Bangladesh News

21-Year-Old Youth Leader Opens School for Children in Slums

Sara Wilson — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:45:15 +0000

Tisha is an ambitious 21 year-old woman from Bangladesh. Using her training as a youth leader with THP-Bangladesh, she began her own successful School Under the Sky and empowered the community to take an interest in educating their children.

Meher Nazmun, known popularly as Tisha to her friends and family, is 21 years old and lives in Munshipara, Rangpur District in Bangladesh. As she walked to and from her college, Tisha was troubled at seeing children from the nearby slums on the streets and not enrolled in school. Tisha wanted to help these children go to school but, at the time, did not know how.

In 2010, she was trained as a youth leader by The Hunger Project (THP)-Bangladesh’s “Youth Ending Hunger” Program. Tisha then organized a “youth unit” in her area. With the help of her youth unit, Tisha initiated a new community intervention to improve school enrollment. She started teaching the children from the slums in an open-air school that she called “School Under the Sky” (pictured).

Though the local children responded well initially and attended regularly in large numbers, after a while attendance began to drop off. In Bangladesh, while primary education is technically free, many people living in poverty find the cost of school uniforms and books difficult to bear, leading to high drop-out rates. Committed to finding a way around this, Tisha and her unit spoke to the children’s parents and urged the importance and value of investing in the education of their children. But challenges remained. Despite the support of the community, the roofless School Under the Sky was forced to close on rainy days.

One day, Tisha arranged an arts program for her students and invited the Principal of her college to attend. He was so moved by what he saw that he offered to provide Tisha with a permanent room in which to conduct her classes. He also offered to negotiate with the local government’s primary school so that her students could be re-enrolled in a formal education program.

Empowered by her successes as an educator, Tisha has taken steps to improve her capacities. She recently visited Scotland as part of the bilateral exchange program under the British Council’s Active Citizens Project. As well as building her confidence and helping her gain the respect of her community, Tisha believes she has learned a lot in practical terms, such as having a plan and sticking to it. Her long-term aim is to eradicate illiteracy from Bangladesh. She is committed to do whatever it takes to achieve this aim because she strongly believes the standard of living would significantly improve if only all Bangladeshis were educated.

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Great Strides in Gender Equality from THP-Bangladesh in 2011

Sara Wilson — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:04:41 +0000

In 2011, THP-Bangladesh placed particular emphasis on increasing women's involvement in government and greater issues of gender inequality in the country.

Update to the Global Board

October 2011

During this reporting period, THP-Bangladesh carried out bottom-up, gender-focused activities in 804 clusters of villages (unions) across 57 of Bangladesh's 64 districts.

THP-Bangladesh completed an analysis to better align financial and programmatic data and reporting procedures. Working together, finance and program staff will better be able to monitor activities and measure results in the following program areas: Community Mobilization; Gender Equality; Village Development Campaigns; Good Governance and Advocacy & Alliances.

THP-Bangladesh celebrated the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day by hosting more than 299 events across the country. More than 41,500 people participated in the events. Other highlights during this reporting period include a successful election cycle where a number of THP’s women leaders increasingly ran for office in local government elections.

THP-Bangladesh also saw increased national media coverage surrounding the roundtable discussions organized by Shujan (civil society platform), and strengthened partnerships with Australian High Commission, British Council, BRAC and others.

Accomplishments

THP’s Women Leaders have had a breakthrough and are increasingly running for office in local government elections: More than 460 THP-Bangladesh volunteers participated in municipal elections, among which 169 were elected to office. This is a significant milestone and indicator for successful mobilization activities. Only 21 women last year were elected. This dramatic increase can be attributed in part to increased volunteer training which promotes participation in local elections.
Focus on Education: THP-Bangladesh staff and animators held more than 586 Primary School Enrollment meetings emphasizing the importance of education for children - especially girl children. More than 19,000 people (mostly women) attended the meetings.

Download the full report (.pdf 519.9KB)

Bangladesh: On the Road to Achieving the MDGs

Sara Wilson — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:03:10 +0000

In November 2011, a small group of investors from Australia, Sweden and the United States traveled to South Asia to express solidarity with the people of Bangladesh and deepen their understanding of The Hunger Project’s programs in nearly 20 villages.

“When my husband mentioned making an investment in The Hunger Project, I had a lot of questions. But over the last few days, meeting the women, men and children of Bangladesh, I see the difference our money is making. I will share my experience with everyone I know and invite them to invest.” – Maureen Bryant, investor, Australia

November 2011

We, a small group of investors from Australia, Sweden and the United States, traveled to South Asia this November to express our solidarity with the people of Bangladesh, and deepen our understanding of The Hunger Project’s (THP’s) programs in nearly 20 projects showcasing the three elements of THP’s strategies: mobilizing people to be self-reliant; empowering women to be key change agents; and ensuring responsible governance through local partnerships.

