Mostofa Kamal Bhuyan
Assistant General Manager
Bangladesh NGO Foundation

Bangladesh NGO Foundation (BNF) works all over the country. Partner Organizations (PO) are fully free to take project and implementation of the project. Mainly they select project on the basis of their local needs. BNF made a grant of Tk 100 Crore 37 Lac in favour of 1116 Partner NGOs for implementing, albeit on a limited scale, a good number of projects that include eradication of poverty of the hardcore poor.

BNF provides financial grants to the Partner Organizations (POs) for implementing any field of social development sectors except only microcredit. Currently POs of BNF are implementing 30 activities like empowerment of women, WATSAN, education, health care, disabled development, climate change, afforestation, agriculture, pisciculture, income generation activities (like animal husbandry, training on sewing, vegetable cultivation), adolescence development, ICT, safe highway, awareness creation on HIV/AIDs, anti-drug campaign etc.

BNF provides 20% overhead/ administrative costs to the POs out of total disbursed grants for the program implementation. As a result, POs of BNF can afford to meet office rent, appointment of staffs and messengers, expenses of phones, faxes, stationery, honorarium of executive directo, etc.The partner NGOs get all kinds of support so that they can implement all their projects smoothly and properly.

Priority for sanction of grants

•  Project area falls within a backward region.
• Program aims at development of tribal/ indigenous people.
• The target-group comprises women, children and disabled persons.
• The target-group comprises the ultra-poor.
• The project envisages a long-term solution of such menacing problems as arsenic contamination.
•  Project area belongs to disaster-prone Upazilla/District
•  ICT facilities of the rural poor
•  Mother and Child healthcare
• Technical training for disabled people and distribution of physical aid
•  Integrated Agriculture development Program.

BNF is mandated to take up socio-economic development activities and poverty alleviation initiatives through NGOs. In conducting the affairs of BNF, efforts have always been made to ensure transparency and accountability. The Governing Board and its Chairman always give constant guidance for successful implementation of BNF funded programs across the country.
BNF provides only grants to NGOs. It has no microcredit operation. BNF monitors and evaluates the activities implementation by Monitoring Advisor. By examining their monitoring report and setting up, a standard decision is taken to disburse the next phase of grants. Besides, at different times, Chairman, Managing Director and officers of the foundation also visit the implementation activities of the POs in field level.

In spite of many limitations, Bangladesh NGO Foundation (BNF) remains dedicated to attain its goal and is marching ahead to socio-economic development of the poor and under privileged people of the society.