GlobalGiving: Prevent Sex Trafficking of Women in Bangladesh

June 2008 Update

Katherine Zavala — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:29:36 GMT

Within the past year, GlobalGiving donors have generously supported ACD in its Life Skills Based-Education (LSBE) trainings and income-generation training. This was accomplished both by providing workshops and through ACD’s ongoing work in forming adolescent groups in their villages. Moreover, ACD forms committees to engage families including men as a way of gaining their “buy-in” as to their daughters’ future possibilities and worth in society. It is not sufficient for girls to know their rights. They must be able to count on their parents and key community leaders teachers, community leaders, clergy etc for support when they are threatened with abuse or trafficking.

Overall a total of 4,160 girls participated in the LSBE trainings with a heavy emphasis on such topics as:
   prevention of sexual abuse, forced labor and trafficking
   prevention of early marriage
   birth registration (needed to enroll in school and vote)
   girls’ (and women’s) rights under UN conventions and Bangladeshi law
   promotion of healthy family relationships
   prevention of domestic violence
   access to health services including reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention.

Through these workshops they aim to build and restore girls’ self esteem and teach them to be their own advocates in a host of situations.

546 adolescent girls participated in income-generating activities such as cow, goat, hen and duck rearing, handicrafts, rice cultivation, tailoring, nursery, vegetable gardening, and pottery-making with the support of microcredit.

March 2008 Update

Katherine Zavala — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:10:01 GMT

In January 2008, the IDEX Director of Programs visited Godagari, where ACD works with adolescents living in remote indigenous communities, where poverty levels are high and the majority are religious and linguistic minorities.

One of the villages she visited is Choitannopur village, where 70 families live. This community is comprised of people from an ethnic minority called Shawltal who are primarily Hindu and Christian (Bangladesh in a majority Muslim culture). There is no electricity and only one well serving all 70 families. The school in this village is a 1-hour walk and the monthly fees are 75 Taka ($1). Due to the distance, many children don’t go.

ACD is currently supporting an adolescent empowerment project in that village by providing 20 girls with life skills based education (LSBE), particularly focusing on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, child and women’s rights. The project promoted savings and small loans for income-generating projects. Providing alternative options to these girls helps to remove pressure for early marriage and trafficking.

The girls expressed confidence that they will not allow themselves to be married until they are at least 18 years old, the legal age for marriage. They requested further training to understand their rights and also more support for their income-generating projects, especially raising small livestock such as goats or chickens, a good option for girls whose parents do not own land.

December 2007 Update

Katherine Zavala — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:33:50 GMT

ACD facilitated five trainings on skill development for 100 young women to learn to manage poultry-raising projects. The objectives of the training were the following:
   Builds skills and in-depth knowledge for managing poultry-raising projects, particularly in hen and duck-raising.
   Motivate young women to initiate their own income-generating project, which will encourage self-reliance and uplift self-esteem.
   Empower young women socio-economically.

As a result of ACD’s skill-development training, the following has been achieved:
   30 young women are now raising hens and ducks.
   20 young women have been provided with microcredits for rearing poultry as an income-generating project.
   10 young women are receiving technical assistance from ACD’s staff.
   Other 35 young women have submitted credit proposals to ACD to receive microcredits with the intention of starting poultry-rearing projects.

July 2007 Update

Katherine Zavala — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:26:36 GMT

A total of 3 2-day trainings on life skill based education training have been accomplished. One was held on 27-28th February 2007 at Tanore and next two were held on 18-19th and 20-21st March 2007 in Godagari. ACD’s training officer named Rabea Khatun has conducted the training. Each training workshop was conducted with 20 participants of nearby areas. All the participants of the training were adolescent girls from the indigenous community. Issues discussed included the following:
   Self-esteem
   Children Rights
   Child Health and Nutrition
   Human Trafficking
   Early Marriage and Dowry
   Reproductive Health
   HIV/AIDS
   Drugs

The goal of these trainings is to provide awareness and skills that are critical in reducing the likelihood that they will be trafficked.