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Bangladesh
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What we doOur work here focuses on disaster preparedness, climate changes, democracy, women’s rights and protecting migrants. |
A magnet for catastrophes
Bangladesh can rightly be called a magnet for catastrophes, because more and more often the country is struck by extreme weather conditions. Before 2040, southern Bangladesh will be flooded – and 40 million inhabitants will be homeless, the Bangladeshi government predicts.
Challenges
Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most populous countries in the world. Today, approximately 150 million people live in the country. And nearly half of the population now lives below the poverty line.
The principal industry in Bangladesh is agriculture, but every year about a third of the country is flooded due to monsoon rains. It is difficult to grow crops and to fish during these periods, and the drinking water is polluted by saltwater that pours into the wells.
The inhabitants lose their houses and are forced to build new ones. And a great part of the male population must work in the larger cities to earn money for food.
However, the country is nearly self-sufficient as regards foodstuffs. The land is very fertile, and they grow rice, tea and jute.
What we do in Bangladesh
Since the early 1980s DanChurchAid has helped the poor in Bangladesh’s rural districts.
DanChurchAid supports our partners in Bangladesh who, among other things, educate the poor in an attempt to improve their knowledge of their agricultural work. A significant part of this effort is also focused on getting villagers to unionise and stand together in civil associations and women’s groups instead of trying to make it on their own.
Our work includes:
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Adaption strategies to climate changes and emergency preparedness
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Democracy – establishing civil associations
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Women’s rights
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Migration
Articles about FKN
The film “Ripples”, made by the ACT members, DanChurchAid and RDRS, received the award for being the best climate film.
22/08/2011
Cyclone survivors back on track
A small wooden boat and a net to catch fishes are Jharna Mistry’s two biggest assets. A native of southern Bangladesh, Jharna lost her home, livelihood and asset to the devastating cyclone Aila of 2009.
18/05/2010
Malekas battle against climate change
Maleka is a 19-year-old member of the recently formed Village Disaster Management Committee (VDMC) in Dhubli village in northern Bangladesh. Although her house and her land have been destroyed multiple times by the river she wants to stay in this village and script her own destiny. This is her story:
18/05/2010
Fighting child marriage
Rahima is a 16 year old girl with a goal. She has fought a tenacious struggle against an early marriage. Read Rahima’s testimonial on her future and her village.
01/03/2010
Struggling for life in seclusion
The isolated char islands in the Teesta River in Northern Bangladesh are a harsh place to survive. There are no doctors on the islands and the closest hospital is four hours away. Food is always scarce and hunger a constant companion. Read the testimonial by 87-year-old Kulsum Bibi, a widow with disability living on one of the char islands. DanChurchAid’s partner Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Services (RDRS) works in the...
22/07/2009
Rebuilding Life after the cyclones
Within only 18 month, Bangladesh has been severely hit by two cyclones. In November 2007 it was cyclone Sidr causing thousands of deaths and massive devastation. In late May 2009, it was cyclone Aila, causing major flooding, further deaths and destruction.
15/07/2008
New technologies and new entrepreneurs
In rural Bangladesh, the problems faced by the poor are changing. Where once a small plot of land was enough to pull a family out of poverty, nowadays there are different opportunities as technologies adapt and markets widen, a principle grasped by Zohra Begum and her family.
Dushtha Shasthya Kendra and DanChurchAid's disaster response to the cyclone Sidr that hit Bangladesh in November 2007.
11/07/2008
Nobi's account
29 year old fishermen Nobi Hussein from the village Rayenda Bazar located in the Sarankhola area in Bangladesh tells his story about that fateful night when the cyclone Sidr struck.
01/07/2008
Renu's account
35 years old Renu lives in Bokultolla village in Bangladesh. Her husband has some land and does farming most of the year, but at the time of the cyclone Sidr, he was away working in Chittagong, so she was alone with her daughter when the cyclone struck.
01/07/2008
Joss stick production
Roksana Begum is not just poor, she is also homeless in the country of her birth. One of thousands of Biharis, she lives in a camp of 280 households just outside Saidpur with her husband Mohammad Ibrahim and five children. For over thirty years, this community has lived outside mainstream society, ostracised because they took they losing side in the 1971 War of Independence.
01/07/2008
Not giving in
In Mandir Mouza village, Rajarhat, Bharati Rani and Binod Chandra are bringing up their two sons in a thatched house built on the embankment of the Teesta River. It is a hard life, for the river has washed away the family home many times and swallowed up the 10 decimals of land they had bought using micro-credit from RDRS. They hope to move on soon, however, to a better life as entrepreneurs.
01/07/2008
Looking back, looking ahead
Purnima Rani is a firm believer in hard work as the way to success in life. Ten years ago, she was just an ordinary housewife but then she joined RDRS, and her life was turned around. Offered training in income-generating skills, Purnima opted for tailoring, went on a course and acquired a free sewing machine.
01/07/2008
Standing firm
Salma Begum is an industrious, ambitious and respected resident in her village, a member of local Federation committees. She is even planning on standing for the Union Parishad, an elected member representing the poor of her village. But this was not always the case.
14/01/2008
After the storm
The destruction and lost of livelihoods after cyclone Sidr is still evident in Southern Bangladesh
04/01/2008
Rehabilitation of livelihood structures
DanChurchAid (DCA) has received Euro 250.000 from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid department in response to the situation in Bangladesh after the Cyclone SIDR.
An ocean of gold, pink, red, yellow and green saris fill the cultural centre in the village of Madaripur, where an emergency relief distribution by ACT member, Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh (LHCB), is currently underway in response to the Cyclone Sidr emergency.
07/12/2007
Families have received relief items
Around 2000 families, who have been hit by cyclone Sidr, have received relief items.
23/11/2007
Relief to cyclone survivors
DanChurchAid gives relief aid worth 300.000 DKK to the worst hit areas in Bangladesh.
23/11/2007
A giant wave swept us away
Thousands of lives have been destroyed by the cyclone that recently hit the coast of Bangladesh.
19/11/2007
Give a goat to the victims of the cyclone
The survivors from the cyclone in Bangladesh have lost everything they own. More than 200,000 domestic animals have drowned. By giving a goat through DanChurchAid’s Christmas catalogue you can help the most severely affected families.
07/09/2007
Flooding in South Asia
Some of the largest floods ever have hit parts of India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Across South Asia, DanChurchAid has been providing essential water equipment and temporary shelters for people who have lost their homes to flooding.
17/08/2007
Tiny Huts in the Middle of the Highway
In central Bangladesh 50 families, escaping from the massive floods, has found safety on a Highway. The highway is raised above ground level to make it act like an embankment.
RDRS Bangladesh has provided food relief worth over taka 18 million (equivalent to USD 261,500) to about 30,400 flood-affected people in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat Districts.
14/08/2007
Bangladesh is badly hit
The floods in South Asia have hit Bangladesh with enormous force, and there is an acute need for just about everything, such as food, seed grain and reconstruction, DanChurchAid representative reports from Dhaka.
10/08/2007
Floods in South Asia
The situation in India and Bangladesh is still critical.
08/08/2007
ACT members continue flood responses in Asia
Members of the global alliance, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International of which DanChurchAid is a member, continue to respond to multiple floods crises across vast regions of Asia. Reuters reports that 35 million people are affected by the crisis in India, Bangladesh and Nepal alone. China and Pakistan have also suffered torrential rains and floods in the past month.
DanChurchAid has sent one million DKK to the relief work for the survivors of the floods in Asia, and more money is on its way.
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