Bangladesh Mahila Parishad - Norad

40Through its work over four decades for women’s human rights, BMP has built socialcapital within the organization as well as between the organization and otherstakeholders in the human rights field. Moreover, BMP’s legitimacy as an institutionis high both at the grass roots level and the national level. Does BMP utilize its socialcapital and legitimacy in the most effective manner? BMP has gained significantvictories in the legal field as a pioneering organization pushing for the introductionof new laws. In this field BMP has directed its legal expertise and practical experiencetowards sustained advocacy. Advocacy in the political area - for direct representationof women - and for changing social awareness, take place within less well defined,sometimes even hostile, arenas. This difficult environment makes strategyformulation even more challenging and alliance-building with other civil societyorganizations and political parties even more important. BMP could consider beingeven more focused and strategic in its advocacy work on political representation andawareness-raising on gender issues, for example by selecting one campaign issue forsocial awareness raising, or BMP by considering taking the lead in a coordinated andsustained campaign for direct representation for women. The selection of onecampaign issue would increase the visibility of BMP. BMP could perhaps gain byfocusing more on advocacy and less on activism.3) Organisational identity. BMP needs to strike a balance between its legal work and itsadvocacy for political representation of women, and at the same time to balance itsincreasing donor funds with its tradition of voluntarism. Currently, BMP’s identity istied to its legal strategy of fighting for women’s rights. With the introduction of theDanish project, BMP’s profile at the local level will shift from that of a legalorganization, to also include a focus on women’s political representation andaccountability issues. BMP is known in the communities where it works for itsmediation and legal work and it has a clear profile as an advocate and practitioner inthis field. The shift towards local governance work needs to be accompanied bycapacity-building of district level volunteers and a clear message to its members andsupporters about why governance is important.4) Recruitment of volunteers among professionals. The issue of how to sustain the voluntarynature of BMP has been on the agenda for some time, and was also raised in the2009 review. Many seem to agree that Bangladesh is going through a social transitionwhere life styles change and new demands are placed on professional women and asa result volunteerism is put under pressure. Voluntarism is a core component ofBMP’s identity, at the national, and not least at the local level. Ahead of the currentfunding phase BMP made a policy decision that it wanted to balance voluntarismwith paid staff. The difficulties encountered in involving new volunteers need to bedeconstructed and understood in more detail. BMP finds it increasingly challengingto involve volunteers with teacher’s training, medical, legal, academic and otherprofessional backgrounds. This applies to Dhaka as well as to rural areas. In the ruralareas, it is a lot easier to recruit volunteers who are less educated.5) Mobilization and strengthening of the membership base.BMP’s membership base is a strong asset and development of the membership baseis an important strategic issue. The issue of what BMP delivers for its members iscritical. At present, BMP resolves problems locally through its VAW, and support forwomen who enter politics. At the national level, BMP delivers legal change that is