Projects

There are a number of projects that need major investment and sponsorship, and we would love to hear from anyone who is interested in any of the following projects. We can provide an outline and budget for each of these on request.

Education Although education is free in Bangladesh, many families do not have sufficient income to buy uniforms, books or other learning resources.  The temptation is therefore to take the children out of school and put the older ones into work.

Working with char communities

The Sreepur Village runs a support centre in the Kurigram/Chilmari region of northern Bangladesh where climate change is threatening the lives of women and children living in 'char' communities. It is estimated that 600,000 people live in the isolated char communities of Bangladesh. These communities lie on the eroding sandbanks of the river delta are at constant risk of flooding; they are amongst the poorest in the country. In 2014 the Sreepur Village decided to introduce an outreach project in Kurigram, northern Bangladesh. In the last twenty five years the majority of destitute mothers that have come to Sreepur Village have been from this district, in particular from one of the poorest areas of Bangladesh, Chilmari. Most people in this region are landless and because it’s a riverine and low lying area land forms and disappears. During the monsoon, for months each year, most land is under water. Many young mothers are left destitute; men leave to work in cities and often do not return so there are a large percentage of fatherless families with no land and no income. Many mothers are very young themselves as early marriage is very common in this area.

We found that the majority of mothers we have helped, from this district, are from one small ‘char’ (unstable river island) where word about Sreepur Village (known locally as SPP) has spread by word of mouth. We then visited other similar ‘chars’ and found many women with children who met our criteria and who hadn’t heard of us and are desperate for some sort of support.

We opened offices in this region and have 2 local social workers working in these poor communities reaching out to women who meet our criteria. In the first 7 months as a result of our work in this region 70 mothers were referred to the Sreepur Village. These mothers and their children will stay at the Village for a period of time (where they will receive care, education and livelihood training) or if appropriate we will work with them and offer training in their local communities.