Jobeda Khatun: Rising Against All Odds

Mar 5, 2020 | Sustainable Economic Development

For several years, Jobeda remained in abject poverty. Her first child was born to every financial disadvantage, seeing as there were no options available to him. His father, a day labourer, could not add much to the household, and Jobeda, uneducated and married as a...

Phulmoti: Guardian of the Seeds

Mar 5, 2020 | Sustainable Economic Development

In the rural regions of Bangladesh, such as the hard-to-reach chars in the north of the country, women are seen as the guardians of seeds.  Women play the primary role in the preservation of seeds from the time they are harvested and stored until they are planted in...

Chandra Banu: Never Too Late

Mar 5, 2020 | Adult Literacy

When Chandra was a girl, she lived in a char (riverine island) so remote that she did not have any access to education. In her village there were no schools, or even opportunities to learn in an informal setting. She lived most of her life without even knowing how to...

Akhi: Wise Beyond Her Years

Mar 5, 2020 | Education

Twelve-year-old Akhi is a student at one of Friendship’s secondary schools. She is one of five children in a family living in the chars of Bangladesh.  Since her mother stays at home to take care of the house and children, the burden of earning household income...

Mobile medics

Mar 2, 2020 | Health

Friendship medics-aides deliver doorstep healthcare using mobile app by Naushad Ali Husein Shahjahan, 40, is suffering from severe diarrhoea. Given the nearest hospital is a four-hour journey over river and land, Shahjahan’s condition could easily prove fatal without...