Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB)

Fourth Annual Report 2002

In 2002, VAB raised $24,895 mostly from private donations, making this our best year to date since our founding in 1999. It’s a remarkable achievement considering that contributions to charitable agencies tightened in the year because of the downturn in the economy.  Due to the hard work and expertise of our volunteers, we were able to maintain expenses at $ 718, a mere 2.88% of the total receipts.  The remaining funds will be used in 2003 for scholarships and school improvement activities and new computer centers. Our fourth annual report details the activities of 2002 and the funds that were allocated to each of these programs.  As we look forward to 2003, we set our goals higher, aiming to raise $50,000 so that we can assist even more of Bangladesh’s youth.   

VAB Programs for 2002: Scholarship Program

In 2002, VAB allocated $8,000 to provide scholarships to 203 secondary school students (including their tuition, books, school uniforms, examination fees, coaching in English and Math and other necessary costs) from 20 high schools.  Over 800 students applied for these coveted scholarships but once again, due to limited funds, the selectors  had to be extremely judicious in their choices. All awardees passed their grades, with three fourth of them improving their class standing or maintained their prior ranking. The remaining students showed only slight decline in ranking.

In the 2002, VAB assisted 44 candidates in national Secondary School Certificate Exam. Results shows that VAB scholarship holders earned significantly better grades than others. 42 out of 44 VAB awardees passed the exam, reaching 95% pass rate as against the national average pass rate of only 35%. In terms of quality, 38% of VAB candidates received grade “A” as against the relevant school average of only 1.3% for non-scholarship examinees.  

VAB Programs for 2002: Computer Centers

During 2002, VAB allocated $20,500 to the Computer Training Center Program.  With assistance from Prakritajan, we launched 7 computer training centers: 4 were located in high schools in Parashuram, Fulgazi, Bancharampur and Nabinagar thanas and 3 in community donated premises in Jessore, Khulna and Nabinagar Bazzar. VAB provided each high school center with 2 Pentium III computers and the others with 4 Pentium III computers.  Every center also received a printer and other necessary accessories and furniture. VAB also provided onetime support for initial salary for the instructors at each location; however the centers are expected to continue their operations self sufficiently.

The computer centers offered a four-month course in the Fundamentals of Computer, MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, and MS Power Point. Trainees pay a monthly course fee to enroll in the program and receive a certificate upon graduation.  Out of a total enrollment of 401 during 2002, 192 graduated, 178 dropped out after completing MS Word and 31 failed. Many graduates received employment and others interested in further study in computer science. 

 Evaluation of VAB Programs: 2000-2002

A four person Evaluation Team (ET) headed by Professor Syed Giasuddin Ahmed of Dhaka University studied VAB programs for three months. With field visits, interviews and in house data analysis, the Team examined program rationale and planning, program delivery; monitoring, outputs and results and program sustainability. The findings and recommendations are now being finalized. VAB will disseminate the detailed findings in the next Newsletter.

VAB Programs for 2003:

 VAB plans to increase scholarships and initiate school improvement activities based on recommendations made in the Evaluation report. During interviews with secondary schools students and school officials the ET noted that many students struggled to understand concepts in science because of the lack of laboratory facilities for conducting experiments.  Thus, during 2003, VAB plans to launch its “School Modernization Project” which will designate funds for selected schools to improve their laboratories, provide materials for school libraries, initiate computer facilities with trained instructors. The estimated expense for this program is $10,000 per school over three years. 

VAB and Prakritajan aim to open four new computer centers in 2003 and add more computers to existing centers that has only two computers. Currently, one computer is designated to every two students, but with additional computers, we hope to enable each student to have their own computer during their training course.  In addition to improving and expanding the computer centers, VAB and Prakritajan are reviewing the courses offered at each of the centers in an effort to minimize the drop out.  Trainees have expressed that they only need MS Word to secure the jobs that they seek. So we have to reevaluate the need for a shorter course as well as the need for training courses in other areas.  

click here for: Financial Details

click here for the Donor list