Peace of mind for parents: Protecting children in Bangladesh
How Saferworld helped empower a community in Dhaka to improve child safety
Kamrangir Char is one of the biggest slums in Dhaka. Home to nearly a million families, the slum lacks most basic facilities like water and sanitation. Parents are extremely worried about their children’s safety due to child abuse and abduction. The threat of these crimes has a serious impact on family livelihoods as parents feel unable to go to work and leave their children at home unprotected. Saferworld and partner ChangeMaker are supporting a community in Kamrangir Char to collectively address this problem alongside government authorities and the police.
In 2007 Saferworld conducted a nationwide survey on human security in Bangladesh which involved talking to members of 2,000 households to provide a representative analysis of people's perceptions of insecurity and armed violence.
Our research found that, alongside worries about their livelihoods, food and the environment, people had a number of specific security concerns relating to political and personal issues. Building on the research findings, Saferworld and partners, BRAC and ChangeMaker, developed a community security approach to help communities identify and tackle their insecurities in one urban and one rural location in Bangladesh.
Saferworld has supported ChangeMaker and members of one community in Kamrangir Char to set up a Child Safety Centre where local children can be looked after in a secure environment while their parents earn a living. Fifteen families are now benefitting from the centre and its popularity has led to a demand for similar iniatives in neighbouring communities.
The project was inexpensive to set up but it has brought a dramatic improvement to the lives of the families involved. The Child Safety Centre is now being managed directly by the community themselves, making it sustainable in the long term. Saferworld and partners are in discussion with other stakeholders about how this type of work could be replicated to meet community safety and security challenges across Bangladesh.
