I recently graduated as a Human Geographer at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. Before and during my studies, my interest has always strongly been on development related issues. This motivated me to specialize in Development Geography and to conduct my master thesis research abroad. The latter dealt with the impact of international migration on gender relations and focused specifically on the possible contribution of female migration to women’s development. I conducted my research in Bolivia during a period of nine months; an experience that has contributed significantly to my understanding of development issues and cooperation, and has enticed me to further explore this path in my future professional life as well.
When the opportunity arised for me to go to Bangladesh on an internship with Euroconsult Mott MacDonald and participate in the Char Development and Settlement Project Phase III, it did not take me long to decide. Not only will it provide me with an opportunity to gain valuable work experience and more insight into development issues, but it will also enable me to further explore a topic close at heart; gender relations and women’s development.

The main aim of my work the coming months will be to describe the gender related interventions of the Char Development and Settlement Project Phase III and to assess the impact of these interventions on the position of the women in the project area. This assessment will focus on women’s position in both material and immaterial sense, and therefore deal with issues such as their income, access to services, status and influence. Another objective is to gain preliminary insight into the sustainability of the changes in the position of women as a result of the project.
Information will be gathered by means of interviews with members of the Technical Assistance Team, representatives of involved government agencies and NGO’s, and the project’s beneficiaries (i.e. female settlers and – to a lesser extent – male settlers). My work will ultimately result in the publication of a Technical Report on Gender.

Description of project

The main objective of the TA during CDSP III is to internalize the lessons learned during the previous phases in char development and settlement within the six partner agencies. This is necessary to prepare the agencies for a large-scale char development programme after 2009. Main achievements of CDSP to date are: settlement of around 10,000 households; development of external and internal infrastructure in six polders; establishment of basic infrastructure in unprotected areas; significant improvements in the access to drinking water in char areas; an increase of the agricultural yields by introduction of modern technologies; creation of institutions for water management; enlargement of the data base and knowledge about coastal development. The technical assistance includes the following activities:

(i) Support the participating agencies in translating the integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) framework into practice at field level;
 

(ii) Support BWDB in equipping, training, supervising and monitoring the Extension Overseers in their work of establishing Water Management Organizations;
 

(iii) Facilitate each of the six partner line agencies in linking up with bilateral and multilateral projects, NGOs and Government of Bangladesh line agencies relevant to ICZM;
 

(iv) Advise and assist BWDB in setting up and running a strong Programme Management Committee (PMC);
 

(v) Advise and assist the Ministry of Water Resources to develop co-funding plans for the Char Development Programme investments beyond the Government of the Netherlands financial and technical Assistance, which ends in 2009;
 

(vi) Advise and assist the relevant line agencies on the ToR for baseline surveys, participatory rural appraisals, feasibility studies and quality control during implementation, and translate the lessons learned into an improved char land and integrated coastal zone management methodology;
 

(vii) Advise and assist the BWDB on translating the outcome of the study on the functioning of the drainage system in the Baggar Dona upper catchment into the overall approach towards developing new chars and simultaneously mitigating the negative impacts of that on the hinterland;
 

(viii) Advise on how to restructure the project database in line with integrated coastal resources development, and ensure easy access and maximum usefulness to potential users;
 

(ix) Advise and assist the Department of Forestry on how to use the coastal zone resources in the most pro-poor way possible;
 

(x) Advise and assist the six line agencies on format and content of publications appropriate to relevant audiences (conferences, seminars, technical publications, scientific articles, popular articles, videos etc.);
 

(xi) Quality control of social and physical infrastructure and services.