BRAC Human Rights and Legal Services Program (HRLS) has initiated to form the ward-based Legal Rights Implementation Committee (LRIC) comprised of 19 members to ensure justice for the vulnerable women of the community. The study is to explore the dynamics of the committee formation, the strength and weakness of HRLS and to analyze the nature of performance and sustainability in achieving justice for the women. The study was exploratory in nature and followed Tuckman’s four stages group dynamics model to achieve the basic objectives of the group. The study investigated the activities, performances and contributions of seven committees in Khulna, Moulvi Bazar and Jamalpur each over seven months period. The findings showed that as the LRIC committee was constituted of different professional groups, therefore, it became more effective to protect the interest of most vulnerable groups by providing legal support to them. A number of collective actions visualized the potential contributions of the members of LRIC. But at the same time, the study shows how the LRIC faced the sub-group syndrome among the members because of their hierarchical position in social strata. However, inadequate group cohesion and lack of intra-group bonds and interactions constituted a comparatively weaker social space for LRIC group. Despite some limitations of LRIC, it has proved its potential capacity and contributions for the most disadvantaged group members as an effective group for protecting their legal rights.
Authors: Kundu, Debasish Kumar; Samadder, Mrinmoy; Naomi, Sharin Shajahan
Type: Working Paper
Year: 2010
