For 31 years A.K.M. Maksud, the Executive Director at the Grambangla Unnayan Committee, has been promoting social justice and finding routes out of poverty for some of Bangladesh’s poorest and marginalised communities.
Initially working with young girls and single women living below the poverty line, Maksud and Grambangla began to support the waste picking community in Matuail, Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2008. Single mothers and their children, who are often climate refugees leaving the coastal regions, work on the Matuail landfill site to collect and sort the city’s waste. The waste pickers find objects such as cow horns, metal, glass, and plastics to sell as a means of income, earning between 200-300 Taka per day (£1.33-£2).
Maksud explains, “Life in Matuail is terrible for waste pickers, they are injuring themselves daily by sorting through the waste. They will find terrible things – knives, needles and many more hazardous materials.”
“The waste pickers also work alongside heavy machines which stir up the waste so that they can collect new materials. But every year there are terrible incidents where the waste pickers’ legs get caught in the chains of the machines and they die immediately.”
To enter the landfill site, waste pickers are required to pay a bribe of around 50 Taka (33p) per visit, where girls are faced with maltreatment. Life at home is also a danger, living next to the landfill site girls are at risk of contracting diseases through the waste contaminated drinking water and vector borne illnesses.
Maksud, whose long-standing career as a social researcher and non-profit project designer, wanted to find a way to support these teenage waste pickers out of this dangerous work and help stop inter-generational poverty. Through establishing the Grambangla Technical Training Centre (GTTC), which is located near the Matuail landfill site and close to the slum which the waste picking families live, 60 girls aged 14-17 per year are provided with vocational training scholarships to learn tailoring and sewing skills to transition into safer and higher wage work.
However, initially convincing the girls and their families to attend the GTTC was challenging.
“There is a huge disparity of development in this community, so we try to intervene and invest into these communities to help them have a better life. It was difficult in the beginning to convince the girls to take part in the training centre because of their mindsets and the stereotypes placed on them and their community. They don’t believe that they have an opportunity to lead a better life. They cannot dream bigger than the waste picking job. And to attend the centres, the girls need to sacrifice five hours a day away from waste picking across six months and as there is no direct cash incentive, we had to find ways to show the benefits.”
Over time, Grambangla established itself within the waste-picking community and during the recruitment process Grambangla invites GTTC alumni to share their experiences. The past GTTC students act as role models and show to the new cohort of girls that a happier and healthier life beyond waste picking is possible. The team also hold meetings with parents and girls to explain the centre’s objectives and post-training employment opportunities, making the pathway out of waste picking a collaborative experience.
At the centre, the girls have structured sewing and tailoring lessons for five hours per day. Alongside their vocational education, Grambangla works holistically to serve the girls wider wellbeing by providing snacks and a nutritious midday meal as well as integrating life skills classes.
“Many of the waste pickers do not know how to read and write or calculate and do not know how to maintain good hygiene.” Maksud explains, “We have a female trainer who discusses with the girls how to manage their health and learn other skills, and the girls can go to her and not feel hesitant to receive training and support.”
The NGO also collaborates with local government and health departments to offer weekly health checks and recently supported the girls in receiving free vaccines to prevent uterus cancer.
Today, there is a high demand for spaces at the GTTC. Once a girl has completed her training, she can increase her earnings by 89% to 8,500 Taka (£56.77) working in the local garment factory. The Grambangla life skills team, who have built relationships with 16 factories, support the girls into work after completing vocational course by teaching them to write their biodata and apply for jobs as Sewing Operators.
“We currently have capacity for 30 girls every 6 months, but there is a demand to take on more trainees. We want to add in more life skill training for the girls and give them more exposure to the nearby factories and show them the opportunities of what life after the centre is like.”
Since establishing the need to support waste picking girls in 2008, Maksud and Grambangla have cared for one of Dhaka’s most vulnerable communities placing girls into higher wage and safe jobs. Today, Maksud continues to drive the project’s success and seeks to integrate more local facilities as he and the Grambangla team continue to safeguard and support children out of waste picking.
To date, Traid has committed £50,343 to this project thanks to everyone who shops at and donates clothes to Traid. You can read more about the Grambangla Technical Training Centre and the important work by the Grambangla Unnayan Committee here.
