In Bangladesh, one in 10 people live with a disability. That’s 16 million people, more than double of the population of Hong Kong. While countries around the world have made progress in reducing poverty, the condition of the majority of people with disabilities has not improved. People with disabilities continue to live with a higher poverty and unemployment rate.
1.6 million people die every year around the world because of poor hygiene and sanitation. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in ensuring safe sanitation – open defecation is nearly zero percent. Here are five initiatives that supported improvements to sanitation, in both big and small ways:
Extreme poverty has many faces and varies in different contexts. The “official” definition of extreme poverty is stated in terms of income – living on less than $1.90 per day. But extreme poverty is about more than a lack of income.
Eid-ul-Azha is one of the biggest religious festivals celebrated by millions across the globe. During this time, people living in affluence sacrifice various livestock and distribute the meat among people living in poverty. Cattle farmers and sellers in Bangladesh wait for this time to make their biggest sales of the year. Seasonal cattle markets, which have become an integral part of the celebrations, are set up all over the country. However, this year, maintaining social distancing in such large gatherings during the pandemic was challenging. Here’s what we learned in our efforts to keep people safe:
Schools in Bangladesh reopen this week after the world’s longest shutdown. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, BRAC was providing education for almost 750,000 students. During the extended closure, it continued teaching remotely, and ensured that close to 620,000 students graduated from their courses. The remaining students continued learning remotely and, after planning for reopening for months, BRAC opened its doors to 129,000 students this week. Amidst dire predictions of learning loss globally, it is quietly optimistic that its innovative measures to continue learning, combined with a rigorous approach to remediation will get its students back on track.
Bangladesh is emerging out of its worst wave of the pandemic. Daily infection rates have dropped below 10% for the third day in a row. Schools are set to re-open after the longest closure in the world, and BRAC is supporting the Government of Bangladesh’s push for mass vaccination. Read more from Asif Saleh, Executive Director of BRAC:
The Community Fort for Resisting COVID-19 project is a protracted effort to contain the virus within communities in Bangladesh, by equipping 81 million people across 35 high-risk districts with the tools and knowledge to keep themselves and their families safe. The project is implemented by a coalition of organisations who work at the community level. BRAC sat down with one of the partners, Manusher Jonno Foundation, to get an update on what they are learning:
Bangladesh is home to over 50 indigenous groups. They speak over 35 languages and comprise over 1.8% of the population. 80% live in the plainlands in northern Bangladesh and the rest live in the south, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. BRAC’s indigenous project has been working with indigenous people living in plainlands in Bangladesh for nine years now, and has learnt valuable lessons on what works.
Cooperative societies are the major wheel turners of the rural economy in Bangladesh. With 3,998 members, 110 village development organisations have been established around the gas-field areas of Sylhet, Moulvibazar and Habiganj districts of Bangladesh. These cooperatives, formed to enhance the socio-economic conditions of its members, are registered with the government’s Department of Cooperatives, supported by the Jibika project in collaboration with BRAC and Chevron.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis on top of a crisis in Cox’s Bazar, where almost a million people from the Rohingya community reside in makeshift camps. Here is a snapshot of how BRAC has been supporting the Rohingya and host communities in the region during the pandemic.
Can increasing access to portable handwashing devices and soap in people’s homes lead to improved hand hygiene? Here is what we found out.
Bangladesh has been often called the ground zero of climate change.
Geographically located at one of the world’s largest deltas, with more tropical cyclones occurring than any other country, means that its population of 163 million deal with the impacts brought on by the changing climate every day. On World Environment Day 2021, we look at five examples from BRAC on how to adapt to climate change.