Nagorik Uddyog is a national level human rights and development organization established in 1995 aiming to promote social and gender justice, equality and rule of law with accountable, transparent and responsive institutions by mobilizing community people through building their own self-sustaining agency that they can realize their rights and entitlements, with special focus on women, workers, socially excluded, underprivileged and minority communities.
1. Dalit and Tea Community
From April 1, 2020 to 23 May 2020, NU implemented following activities among the Dalit communities in collaboration with Bangladesh Dalit and Excluded Rights Movement (BDERM).
- A total of 5000 families received protective materials (Hygiene kits) Dalit and tea communities.
- Distribution of 20,000 leaflets containing the message to protect from virus infection.
- Raise awareness among the 800 pre-primary Dalit students as well as provided Hygiene kits to protect them from virus infection.
- Youth Dalit volunteers are working to make aware on social distancing at the Dalit colonies and tea gardens. It is difficult to maintain distancing as the colony is crowed. They are also working to restrict colony people’s movement to outside without reason as well as outsiders’ entry to the colony.
- Distributed food materials among 450 families of unemployed tea workers and Sobdokar community at Maulavibazar and Habiganj district.
2. Informal Sector and Garment Workers
The following work completed in cooperation with Bangladesh Labor Rights Forum
- Distribution of 20,000 awareness raising leaflets among informal sector workers in Dhaka city containing the message to protect from virus infection.
- Distributed 1,400 packets cooked food among floating people in different places of Dhaka city.
- Distributed 200 food package among Hawkers and domestic workers in the city (containing rice, lentils , potato, oil and hygiene kit)
- 100 garment workers received food package for their children and adults.
3. Working with Linguistic Minorities (Bihari):
Nagorik Uddyog collaborated with Council of Minority to support the Bihari community.
- Distributed 820 food package among Urdhu speaking (Bihari) people in Dhaka, Syedpur, Rangpur, Chittagong and Mymensingh districts, who are hard hit as they engaged in informal sector work (much needed community)
- 3 sickly camp dwellers assisted to get COVID-19 test and found positive. One of them died (6 years old) at hospital and 2 of them are under treatment. Supporting food and medicine to them.
4. Community level awareness
NU facilitated community forum- Citizens Rights Group (CRG) are working on 63 unions of 7 upazilas of Barishal, Pirojpur, Tangail and Rangpur district to aware people about the risk of spreading COVID-19, ensuring expats maintaining home quarantine, assisting administration and law enforcing agencies in maintaining social distancing as well as connecting the most vulnerable people to the government emergency support.
5. Lobbying with the government
Submitted a list of Dalit vulnerable people in different districts and sub-district to the authority to get government support on priority basis. So far 3,563 (three thousands five hundreds sixty three) Dalit families received government emergency food support in 10 districts. BDERM local committee coordinating this work.
6. Cash Support to the low income group
100 families supported with cash, who cannot seek for direct assistance from the ongoing relief operation.
Sources:
- NU’s existing project fund (reserved)
- Call for Humanity (A Minnesota based organization initiated by a few philanthropists NRB)
- NU staff contribution