BARCIK’s Programme

BARCIK being a development organization conducts programs and implements activities following people led approach. It implements all its activities ensuring participation of the grassroots people and placing them in the central of all of those activities. Below are some of the key programs and activities that BARCIK conducts and implements under some projects:

• Action Research
• Awareness and Information Sharing
• Policy and Advocacy
• People led Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation
• Facilitating local and national development organizations adopting FLA approach
• Enabling friendly education
• Facilitating
• Institution Development
• Publication

Action Research

BARCIK has been actively conducting various research initiatives and studies involving issues of agro-biodiversity, climate change, livelihood changes and access to natural resources since its inception. Having a capable and well experienced staffs in onsite research and equipped with contemporary participatory tools has enabled BARCIK emerging as one of the leading organizations in participatory research.

Some of the leading Action Researches include:

• Local biodiversity based Farmers & Indigenous Peoples Led Applied Research for  Sustainable Agriculture
• Applied Research on Local Breed of Poultry Bird (chicken), Saline Tolerant, Deep Water and Drought Tolerant Local Rice Varieties, Bottle gourd and Trail
• Action research on climate change adaptation by traditional means

Awareness and Information Sharing

BARCIK does play the role to educate and let people know about the importance of biodiversity conservation, impacts of climate change and climate change mitigation and adaptation techniques, indigenous knowledge of farmers and importance of people led sustainable agriculture through sharing information and disseminating research findings. In this regard, BARCIK arranges seminar, workshops, meetings, conference, farmer’s conventions, press conference and publishes publications based on its research findings and observation. It disseminates these publications to grassroots people, policymakers, media institutions, government departments, educational institutions and development organizations to create a shared responsibility advocating in establishing the rights of grassroots people, particularly natural resources dependent communities. The dissemination of publications also plays role providing information and educating people on some particular issues. Here are some of the key issues based on which BARCIK explores awareness programs and shares with other like minded organizations:

• Seed Rights Campaign
• Women’s’ Rights
• Farmer led approach
• Local means of climate change adaptation and mitigation
• Training on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Management Systems (EMS)
• Training on Community Led Research Methodology,
• Training on Climate Change adaptation and Indigenous knowledge.
• Enabling friendly education environment for the children of untouchable communities
• Training on honey purification and making candle on wax

Policy and Advocacy

Policy advocacy is one the major and core activities of BARCIK. BARCIK motivates people and in some cases plays facilitative role to encourage them conserving biodiversity, protecting forest degradation and adopting low carbon development activities. The organization conducts applied research on rice varieties namely PVS (participatory varieties selection), Local Breed of Poultry Bird, action research on climate change and vulnerability of indigenous communities. The organizations shares and disseminates research findings among others through seminars, workshops, press conferences, exchange visits, poster, and leaflet and newsletter publication as well as media campaigns. BARCIK also publishes those recent information and research findings onto its website for greater dissemination. Through press conference, workshop, seminars, BARCIK tries to attract the attention of the policy makers and civil society members by inviting them participating in those public activities. Thus the grassroots issues get attention and become apparent to the policymakers which help them formulating policies that address those grassroots issues. Here are the issues of policy advocacy:

• Farmer’s rights on agriculture

• Disaster management and Local/Indigenous Knowledge
• Water Rights
• Climate change adaptation and local/indigenous knowledge
• Indigenous Peoples and Socially Marginalized Communities’ rights
• Gender and access to natural resources
• Lives and livelihood development of the forest dependent communities in the Suderban

People led Climate change mitigation and adaptation program

Problems associated with climate change could be solved and addressed properly if all classes of people of all countries get involved in the process of combating. Mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change could be developed as well which integrates local and national adaptations and mitigations tools. Farmers and other occupational groups in the rural areas have been adapting to climate change through their indigenous knowledge based lives, livelihoods, skills and experiences and in some cases they contribute to mitigation process as well. However, to encourage the climate adaptation and mitigation initiative of the grassroots people, BARCIK takes initiative documenting the learning, problems and adaptation tools of the community. The organization disseminates the documented materials in local, regional and national level for wider publicity. Under this program, BARCIK provides fellowship to students studying on climatic issues which help them gaining knowledge and in-depth information on climate change and on the adaptation and mitigation initiatives of the grassroots people. BARCIK also arranges seminars, workshops and press conference in local, regional and national levels as well as publishes posters, newsletter, booklets and photo features to bridge the knowledge of the grassroots people in existing climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

