Who We Are

Sathee Samaj Kalyan Samity is a local non-government organization, which has been working in Banani & Mirpur slums under Metropolitan City Dhaka. It has been run by a respected committee, which has a general body consisting 21 members and an Executive Committee with 7 members who are selected by the general body.

Its target groups are poor women, adolescent girls and children of the slums for their socio-economic development. Low income of the families causes untold sufferings of the family members. A group of philanthropist women who are actively involved in various welfare and development activities have established this organization and run it voluntarily.

The land of these areas belong to the government. All these families have migrated in this slum from different districts of Bangladesh due to river erosion, repeated crop failure and to find jobs in Dhaka City. They have been living in these slums for the last 10 to 30 years.

The project has undertaken development program for 7 slum areas. There are approximately 10,000 families. The total population is 50,000. There are about 15000 children, 17000 under-privileged women and 18,000 men. Sathee Samaj Kalyan Samity conducted surveys in the slum areas at Korail, Jheelpar, Rail Line, Road No. 2,11 and 17 in Banani. It also conducted surveys in the slum areas at Mirpur Rupnogor Tin Shade, Dhouary para, Volar Bosti, Dhaka. The population of these areas is about 2 lacs with 25000 families.

Sathee Samaji Kalyan Samity has been working in these areas from 1986, with the financial assistance of World Vision Interaction Organization. In 1990, Sathee Samaj Kalyan Samity started assisting 200 sponsored children as a sponsorship program in Banani Slum areas by providing assistance or children’s primary education and some preventive and curative health care services on small-scale manner, due to financial constraints. In 1994, World Vision of Bangladesh formally informed the committee members of the Project that due to operational reorganization as well as changing strategy and policy, it will not be able to support the existing program from October 1997 and therefore advised to find out other funding agencies for the continuation of development activities in these areas.

From the beginning, Sathee Samaj Kalyan Samity is running its projects from personal donations (some charity clubs, some generous foreigners, organizations members). From the year 2001 to 2004 one Swedish NGO had sponsored the organization’s school program. Now Unilever, Svantex, Glaxo Smith Bangladesh are the main donors.

Target Group:

Sathee’s target group is the underprivileged destitute women, adolescent and children of the urban slums.

Development Objectives:

• To select, motivate, organize and form groups from the target people through a democratic way.
• To raise awareness on education, heath care, drawbacks of early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, merits of family planning.
• To empower the target people providing various skill development trainings.
• To undertake education program for the slum children.
• To create savings habit among the women and girls of the slums this will increase their dignity and rights among their society, both socially and economically.

Goals:

The main goals of the project is to increase awareness of its target group by providing them education, better health condition and make them skilled to compete for a better lob. Thus, uplift the socio-economic condition of their community.