The theme of the trip was Bangladesh – On the Road to Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Everywhere we went, we witnessed the incredible passion, commitment, resilience and tenacity of the Bangladeshi people as they confront the end of hunger and poverty in their lives and communities. This was eloquently communicated to us by Ranju (pictured here), THP-Bangladesh regional coordinator for Khulna Region, when he said, “Being part of this process is not a job, it is our destiny. I came to THP right out of college and the difference we are able to make in the lives of the people of my country is the most satisfying experience of my life.”

Our journey began with a briefing of THP programs from Country Director Badiul Majumdar, key volunteer activist Tazima Majumdar and the national office staff. They explained how every action that the THP team is taking to address hunger is deeply rooted in achieving the MDGs.

We had the opportunity to interact with several hundred THP partners who, despite many challenges, welcomed us with immense joy and words of love and friendship. About the interactions, Lynn Freitag, an investor from Chicago, USA demonstrated MDG 8 in action – Building Partnerships:

“With every meeting and every handshake, it became clear of what was missing for me – the recognition that there is no divide between the people ending their hunger and those of us who live in the developed world. I will bring home the faces of those I’ve met, as I meet the challenges in my life. They are my partners as much as we are theirs.”

At one village, we met girls as young as 12 and women as old as 50 engaging in embroidery and karchupi (needle-point). They sell their wares to local and city markets, earning incomes of up to 3,000 takas (US$41) per month. This income has given them a voice in decision-making within their families and communities, as well as built a savings for the future and taken their community ever closer to achieving MDG 1: Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.

In another village, we met with women leaders working towards MDG 2 – achieving universal primary education – by running a non-formal school for 35 children aged three to ten, whose parents did not have the resources to send their children to school.

Learning about simple methods used to increase the birth weights of babies was next on our trip’s agenda. Mothers are encouraged to bring their children to health clinics for regular check-ups and, there, receive training from a female doctor on making balanced nutritious meals from local grains and molasses to increase weight, height and the overall well-being of their children. These women work daily towards MDG 4: Reducing child mortality.

Image: Woman feeding her child in Chokrakhali village, Jalma Union

Other amazing stories from our time with our partners include:

Hari Priya, a 20-year old animator (THP-trained community organizer) and youth leader, spends several hours a day taking care of her cattle, and then goes to computer engineering college. With no sons to take over her family’s business, tending the cattle has been Hari’s responsibility since she was eight years old.
Vibrant young animator Savitri Roy exchanged views with investors on what it means to be part of THP. She is an effective organizer of women’s groups in her community in Chyghoria village in Jalma Union.
Rehana Akhter, a woman leader from Khulna City, met with investor Lynn Freitag. Rehana operates a handicraft producing business with 15 women from her local community. (Pictured at top of article)
An animator-organized women’s cooperative leased a fish pond from the government for 5,000 takas (US$65), and is in the process of generating an community-wide flow of income in a predominantly male-oriented business.

Sixteen year old Rachel Bryant from Australia (pictured here with youth leader Probhati Biswas) was inspired to see the youth of Bangladesh selflessly dedicating their time and energy towards building the capacities of the rural poor.

Investor David Bryant was also inspired by the youth he met in Bangladesh. He had the opportunity to meet with Youth Ending Hunger (YEH) activists at a Health and Hygiene program at Ghona School in Rangpur Union. YEH students become mentors for young children in the community and teach them to clean their hair and nails to promote sanitation, health and hygiene. YEH students also promote education by raising money and contributing from their own savings to provide books and uniforms for the children they mentor.

During our trip, we also engaged in dialogue with community leaders and activists, government and law enforcement officials at a UP coordination meeting. About 200 participants from Shujan, YEH and Animator groups attended this celebration of achievements by the community.

Image: David Bryant in a classroom with Youth Ending Hunger activists at a Health and Hygiene program at Ghona School in Rangpur Union.

As we shared our thoughts and experiences with each other, we agreed and appreciated the immense hard work and the “never give up” attitude of every Bangladeshi we met – whether it was Bulbul’s perseverance, Reverend Premanando’s thoughtful care of the village elders, or Aalia’s fighting spirit. The return on our financial investment is expressed through the high leverage actions and accomplishments of our partners. Every investor on this trip returns home with a deeper commitment and personal responsibility to raise more awareness and even greater resources for the achievement of our shared vision for the end of hunger.

Special thanks to the following investors and THP staff for this report: Supriya Banavalikar; Magdalena Bergqvist; David, Maureen and Rachel Bryant; Icke Hamilton; Lynn Freitag; Tazima Majumdar; Ahsanul Kabir and Ranju