Community Development Association (CDA) is a highly secular, non-partisan-non-Government Development Organization (NGDO) established in the year 1985-1986 in North Western Part of Bangladesh CDA gradually has been shifted its strategic position from charity to a Right based Organization now facilitating among the poorest, landless and marginal farmers along with the plain land indigenous people (
IP) including the differently able men, women &youth with a view to empower, ensure and secure access to land Rights from its inception. Initially, CDA entered voluntarily in the rural poor communities in the remotest villages in greater Dinajpur district the then and it was committed to organize the rural landless poor with the concept of Integrated Community Development Program(ICDP) and tried to unite them in several small groups at their doorsteps in several villages from 1985-86 to 1988 -89 in association with OXFAM-GB &CAFOD-APHD-Hongkong. CDA has been playing the role of facilitating and assist to strengthen for identifying and addressing their poverty issues independently but collectively from the socio-economic, political, cultural and ecological context. Considering such an effective mechanism to identify the local needs and demands CDA gathered more experience about the social transformation from such mobilization process by the organized people and insighted to the alignment of this process with the ICESC rights and civil and political rights. Then CDA took the opportunity to include and apply the human rights approach in its development process and start facilitation towards the Peoples Initiative for Rights Assertion (PIRA) by the village based Federation. CDA determined, its role, specified its support activities and separated its identity from the village based institutions and re-positioned having a very strong staunch upon the human rights and facilitating the united poor people to strengthen their management capacity to deal with institutional process parallel to the political and Government Administrative tiers at the local level to make the local authorities accountable at the grass-root level and a solidarity-networking process constituted with the Civil Society Organizations moving forward to the Agrarian reforms to ensure the rights having access to the public land, water ,forest along with securing rights to the natural resources for sustainable livelihood. CDA has been facilitating its technical knowledge generation support among the united rural poor and its solidarity networks at the various human resource mobilization levels on the basis of gathered experience from the practice of the micro-institutions which is already established as a protection mechanism evidently. Also, such an effective mechanism has a role to ensure the People Centered Governance towards building an effective convergence tied-up over the poor, local CSOs and the local Government in taking the Local level decision collectively. So, Institution Building (IB) is a core program of CDA in the name of Peoples Organization is constructed with the village people parallel to the local Government Institutions. Village Based Institution Building is not only the program of CDA it is also a Process in implementing or mobilizing any People Centered activities or reform/governance issues for social change and development meaning change the lifestyle, attitude and the behavior of the rural disadvantage communities by themselves getting information about their rights as a citizen from local, national and international sources through CDA as a facilitating organization with the support from Bread for the world (Bftw)-Germany and the moral and knowledge support from the different networking organizations e.g. Vision:
A People Centered Democratic & Just Society where poverty is eradicated, ecological balance is maintained and the culture of Economic, Social, Civil & political rights is established with good governance towards equalities and peace. Mission:
Building self-help peoples organizations by the deprived, oppressed and excluded vulnerable community people (Landless men & women, Children, Youth, IPs, Disable, Old age, LGBTQ and other minorities including all ill-health or any disaster affected). Approach:
* PARTICIPATORY
* BOTTOM UP DECITION MAKING
* ESC, Civil, Political & HR
* Learning by doing
* Networking & Linkages
Values
* Living with People
* MUTUAL RESPECT
* ACCOUNTABILITY
* PROFESSIONALISM
* TEAM WORK
What We Do:
* Institution Building:
https://www.cdalpo.org/institution-building
* Land Rights:
https://www.cdalpo.org/land-right
* Social Inclusion and Human Rights:
https://www.cdalpo.org/human-right
* Environmental Sustainability and Climate Resilience:
https://www.cdalpo.org/climate
* Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment:
https://www.cdalpo.org/women-empowerment
* Economic Empowerment and Livelihoods:
https://www.cdalpo.org/livelihood
* Advocacy and Policy Influence:
https://www.cdalpo.org/policy-influence
* Health and Nutrition:
https://www.cdalpo.org/health-nutrition
* Technology, Innovation and Research:
https://www.cdalpo.org/innovation-research
