Success Stories
Channeling Solutions in Bangladesh
- By The Global Fund for Children on September 16th, 2011
- Category: News, South Asia, Success Stories
Grantee Partner
Shidhulai Swanivar Sangstha
Location
Chalen Beel region, Bangladesh
In the height of monsoon season in northern Bangladesh, a young girl runs to the riverbank near her village. Her regular school building is closed due to floodwaters, but a different kind of classroom awaits her—one that floats.
“A boat school is the combination of a school bus and schoolhouse,” says Mohammed Rezwan, executive director of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha and the social entrepreneur behind its mobile boat schools.
As a child growing up in the flood-prone Natore district, Rezwan was frustrated by school closings during monsoon season. Years later, as a trained architect, he decided to build boats rather than buildings and to transform Bangladesh’s swollen rivers from barriers into pathways.
Bangladesh has the highest rural population density in the world, and its poorest citizens live along remote, inaccessible river basins. These impoverished communities have little or no access to basic services and development, let alone education and technology.
Through its mobile boat schools, Shidhulai has found an innovative solution to this persistent problem. Boats collect students along the river before docking at a final destination, where a 90-minute class begins. Each boat is equipped with desks, books, periodicals, computers, and Internet access.
What’s more, everything is powered by solar technology. Excess energy generated on the boats is then distributed to local families.
Boat schools are only one part of Shidhulai’s programs. Floating libraries and health clinics serve adults as well as children. Boats outfitted with multimedia equipment teach farmers about affordable technologies and sustainable agricultural methods. Shidhulai is also developing an early warning system that will allow villagers to move to a safe area, along with their goods and livestock, before a flood.
Recognizing Shidhulai as a powerful innovator, The Global Fund for Children became the first international donor to support the organization’s single boat school in 2003. Today, Shidhulai boasts nearly 90 boats, and its model has been replicated elsewhere in Bangladesh and also in India and West Africa.
Mindful of the rising sea levels, Rezwan recognizes that much of his country may one day disappear, but he remains hopeful. “Issues like this need local solutions by local people,” he says. “Shidhulai is proving that it is possible to deal with this climate change, to tackle pollution, and at the same time, to lift people out of poverty.”
Photograph © Vineeta Gupta/The Global Fund for Children
Not enough organizations are spending time following up and showing the impact they are making. Thank you for doing this. It makes all the difference.