Overview

Bangladesh has a population of 163 million people. Almost 25% of the people are living below the national poverty line and those living in rural areas are particularly disadvantaged. The area is highly prone to frequent flooding often damaging crops, houses and infrastructure and spreading disease. The aim of this project is to transform and equip rural communities by improving literacy through functional education, self-help group formation, economic empowerment and encouraging behavioural change.

Why support this

This project is helping poor and marginalised families sustainably overcome poverty. The work will focus particularly on women who are functionally landless and illiterate as well as their families and children. This will be primarily through self-help groups which will provide the structure for a range of development activities such as literacy and basic arithmetic, saving schemes for income generation and learning about important social and environmental issues. Families will also benefit from 30 children being integrated into mainstream education through pre-school support. Our partner's model has a proven track record and has been key to lifting many out of exploitation and dependency.

Budget

$20,000 for Year 2 of a three-year project. Total budget $60,000.

Expected Life Change

• Long-term wellbeing and a model of change that is driven by transformation from within
• Communities learn to work and save together to fund loan schemes to increase incomes through income generating activities
• 30 children will be integrated into mainstream education having completed preschool learning through the project