Funding for this project has provided one year's safe accommodation, educational assistance and protection from abuse for the girl children of sex workers in the Safe Home for Girls, in the Daulatdia area, Rajbari. Below the case study is a detailed project report.
Eight-year-old Ritu lives at the Save the Children Safe Home in Bangladesh, which provides a protective environment for the daughters of sex workers from nearby Daulatdia brothel.
Sex work is the main profession in Daulatdia, with 1,500 sex workers employed at the brothel. Life for children living inside the brothel – which consists of a community of tin or brick and bamboo homes – is difficult, with many girls pressured into sex work as they get older. Ritu’s mother was sold into the brothel when she was 15-years-old and has worked there ever since. Like the rest of the community, Ritu’s family is very poor and the threat of trafficking is a major concern.
Now, as a resident of the Save the Children Safe Home with her older sister, Ritu attends a local school where she mixes with children from surrounding communities. While children living in the brothel – the largest in Bangladesh – have difficulty sleeping and reading due to the noise, Ritu can do her homework in the peace and quiet of the Safe Home study.
Along with close to 50 other girls, Ritu enjoys regular meals, music lessons, religious instruction and free time for games. She also sees her mother regularly and has become a member of a local Child Council where she discusses issues of concern with other children.
Footprints will continue it's support of the Children's Safe Home project for another year, from Sept 2008 - Sept 2009. Details here.
Project Costs include:
Schooling for the children, food, lodging, recreational activities, lifeskills training for boys and girls, education support, accommodation costs and staff and management of the program.
This funding is for a one year period (Sept 2007 to Sept 2008).
Project Objectives:
- To assist children to complete primary and secondary education
- Encourage participation in training to build self-esteem & life skills
- Ensure that secondary school graduate girls receive college and/or livelihood education
- Initiate arts, music and sports activities as well as gardening, cow-rearing and fish farming, building skills and expertise
Background to the Project:
Bangladesh, on the northern coast of the Bay of Bengal, is surrounded by India, with a small common border with Myanmar in the southeast. The country is low-lying riverine land traversed by the many branches and tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. Tropical monsoons and frequent floods and cyclones inflict heavy damage in the delta region.
Health and education levels have recently improved as poverty levels have decreased. Nevertheless, Bangladesh remains among the poorest nations in the world. Most Bangladeshis are rural, living on subsistence farming. Nearly half of the population lives on less than 1 USD per day.
Health problems abound, ranging from surface water contamination, to arsenic in the groundwater, and diseases including malaria, leptospirosis and dengue.
The literacy rate in Bangladesh is approximately 41%. There is gender disparity, though, as literacy rates are 50% among men and 31% among women, according to a 2004 UNICEF estimate.
Poverty and illiteracy have fuelled the growth of the sex trade in Bangladesh. Gender discrimination and ignorance, lack of formal education and other factors has led to vulnerable women and children being lured into the sex trade.
The Safe Home for Girls was established in 1999 to provide a safer living environment for young girls who were living in the Goalundo brothel. Currently there are 150 girls living at the Safe Home, in response to the vulnerable situation they find themselves in. They are not in a position to defend any of their most basic human rights – they have no protection and care from the potential exploitation of the sex market, and cannot access government services such as healthcare, and primary schooling. Until Save the Children Australia started work, they were overlooked and isolated by mainstream society.
Project Partners/Community Involvement:
The Project Implementation Committee (PIC) includes parents of the Safe Home residents, local government officials and community members. This Committee has been involved throughout the project, both in designing it and overseeing its implementation.
How this fits the larger strategy of Save the Children:
Save the Children Australia requires that projects have direct benefits for children in their communities. Currently, Save the Children is focusing on working for the benefit of children in 3 sectors: Health, Education and Child Protection. The Safe Home project is part of Save the Children Australia’s Child Protection program, which aims to develop ways to ensure children are not subject to exploitation or abuse. The project also relates to the Education sector, by enabling Safe Home residents to attend school.
The Safe Home project is linked to another project, which aims to provide alternative options for women working in the Daulatdia Brothel and to change community attitudes and behaviours towards commercial sex workers.