UNICEFBangladeshIssue 1, October 2005

Cover photo:Pre-school students at aUNICEF-supported ParaCentre in Khagrachhari

Cover Photo:Mir Shafiqul islam

Inner Cover Photo:Shafiqul Alam Kiron/Map/UNICEF

3

UNICEF tops the charts on Bangladesh TVA UNICEF-funded weekly drama serial has become the highest rating show on state-ownedBangladesh Television with an estimated audience of 10 million people.

Shukno Ful Rangeen Ful (Dry flower, beautiful flower) which goes to air at 9.30pm every Mondaypromotes education for working children. It is centred around the stories of a teacher, the students of aHard-To-Reach Learning Centre, a young girl and her family. At the end of each episode there are quizquestions based on the story and characters of the drama serial and a lucky winner is chosen from allthe correct answers received each week.

Local media monitoring agency SIRIUSreported the drama serial has toppedthe ranking as the most popular show,currently being shown on the country'slone terrestrial channel. When the showstarted on April 25 this year, theproduction company received some2000 letters per week; they now receivemore than 8000 letters each week.

Shukno Ful Rangeen Ful (Dry flower,beautiful flower) is a 26 episode jointproduction between UNICEF's Hard-to-Reach Project and the Government ofBangladesh.

UNICEF runs a project calledBEHTRUWC (Basic Education for Hardto Reach Urban Working Children) whichwill educate 200,000 urban workingchildren aged between 10 -14 in 8000 Learning Centres in six divisional areas around the country.Education will be for 40 months (three years and 4 months) so that they can achieve equivalency ofgrade 5 in Bangla, grade 3 in Math and can acquire required life skills. The project runs until June2009.

It is estimated that 7.9 million children work in some form or other in Bangladesh. A total of 1.5 millionare working children who live in urban areas and 850,000 are aged between 10 to 14 years. Theworking children are involved in many different types of work, many of them with little or no pay, andsome of them hazardous. Many girls and boys who work do not have access to education and becometrapped in low skilled, low return work that further pushes them into the vicious cycle of poverty. Thepicture is particularly bleak for working children and adolescents in urban slums.

These children are hard to reach because they are hidden away in homes and in factories. These arethe invisible children; many of them disappear into these homes and factories never to reappear.

Donors: DFID, SIDA

The teacher, played by Opi Karim, receives a gift from herflower seller girl student

4

PARA CENTRES: Bridging the Ethno-Economic Divide

It should have been raining. It was the middle of the monsoon season. But as our microbus spiralledthrough the mountain road leading to Rangamati, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the sun burnt bright. Therewas no trace of cloud anywhere. It was a perfect day.

I was leading a team of four journalists - two from the Daily Star and the Daily Janakantha, the topEnglish and Bengali dailies of Bangladesh - into the heart of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. These journalistswere keen to see the UNICEF-supported Para-Centres at work.

The CHT as it is commonly known, is one tenth the size of Bangladesh and is situated in the south-eastof the country bordering Burma and India. This is a unique section of Bangladesh, home to 13 differentindigenous ethnic groups and an almost equal number of Bengali speaking settlers who are interspersedover the hills, valleys and forests.

The people in this area are very poor and live in villages, or "para". Due to the terrain and difficultcommunication, it is impossible to provide services to thecommunity through the existing infrastructure. As a result, manyservices rendered by the Government and various NGOsremain beyond the reach of the people. In 1995, theGovernment of Bangladesh with the support of UNICEF decidedto address this issue by establishing Para Centres, orcommunity centres.

The Para Centre is the focal point for many diverse activitiesintended primarily for women and children. More than twothousand Para Centres, built by the community and for thecommunity, provide opportunities for early learning and schoolreadiness for children aged three to six in a culturally sensitiveenvironment.

During our three-day stay we visited six such centres in theRangamati and Khagrachhari districts. We spent hours watchinghealth assistants using the courtyard of the Para Centres as a pointfor immunizing women and children.

We saw the cordial environment in which the Para Centre Worker (PCW) discussed issues ofreproductive health with women. She told them about the necessity of nutritious food during pregnancyand how nutrition could be derived from green, leafy vegetables raised in backyard kitchen gardens. Shealso distributed Vitamin A capsules for children and iron tablets to young women.

A PCW is a local indigenous girl who has been educated at least up to 8th grade. Most are high schoolgraduates. They are excellent communicators. They speak local languages and receive training to refreshtheir knowledge and communication skills.

