Since 1999, Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh has been working with low-income families to build strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter. Habitat Bangladesh currently operates in Dhaka, Mymensing, Jamalpur, Sakhira, Kurigram, Pirojpur and Patuakhali districts. The program includes housing, clean water, and safe sanitation, training on appropriate construction technology as well as disaster response and mitigation.
To date, over 17,528 low-income Bangladeshi families have partnered with Habitat to improve their housing, water and sanitation, and living conditions. About 96,883 people have also received training on housing, safe water and sanitation, appropriate construction technology, and disaster response and mitigation.
The rapid urbanization process in Bangladesh has heightened the crisis of unemployment, shelter provision, and urban services. The increased urban population and lack of institutional capacity are triggering increased urban poverty. The objectives of urban development are to serve the community and increase the societal impact of the organization, by supporting the provision of a minimum livable environment to vulnerable slums and informal settlement residents.
Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh began urban development projects in 2012. In the city of Dhaka, Habitat Bangladesh started in three slums named Talab Camp, the slum of Beguntila, and the slum of Takerbari. Through a two-phase DFAT funded project called “Building Resilience of Urban Slum settlements: A multi-sectoral approach to capacity building”, Habitat improved living conditions for poverty impacted families by renovating houses; constructing drainage systems and walkways; cleaning and repairing drains; constructing water tanks with hand pumps; distributing water purification filters, and constructing and repairing bathhouses and community toilets.
Urban Housing Facts
Facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration for slum resilience
Since 2012, Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh has been working on increasing the resilience of slum communities in Dhaka, through the implementation of vulnerability assessments, community action planning, water and sanitation infrastructure, housing repairs and capacity building.
However, challenges experienced by slum communities, such as the lack of access to government services and security of tenure, require the collaboration of several stakeholders across the city. Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh is a key contributor to the formation of the Urban INGO forum that brings together 20 international organizations to discuss urban development in Bangladesh. Additionally, to increase synergies, a collective initiative to gather data and map slum communities is generating comprehensive information on:
• social and physical characteristics and vulnerabilities,
• land tenure,
• livelihoods, and
• services provided by different organizations.
Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh took the initiative to organize a platform where many of the urban actors in Bangladesh can share experiences to harmonize activities and promote the coordination of urban development through an urban INGO forum. The first Urban Dialogue was organized by Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh in 2013, followed by the 2nd Urban Dialogue organized by Habitat for Humanity Bangladesh together with World Vision Bangladesh and Islamic Relief in 2014. The 3rd Urban Dialogue 2015 was the first large event of this urban INGO forum which took place on 25 – 26 August 2015 at Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, University of Dhaka. Twelve INGOs hosted the 3rd Urban Dialogue while the Department of Disaster Science and Management from the University of Dhaka was a technical partner. The contributing INGOs were World Vision, Habitat for Humanity, Oxfam, Islamic Relief, Save the Children, and Plan Bangladesh. Also, the participating organizations included Concern Universal, Concern World Wide, World Renew, Water and Life, ACF, and Swiss Contact. This urban INGO forum is growing stronger each year, with new partners joining and new leaders emerging.
Achievements
- Sanitation and housing improvements in ten slum communities such as Talab Camp, Beguntila, Takerbari, Bauniabad, Lalmath slum, and West Duaripara in Dhaka; Machghat, Labanchara and Notun Bazar in Khulna; supporting around 30,000 people.
- Data collection and mapping of 25 slums using a "Geographic Information System" to create a comprehensive database.
- Leadership and active participation in a forum of 20 international NGOs focused on tackling urban challenges in Bangladesh.
- Hosting annual "Urban Dialogue" events since 2013, with around 800 delegates attending each event.
Next Steps
- Replicating the slum resilience intervention model in other Dhaka and Khulna city slums.
- Collecting data on all Dhaka city slum communities.
- Providing new inputs to, and updating, the information platform with contribution from all stakeholders.
The plan will be focused on market penetration replicating current programs based on infrastructure development, increasing community resilience, and expanding partnerships.
Partners
- JTI Foundation
- World Vision
- Urban INGO Forum
- Centre for Environmental and Geographic Information Services
- House Building and Research Institute
- Bangladesh Urban Forum
- Coalition of the Urban Poor
- City Corporation Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh and Jamalpur