ActionAid, MTB to support 86 female students

The ActionAid Bangladesh on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mutual Trust Bank Ltd. to fund the educational expenses of 86 female students who are staying at ‘Happy Home’.

Happy Home, a centre, established by AAB at Mohammadpur .in Dhaka to help the underprivileged girls, said a press release.

The MoU was signed under the Corporate Social Responsibility Programme at AAB Country Office in Dhaka.

The MoU signing ceremony was attended, among others, by country director of AAB Farah Kabir, head of fundraising of AAB Maruf Shehab, senior vice president and head of communications department of MTB Azam Khan and also other officials from AAB and MTB.

“To address the needs of the street children of Dhaka, ActionAid Bangladesh established the Happy Homes programme in 2006,” reads the release.

Initially, it was in five separate homes at five locations of Dhaka with 150 girls aged 7-18, who had been living on the streets, with shelter and education, it added.

Later in 2016, five Homes merged into one single Home in Mohammadpur area. The Home has helped a lot of girls who might have ended up living on the streets.

At Happy Home, AAB ensures safe and secure living conditions for the girls, healthy meals and hygiene and sanitation along with life skills development, psychosocial counseling, and recreation.

Once the girls are settled in, they are admitted to mainstream schools. As a transition mechanism, AAB also offers vocational skill development training, so that the girls can choose a potential career later. Since 2006, ‘Happy Home’ has supported 17,000 girls to have a better life, according to the release.