The most exciting aspect for the visiting journalists appeared to be the early childhood stimuli andcognitive lessons that preschool children were receiving at the Para Centres, during their 7am to 10ampre-learning courses. Children sang indigenous choruses, played with wooden blocks and plastic toys,and inspected each other's teeth, nails, ears, hair and eyes while playing.

At the Para Centres children from tribes such as the Marma, Chakma, Tripura and Bengali play, talk,recite and sing. The children of one community learn the languages and culture of other ethniccommunities. All are fluent in the mother tongues of other ethnic groups. They are no strangers to eachother.

Donors: DFID

Children playing at a Para Centre inKhagrachhari

by Shamsuddin Ahmed

© M

ir S

hafiq

ul Is

lam

5

I always wanted to be differentWe are a large family of six - my parents, my three younger brothers and sisters and I. My father is ashare-cropper and his earnings barely cover our living expenses. Education for us was somethingunheard of. There was no way that my father could afford the cost of our education.

But I always aspired to go to a school, perhaps one which we can afford. This came true in the form ofthe CMES (Centre for Mass Education in Science) Basic School System. Here not only were we givenan education free of cost, but we were also given training in various skills and allowed to specialize inone specific skill. More importantly, it gave us the training, courage and finance to start up our ownbusiness. Fortunately for me, the CMES gave me the scope to discover myself in a whole new manner.

I was always someone who wanted to be different; someone who would stand out from the rest of thegirls. I could really give vent to this tendency in me when I joined the Adolescent Girls' Program. Istarted to speak up more and be more active. With time, I did find my place, as a photographer andsoon I was sent for training. I returned and immediately filed a business proposal and was granted aloan of Taka 5000.(approx. USD$80) This was the beginning of my new life - the life of a'businesswoman'.

At first my business was not doing very well. Gradually, people started to order their pictures and mybusiness picked up. Now, I earn a monthly profit around Taka 1000.(approx. USD$18) With my savingsI hope to set up a studio for myself one day perhaps with the help of some credit support.

CMES has helped me all along the way. It hasgiven me the required training; it has provided mewith the financial resource and knowledge to makemy business possible. Most of all it has given methe opportunity to realize my potentials as aperson.

Rashia Khatun (18)Dhutrabon, Damkura

Rajshahi

Through the UNICEF-assisted adolescentempowerment of girls project Rashia was able tostart her own business. The 'Kishori Abhijan'Project aims to empower adolescents, especiallygirls, to participate meaningfully in decisions thataffect their lives and become role models for thecommunity and other adolescents. The project alsoworks to create and sustain a supportiveenvironment for the adolescent girl development atthe household and community level.

Donors: United Nations Foundation, GlobalThematic Fund, Swiss Natcom, German Natcom

“Kishori Abhijan” participant Rashia Khatun, 18,with her camera

© S

H C

how

dhur

y K

hoka

n/U

NIC

EF

6

Lokman is only four-years-old. His brother Arif is 11. Their mother Shefali is barely double the age of her two sons.

It is 11am local time. The three, along with nearly 50 more, most of them children, have just emerged from Bay Sixof the arrival lounge of Zia International Airport, in the capital city Dhaka. An aircraft of Bangladesh Biman hadflown them from Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates.

Thirty-six of these children, including Lokman and Arif, were either camel jockeys or camel race helpers. Forexample, Lokman, the four-and-a-half-year-old, was too young to climb the camel and control it. So he was giventhe job of cleaning camel dung and waste. In the process, he was being groomed as a future camel jockey.

His elder brother Arif was a full time jockey. He used to ride the racing camels as often as twice a week. His camelwon many races in the two and a half years that he worked as its jockey. Arif does not remember the name of hiscamel or his employer. He mentions his employer only by referring to him as "Malik" (owner employer) and"Sheikh".

Their mother Shefali said the family comes from Comilla district, north of the capital Dhaka. Shahjahan, the fatherof the boys has stayed back in the UAE.

Four years ago, Shefali and Shahjahan left Bangladesh in search of a better life. Shefali took the job of housemaid at a Bedouin's house. Shahjahan became a labourer at the Bedouin's fleet of racing camels. Months later,their two sons were also taken in as camel carers. At that time Arif was eight-and-a-half and Lokman only twoyears old.

The brothers, and all others like them, speak in a language which is a peculiar mixture of Arabic-Urdu and Bengali,an example of a perfect South and West Asian Creole or Pidgin.

