Symbiosis International exists to alleviate the poverty in Bangladesh. Since it began in the early 1990s, it has worked toward the empowerment and development of community-based organizations. Its objectives are being achieved through Symbiosis Bangladesh.
The Symbiosis International’s approach is a holistic one. Progress is coming in small steps with projects and programs long-term. Field staff work with people in villages for whom impersonal institutions are foreign, intimidating and create dependency. The development of long-term committed relationships is essential and one of the core values of Symbiosis.
Aims
To promote social transformation through the formation of community based organizations composed of people liberated from exploitative dependency and who are committed to promote the same liberation within their society.
Background
Symbiosis Bangladesh began in 1995 with a plan to bring empowerment to the poor and marginalized people of the country. The philosophy which has driven Symbiosis Bangladesh is characterized by the following:
• Seeking the long term welfare of those who are poor and marginalized within the society.
• A model of sustainable change that is driven by transformation from within.
• Change at a rate that is appropriate to the social structure and cultural values of the society.
• Recognition of the freedom of the individual within a context of social responsibility.
• A belief in the equality of all people irrespective of gender, race and religion but also a recognition of the complementary of the difference between people.
• Raising awareness of the poor as an essential step in promoting just social structural change.
• Respect and honor for culture and tradition but recognition that culture and tradition are for the service of humanity not the reverse.