Bangladesh Leaders of Influence Program

The LOI program will

reach at least

20,000 local leaders

representing all

religious faiths and a

variety of secular fields.

Community and civil society leaders can beinstrumental in realizing national developmentgoals at the grassroots level. Trusted locally, theirknowledge and experience of public affairs intheir communities can also serve the critical func-tion of communicating local development needsto government and development practitioners.The four-year Leaders of Influence (LOI) pro-gram has clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of enlisting civil society and traditional leaders to raise public awareness and devise effective localstrategies to meet development challenges in Bangladesh.

With funding from USAID, The Asia Foundationbegan reaching out to influential communityleaders in 2004, starting with more than 5,000Muslim religious leaders. The four-year LOI pro-gram, launched in 2007, grew to include morethan 21,000 diverse participants, includingBuddhist, Hindu, and Christian leaders as well asimams, local elected officials, community serviceclub members, women and youth leaders, andprofessionals such as lawyers, doctors, educators,business-people, and journalists. A network oflocal NGO partners worked to engage these var-ied groups, and helped to mount a series of orien-tations and workshops designed to familiarizethem with USAID-funded development projectsand practices in their communities in areas suchas health, education, religious harmony, environ-mental conservation, and women’s empowerment.

INCREASING KNOWLEDGE AND CAPACITY

THROUGH ON-SITE ORIENTATIONS

Between 2007 and 2011, The Asia Foundationand its partners conducted roughly 300 orienta-tion sessions for community leaders, consisting ofone- to three-day site visits to USAID-supportedlocal partners from different sectors across

The Asia Foundation

has been programming

in Bangladesh

since 1954.

The LOI program has

the potential for impact

far beyond the national

level by facilitating dia-

logue between USAID

partners and leaders

from around the region.

Bangladesh has made impressive strides since independence in 1971, but development has beenuneven. Many local communities, especially in remote areas, remain disconnected from national devel-opment initiatives. Lack of communication between citizens, government, and NGOs often frustratesefforts to address poverty, illness, human rights violations, and extremist violence. The Asia Foundation’sLeaders of Influence program, funded by USAID, has begun to address these development challengesby helping trusted leaders of local communities master the tools of grassroots activism to support demo-cratic values and promote access to basic social services.

BANGLADESH

LOI 2 (2007-2011) was built on the success of LOI 1 (2004)

in exposing influential local leaders to modern development

practices incorporating governance, democracy, and hu-man

rights themes. This knowledge sharing culminated in a

regional conference in March 2010 in Bangladesh on the

Role of Religious and Community Leaders in Advancing De-

velopment in Asia, which brought together religious and tra-

ditional leaders, political actors and development practition-

ers from 14 countries in Asia, many of whom expressed great

interest in expanding and replicating the LOI model.

Leaders of Influences engrossed in an inter-group orientation program inJessore, Bangladesh. Leaders of different countries engaging in dialogues in the regional conference in Dhaka in March 2010.

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Bangladesh. Participants learned ways to promotediscussion of development challenges and crucialservices within their communities, to informpractitioners of community needs and give feedback on development impacts, and to serve as catalysts for similar activities locally. Interfaithand inter-group workshops on topics such asyouth leadership, social justice for women, cor-ruption, and religious differences were found tobe especially effective in bridging gaps betweendifferent leaders, cementing the commitment topursue development initiatives, and kindling further discussion.

REGIONAL EXCHANGES: EXPANDING

EXPERIENCES AND PERSPECTIVES

Study visits coordinated with The AsiaFoundation’s country offices in India, Indonesia,the Philippines, Nepal, and Malaysia exposed 48Bangladeshi delegates to civil society organiza-tions working on development issues in othercountries in the region. The Foundation alsoorganized in-bound study programs to introduce48 leaders of influence from Afghanistan, India,Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Nepal, andPakistan to development work in Bangladesh.These participants reported that the objectivesand activities of LOI—fostering grassrootsactivism to promote democratic values and ensureaccess to basic social services—could fill a muchneeded role in their own communities, andexpressed interest in replicating the program.

RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS

To raise awareness in their communities and pro-mote dialogue on modern development practices,obstacles, and opportunities, orientation partici-pants were provided with practical outreach mate-rials, including customized Talking Point Guidesto help them share their new-found knowledgeand skills. The Foundation also conducted com-munity and media outreach campaigns to pro-mote public awareness and enhanced media cov-erage of LOI events and achievements.

ASSESSING THE CHANGING VIEWS OF

LEADERS OF INFLUENCE AND THEIR

COMMUNITIES

Using before-and-after participant evaluations andpublic perception surveys, The Asia Foundationfound significant positive attitudinal changeamong participating leaders and their communi-ties. After participating in the discussion forums,

many leaders of influence developed specificstrategies to counter widely held misperceptionsabout sensitive development issues in their communities, and to promote community under-standing and acceptance of activities such as conflict resolution, religious tolerance, accessingNGO services, and preventing corruption. LOIalso improved local perceptions of foreign devel-opment interventions. Learning more about suchprojects allayed community suspicions, as evi-denced by the increased acceptance of such inter-ventions. In fact, all USAID partners, includingthose operating health clinics and pre-primaryeducation programs, reported increased commu-nity participation and demand for services aftershowcasing their work through LOI. And com-munity leaders who participated in LOI reportedthat the orientations helped them implementtheir own development initiatives, drawing oninstruction and outreach methods gleaned fromtheir exposure visits. These influential leaders alsoreported improved relationships and collaborationwith local government, and a number becamemembers of committees or governing bodies intheir communities to support anti-corruptionefforts or school improvement.

LOI participants and partners, including The AsiaFoundation, see enormous potential for the LOImodel in Bangladesh and other countries in theregion. This work—convening and training lead-ers of influence, strengthening their relationshipsand dialogue with development practitioners andeach other, and rectifying misperceptions in orderto further critical USAID work and increase com-munity ownership of development efforts—hasadded to the momentum and enthusiasm fordevelopment throughout the country. By educat-ing the public and raising awareness, LOI hasincreased participation in crucial services and pro-jects, and unleashed the potential for multipliereffects at the community level, enhancing theefforts of donors and governments to materiallyimprove stability, security, and quality of life inBangladesh and other countries.

09/2011

The Asia Foundation is

a private, non-profit,

non-governmental

organization. Through

its programs, the

Foundation builds

leadership, improves

policies, and strengthens

institutions to foster

greater openness and

shared prosperity in the

Asia-Pacific region. It is

funded by contributions

from corporations,

foundations, individu-

als, and governmental

organizations in the

U.S., Europe, Canada,

Australia, and Asia, and

an annual appropriation

from the U.S. Congress.

Prior to the orientations, a large number of imams expressed

the view that it was irrelig-ious and immodest for women to

seek medical assistance at public medical facilities. Results

showed that this view had changed considerably by the end-

of-project survey. Additionally, more than 80 percent of

imams responded that they were now working to raise

awareness of women’s rights, and 91 percent confirmed that

they had advocated for women’s empowerment in their com-

munities following completion of the program.

Contact: Hasan Mazumdar, Country Representative (hmazumdar@asiafound.org) or Nazrul Islam (nislam@asiafound.org). This program is made possible throughthe United States Agency for International Development (USAID).