When asked if they were happy to return home. The two brothers joyfully nodded in the affirmative. Mother Shefalidreams of a better future for her two sons in Bangladesh: "In Dubai, the kids did not get the opportunity to go toschool. Now they will."

More than 200 children who have been identified as Bangladeshi have been working in the camel racing industry.In May this year, the UAE Government banned using children under the age of 16 in camel racing.

A plan designed by UNICEF, the Government of Bangladesh and the Government of UAE arranged for the saferepatriation of these children. Arif and Lokman were part of the first group that arrived back in Dhaka on August 11.

"The rest of the kids who have been left behind will be repatriated soon," UNICEF Representative Morten Giersingtold the media as he received the repatriated camel jockeys at the airport.

Donors: UAE Government

Repatriated camel jockeys in Dhaka

Former camel jockeys,

brothers Arif and Lokman,

meet UNICEF

representative Morten

Giersing at Dhaka’s Zia

International Airport.

© A

KM

She

hab

Udd

in/D

rik/U

NIC

EF

7

The memories have faded. Obaidullah doesn't really remember when he was taken to Dubai. He heard it was 10and some years ago. To Obaidullah, 16, and his brother Dalim, 14, repatriation to Bangladesh brings about mixedfeelings. They know it is home, yet they don't quite feel at home. The sights, sounds, the faces, the weather and thesoil; nothing has stirred a familiar chord.

They realize a lot of people worked long and hard to bring them home. While staying in a shelter home during thepast month their faces have become well-known, their unique stories making their way to several newspapers' frontpages. Stories eloquently depicted their dangerous work as child camel jockeys: the low pay; harsh conditions;bumpy camel rides; regular falls and injuries; their isolation and their lost opportunities.

Yet for these boys, despite all its ills, this was the only life that bore familiarity. The only culture and lifestyle theyhad adopted as their own was the one they grew up in, working as camel jockeys.

Obaidullah and Dalim were among seven children formally taken to their homes in the Narsingdi district, south westof the capital Dhaka. They will live there under the supervision of a Community Care Committee. Representativesfrom different agencies which have been supporting the reintegration process, including UNICEF, spoke to thecommunity emphasizing its role in protecting children from trafficking and the hazardous work of camel jockeys. Thespeakers agreed the reintegration plan must consider each of the boys' realities for them to truly become part of thecommunity.

"We have to be sensitive to the issues facing reunification, Many of these children have not seen family members inyears, and some have never seen them, so we want to make their re-entry into this new life as easy and stress-freeas possible," UNICEF Communication Officer Kirsty McIvor said.

For Obaidullah's family, the job the family left Bangladesh for was supposed to be for his father. It was not exactlymentioned the young would also need to work. And if so, the nature of that work was omitted. As they unknowinglygot commissioned as camel jockeys, the brothers believed this was the only way for their family to eke out anexistence in what their parents called the "foreign land". Obdaillah and Dalim's parents lived 8 miles away fromthem, had four more children and relied on the measly 900 Dirhams (US$245) the brothers jointly made.

Obaidullah is one of the nearly 200 camel jockeys repatriated since August this year. In media interviews he said hewas happy to have come home. Yet the deeper dilemma that he and many of the repatriated camel jockeys feelarises out of not having a sense of belonging. Overcoming the feelings of being strangers in their own homes posesa formidable challenge. The confusion became visible when Obaidullah's grandmother held him close and shedtears, but he didn't seem to know how to reciprocate the emotion. Obaidullah admitted to UNICEF: "It's good to beback but I do feel a bit strange and we do not know what to expect. We will have to find a way to build a life forourselves here."

Obaidullah and his brothers never went to school or even got an opportunity to learn letters or numbers in eitherArabic or Bangla. They did not learn any skills beyond the camel work. "I am too old to go to school with youngerkids, maybe my younger brothers would," said Obaidullah. In the shelter home they learnt to sign their names andcount to 100 in Bangla. "But I am yet to feel prepared to embark on livelihoods that are usually available here," headded.

Challenges ahead

The complexities of the reintegration efforts pose a challenge for those who worked on the repatriation of the cameljockeys and are now devising individualized reintegration plans. The objective is to help the youngsters and theirfamilies find suitable livelihoods and secure futures locally.

The Community Care Committee will oversee these families and will come up with an assessment after two weeksto see how the boys are faring. Then each family will be supported to take on a livelihood depending on interest andsuitability.

