Founded by a Catholic
priest Fr. William Christensen, S.M., in 1987, the Institute of Integrated
Rural Development (IIRD) has been pioneering holistic development projects
for the extreme hard-core poor in rural Bangladesh. These projects include
innovative programs such as landless resettlement, non-formal primary
education, afforestation, consumer-credit, micro-credit, tissue culture,
and many others.
IIRD has welcomed development practitioners from different countries
to visit and learn about its poverty eradication model. The model
has so far
been replicated in Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, and India.
From May 17 to 31, IIRD hosted a group of 15 students and 3 professors
from St. Mary's University of San Antonio , Texas, United States. A majority
of the group was graduate students studying development as a part of
their International Relations program. Among these students, two were
members
of the U.S. military.
Leading this study tour was Professor Dr. Larry Hufford, who, every summer,
takes a group of his students to visit a developing country. Previous
trips have been to Central America, Cuba, Bolivia, and India. Each trip
aims
to provide the students with an interdisciplinary approach to development,
accomplished through visits to different NGOs, business, universities,
and through lectures on politics, economics, law, religion.
More importantly, the students focus on having direct interactions with
the poor in order to better understand their situations. Hence, in this
trip, the group spent a week at IIRD' rural projects in Sherpur and Dhunot
Districts in Bogra, Netrokona, and Kuchua District in Chandpur.
The St. Mary's trip was intended to immerse the students into the diversity
of Bangladeshi culture. It is a majority Muslim nation, but there are
also Buddhists, Christians, and Hindus. Fortunately, they were exposed
to all
four religions. The trip was also an attempt to view development in a
holistic manner taking every sector and cultural factor into consideration.
Most importantly, the students were able to see how a Marianist priest
has been able to use the Marianist principles to help people of other
faiths lift themselves out of poverty.
--
Gregorio Pardo
Intern
Communications Department
Institute of Integrated Rural Development (IIRD)
Bangladesh
gcafe23@gmail.com
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