What we do
Friendship works together with vulnerable people in remote communities in Bangladesh to help them transform their lives.
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF POVERTY
We implement six core programmes in an integrated approach (see below).
Our work with the poor began with Healthcare, but it soon became clear that to make a lasting impact on people’s lives we had to resolve other issues at the same time to break the cycle.
HEALTH
SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
EDUCATION
CLIMATE ACTION
INCLUSIVE CITIZENSHIP
CULTURAL PRESERVATION
Our latest articles and stories
The Key to Antifragility
The Principle behind Friendship’s Response to Emergencies Radi Shafiq, Senior Manager, Friendship In his 2012 book entitled “Antifragile”, the mathematical statistician Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduces the world to the term “Antifragility”, which he defines...
Testing testing testing – pas seulement au Luxembourg – Testing, testing, testing – not in Luxembourg only
by Marc Elvinger, Chairman Friendship Luxembourg Chères amies, chers amis,Dear Friends of Friendship (translation below), A l’instant même où, dans son dernier Editorial, Runa Khan voit guetter la menace d’une Crisis Fatigue dans un Bangladesh se débattant avec une...
No Rest for the Vulnerable
by Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director, Friendship Tackling the impact of Covid-19 on a country of 170 million people and frequent natural disasters, we felt that the year 2020 was not like any other in our lifetimes. We shared our struggle to contain the spread...
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Latest news
A former health worker of Shyamnagar Upazila Sadar, Shafiuddin died at his Gopalpur house at on one Monday evening. People started saying that he died of coronavirus and no one wanted to enter his house out of fear of being infected. Only his wife stayed beside him with despair for two hours.
As the word got out, their neighbours even avoided walking in front of Shafiuddin's house and spread the news that Shafiuddin had died of the virus. The CDO Youth Team came to know about this and informed Anisur Rahman Milon, trained as a Covid Warrior to help. He was left without a burial until the president of CDO Youth Team and Covid Warrior Anisur took him to his village home for a proper funeral.
#GlobalGoals #storyofhope #transforminglives #changemaker #everysmilematters #friendshipngo #covidwarriors #COVIDー19 #globalpandemic #friendsandheroes
What used to be the schoolyard, quickly became a river. Though the floodwaters may have made the classes inaccessible, the lessons continue virtually, with followup by Friendship staff over phone and home visits.
#GlobalGoals #transforminglives #storyofhope #changemaker #everysmilematters #disasterpreparedness #savelives #floodrescue #climatejustice #friendsandheros #friendshipngos #FloodAlert #floodwarning #FloodSurvivor #DisasterManagement #buildhome #waterproblems #TinHouse #womeninpower
A Friendship primary school. Poverty is already enough of a bane on education, but having classes physically restricted makes matters so much worse. Thankfully Friendship’s lessons are now available virtually.
#globalgoals #transforminglives #storyofhope #changemaker #everysmilematters #disasterpreparedness #savelives #floodrescue #climatejustice #friendsandheros #friendshipngos #floodalert #floodwarning #floodsurvivor #disastermanagement #buildhome #waterproblems #tinhouse #womeninpower
Md. Ifad Ali was cutivating jute in 3 bigha of land this year, all of which is now drowned. He had spent around 10,000 - 12,000 BDT which he saved up from his last harvest. But now that all of it is gone, he is in a dire situation. Md. Ali is now having to work on others’ field on part time basis as a worker just to earn livelihood.
“Flood has been very hard on us this year,” says Ali. After the floodwater decreases, they will be able to cultivate again only if they can save up enough money. Otherwise, they will have to continue working others’ fields. Md. Ali said that if they cannot manage money at all, maybe he’ll have to take loan from NGOs.
This is the Emirates Friendship Hospital last year. The sheds and tents where the outpatients recuperated were washed away, so other arrangements had to me made, and services must always continue.
#GlobalGoals #transforminglives #storyofhope #changemaker #everysmilematters #disasterpreparedness #savelives #floodrescue #climatejustice #friendsandheros #friendshipngos #FloodAlert #floodwarning #FloodSurvivor #DisasterManagement #buildhome #waterproblems #TinHouse #womeninpower
Comment on Facebook This is the Emirates...
Bon courage à Tous
When one is stuck in a perpetual cycle of having to start for scratch, it takes away any kind of long-term plan. It locks people into a snowball of poverty, that gets incrementally worse.
#GlobalGoals #transforminglives #storyofhope #changemaker #everysmilematters #disasterpreparedness #savelives #floodrescue #climatejustice #friendsandheros #friendshipngos #FloodAlert #floodwarning #FloodSurvivor #DisasterManagement #buildhome #waterproblems #TinHouse #womeninpower
Md. Abdul karim lives in Shannashir char with his wife and two children. His living comes from harvesting crops on his own land as well as others’ by mortgaging their land. Currently he is under a 1-year mortgage contract of a 2-bigha plot which will cost him around 60,000 BDT by the end of the term from his sales proceeds.
This year he had cultivated jute, sesame and nuts, taking a loan from a local ‘Shomiti’ (committee) of around 14,000 BDT. He had managed to harvest some of the smaller crop, but lost all of his jute.
“This year, floodwater came in all of a sudden and the water level was higher. In previous years, floodwater would rise with time, so we could harvest before the water level rose too far to ruin the crops. But this year, we didn’t get the chance to. This year's flood has cost me the most.”
Now he is working part time in other people’s field as a worker to earn daily living. He says, “I am a poor man, there is no other way around for me. I will have to loan from others to be able to pay back to the Shomiti so that I can take another loan from them for the next harvest”
Comment on Facebook Md. Abdul karim ...
Tahmina Tasneem
Tough times can reveal the best people among us.
Friendship Community Paralegal Momin Miah found this old woman stranded in front of water with an anxious look on her face. Upon inquiry, she told that she needed to go the other side but she was afraid of the water, with no boats in sight.
With her permission, Momin picked her up and started carrying her to safety without any hesitation.
Comment on Facebook Tough times can ...
Alhamdulillah amin
People from these remote river islands don’t have SUVs with high ground clearance, nor do they even have proper boats a lot of the time. They just have to make do, when the floods come and take everything.
#globalgoals #transforminglives #storyofhope #changemaker #everysmilematters #disasterpreparedness #savelives #floodrescue #climatejustice #friendsandheros #friendshipngos #floodalert #floodwarning #floodsurvivor #disastermanagement #buildhome #waterproblems #tinhouse #womeninpower
Comment on Facebook People from these ...
বন্যা মানুষের জীবন যাপন ব্যাহত করে
Nuruzzaman had 1 bigha of jute and 2 bighas of corn this year which were inundated by the flood preceding his harvest. He invested a total of 30 - 35,000 BDT on his crop, out of which 22,000 was on loan from Friendship.
“The loss that we have to bear due to this year’s flood, is like no other,” says he, “we didn’t lose that much of our crops to floods in last 3 - 4 years. I don’t know how I will pay the debt. I will need to borrow money again for the next harvest, but to do that, I will have to clear this debt. Unless the floodwater goes down, I am not sure what to do.”
He is now stranded at home by the floodwater with his two children, wife and mother. “We still don’t know when this will recede. It started to a few days ago, but now, it started to increase again,” he says.
“In the Boishakh month, I had harvested 8 maunds of aman rice in someone else’s field. We are still living off it. It will satisfy our hunger for next 15-20 days. Afterwards, I don’t know what I will do. Maybe I will be buying food from the shopkeeper I purchase seeds and fertilizer from on arrears. And later on, I will have to pay the debt after I harvest next round of crops,” he says.
