Where we work
Program implementation is in the south west coastal areas of Bangladesh, in four Upazilas (sub districts) under two districts; Dacope and Koyra in Khulna; Shyamnagar and Kaliganj in Shatkhira covering 856,116 direct beneficiaries.
Climate change ground zero
Historically, the Nobo Jatra implementation areas in the exposed south west coastal region is widely acknowledged as climate change ground zero in Bangladesh. Furthermore, the region is also unique for its environmental characteristics including the unsustainable levels of salinity, persistent flooding compounded with increasing natural disasters and deleterious climate change effects such as erratic monsoons and the rise in sea levels. All of this has increased the barriers to growth, marking the region as a food deficit area consequently snowballing the resilience of local communities to withstand climate shocks and stresses thus intensifying overall food insecurity and malnutrition. Intrinsically linked to this reality is gender inequality and women’s disempowerment in Bangladesh – as seen by the widespread practice of early marriage, adolescence pregnancy and lack of decision making power regarding healthcare which all have a negative consequence on the nutritional status of children. Engaging youth also remains a key challenge given that Bangladesh is projected to have 43% of its population under the age of 30 by 2025.
Given this harsh context, Nobo Jatra aims to improve gender equitable food security, nutrition and resilience of vulnerable people within Khulna and Satkhira districts in Bangladesh through the intricate design and thorough implementation of a myriad of holistic activities. As a further means to driving positive behavior change, Nobo Jatra will work towards achieving the following purposes;
- Improved nutritional status of children under five years of age, pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls
- Increased equitable household income
- Strengthened gender equitable ability of people, households, communities and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from man-made and natural shocks and stresses
- Improved social accountability and national policy engagement of service provision for vulnerable men and women (crosscutting)