 1983. By the time I left Bangladesh at the end of October 1983-
in sixteen months my team was guiding 2000 youths. The team
comprised the Secretary, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry with a few hundred
staff of Directors, Deputy Directors of Youth, Director for Livestock and Poultry
, Directors of the 3 Residential Training Centers in Livestock & Poultry,
Lecturers in Training Institutes- all of whom were taught the essentials of
economics firstly to be able to analyse the economy of Bangladesh and to arrive
at areas of economic activity where self employment production would be an
asset to the country. They were also taught methods of imparting instructions
in a manner that would evoke the active participation of the trainees and
enable them to think and make their own decisions. This included national and
regional planning culled down to the village level., where the self employment
units were established.
The officers were
patriotic to the extreme. It was long hours every day for months Daily circuits
in Toyota Hiace bone shakers- leaving early morning to return whenever. The
officials responded ably.
At that time
Tk. 500.00 a month was the salary drawn by a Clerical Officer in the Government
Service. Getting the youths to reach a net income of Tk. 500.00 was our aim.
An Evaluation Report
done in August 1983, 16 months since commencement states:
A Programme of
Excellence in every respect unfolds in the results documented. Of
500 unemployed youths who joined the programme in the early months,
479 are earning an average net income of Tk 596.00 in August 1983,
8 to 12 months after they commenced their commercial ventures, 55 of them earn
over Tk. 1000.00 a month and 253 earn over Tk 500.00.”
In August 1983,
barely 16 months since the commencent, the achievement was hailed by the two
Secretaries of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower; In their words:
Dr.Karunaratne’s
significant contribution has been in the field of self employment to the
drop-out youths. This programme was not only designed but also guided by him.
This activity which was initially launched as a pilot experimental project has
been a great success and has now being adopted as a fill-fledged Programme. The
Government of Bamgladesh. has been successful in providing meaningful
employment to a large number of youths on this Programme” .(Asafuddowlah)
Dr. Karunaratne’s
role as the formulator of the program has been particularly commendable. It was
mainly through his dedication and hard work that the pilot project has now been
formally accepted as one of the most important development projects.” (Ayubur
Rahaman)
The Self Employment
Programme had phenomenal success.
By
August 1983, 16 months after commencement The Department of Youth
Development was training 2000 youths. The Programme was expanded
apace to involve 7000 youths by 1987, to 16,000 by 1992 and to 160,000 a
year from 1997. In 1982 we had only 3 Residential Training Centers. This
was increased to 64 Centers by 1997. In 2011 February The
Government of Bangladesh reported to the 34 th Session of the Governing Council
of IFAD(FAO) that this programme had guided as much as two million youths
to be self employed‚ on a commercially viable basis.(Statement to
the 34 th Session of the Governing Council of IFAD(FAO), dated19/02/2011)
The YSEP has stood
the test of time for over three decades (1982-2019) The Five Year Plan of
1997-2002 of the Bangladesh Planning Commission, devotes 8 pages to this
program. This is easily the premier employment creation program that one can
find in the world today. All other programs involve training and apprenticeship
only and never include the tasks of motivating youths, involving them in
non-formal education endeavor to develop their abilities and capacities,
through technical guidance and management advice provided as they work on their
projects aimed at their becoming commercially viable, which are the
cornerstones on which this programme has been based.
Instead of
traditional youth work, the aims of the Ministry had been altered:
To facilitate the unemployed youth
for gainful employment/self employment, providing vocational/skills development
training and micro credit support.
To
involve the youth in the mainstream of national development process”
I am pleased that I
was able to make a distinct contribution to the economy of Bangladesh, a
contribution that perhaps no other person had ever done.
I feel sorry that I
could not make a similar permanent contribution to my Motherland.
Garvin Karunaratne,
Ph.D.(Michigan State University)
Former Government
Agent, Matara
