Bangladesh project profile

Kaliganj ADP

Education
Most schools in Kaliganj ADP have poorly maintained classrooms and inadequate equipment. More than 90 per cent of children enrol in school, but many repeat levels. Some children drop out because their parents are unaware of the importance of education or cannot afford school materials. The financial situation of their families forces some children to work in local markets, brickworks or pull rickshaws.

World Vision improves school buildings and provides equipment. It trains school management committees and educates parents about the importance of schooling. Needy students receive help with school fees and stationery. The ADP also runs several non-formal schools for working children.

Health
Lack of access to safe drinking water, poor sanitation and malnutrition cause significant health problems in Kaliganj. Many people seek advice from untrained healers or traditional birth attendants. Groundwater is contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic.

World Vision teaches community members about nutrition, preventative healthcare and HIV and AIDS and encourages people to seek medical assistance during sickness. Kaliganj ADP has established two mother and child centres to improve the standard of pre and post-natal care.

The ADP tests tubewells for arsenic contamination, fits tubewell filters and conducts awareness programmes to highlight the risks of drinking arsenic-contaminated water.

Agriculture and income generation
Most families in Kaliganj are involved in agriculture, but only half own sufficient land to grow enough food for their families. Most families own a few livestock or poultry. Some supplement their income by producing handcrafts, pulling rickshaws or operating small shops.

In addition to insufficient land, agricultural production is limited by lack of fertilisers, irrigation facilities and support services, poor quality seeds, and reliance on traditional methods. Natural disasters often destroy crops.

World Vision trains farmers in improved agriculture, livestock raising and fish farming. It introduces quality seeds, establishes crop demonstration fields, teaches farmers to market their produce and provides loans to help families expand their income-generating activities.

Kaliganj ADP provides fuel-efficient stoves and tree seedlings to reduce the effects on the environment.

Disaster mitigation
Cyclones may occur during April and May and heavy rains between June and August. Both cause flooding and can destroy crops and possessions. The Shitalakshya River flows to the east of the ADP area.

World Vision trains communities to prepare for and mitigate the effects of natural disasters and river-bank erosion.

Community leadership
World Vision establishes development groups and community-based organisations. It trains members in literacy, leadership, development management and book-keeping and links them with other local and government organisations.

Development group members regularly contribute a small amount of money to a pooled fund from which they can borrow for personal needs or to establish a small business. There are more than 250 development groups in the ADP area. Executive committees known as development forums will gradually take over supervision of development groups from World Vision.

Sustainable development
World Vision started the Kaliganj Area Development Programme in 1994, and is empowering the community to drive the development work so it is sustainable. World Vision helps local groups to manage this work until they are able to do it themselves.