Starting Out Together - UNICEF Bangladesh and I
The War, the Cyclone and Independence
UNICEF worked in what now constitutes Bangladesh (the then East Pakistan) since 1950 in a limited way, but the first substantial assistance began only following the 1971 war of liberation.
The war lasted about 9 months ( 26 March to 16 December 1971) and brought untold sufferings and negative humanitarian impact for millions of people - women and children in particular. It caused, among other tragedies,
- Deaths of some over 1 million civilians
- About 10 million people fled to India as refugees
- Some 30 million people were internally displaced
- Thousands of Women were violated and raped by the occupying Army.
 |
| July 1971 - A UNICEF Jeep wrecked during fighting in Madhabpur |
The war came in the wake of a devastating cyclone that hit the coastal areas in November 1970 when 500,000 people died and millions were affected and needed urgent relief assistance. The situation was very grim, indeed.
 |
| 12 November 1970 - What was left of villages after the cyclone’s winds and waves. |
The war brought an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, both within the country and among refugees on the Indian side of the border. UNICEF joined other UN Agencies, NGOs and other partners who were responding to the urgent needs for the refugees in West Bengal. These included emergency food, health, shelter, water sanitation and related survival needs.
An important bit of history was made at the refugee camps in India. There was a serious outbreak of cholera. ORT (Oral Rehydration Therapy) was used to treat cholera. This intervention proved very successful. Following Independence, ORT was used in treatment of cholera and dehydration from diarrheal diseases. Working closely with MOH and ICDDRB, UNICEF helped in formulation of a more improvised version which then became the standard treatment on a global basis. The Lancet termed it as “the most important health discovery of 2020. Among the various elements of CSDR promoted by UNICEF to protect children’s lives, ORT became the most significant intervention available.
In August 1971, George Harrison's concert in Calcutta succeeded in raising funds and awareness throughout the world of the grave humanitarian crisis unfolding among the refugees from Bangladesh. This was the first of its kind which was repeated in several other situations of humanitarian crisis in the future.
Joining UNICEF
The first UNICEF emergency operations in post-liberation Bangladesh began with a massive Child Feeding Programme. In order to provide monitoring and logistics support, UNICEF recruited young field officers for each of the districts.
Our newly formed Government was still trying to decide what to do with those of us who belonged to the last batch for Former Pakistan Civil Service (CSS). This batch had been recruited during the war of liberation and under the Pakistan Regime.
One day, a friend of mine told me that UNICEF was recruiting and asked if I would be willing to go with him to be interviewed by UNICEF. There we met and were interviewed by Robert Walker, who was Chief of Operations with UNICEF Bangladesh. The Special Representative, Glan Davies, was attending an important meeting.
During the interview Robert Walker asked both of us several questions. His final question was, “ Do you know how to drive a car?”. My friend said “No” , but that he could learn easily with a UNICEF vehicle. Robert's replied that UNICEF would not risk an expensive vehicle to teach someone to drive”. On the other hand, I did know how to drive, and so immediately got recruited.
At the time recruitment of Field Officers was for a period of only 3 monthly. This was okay for me, since I was awaiting a Government decision for recruitment for the Civil Service. Robert walked with me up a floor above and introduced me to the Chief of the Child Feeding Programme, Dan Roth. He told him that I was to be the new Field Officer for Khulna District in the southwest of the country.
What started as a 3 month job ended up becoming a career for over 33 years in UNICEF. So Robert Walker and Dan Roth were only the first of many encounters with UNICEF supervisors over the years.
Following a week of orientation with M Parvez, who was the Field Officer for Dhaka District, I left for Khulna to take up the job. The UN operated a small 4-seater Pilatus Porter aircraft to ferry UN Personnel around the country. As I approached to board the plane, the Swedish pilot asked me whether I had said my prayers. Indeed, once airborne, I needed those prayers. The long flight criss-crossed rivers and the Bay Of Bengal - and was a memorable moment in my young life.
The Khulna Office was in charge of three districts of the country. It also managed the country’s major port where we received and onforwarded most of the high-protein food for the national child feeding programme.