"We understand that the older children will not feel comfortable in regular schooling with younger children, we aretrying to put together a separate plan of giving them the basic education which would be followed by appropriatetechnical and vocation training," said an official working with the shelter homes.

The reintegration process will be long. Partner agencies have expressed their willingness to see it through. For theformer camel jockeys the journey to acclimatize to their home environment and to find a livelihood is likely to be adifficult one.

From repatriation to reintegration: Camel Jockeys go home

8

CHILDREN'S NEWS AGENCY CHANGINGTHE FACE OF BANGLADESH MEDIA

It looked like any other press conference but there was one bigdifference. On this particular day, it was the country's topnewspaper editors who were on the receiving end of difficultquestions.

It was an entertaining sight; senior editors squirming in their chairsas a volley of questions were thrown at them by child journalists.The junior "journos" from Shishu Prakash (Children's Express)enthralled the packed audience at the National Press Club withtheir forthright and straightforward approach.

"Why can't you give more space to children's news?""Why are children being portrayed negatively?""Why don't you give us a page daily?"

After sitting through this barrage some of the editors admitted thatthe issues and questions raised concerning children's rights in the media had increased their "learningcurve". "It is now time for Bangladesh to create a separate newspaper for children," remarked the editor of theBangladesh Observer, a daily English language paper.

Shishu Prakash (Children's Express) is a dedicated news agency for children that was set up three monthsago to enhance both the quality and quantity of child development news in Bangladesh. In the past 12 weeksit has made substantial in-roads into the media landscape. One Bangla daily has dedicated a corner spacefor publishing its stories, giving the names of child journalists who have produced it. Two more dailies, oneBangla and the other English, have promised to allocate a page exclusively every month for Shishu Prakashstories.

At the launch of Shishu Prakash the editors of the leading newspapers declared: "We are throwing achallenge out to the child journalists. You write good stories and we will publish them." It was a challenge thejunior journalists happily accepted and have so far met.

Supported by UNICEF and implemented by Mass-Line Media Centre (MMC), the pilot project aims to empower640 young journalists (aged from 14 to 18) with the techniques for reporting child development issues.

Ten children (five boys and five girls) in each of the 64 districts throughout the country will identify and writenews stories. These stories will be sent to the Dhaka-based Child Rights Desk set up at MMC to provideeditorial oversight before the stories are published in 10 selected national Bangla and English dailies.

Children of poor families also excelled after competing for their places as child journalists. Fifteen-year-oldRubel is a restaurant worker in northern Joypurhat district who has secured a place at Shishu Prakash. Aboy from a slum area in Noakhali district also proved that poverty was no barrier to his dream and formercamel jockey 14-year-old Sajib finds his new identity a very rewarding one.

Apart from regular reporting on children stories, Shishu Prakash will release more than 800 issue-basedstories and periodic reports analyzing trends in child reporting by the national media in the pilot project whichruns until the end of 2005.

Dhaka Shishu Prakash journalists at theMMC office.

9

ONE HYGIENE PROMOTER HELPS A COMMUNITY STAND UPTO SOCIAL TYRANNY

In an urban slum, typically heaping with rotting garbage and children's faeces left in drains, a healthpromoter sat a long day with a severely sick child. She showed his mother how to make a saline solution. "Ifyou listen to me, your child won't get sick," Shamima Akter Banua, 25, told the mother when the childrecovered. "Next time it could be worse - your child could die." Until then the woman had been part of achorus that told Shamima they didn't care for her hygiene lessons. "They first said they would listen to metalk if I gave them food. They also said, 'We don't need you'."

"Others would ask, 'We take rice with the right hand, what is the use of washing the left hand?'"

The long day of one child's scary episode with diarrhoea changed Shamima's work and even the community,who decided they needed her after all. "Please sit. Make me understand about hygiene and the otherthings," the relieved mother told her. Then she told the other women, "Listen to her."

Hired and trained by a local NGO in 2002 to promote better hygiene habits, Shamima is one of 4,446hygiene promoters in the Government of Bangladesh-UNICEF safe water, hygiene and environmentalsanitation project.

Nearly three years later, Shamima stands in her lime-green embroidered sari in the Katnar Para Datta Barislum's tidy courtyard where the sound of water spilling out from the tube well pump into someone's tin jugmakes her smile. While there are continuing bad habits, that sound reminds Shamima that she has reached80 percent use of hygienic latrine and that 60 percent of the 140 households she works with wash theirhands with soap or ash regularly during six important times.

