Proshika : A Centre for Human Development

Kamrul Hassan Kamal

Introduction and Education: Mr. Kamrul Hassan Kamal is the present Deputy Chief Executive of PROSHIKA Human Development Centre, one of the non-government development organizations of the country. He is the 4th child among 11 children of late Abul Fayez Mia and late Alefoon Nesha. He was born on July 7, 1957 at Barotopa village of Sreepur upazila in Gazipur district. He passed SSC from Mawna Bahumukhi High School in 1973 and Higher Secondary in 1975 and Degree in 1977 from Sreepur Degree College. In 1979, he obtained his MSS degree in Political Science from Government Titumir College University. He took part in the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 at the age of only 15. During the war, he undertook a very daring part of collecting weapons from the armory of the Ordnance Factory at Joydevpur thana, now in Gazipur, which created a remarkable response at that time. He was associated with leftist political party since his student life and was the VP of Sreepur Degree College.

Career: After completing his studies, he joined PROSHIKA Human Development Centre in 1980. Due to his keen interest in the nation building after war, he devoted himself fully to various developmental activities of PROSHIKA. He played an important role in making PROSHIKA famous in both the country and abroad during the establishment employee of PROSHIKA.

Social Activities: Mr. Kamrul Hassan Kamal was a very philanthropist and social worker. He played a pioneering role in assisting to collect significant amount of financial donations for construction of the Afsar Uddin High School building at his village Barotopa and Mawna Peer Ali College building. In 1984-85, he provided services to the poor men and women of Sreepur by establishing various health camps to address nutritional deficiencies and eliminate iodine deficiency with the help of the Institute of Nutritional Sciences of Dhaka University. He also helps the poor people of the area with his own financial support by providing eye cataract surgery and spectacles. Some of his more notable social activities include: making poor people self-reliant through training in beekeeping and honey extraction; training of vaccinators and provision of necessary equipment for treatment of livestock and poultry; organized campaigns on the necessity of using sanitary latrines in eight unions of Sreepur and made the poor financially self-reliant through training in making sanitary latrines products; providing training in modern methods of cultivation using deep tube-wells in various unions in Sreepur; ensuring the availability of water for the people of his area by renovating the government 15 Khas ponds and undertaking nutritional development and financial self-sufficiency through fish farming; In order to protect the environment and the initiative to increase the national revenue income by protecting the environment and regenerating natural resources through afforestation activities for men and women of low income adjacent to the Gazipur forest area; and taking initiatives to increase national revenue through natural resource regeneration. He pioneered the establishment of non-formal primary schools for poor children and night schools for the elder people.

Role in Cultural and Sports Arena: Mr. Kamrul Hassan Kamal has considerable fame and reputation as a cultural and sports personality in his area. He used to organize various cultural events in his area on various important days, such as jatra, drama, music, film, etc. He, himself, participated in these events. He was quite good at playing football, kabaddi and cricket and hence his interest in sports was also strong. So, he plays a special role as the organizer of these games every year in his area.

Contribution to Reorganization of PROSHIKA: Mr. Kamrul Hassan Kamal was one of the leaders of the frustrated workers of PROSHIKA. In 2009 when PROSHIKA was on the brink of collapse due to internal strife, he was one of the bravest and most successful soldiers in the development with PROSHIKA journey in 2014. He was appointed as the Deputy Chief Executive of the organization in 2020 for his successful contribution in making PROSHIKA famous and he is performing his duty very successfully.

Md. Abdul Hakim

Introduction, Education and Working Career: Mr. Md. Abdul Hakim is the present Deputy Chief Executive of PROSHIKA Human Development Center, one of the largest development organizations of the country. He was born on July 29, 1959 at the village Kuri Kahunia Ghior of Saturia upazila in Manikganj district. He is the second child of his late father Md. Achalat Bepari and mother Mosammat Hazera Khatun. He passed SSC in 1975 from the Saturia Model High School. Mr. Hakim, a youth, hoping for the development of war-torn Bangladesh, joined PROSHIKA Human Development Center the newly established non-government organization in 1976 as a volunteer development worker in the middle of his studies. The organization used to work with the youth community of Bangladesh in alleviating the poverty of the poor marginal farmers in the remote areas of war-torn Bangladesh and improving their fortunes. Development of landless marginalized communities, poverty alleviation of poor men and women, their empowerment, organizing poor people across the country including remote areas and raising wages, providing loans, encouraging savings, increasing accessibility of landless people to khas land, roadside forestry, education, health, women's development and started extensive development programs in the country by creating employment through empowerment, implementing the spirit of liberation war and increasing the income of poor people. In all these activities, Mr. Hakim also engaged himself in the development work, shoulder to shoulder with the founder members of PROSHIKA. He passed his HSC from Bhikshu Memorial College, Dargram, Saturia in 1977 while working in PROSHIKA and was appointed as a permanent staff member in December of the same year. He devoted himself fully to development works. As a result, PROSHIKA Human Development Centre became known as one of the non-government organizations of the country. Along with development of the country, Mr. Hakim also continued to improve himself and passed BA Degree from Motilal Degree College, Manikganj in 1990. He has enriched himself more in education for the development of the country than in academic education.

Social activities: Mr. Hakim founded a public organization called 'Ghior Janakalyan Samiti' in his village. Through this organization, he arranged dowry-free marriages for poor women in his area and arranged to teach in night schools for the education of the elder people. In addition, various sports and cultural events were organized in the village at that time under the initiative of this organization.

Contribution to Restructuring PROSHIKA: Since 2009, the organization has been on the brink of collapse due to internal strife. At some point, almost all of its operations have been stopped. In such a situation, they felt the need for the cooperation of Mr. Serajul Islam and some other workers of his contemporaries and remembered them. Mr. Hakim was one of them. Since 2014, he has played a significant role in restructuring PROSHIKA. With the help of the Chief Executive Mr. Serajul Islam, Mr. Kamrul Hasan Kamal, Mr. Hakim and other comrades, the current PROSHIKA has become known as a reputed organization in the country. He was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of PROSHIKA in 2020 for his contribution in the restructuring of PROSHIKA and since assuming the role of Deputy Chief, he has performed his duties successfully till date.