The programme distributed these foods through primary schools. At the time it was the biggest child feeding programme ever launched and provided supplementary foods for some 3 million school children each day. The programme had two objectives:
The head of Khulna Office at that time was a young American, Tom McDermott, who welcomed me to the Office. We later became close friends and crossed paths throughout our respective Unicef careers in different duty stations over 30 years.
Tom would send me off on field trips for more than 20 days a month. We would sometimes travel together but for most trips I was on my own. These trips were hard for ‘a city boy’ like me. I quickly discovered why knowing how to drive was a criterion for the job. We had no drivers and so just had to handle our own jeep through rough dirt tracks and across fragile bamboo bridges. We also needed to drive small boats and motorcycles to reach many of the villages. Those visits to village schools and trips to inspect cargoes on the ocean-going ships included some very interesting experiences, such as getting stuck in a canal at night when the tides went out. It was a rich learning experience which stood me well for future assignments.
Henry R. Labouisse Comes to Tongi
In 1974 Bangladesh faced a severe drought, resulting in widespread displacement of population. An estimated 40,000 people flooded into camps in Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka. Our representative at the time, Perry Hansen, asked me to prepare for a visit to Tongi by Henry Labouisse and to accompany the Executive Director on the visit. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity. I met Mr. Labouisse again during the Kampuchea Emergency in late 1979 to brief him on our cross border operations from Thailand.
Tilapia Come to Bangladesh
As part of our nutrition programme in 1975 UNICEF introduced Tilapia fish from Thailand to Bangladesh. Tilapia are easy to raise and grow quickly in shallow ponds.
Joining UNICEF
The first UNICEF emergency operations in post-liberation Bangladesh began with a massive Child Feeding Programme. In order to provide monitoring and logistics support, UNICEF recruited young field officers for each of the districts.
Our newly formed Government was still trying to decide what to do with those of us who belonged to the last batch for Former Pakistan Civil Service (CSS). This batch had been recruited during the war of liberation and under the Pakistan Regime.
One day, a friend of mine told me that UNICEF was recruiting and asked if I would be willing to go with him to be interviewed by UNICEF. There we met and were interviewed by Robert Walker, who was Chief of Operations with UNICEF Bangladesh. The Special Representative, Glan Davies, was attending an important meeting.
During the interview Robert Walker asked both of us several questions. His final question was, “ Do you know how to drive a car?”. My friend said “No” , but that he could learn easily with a UNICEF vehicle. Robert's replied that UNICEF would not risk an expensive vehicle to teach someone to drive”. On the other hand, I did know how to drive, and so immediately got recruited.
At the time recruitment of Field Officers was for a period of only 3 monthly. This was okay for me, since I was awaiting a Government decision for recruitment for the Civil Service. Robert walked with me up a floor above and introduced me to the Chief of the Child Feeding Programme, Dan Roth. He told him that I was to be the new Field Officer for Khulna District in the southwest of the country.
What started as a 3 month job ended up becoming a career for over 33 years in UNICEF. So Robert Walker and Dan Roth were only the first of many encounters with UNICEF supervisors over the years.
Following a week of orientation with M Parvez, who was the Field Officer for Dhaka District, I left for Khulna to take up the job. The UN operated a small 4-seater Pilatus Porter aircraft to ferry UN Personnel around the country. As I approached to board the plane, the Swedish pilot asked me whether I had said my prayers. Indeed, once airborne, I needed those prayers. The long flight criss-crossed rivers and the Bay Of Bengal - and was a memorable moment in my young life.
The Khulna Office was in charge of three districts of the country. It also managed the country’s major port where we received and onforwarded most of the high-protein food for the national child feeding programme.
The programme distributed these foods through primary schools. At the time it was the biggest child feeding programme ever launched and provided supplementary foods for some 3 million school children each day. The programme had two objectives:
- increase enrollments in primary schools through provision of a basic lunch
- To enhance the nutrition status of the poor students
The head of Khulna Office at that time was a young American, Tom McDermott, who welcomed me to the Office. We later became close friends and crossed paths throughout our respective Unicef careers in different duty stations over 30 years.
