Let there be light
Dholpur slum is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Dhaka. It is home to thousands of migrants from across the country that hope the move will at least mean they can earn enough money to buy food.
Kohinoor, 17, is the youngest of three siblings and she dreams of owning a beauty salon. Her mother is a housewife. Her father, a 60-year-old rickshaw puller, earns an average of 100 taka ($1.30 US dollars) a day, but is often too sick to work, meaning the family relies on Kohinoor's income.
Around five years ago, the family’s already precarious finances worsened, forcing Kohinoor to make clothes, which she did at home alongside her studies. But the workload was too much, so she dropped out of school after completing grade eight. Yet she wanted to resume her education, so she visited the local state school, but the monthly fee of 1,000 taka (about $13 USD) was too much for her family. She says, “I could be successful in life and do a better job if I could finish my education!”
The teenager made clothes every day, the job straining her eyes, poking her fingertips and hurting her spine as she hunched over her work for hours at a time. “I used to have severe back pain every day after work,” she recalls.
Tarango, a secular NGO and partner of World Vision in the fight against child labour, provides vocational education to underprivileged teenagers so they can avoid hazardous work. After the training, the NGO helps them find local employment. Kohinoor was identified for this programme.
She attended a two-month course at Rupkotha Beauty Parlour, after which the NGO successfully landed her a job at Dream Touch Beauty Parlour. Her monthly earnings as a beautician of 2,400 taka (about $30 USD) means that her family is well supported. The work is less stressful and better for her health. Working for six hours a day, she has more free time to help her mother with the household chores and spend time with her friends.
“There are still many girls working in dangerous jobs, even more hazardous than mine,” Kohinoor continues, before expressing her gratitude to World Vision and Tarango. “I want them to have opportunities like me.”
Project name: An Inclusive Approach to Empowering Working Children
Project goal: A reduction in the number of children aged six to 18 engaged in five categories of hazardous jobs in selected slums of Dhaka by 2017.
To achieve this goal, the project covers four areas of implementation.
- Communities, households and individuals with responsibility at local level are encouraged through awareness to reduce the incidence of child labour.
- Child labourers aged six to 14 are given non-formal primary education.
- Advocacy aimed at the government enforcing related laws and policies.
- Creation of economic opportunities for child labourers aged 15 to 18 and parents and caregivers of child labourers.
Categories of hazardous jobs: Refuse collectors, Garment workers, Domestic workers, Transport/Auto workshop workers, Street children
Project dates: 1 August 2014 - 30 June 2018
Funding sources: Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) - Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and World Vision Australia
