Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, lack of political stability, discrimination against indigenous groups, frequent floods and cyclones and limited access to healthcare have resulted in widespread poverty and hunger. Children often drop out of primary school so they can work to support their family.
- We’ve persuaded 5,252 employers to adopt a code of conduct to protect working children
- We’re enabling 7,500 children from minority ethnic groups to get an education
- We’ve helped 53,000 children recover from Cyclone Sidr
Save the Children in Bangladesh
We’ve worked in Bangladesh since 1970, providing relief during and after the war for independence from Pakistan. Since then, we’ve improved thousands of children’s lives by focusing on better nutrition, health and education.
We’re also working to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation, especially those who have to work or are in prison.
Following her 2008 visit to Bangladesh, actress and Save the Children Ambassador Amanda Mealing interviews Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development, and Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change about child survival and climate change.
We’re helping children recover from Cyclone Sidr
In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, leaving 200,000 families homeless.
We quickly set up 40 spaces where children could learn and play and provided 13,000 children with a nutritious meal every day and clean drinking water. We also provided temporary shelter for 3,000 children and their families, and supplied teaching and play materials to 500 preschools attended by nearly 53,000 children.
We’re campaigning to keep children out of jail
Most of the children arrested by the police are very poor and many live on the street. We’re campaigning to stop children being sent to jail, where they are often abused by adult prisoners.
Thanks to our lobbying, 57 district jails now have fewer child prisoners and juvenile courts have been set up in four cities.
We’re improving the lives of working children
About 4.9 million Bangladeshi children aged 5-14 work to support their families or themselves. The hours are usually long and the pay low. Working children are particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
We’ve opened special schools, offering 2,500 children an education and basic medical treatment, and persuaded 5,252 small factories to sign a code of conduct.
We’re helping children from minority ethnic groups get a good start in life
Children from indigenous minority ethnic groups are often turned away by teachers and administrators because they don’t speak fluent Bangla.
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts we’ve given 10,000 indigenous children access to good education in their mother tongue by incorporating local languages and tradition in the curriculum.
We’re enabling communities to protect their children
Approximately half of Bangladeshi girls are married before they’re 18, most disabled children never go to school and street children are often arrested and put in jail.
We’re helping to protect children’s rights by setting up community child protection committees.
We’re saving children’s lives
Malnutrition is an underlying cause of the deaths of two-thirds of children under five.
We’re ensuring the poorest 10% of children have access to healthcare, proper sanitation and safe water and we’ve enabled nearly 11,000 children to get an adequate diet.
Find out more
- Download the Bangladesh country brief (PDF 105KB)
- Read about Shahana's school, which was completely destroyed by the cyclone
- Read about Davina McCall's trip to Dhaka, to encounter child labour first-hand
- Read How the Global Food Crisis is Hurting Children: The impact of the food price hike on a rural community in northern Bangladesh
- See our photo story of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh related articles
- Monday 19 November 2007 Bangladesh Cyclone Sidr emergency appeal
- Children in Bangladesh need urgent help after surviving the worst cyclone to hit the country in the past decade, according to Save the Children's emergency team on the ground.
- Tuesday 11 December 2007 Davina McCall's trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh
- TV presenter Davina McCall and our Vice-President Gordon Campbell Gray came face to face with the grim realities of child labour when they met children working in a basement factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- Friday 13 February 2009 Save the Children study on newborns awarded Lancet Paper of the Year
- An article presenting the dramatic results of a Save the Children study on newborns in Bangladesh received The Lancet Paper of the Year award after receiving almost 22,000 votes online by readers.