Tom would send me off on field trips for more than 20 days a month. We would sometimes travel together but for most trips I was on my own. These trips were hard for ‘a city boy’ like me. I quickly discovered why knowing how to drive was a criterion for the job. We had no drivers and so just had to handle our own jeep through rough dirt tracks and across fragile bamboo bridges. We also needed to drive small boats and motorcycles to reach many of the villages. Those visits to village schools and trips to inspect cargoes on the ocean-going ships included some very interesting experiences, such as getting stuck in a canal at night when the tides went out. It was a rich learning experience which stood me well for future assignments.
Henry R. Labouisse Comes to Tongi
In 1974 Bangladesh faced a severe drought, resulting in widespread displacement of population. An estimated 40,000 people flooded into camps in Tongi, on the outskirts of Dhaka. Our representative at the time, Perry Hansen, asked me to prepare for a visit to Tongi by Henry Labouisse and to accompany the Executive Director on the visit. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity. I met Mr. Labouisse again during the Kampuchea Emergency in late 1979 to brief him on our cross border operations from Thailand.
Tilapia Come to Bangladesh
As part of our nutrition programme in 1975 UNICEF introduced Tilapia fish from Thailand to Bangladesh. Tilapia are easy to raise and grow quickly in shallow ponds.
Around 50,000 fingerlings arrived by air and were moved by helicopter to hatcheries in Noakhali District. Azizul Haque (then our consultant but later the Minister of Agriculture) and I accompanied the shipment. Damrong Silpachai, a Thai fisheries expert, came on board with UNICEF to provide the technical support. Damrong was a great person and well respected in both UNICEF and the government. We fondly called him “Damned Right Silpachai''. He and UNICEF made sure that Talapia remained as a sustainable intervention for years to come. The introduction of Tilapia was a great success and the fish remain very popular and form an important element of rural agriculture and nutrition today.
School Gardens
In the mid-1970s, we took up a school gardening project as a follow-up to our earlier school feeding programme. UNICEF procured the vegetable seeds locally. Once the Government saw the value of the project, it wanted to continue the project on a long-term basis using reimbursable procurement of the seeds. This later became the model for reimbursable procurement for other programmes.
Alan Court was the focal point. The careers Alan and I later followed criss-crossed in many other UNICEF duty stations. I benefited immensely from his professional and personal wisdom.
Meeting and Moving Beyond Bangladesh
EAPRO held regional staff meetings each year. Normally the representative would take along a few senior internationals from his or her country office. In 1975, Perry Hanson decided to do something different. He took six national staff. This raised a lot of eye-brows. But for us lucky ones, the meeting was a great opportunity to meet senior staff, exchange views and learn.
We met many like Manou Assadi, Victor Soler-Sala, Shahida Azfar, Padmini Ramashwamy and many others with whom we established close bonds and friendship. Of course, we met many others when senior staff visited Bangladesh. These included Roberto Esquerra-Barry, Charles Egger, Heino Wittrin, Ed Lannert, Steve Umemoto, Kunio Waki and many others. I was fortunate to come into contact with them. They helped shape my future with UNICEF and helped me through many future postings in country offices, NYHQ, and Copenhagen.
School Gardens
In the mid-1970s, we took up a school gardening project as a follow-up to our earlier school feeding programme. UNICEF procured the vegetable seeds locally. Once the Government saw the value of the project, it wanted to continue the project on a long-term basis using reimbursable procurement of the seeds. This later became the model for reimbursable procurement for other programmes.
Alan Court was the focal point. The careers Alan and I later followed criss-crossed in many other UNICEF duty stations. I benefited immensely from his professional and personal wisdom.
Meeting and Moving Beyond Bangladesh
EAPRO held regional staff meetings each year. Normally the representative would take along a few senior internationals from his or her country office. In 1975, Perry Hanson decided to do something different. He took six national staff. This raised a lot of eye-brows. But for us lucky ones, the meeting was a great opportunity to meet senior staff, exchange views and learn.
We met many like Manou Assadi, Victor Soler-Sala, Shahida Azfar, Padmini Ramashwamy and many others with whom we established close bonds and friendship. Of course, we met many others when senior staff visited Bangladesh. These included Roberto Esquerra-Barry, Charles Egger, Heino Wittrin, Ed Lannert, Steve Umemoto, Kunio Waki and many others. I was fortunate to come into contact with them. They helped shape my future with UNICEF and helped me through many future postings in country offices, NYHQ, and Copenhagen.
Comments
Post a Comment