Hello, I’m Md. Abdul Momin, currently working at the Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) as Partnerships Director.  This role is responsible for maintaining contact and communicating with various important stakeholders, especially with the Implementing Organisations (IMOs). I am also entrusted with the responsibility of bringing in services from other projects / organisations for the people of the charsand to deal with issues relating to human resources, complaints of irregularities or corruption, policy formulation, advocacy, and so on.  It’s quite a busy job!

I started my career as a development worker in 1981.  I worked in various positions, such as with CARE International, then on a CIDA-funded project managed by a Canadian Executing Agency call E.T. Jackson and Associates Ltd, and also with the Palli Daridro Bimochon Foundation. It’s been a pleasure to find myself in the current position at CLP where the opportunities to implement real development work for the extreme poor are plenty.  As a team member of CLP, I feel proud to see the success of the programme where at least 1 million ultra poor will be lifted from the miserable conditions that afflict them.

CLP is a unique programme in the country due to its immense scope of work.  I’ve been involved with its planning and implementation procedures right from the beginning.  In fact, I started at ‘zero point’ – when I first turned up to the CLP Secretariat in Bogra, I was entirely alone and there was no infrastructure or other facilities to run a small project, let alone a large programme!  So, from that point of view, I can explain which brick at CLP was added for what purpose and at what stage. My initial role as Senior Office and IT Manager offered me the challenge of starting an office from scratch. I sincerely acknowledge the kind cooperation from the Director General of RDA, Mr. Abdul Haque (currently working as DTL, CLP), who helped enormously. I still feel amazed when I compare CLP’s current situation to those troublesome days where I had to be creative and willing to go the extra mile to find solutions, given that we had so few facilities around us.

Apart from the challenges of setting up the required facilities, I witnessed an initial setback for CLP too.  At one stage it was at the risk of being closed!  In the earliest days, it soon became clear to the Management Agency, Maxwell Stamp, that the original design of the programme, (“voice and choice” and doing most of the planned activities through the local government, Union Parishad) was overly complex and ambitious. Thereafter, the Management Team and Maxwell Stamp, through wider consultations with different stakeholders (DFID, GoB, NGOs, etc.), re-designed the programme which allowed CLP to invest the allocated funds to make tangible, visible and measurable impacts.  After passing more than nine years at various positions at CLP, I still get lost in oblivion when I think of those days.

My next role of Contracts Manager opened a wide door for me and was a perfect orientation for my present role as Partnerships Director.  I learnt and established policies to work with the partners that have passed the test of time, as the policies are still maintained at CLP.  However, I moved to the position of Health and Education Unit Manager in 2007 and immediately faced the challenge of setting up and completing the project of Education by December 2012 with the objective of graduating 5,000 students up to class/grade V. The challenge reached its utmost level when the Health project was rearranged and the decision was taken to make it a central project.  It came with the visionary decision of covering core and non-core CPHHs through conducting satellite clinics. The challenge was addressed successfully within the timeframe of less than two years.

But it will not be an oversight to claim that I enjoyed my best time so far at CLP as the Human Development Unit Manager from April 2010 to June 2013. The position provided me the prospect of managing five different components. My commitment led me to present CLP its comprehensive social development training module, establishing VSL (Village Savings and Loan) as an exclusive, exceptional and essential core activity in the context of sustainability, and kicking off the Direct Nutrition Intervention project.  I was also able to pass on my vision and mission to my colleagues in the Human Development Unit and proved the validity of building human capital in the circumstance of dependable poverty mitigation.

The CLP has not only been successful in helping people out of poverty, it has overwhelming achievements in developing the capacity and skills of its staff too. Over time I have worked with many people at CLP, but most have moved on from CLP into new and exciting roles. This is why I sometimes say that CLP also functions as a training institute!  Many other projects and organisations prefer to hire people with CLP experience, from both the IMOs and the management team. With due respect to all my past and previous colleagues, I do believe that my firm affection towards the programme, sincerity, willingness to work hard for the betterment of poor people and learning attitudes are the forces that keep me going forward with the objectives of CLP. The bricks I see every day at the office allow me to enjoy a sigh of satisfaction and happiness which I consider the biggest achievement of my CLP life.

At the end I must admit that whatever little contribution I had for the successes of CLP was not possible without the heartfelt support and cooperation of my past and present colleagues – I recognize their help and thank them all from the core of my heart. 

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