urban

October 31, 2017

Of dignity and dream homes: Transforming a slum in 3 steps

Chinta Didi just got a new, two-storied house. It costs less than USD 1,500 - and her neighbours built it for her. She has been partially blind since birth, and relies on the little income that her husband earns from working at a welding shop.
October 11, 2016

Korail slum’s karate queens

Today is International Day of the Girl Child, and the karate girls of Korail in Bangladesh are screaming – as they are most days.
March 12, 2014

Finding forgotten children on Dhaka streets

Life had not been kind to 12-year-old Shohag. Living in a Dhaka slum, home to some of the worst forms of poverty and depravation in Bangladesh, Shohag lacked access to basic rights such as a secure shelter, food, drinking water and an education. His father died in a construction accident a year ago and when his mother remarried, he found it difficult to see eye to eye with his stepfather.  Shohag preferred to face the harsh realities of Dhaka’s streets, looking to earn money any way he could to avoid sleeping hungry at night.
November 18, 2013

Making childbirth safer in the big city

GlaxoSmithKline and Save the Children have joined together to create a $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award, awarding $300,000 to BRAC. The funds will be used to pilot BRAC's Manoshi program in Freetown, Sierra Leone, after having tremendous success in the urban slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
September 1, 2013

Frugal map making: experiences from Korail

Many mapping initiatives are ramping up in the developing world, but in urban megacities like Dhaka, the slums remain largely uncharted--even by mapping giants like Google.
April 24, 2013

Bringing healthcare to the urban slums

As the world moves rapidly towards a new policy agenda for the post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era, emerging priority themes include universal health coverage, sustainable cities, and the demand for human rights and accountability. It’s a fact that the world is rapidly urbanising with significant changes in our living standards, lifestyles, social behaviour and health. Thirty years ago, four out of every 10 people were living in cities, but by 2050 the UN predicts this number will grow to seven out of 10.
March 11, 2013

BRAC’s ultra-poor program migrates to the city

It can seem so easy. Give a slum-dweller a three-wheeled vehicle. She creates a mobile tea business. Income increases from 100 Bangladeshi taka to 400 taka per day. She leaves her backbreaking job as a brick-maker, quadruples her income, preserves her health, restores her dignity. Rinse, repeat.
May 24, 2011

Bangladeshi garment workers’ fight against Tuberculosis

“The garment industry is the largest export earning sector in Bangladesh, and our workers are the backbone that we depend on. We must take care of their health if we want to take care of the health of our country,” stated Mr. Masud Quader Mona, Chairman of Standing Committee on TB for Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Export Association (BGMEA).