After passing 69 years of his life, now Azhar Mea can barely see properly due to poor eyesight and faces difficulties to walk. He uses a bamboo stick to walk as a support.

Omar Faruque Rayhan (20), popularly know as Rayhan lives with his family of 6 at Porabosti, a slum in Dhaka. While growing up, Rayhan witnessed and learned the culture of Porabosti, a society where people believe in religious and social taboos, and was not sensitised about gender equality.

Apia Marandi (19) and Shikha Hasda (21) from Damkura Union, Poba Upazilla in Rajshahi District work as volunteers with MAASAUS under Bangladesh Firestarter Initiative (BFI) since 2016. Being indigenous community, previously, they were unaware about the opportunities provided by local administrations

Every year the embankment protecting the farmland surrounding the village of Pashurbunia in southern Bangladesh, collapses due to flooding and rising sea levels. Hawoa Begum, 35, explains how the community campaigns for the local authority, Lalua Union, to rebuild the embankment so that their crops and livestock can survive. “Due to high tide and flooding the embankment is collapsing. The water is getting into the crops and the crops can’t grow due to high salinity,” she says. “The salt water is damaging the ponds, the rivers and the crops. Our fishermen can’t make any profit because fish can’t survive in salt water.”