We Can Projects

Expanding civic space through active CSO participation and strengthened governance system in Bangladesh (ECSAP)

Project Period: 01 February 2023 – 31 January 2027
Working Area: 10 districts: Dhaka, Rangpur, Kurigram, Dinajpur, Khulna, Jashore, Satkhira, Natore, Sirajganj and Pabna
WECAN Working Area in this Project: Dhaka, Pabna, and Natore  
Donors: European Union, Christian Aid
Implementing Organization: Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jot (WE CAN), Manushar Jonno Foundation (MJF)

Project in brief: 

Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jot (WE CAN) with the financial support from the European Union and technical support from Christian Aid have jointly started a project titled, "Expanding civic space through active CSO participation and strengthened governance system in Bangladesh (ECSAP)". This project aims to develop the capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working for the rights of marginalised communities like vulnerable women, domestic workers, Dalits, persons with disabilities, transgender and ethnic minorities.

The marginalised communities of Bangladesh are often subjected to different types of discrimination and violence. As a result, they are often deprived of their rights, dignity and justice. Girls and women of Bangladesh often face discrimination and negligence not only at the family level but also at the social and national levels. They often encounter a myriad of difficulties, discrimination, stigmatisation and societal persecution.

The overall objective of the Project is "Strengthening local civil society organisations in Bangladesh as independent actors of good governance and development through sub-granting and capacity building".

The objectives will be supported by three Outcomes: 

• SO/Outcome 1: The CSOs are functioning with their strengthened capacity to work accountably and inclusively to represent the rights of marginalized communities in effective partnerships, networks and coalitions.
• SO/Outcome 2: The CSOs are effectively holding the duty bearers to account for inclusive public services and responding to citizen priorities. 
• SO/Outcome 3: The CSOs have established strengthened collaboration with academic and media institutions to expand an enabling environment for civil society.

WE CAN Bangladesh will cover three (03) districts in this ECSAP project where WE CAN will work with ethnic minority community (Pabna and Natore), female domestic worker (Dhaka) and transgender (Dhaka) community.

Combating Gender Based Violence (CGBV) in Bangladesh

Project Period: 24 March 2020 - 30 June 2022
Working Area: Bogura (Dhupchachia), Patukhali (Bauphal) and Cumilla (Chauddagram)
Donors: Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and UN Women
Implementing Organization: Amrai Pari, Dristi and SUVO

Project in brief: 
The project will introduce violence prevention interventions and test at community, family and educational institutions level to generate evidence on what works to prevent violence. The interventions are:

1. Whole school approach to promote behaviour and institutional change for violence prevention introduced and tested in educational institutions.
2. Gender transformative prevention interventions implemented and measured with community and families.

To implement first intervention, the project will form student leaders group in educational institutions, organize capacity building training and nontraditional event among them, develop theater, self-defense, sports cultural group, conduct annual women’s safety audit, develop sexual harassment and VAWG prevention committee and advocate for the adoption of a zero tolerance to SH policy.

Under the second intervention the project will work at community level. They will identify local community leaders and institutions in community level, form community activist group and also organize capacity building training among them. Besides they will found family prevention group and build up rapport relationship through monthly meeting and family based events. BCC materials are provided to this FPG and Community group to aware their family members about violence prevention. This project will also dialogue with local government representatives, NGO and CSO to promote gender sensitivity, analysis and VAW prevention.

Strengthened Civil Society Protects and Promotes Women’s Rights

Project Period: 1 January 2018- 31 December 2020
Working Area: Sirajganj and Pabna
Donors: European Union and NETZ Bangladesh
Implementing Organization: Amrai Pari

Project in brief: 
Overall objective: Civil society, democracy activists and human rights defenders proactively enhance protection and promotion of human rights and further democratisation in Bangladesh.

Specific objective: Civil society organisations promote and protect gender equality and women’s rights and prevent violence based on gender and other identities.

Indicators:

1. By the end of the action, in working areas: 60% of women perceive decision-making as equitable at family level, 45% at community level and 30% at local authority (LA) level.
2. By the end of the action, in working areas: The number of girls married before age 18 decreases by 65% and before age 15 by 80%.
3. By the end of the action, in working areas: Incidences of violence against women at family and community level reduce by 60% in regard to physical violence and 70% in regard to sexual violence.
4. During the next national election, in working areas: Incidences of violence against female and male members of minority groups reduce by 60% (as compared to last election).
5. By the end of the action, government authorities issued at least two directives for improvements in the implementation of Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) and Domestic Violence Act (DVA).

