Name of the project: Building Back Better in times of COVID-19, fighting Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Rise Project
Funded by: Terre dess Hommes.
Supported by: Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)
Duration: 15 August 2021 – 30 April 2022.
Total budget: 3,06,621 BDT
Expenditure of Previous year: 1,40,972 BDT
Goals: Children and youth are better protected when at risk or victim of sexual exploitation, during and in the aftermath of the COVID-pandemic.
Objectives:
- To create effective and gender sensitive child protection system, to create and implement child protection framework through coordination of concerned agencies. As well as to create a capable medium to provide appropriate services through the coordination of all institutional and non-institutional activities.
- To enhancing the capacity of all concerned agencies to assist in implementing gender and child protection policies of implementing agencies, Child Trafficking Prevention Committee, Child Welfare Board, Local Government, Local Administration, Non-Governmental Organizations to assist in building and implementing child protection frameworks.
Geographical coverage:
| District | Upazila |
| Satkhira | Satkhira Sadar |
Beneficiaries (Category and number):
Direct Beneficiaries: 70 Children who are the victim of sexual exploitation or sexual harassment.
Indirect Beneficiaries: 3000 Children at risk of sexual exploitation, Child Rights Defender Group, parents group are the indirect beneficiaries of this project.
Achievements:
- The Child Rights Defenders Group (CRDG) is disseminating information about Prevention CSE through their online group and now they are talking about this issue on various platforms.
- Agrogoti Sangstha has formed a network with the collaboration of GO-NGO in Satkhira district called “Women and Child Abuse Prevention Network” for take jointly initiative to reduce women & child abuse and gender base violence.
- The Additional Director of the District Social Services Office promised the children that he would try to include 2 child participants in the next board meeting of the District Child Welfare Board as per the request from the Child Rights Defenders Group (CRDG) members of Agrogoti Sangstha.
- A girl received 2 goat and a girl got a sewing machine as reintegration support from BBB project of Agrgoti Sangstha.
- The guests present at the discussion meeting formed a fund at One Stop Crisis Center (OCC) Sadar Hospital Satkhira with the travel allowance of all the guests for the treatment of the children of the most vulnerable families who are victims of sexual abuse.
- Agrogoti Sangstha collect 25 blankets from a bank of Satkhira and then distributes 15 blankets in to the child victims.
Case Story:
Sabina Khatun (pseudonym), age- 9 years 11 months, father- Shamsur Rahman (pseudonym), mother- Sonavan (pseudonym), village- Raichpur, post office- Khanpur, Upazila and district- Satkhira. Sabina Khatun is a student of class 2 in the local government primary school. She is the only child of her parents. Her mother is often ill and her father loses an eye. Her father works as a watchman in an others fish pond (gher) and her mother feeds the goats of other people. Somehow their family is going on, even their three meals are not eaten properly. Sabina’s birth was not registered due to a lack of money. And that is why Sabina does not get a stipend from school.
Sabina used to play with her peers as the school was closed due to the Corona pandemic. In May of this year, Sabina was playing with her friends around 11 o’clock on the day of the incident like every other day. At this time, one of their neighbors Babu Hossain (pseudonym), 33 years old, he took her to his house showing greed for food. Then he pressed her face and raped her and at one point Sabina tried to shout loudly. Upon hearing the sound of her moaning, a woman next to him called Babu and Babu left Sabina and fled. After that Sabina was rescued and admitted to Satkhira Sadar Hospital. Sabina’s father filed a case with the Satkhira police station through an inspector and the case is ongoing. But Sabina’s guardians do not know any information about the case and the accused is now out on bail and is still in custody.
In such a situation, a staff member of Agrogoti Sangstha can find out about this incident through a survey in November 2021. Upon learning of the incident, a team from the Agrogoti Sangstha went to the victim’s home and spoke to her family members and Sabina. Psychosocial support was then provided to Sabina and her family members. Psycho-social support is ongoing and their cases are being investigated. Progress is in the process of helping Sabina’s family to create employment through the BBB project of Agrogoti Sangstha. She has also been given a blanket and efforts are being made to get support from her family from other government and non-government organizations.