Rural development issue

[SS]

Dear Friends,

Most of you probably raised up in cities and have little idea about social,political, economic structure of the villages. But if you happen to know any ideas or example of how to create a better life styles , or if you did something in your village or saw someone did to improve the situation of the poorest ppl,please let me know. Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks

[Orpheus]

I think the better step is to start by helping out a few and then developing it (whatever IT is), if successful then think of broadening it. It's best one not think of yunus scale change at first. I think yunus got really lucky. I think his idea was also "small" at first. I feel he is a shrewd businessman and micro-credit worked for him because he happened to be in Bangladesh (one of the poorest nation, so his market is HUGE).

Now that I got all the gibberish out: here is what a father of my friend did:

He opened two savings account in Bangladesh. And Bangladesh bank seems to give a huge interest rates. So he decided to put some CORE money and use the interest/dividends he gets from the account to

1) Scholarship for talented Kids in his village
2) Marriage fund (this basically is helping women who can not afford to have a wedding. I don't think he supports dowry or anything but the idea is to make both party happy.. so a marriage doesn't break of because of a silly radio)

I think number 1 has some potential. Good luck!

If you want my opinion, I would focus on "Higher" Education. How to make 5th graders actually go through college?

[reverse_swing]

what about adopting a child?

[gatekeeper]

Originally Posted by reverse_swing
what about adopting a child?

Very very good and extrememly appropriate move/step/gesture. I have a couple of friend who'd adopted after a few years of trying and not being able to have a child on their own. They couldn't be happier. The adoption precess in BD is as painful as having a child but they say it is definitely worth it. I think if more people start adopting, especially Bnagladeshi expats living in the west, where the taboos against such thing are minimum, it would become more acceptable. It would definitely make an impact.

[Kabir]

There's a theory that's hyped up right now. It's about ICT4D (ICT for Development). There hasn't been wide acceptance, since it's sponcored by developed nations, but the idea by itself is quite interesting. I don't know how this will fit your query...may be something to look at?

[SMHasan]

There are lot of things that can be done by the public and the government. If we look at the developed countries then we will see their local government is very strong and rich. And as the local government is strong their life style is high and they are developed. Now its all up to the central government how they wana control things, if they think that they want to develop the whole country then they should emphasize on the local goverment. They can allocate a certain amount of money for each year making sure that their project is honest and clean. But this is the very basic idea and I believe everyone here is fully aware of this.

To talk about the private sector: Nations develop only when its society is developed. And to develop the society we need to make sure that we have the control over our small villages then small towns and then big cities.

We can do lot of things fro example if we wana help people financially then we can lend money to the poor, we can educate people given that the education will do good to them both morally and financially. And to do that we can make foundation from where we can lend the money and give the better students scholarships for study.

just think about it- if we can improve our own villages and small towns then everything gets better and better! There are lot of ways, idea.

But in the end of the day it is the government who can make bigger employment and opportunities for its people.