Creating Spaces to Take Action on Violence against Women and Girls (CS)

Project Period: June 2016- 31 March 2021
Working Area: National Level (Dhaka) with Dinajpur, Rangpur, Tangail, Faridpur and Netrakona
Donors: Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Oxfam GB
Implementing Partners: Amrai Pari, Pollisree, USHA, PSTC and BNPS

Project in brief: 
The Creating Spaces five year program will reduce violence against women and girls, and the prevalence of early, forced and child marriage in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Philippines. The program will achieve this ultimate outcome through three complementary intermediate outcomes that take a holistic, multi-pronged and multi-generation approach to ending violence against women and girls. In Bangladesh, Creating Spaces will focus on raising the awareness of child, early and forced marriage through media campaigns, capacity building on child marriage protection and providing support for women and girls who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing violence. CS will also work to build coalitions for community influence and advocacy. Key stakeholders will include local government units (Union Parishad) and advocacy network at the national level to advocate for the Child Marriage Restraint Act. A national alliance, Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jot [WE CAN Alliance] works to stop violence against women by mobilizing change makers at the national and local levels. WE CAN Alliance uses a range of methods, including edutainment [educational entertainment], collaboration with universities and law enforcement agencies, training for young change makers, and conducts research to provide evidence for policy change.

Girls Advocacy Alliance

Project Period: 1 February 2018- 31 December 2020
Working Area: Dhaka and Rangpur
Donors: Netherlands Government and Plan International Bangladesh
Implementing Partners: Amrai Pari

Project in brief: 
The project is working to achieve the goal `By 2030, Girls and Young Women in Bangladesh are living in an enabling environment free from Gender based Violence and Economic Exclusion". Amrai Pari will contribute to the achievement of strategic outcomes for government, community and CSOs in 2020 as a civil society organization (CSO) actor of the GAA project under an agreement with Plan international Bangladesh. The key interventions are Lobby and Advocacy, Linking and Networking, Capacity Development of Young Change Makers and Match Makers, Community Mobilization.

SOKHI: Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR)

Project Period: 1 January 2014 to 31 November 2017
Working Area: Dhaka (Mohammadpur, Mohakhali and Mirpur)
Donors: The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN)
Consortium Partners: Amrai Pari, BLAST, BWHC, Marie Stopes Bangladesh

Project in brief: 
Amrai Pari implemented the SHOKHI project, basically focused on women's health, rights and choices, with the collaboration o the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Shokhi project aims to create awareness for ensuring (addressing) women's health rights and freedom of choices. The SHOKHI project implemented in 15 slums in Mohakhali, Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas of Dhaka city. The field-level implementation was executed by Nari Maitree. At local level the project is being conducted by about eleven thousand (80% of women and 20% of male) members of one thousand self-help groups of Change makers. Through this project, three drama groups formed by slum children and two committees of trade union have been expanded with a view to provide righting to working women. About one thousand women are getting self-reliant on their own financial development being trained on IGA (income generating activities).

Protecting Human Rights (PHR)

Project Period: 1 June 2016-31 December 2016
Working Area: Barguna, Jessore, Sylhet and Dhaka
Donors: Plan International Bangladesh
Implementing Partners: Amrai Pari, NSS, Bangladesh Foundation and Sylhet Jubo Academy

Project in brief: 
Involvement with Plan International's PHR Project: WE CAN Alliance has been involved in organizing several events under Plan International's Protecting Human Rights Program during the time from August 2016 to November 2016. District Alliances organized meetings to discuss (about finding ways to reduce torture at family level)/( how to restrain/ reduce domestic violence) by utilising (in light of) the experiences gained and lessons learnt (explicitly from relevant projects of)/ (by) Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jot and PHR. The main objective of such meetings, organized with joint participation from Student Forum members of WE CAN Alliance and youth groups of PHR of Plan International, was to discuss the role of young people in the preventing domestic violence, child marriage and sexual harassment. The purpose of organizing workshops and opinion sharing meetings on Domestic Violence was to inform all about the newly enacted Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010. Stakeholders concerned/associated with the law shared about everyone's (one another's) responsibilities and deleverible services. The opinion sharing meetings stressed on the attitude shift to consider (re-discover) domestic violence as a law-defined crime- instead of the existing notion of individual's family matter only. The meetings also urged for taking essential measures for a wide-spread promotion of the law.