"This was my first job ever and I applied thinking it was only to serve people. I was quite excited - it was a'golden deer' job, partly because of the TK2,500 ( approx. USD$45) a month salary. Now I realize this is veryimportant. These are very real things. If I make the momentum so that they want to make changes on theirown, that is my satisfaction."

The hygiene promoters conduct community meetings, survey the area for existing facilities and develop acommunity plan with the input of the community members. Then they travel house to house to raiseawareness and encourage behaviour changes. In the rural areas, they run pre-school classes where youngchildren learn about better hygiene through songs and games.

There have been many empowering benefits to the project, Shamima says. There was one adolescent girl, forinstance, who was not part of the adolescent girls' group. "Her parents said she must be married to a boy who was20. She was 12. The girls in the monitoring group talked it over among themselves and among the boys andtogether they went to the girl's parents and said she was underage and should not marry."

Remembering her early days of trying to changebehaviours, Shamima says the once-difficult womenhave become committed to the courtyard sessionswhen she goes over the hygiene messages. "Theyare more organized and talk more about their rights,including their sanitation rights."

Shamima is also pleased with changes in her ownnature. She has continued with her education at nightand has new ambitions. "Before this job, I didn'trealize I could do anything. Now I want a high-levelmanagerial job. The hygiene work gave me theconfidence that I can do it if I want it."

Donors: Dutch National CommitteeShamima Akter Banua, 25, promotes better hygienehabits in an urban slum

© S

ujan

/Map

/UN

ICE

F

10

Little Hanif manages to put the worst of the floods behind himIn July-August 2004, Bangladesh experienced the most devastating floods in recent years. The water stooduntil mid-October in some parts. More than 25 million people in two-thirds of the country were affected,further aggravating the malnutrition situation, which is recognized as a silent emergency in Bangladesh.UNICEF and WFP collaborated to launch the Supplementary Feeding Programme (SFP) to preventdeterioration in the nutrition status among infants, young children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in thewake of the severe flooding. SFP was carried out in six of the worst hit districts: Sirajgonj, Netrokona,Habigonj, Sunamgonj, Kishorejonj and Brahmanbaria. Vulnerable and women-headed households wereidentified and given priority. Supplementary food from Nepal and Belgium were carried to remote areas byrickshaws, boats, hand-pulled trolleys and human heads to reach needy families. The story of Hanif is one ofmany real life stories:

Nestled in his mother's arms at a site of the UNICEF/WFP Supplementary Feeding Programme, one-year-oldHanif's gentle smile conceals the fact that he has experienced more hardship than many people experiencein a lifetime.

"Once he fell into the flood water and my mother saved him. After that I was always too terrified to let himout of my sight," recalled his mother Amena Begum sitting among 30 other beneficiaries at an Information,Education and Communication (IEC) session which precedes each fortnightly distribution of food. Amenasaid her son suffered from severe pneumonia and diarrhoea during the floods.

"Only God knows how I managed to look after Hanif during the flood. The water was up to my waist formonths and we had to raise the bed above the water. Hanif had only just learned to sit so it was verydangerous," said Amena, who also has four other children.

Hanif was identified by the joint UNICEF/WFP Supplementary Feeding Programme as one of some 255,000children aged 6-23 months suffering from, or at high risk of, malnutrition. These children receivesupplementary food every two weeks for six months. The food is fortified with vitamins and minerals and so itprotects against micronutrient deficiencies as well as improves weight gain and growth.

Despite the hardships the family continues to endure, Amena said the supplementary food has had anenormous impact on the child's well being, adding she was thankful to everyone involved in providing it."Since receiving the food Hanif has not had any sort of fever or illness and is getting much more lively andhealthy," said Amena proudly.

Hanif has also benefited from the IEC sessions his mother attends every two weeks when the supplementaryfood is delivered to the village. The sessions cover a variety of health and nutrition topics including maternaland child health and nutrition, personal and environmental hygiene and disaster preparedness.

"Without the food Hanif would have suffered from a lot more sickness and not grown fast. We would alsohave been forced to take out more loans to pay for food and medicine," said Amena.

Amena said her husband Kawasar worked as a fieldlaborer before the floods, which paid between 50 to 60taka (less than US$1) a day. During the floods hefound occasional work as a boatman, but could notearn nearly enough money to meet his family's basicneeds. They were forced to loan 5000 taka (US$80) athigh interest repayments from local private lendersduring the floods in order to buy rice and medicine fortheir children.

