Development Organisation of the Rural Poor-DORP a national Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has been working in the development field all most 4 decades in Bangladesh. The experiences of the organisation are not confined to specific field, rather diverse in action. The pioneer and founder of the organisation is the first generation development activist in the country, along-with his companions who have also long experience in different areas of development. In 1970, just before the liberation war of Bangladesh, a devastating cyclone caused havoc and about 1 million people died in the coastal area. During that time, some youths of Ramgati Thana under Laksmipur district (one of the severely cyclone affected areas of the Coastal Belt) were organised to help the victims through relief, rehabilitation and production of sayabean program. After completion of the works, it was realised that relief could only solve the immediate problems of the affected people, but much more is needed for self reliance. Based on this realization, they started a cooperative movement ensuring the participation of the affected people under the name of Ramgati thana Central Cooperative Association (RTCCA). After starting the work, a new concept about rehabilitation was drawn in the minds of the organisers in the frame of creation and development of Cluster Village. The World Bank Christmas Party Fund supported the program under the name of Bishwa Gram and that was the ever first Cluster Village in the country set up at Ramgati, during 1970-73.
Presently Laksmipur is branded as Soya district by the government. Thus, the present Chief Executive and Founder of DORP, AHM Nouman was directly involved in relief, rehabilitation, development & human rights program as a Pioneer Architect. Later on, realizing the importance and indispensability of self-help and self-reliance in promoting the sustainable development, he along with a few other pioneers, established self-reliance movement promoting change of social and economic situation and felt to transform development sector through bottom-up approach, while people from rural areas of the country were the focal group of development. Eventually, in 1987, AHM Nouman with other like-minded professional rural development actors established DORP for achieving sustainable development through self-reliance. Thus, DORP became an organisation of a set of social workers with adequate educational and technical expertise including grass root people, with local level experiences in the areas of integrated development. Its participatory approach was method of practice from the very beginning of the organisation. In DORP’s evolution process, it has experimented out various approaches and undertaken some action-oriented research to identify the direction of its programs that makes Maternity Allowance and SAPNA package, with active participation of people and run by the Government of Bangladesh especially for the poor women, marginalized and riverine belt inhabitants as program partners.