Use of Sat (Seven) as a Tool for Gender Equality Communication

Project Period: 1 May 2016-31 August 2016
Working Area: Dinajpur
Donors: UNWOMEN
Consortium Partners: Amrai Pari and Pollisree

Project in brief: 
'Seven' is a documentary drama, produced in 2007 with the assistance of Vital Voices Global Partnership. This is based on the interview of seven women rights activists from in Russia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Guatemalan and Cambodia. The drama was conceptualised by the life stories of these seven women, who had dedicated their lives to ensure basic human rights for all. The objective of 'seven' is to highlight women's rights issue as a topic of political and mass media discussion and spur debate about women's contribution in society. Amrai Pari Jot was the main organizer of the performance project -"Seven" with financial assistance awarded by the UN Women, and the implementation was accomplished by POLIISHREE- a development organization of Dinajpur. Under the skillful direction of eminent Dramatist Md. Shahjahan, also the convener of WE CANDinajpur District Alliance, the drama was staged at Dinajpur Natya Samiti Manchoon 31 May 2016.

May be Tomorrow: Prevention of Child marriage and Child Pregnancy

Project Period: 1 April 2014 -31 December 2015
Working Area: Sirajgonj
Donors: Oxfam GB
Implementing Partners: Amrai Pari and Gono Kallyan Sangstha

Project in brief: 
Early Marriage has been marked as one of the major vices behind committing repression against women in Bangladesh. As the consequence of early marriage, here women have to die during childbearing orgiving birth and women’s rights are grossly violated in numerous ways, including fear of sex in women. Hence, the goal of May be Tomorrow project was set to create awareness about the negative impacts of childhood marriage and early age pregnencyin Bangladesh. May be Tomorrow project was started with the aim of creating awareness against childhood marriage and untimely pregnancy among school-students and also the children and adolescents- not attending school. Gono Kalyan Sangostha, a distinguished development organization of Sirajganj District in Bangladesh implemented the project in 2015, being financed by Oxfam GB.

SVAWG: Stop Violence against Women and Girls

Project Period: 1 January 2015 -31 December 2015
Working Area: Chittagong and Jamalpur
Donors: Oxfam Novib
Consortium Partners: Amrai Pari and FPAB

Project in brief: 
The SVAWG project activities were commenced in Chittagong and Jamalpur districts of Bangladesh, with the financial aid from Oxfam Novib, intending to stop torture on women and adolescents. Working with 45 thousand people in 12 unions of three upozilas and creating consciousness, the projects reduced the incidents of family violence on women and adolescents by 20 percent. Major activities of this project were: Change makers' meetting with Union Parishad represntatives, Skill Development Training, Day Celebration, Video Show and Change maker Conference. FPAB has supported in this intervention as a partner organization. The project's duration was from January 2015 to December 2015.

Edu-VAW Elimination of Violence against Women by Utilizing Edutaining Education Tools (Pop Culture with a purpose: Edutainment-Violence against Women)

Project Period: 01 October 2013 to 31 December 2014
Working Area: Khulna
Donors: Oxfam Novib and UNTF(United Nations Trust Fund
Consortium Partners: Amrai Pari, BRAC and HASAB were associated with the project as supporting organizations, while the field-level implementation was executed by Rupantar.

Project in brief: 
There are several of means of disseminating educational message to people. However, interpreting a message into effective and easily comprehensible at the same time is a challenging task. While introducing new ideas or concepts, beyond the conventional thoughts in the society, development organizations attempt to reach people in different ways like arranging training sessions, workshops, view-exchanging programs, or staging awareness-inducing dramas etc. A popular method of disseminating information by development organizations is campaign. In 2013, Oxfam experimentally initiated a new method to create widespread awareness about sexual harassment and persuade people to eradicate such harassment. Edu-VAW ("Edutainment-Violence against Women") "Elimination of Violence against Women through Recreational Education" - Opportunities have created for selecting local components in the process of discussing and addressing educational issues through entertainment. As new communications tools, WE CAN Alliance introduced Pot songs and street theatre in this project, besides using some of its admired campaign tools, such as Van Campaign, School-based Debate and Essay composing Competition, Video docudrama projection. This program is being conducted in 10 schools of Khulna Sadar to prevent sexual harassment.