SPOTLIGHTS

The flagship event of AAB, 6th International Water Conference was held from 27-29 January 2021. The theme for the year was ‘Water, Climate, and Justice in the Wake of COVID-19’. 890 participants, including government and non-government officials, academicians, researchers, river activists, students, development partners, community people and media personnel from all over the world attended the three-day virtual conference, which aimed to create awareness on water and river rights. Experts attending the conference opined that a simple story of the riverine people can be more meaningful than an attempt to fathom the fate of a river by policy experts, engineers, and academicians, sitting miles away

This conference is arranged every year to commemorate the establishment of the water museum that aims to establish connection between water, river, and people.

What if each time someone takes a stroke in an empty canvas, the world could heal from one of its damages caused by humankind! What if paintings of a beautiful world became a reality!

1,033 children took over colours and paper to draw pictures of their concerns through paintings. While some drew images of a beautiful world that they envision to live in, others drew how the world is like for them at present.

Their paintings were testimonies to their current realities. The child who lives near a brickfield painted a picture of black smoke, depicting the air pollution, whereas the child of a coastal area painted how deforestation has been causing more natural disasters in their community.

Three works from these paintings were selected for the ‘Beyond Spacesuit’ project of Space for Art Foundation, beating thousand submissions from children of different countries of the world. These artworks were then printed onto the NASA spacesuit and were exhibited in the Science Centre, Glasgow.

This initiative was supported by ActionAid Bangladesh and its 15 Local Rights Programmes.

ActionAid Bangladesh organised a football match for the girls of Happy Home, where Jhorna Akhter participated. She met the coach of Sports Bangla Foundation, the opposing team, there and exchanged information during the match. One thing led to another, and they found out the coach came from the same village from where Jhorna originally had come from. He helped AAB to connect with Jhorna’s family, who she lost at the age of 11 when she was sent to Dhaka for work.

Jhorna went through a difficult phase when she was first sent to Dhaka. She was abused in the house where she worked as a house help. To protect herself, she fled from there but got into the trap of another man who tried to take advantage of her by giving her false hopes of providing a safe shelter. Jhorna escaped again and this time with the support of police, she got placed in a shelter home. She stayed there for a couple of years until it got shut down and she moved to Happy Home.

Jhorna found her lost childhood and a new family at Happy Home. With the support of the home, she got admitted into a primary school. She was also introduced to different extracurricular activities, such as sewing, arts and sports, which helped her to hone new skills. From her interest in sports, she participated in the match. Who knew the match would reunite Jhorna with her family!

To promote the importance of mental health and support the staff of ActionAid Bangladesh and their immediate family members with psychosocial support, the HROD team has partnered with Psychological Health and Wellness Clinic (PHWC) through the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) since July 2020.

Our staff can avail solution-based tele-counseling service 24/7/365 under this scheme. It helps to bolster their confidence by supporting them to become self-motivated and self-reliant. By addressing their mental health issues, staff’s overall wellbeing is being taken care of. PHWC also facilitates different sessions periodically for raising awareness on different mental health and wellbeing issues.

NGOAB Registration Renewed for 10 Years

Since 1990, NGOAB, established by the Government of Bangladesh, has been working as the regulatory body of the NGOs. ActionAid Bangladesh is registered with the NGOAB, under the Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act 2016. AAB was fortunate to get the renewal for the next 10 years on 26 April 2021, when it applied, given the existing registration was supposed to expire.

This renewal will ensure smooth operation, ease in receiving foreign donations, and enhance our accountability as a rights-based organisation. We appreciate this collaboration with NGOAB.

Third position in the ICMAB National Award for Best Presented Annual Report 2020 and in the 20th ICAB National Award for Best Presented Annual Report 2019