Ramadan appeal for child labour in Bangladesh

We have distributed our Eid gift packs consisting of new clothes, and a family food pack to 350 working children in different location of Sylhet, Bangladesh.

Thank you all so very much for your generous contribution and your support.

‘Doorstep Learning’ brings basic education, healthcare, advice and guidance to children forced through family poverty to work as domestic servants instead of attending school. The programme supports parents and guardians in finding ways to increase family income with the ultimate aim of ending child labour. 

In April 2021 UK Aid withdrew a promised grant to UKBET as part of the government cuts to Overseas Aid and in so doing abandoned 152 working children and 139 of the poorest families.  UKBET immediately launched an emergency appeal

Thanks to your generosity and that of other donors, £25,000 (equivalent to one year of the anticipated grant from UK Aid) was raised, sufficient to continue the work of  Doorstep Learning until June 2022.

How donations have been used between May to August 2021

In May 2021 UKBET fieldworkers and teachers contacted families, employers and children to let them know that Doorstep Learning would resume. Many parents reported that through COVID they had lost what little income they had had, their situation was desperate and they saw no alternative but to send more of their children to work.  The team immediately organised and distributed food boxes to all the children and families participating in UKBET programmes.

By June 2021  176 girls were being taught by visiting teachers and 151 families supported by fieldworkers. Throughout June COVID infection rates continued to rise so the team organised and distributed food packs to 401 families.

In mid-July Sylhet city was put in complete lockdown. Nevertheless, most of the children remained at work with their UKBET teachers keeping in touch, and offering support and teaching as far as possible to them all over the phone.

A recent survey of families undertaken by fieldworkers revealed that, of 376 contacted, only 22 adults had been vaccinated against COVID.  The UKBET team have since launched a campaign to challenge prevailing myths and misinformation about the vaccinations. To date 115 family members have been vaccinated.  

Meanwhile UKBET’s  Director has been invited by the Government to contribute to a national plan of action for the elimination of child labour by 2025. 

This and more has only been possible because of your generosity.  Thank you again for your invaluable support.