Promoting Gender Equality, Human Rights and Good Governance

About Steps

Steps Towards Development (Steps) is a national NGO working since 1993 with the mandate of the promotion and protection of gender equality, human rights and good governance. Steps strives to create a better society through eliminating all discriminations between women and men that exist in policy, law, institution, society and culture. Through this process, Steps links field experience and learning with policy level. Steps works with a gender equality and right based approach. With around three decades of persistent efforts in strengthening the women’s rights movement in the country, Steps has earned Steps recognition of a leading gender and rights-based organization in Bangladesh. Steps wants to gradually replicate its mission-vision and stories of success in other parts of Bangladesh and thus establish human rights, especially women human rights as well as equality and equity for all. Read more

Steps domains of work

Steps Towards Development (Steps) is a leading multi-disciplinary national organization of Bangladesh with specialization in program and project implementation, qualitative and quantitative research, capacity building, mentoring and coaching, awareness campaign and policy advocacy, IEC and BCC materials development (Audio-Visual and Printing) etc. Steps has working experience with different ministries and institutions of Government of Bangladesh, UN bodies, national and international organizations for more than 28 years. The organization has a good number of in-house professional staff members to undertake these activities with perfection within a scheduled time and guideline. Steps also has well-trained field level experienced staff and social volunteers (including youth and students) and facilitators to implement any project or assignment effectively with quality. In addition, it has a pool of highly qualified senior professionals from various disciplines; many of them are working for more than 20 years with Steps. Read more

Thematic areas of interventions

Over the years, Steps’ main thematic areas of interventions include:

  1. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
  2. Women’s Political Empowerment
  3. Gender Responsive Governance and Services
  4. Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education
  5. Human Rights and Women Human Rights (GBV, Early and Child Marriage, SRHR)
  6. Persons with Disability
  7. Children
  8. Environment, Disaster Management and Climate Change adaptability,
  9. Health Education and Safety
  10. Gender Responsive Budget
  11. Sustainable Agriculture and Agriculture Marketing
  12. Economic Justice for Women

Organizational working strategy

Since its inception, Steps has been following the program strategies:

  • Networking and Alliance Building with civil society, community based organizations, different local and national networks, platforms, forum etc.
  • Collaborative partnership with different Ministries and Government mechanisms as well as political parties and media

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Membership and linkages

National level

Government Committees

  • Active member of the “Committee to develop National Action Plan (NAP) for implementation of National Women’s Development Policy 2011”
  • Active member of “Committee to oversee the implementation and evaluation of National Plan of Action for Women Development” of Ministry of Women and Child Affairs
  • Steps was actively involved with development of “National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (2013-2025)”.
  • Former Active member of the “Working team for finalizing the draft of National Women’s Development Policy 2011”
  • Steps was the member of “National Action Plan Working Group” and contributed to engendering the Sixth Five Year Plan
  • Linkage and working relation with WID Focal Point/Gender Desk of different ministries and institutions.

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Steps' project/programs

Supporting LGED in Monitoring Female Engagement, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Risks Management in Rural Bridges Program (SupRB)

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Local Government Division (LGD) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives is implementing the Program for Supporting Rural Bridges (SupRB) with financing from the International Development Association (IDA), member World Bank Group (WBG). The main objectives of the program are enhancing rural connectivity, improving the preservation and climate resilience of rural bridge assets, and strengthening institutional capacity for the development, maintenance, and management of the rural bridge assets. The SupRB program started in 2019.

It is assumed that the SupRB implementation may create GBV risks, as there is an influx of women labor force along with project workers, LGED staff, consultants and contractors at the project sites. The NGO services are required to assist LGED in general and the Gender and Development Forum in particular in evaluating, preventing, and mitigating the possible risks of gender-based violence and ensuring women’s engagement in implementing the program by establishing and nurturing an informal organization consisting of the local stakeholders. Steps Towards Development (Steps) showed its interest to be involved in this endeavor and in providing consulting services and thus submitted a Request For Proposal (RFP) accordingly. The organization was later selected as the consulting firm for supporting LGED in monitoring female engagement, gender-based violence (GBV) and risks management in rural bridges program (SupRB) following due selection process. The contract signing took place on 12 October with a project effective date from 20 October 2022. This assignment has commenced in October 2022 and will continue up to 18 months (April 2024) or any other period subsequently agreed by the parties.Read more