Facilitating local and national organizations adopting FLA approach

Farmers have many problems which cannot be solved with unilateral development model. However, farmers in many cases, in some particular areas, solve their problems associated with agriculture by themselves applying their traditional knowledge and experiences. BARCIK, using these knowledge and skills of farmers creates networks among them so that they could communicate and exchange knowledge and skills with each other which play vital contribution in solving problems and enrich the agricultural knowledge and practices of the farmers. From this backdrop, BARCIK incorporates farmer led approach in its working strategies. Through facilitating farmers, local developments organizations working in agriculture as well as farmers and other occupational group’s organizations, BARCIK aims to lessen the markets dependency of farmers and other occupational groups and raise their confidence which ultimately empower them. It helps to identify the causes and sources of the diverse problems of farmers and agriculture and focuses on solving the problems with joint venture of farmers and scientists. However, the objectives of the facilitation initiative of BARCIK are as follow:

• Assisting partner in learning from the current farmers/community led approach
• Assisting small groups in facilitating farmers led agricultural approach.
• Organizing joint learning and reflection session to understand more deepen for the empowering process of the farmers.

Facilitating local and national journalist producing gender sensitive reporting

BARCIK conducts seminars and workshops in different districts of Bangladesh with the aim to train and educate local and national journalists producing gender sensitive reporting in the media. Since media play vital role in socialization process as well as have a strong persuasive power, therefore, BARCIK believes media reports can assists in building a gender sensitive world where equal opportunity of men and women would be ensured. In each of the workshop, BARCIK ensures the involvement of resource persons from mass communication & Journalism and Gender experts so that participants could learn both the technique of news writing, ethics and structure of news as well as gender sensitive words and perspective.

Enabling friendly education for marginal communities

Education is the basic right of all citizens in Bangladesh. Bangladesh government has a target of achieving 100% primary education enrollment of students by 2015. This task seems to be difficult if equal educational opportunity and services are not provided to all communities living in Bangladesh. There are still some areas where state run educational institutions still to be established to meet the goal. On the other hand, there are some communities who are deprived from governmental educational opportunities and facilities. BARCIK through its education program tries to facilitate those deprived communities getting access to state provided services and facilities associated with education. From this backdrop, BARCIK sets up seven education centers in Manikgonj aiming at facilitating and assisting the marginal communities as well as increasing their school enrollment. BARCIK also provides them some educational materials as well as recruits teachers to ensure better educational services.

Facilitating social action project at the school levels

BARCIK is also involved in facilitating students identify community problems and take initiative solving the problem through raising awareness involving their communities with. This is British Council led venture where BARCIK plays facilitative role. This initiative helps students developing their perception regarding the problems they and their communities face and involve themselves in the solution process which make students thinking that they are parts of the communities and it is their very role to deal with the process along with their study. The British Council financed initiative also aims to bridge students with society which somehow they have been detached from a long time leading them developing sense of responsibility towards their perspective society.

Institution Development

Where there is BARCIK office, there is a resource centre. BARCIK believes that in order to motivate people conserving biodiversity and protecting environmental degradation, it needs to have its own resource centre where people can learn. Thus this organization has resource centre in Netrokuna, Satkhira, Gopalgonj, Manikgonj, Pirojpur, Thakurgoan, Noakhali, and Sylhet. Currently BARCIK is striving towards the establishment of the BARCIK Institute of Applied Studies (BIAS). BARCIK hopes to create a space for dialogue and extensive study of the various dimensions of Ethnographic discourse through the formation of this institution.

Publication

As said earlier, BARCIK produces some publications based on its research findings, activity implementations and observations. The following are publications that BARCIK produces on regular basis and uploads onto its website:

Grassroots Voice

Grassroots Voice is one of the half yearly publications of Barcik. It is such a journal which covers the indigenous knowledge based practices and experiences of farmers and other natural resources users. Through this publication, BARCIK intends to disseminate the indigenous knowledge (IK) based agro practices and knowledge of primary natural resources users in Bangladesh and the South Asian region. However, BARCIK makes efforts to incorporate IK in the existing development initiatives and explore the importance of IK in every development initiative be it climate change mitigation and adaptation or sustainable agro practice and other people’s friendly activity implementation.

Trinamul Uddog (Grassroots Initiatives)

Geared towards grassroots-level extension workers, local development workers, NGOs, community-based organizations and farming communities, this bi-annual Bengali journal is one of the of practical use to field workers.

Amader Paribesh (Our Environment)

This monthly bulletin aims to create a knowledge base among the country’s neo-literate to aid environmental understanding through the use of stories, rhymes and illustrations that describe traditional environmental-friendly practices relating to natural resources management and healthcare.

Books based on research findings

BARCIK produces some books based on its research outcomes. There are ethnographies on indigenous communities, books on hoar agriculture and culture, agriculture, climate change, indigenous knowledge practice, sustainable agriculture. These books are available in BARCIK office.

Posters/leaflets/booklets

BARCIK produces some posters, leaflets and booklets based on its works, particular issues and international days and events which aim to aware people on those events.