Donors: Netherlands Government, CIDA, ItalianGovernment, UK Natcom, Hong Kong Natcom,Norweigan Government, SIDA, Japan Natcom.

Baby Hanif is

held by his

mother Amena

Begum and

surrounded by

his three brothers

at a UNICEF/

World Food

Programme food

distribution site

© S

hafiq

ul A

lam

Kiro

n/M

ap/U

NIC

EF

It seemed like any other day. Rahman, 13, wassitting at home when his father walked into the houseand handed him a bottle of kerosene that he hadbought from the local grocery store. It was soongoing to be dusk and the house was getting dark.Rahman poured what he thought was kerosene intothe lamp and lit the wick. The bottle mistakenlycontained petrol instead of kerosene; an oversightmade at the store. There was a big explosionseverely burning Rahman's ears and neck, chest andabdomen. The fateful accident on June 13, 2005,killed Rahman's father and badly injured his motherand seven-year-old sister Rehana who are bothundergoing treatment.

Rahman now lies on his back wrapped in whitebandages in a large ward in the newly constructedBurns Unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital(DMCH). When he first arrived at the hospital heneeded several rounds of surgery and skin grafts totreat the burns - his ears were particularly badlydamaged. When UNICEF spoke with Rahman, hewas still unaware of his father's death, "Patience isall I need to get back on my feet, laying here in thehospital is painful. I want to go home and get back toschool again."

His father worked as a messenger in the BangladeshArmy and was the only earning member in thefamily; with him gone, they face an uncertain future.Being the eldest child and a boy, Rahman willprobably need to find work once he is released fromhospital.

Nearly 200,000 children are the victims of burns inBangladesh every year and a large number of themare left with a disability or disfigurement. The recently published Bangladesh Health and InjurySurvey (BHIS) identifies burns as the fifth largestcause of injury deaths in Bangladesh.

The BHIS is the result of collaboration betweenUNICEF, the Government of Bangladesh and theAlliance for Safe Children. Together we are workingto provide a road map for future action to promote anagenda for safety for children of all ages inBangladesh.

11

Every 2 minutes a child is hurt or disabled by injury in Bangladesh

Rahman, 13, has been hospital-bound for fourmonths after receiving severe burns in an

accident at home

© S

alm

a S

iddi

que/

UN

ICE

F

OCTOBER 24 UN 60th celebrationsOn 24th October 2005, the United Nations turns 60. A joint UNprogram will be held in the capital, Dhaka, to commemorate theanniversary.

OCTOBER 27

OCTOBER 27

Launch of three National Goodwill AmbassadorsFor the first time Bangladesh has signed up three well known sportsstars to advance the cause of children - Bangladesh Cricket CaptainHabibur Bashir, fast bowler Mohammed Ashraful and Table TennisGuinness World Record holder Linu Rahman.

NOVEMBER 9 Launch of the Children's TV FoundationUNICEF and partners launch a TV Foundation that will increase thequality and quantity of Children's programming, as well as increasechild participation in all aspects of production and presentation.

NOVEMBER 12-13 SAARC - South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation Bangladesh will host the regional summit in the capital Dhaka.Heads of States from all South Asian countries are expected toattend.

NOVEMBER 14-17 Visit by British Airways Change for Good and UK NatcomBA staff, UK Natcom staff and Goodwill Ambassador Trudi Styler willvisit Bangladesh for two days.

NOVEMBER 19-20 National Community Radio ConsultationUNICEF, and partners, will host a National Consultation withGovernment to advocate for the release of Community Radiolicenses.

NOVEMBER 19-25 Visit by Australian Goodwill AmbassadorJournalist and broadcaster, Gretel Killeen will visit Bangladesh for 4days to view UNICEF supported education projects.

NOVEMBER 25-29 National Vitamin A+ Campaign

NOV 26 - DEC 6 Visit by UK Natcom/ Direct MailStaff from the UK Natcom will visit UNICEF supported projects.

NOVEMBER 27 National media summit on HIV/AIDSUNICEF in conjunction with UNAIDS and INTERNEWS will host asummit of the country's senior media owners and editors to discussHIV/AIDS.

National Conference on Birth & Death Registration

OCTOBER 25 Launch of Global AIDS campaignThe purpose of the campaign is to make significant, practical,measurable and sustainable contributions to local, national andinternational efforts to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS inchildren and adolescents. There will a local launch in Dhaka.

Coming Events