Bangladesh Mahila Parishad - Norad

f. There is an annual staff evaluation based on a set format inaccordance with the service rule of BMP.g. Finally, staff has the opportunity to take part in the three monthcertificate course on gender, empowerment and developmentorganized by BMP at BMP premises.4) The main difference compared with the previous phase, has been the increasein paid staff at the district level. Staff has been hired in 28 districts of a totalof 60 districts in Bangladesh. Since they have been employed without havingformal qualifications, they have subsequently been trained in the use ofcomputers, financial management (accounting), and office management.5) Participatory planning with districts has become more frequent as BMPintroduced two yearly planning and implementation meetings withparticipation from the district committees.6) Divisional leadership has been established to manage contact with severaldistricts. Each division works with five districts for training purposes inparticular. Leadership training has been organized specifically for thedivisional level leadership.7) Due to the increase in transport funds both at central and district level, themobility of BMP volunteers and staff have increased, and facilitated higherwork efficiency.314.3 Capacity at the branch levelIn the same way that the head office relies on volunteers, the branches do to. OfBMPs branches, 28 have one paid staff with access to one or two computers. Thepay at the branch level is, according to the BMP administration, not sufficient toattract qualified people. The pay level for a graduate with computer skills is aroundTk. 18000 per month, whereas BMP staff is paid Tk. 12000.Baseline surveys were carried out in 2004 and 2008 of district capacities. In thesurvey a distinction is made between capacities for office, financial and programmemanagement. Based on the survey information districts are placed into threecategories: A, B or C. According to BMP, capacities had increased during the periodof the survey. No recent survey data exists on the performance of the districts.The constraints that were identified by BMP staff were:1) Constraints on the capacity of panel lawyers2) Lack of educated volunteers3) Lack of management/financial capacity in branches that does not have paidstaff