UKBET Ramadan appeal
This Ramadan help us to reach and teach the most vulnerable and excluded working children doing hazardous work and domestic labour.
Will you support our work?
Your donations this Ramadan will help us reach, feed, clothe and teach the most vulnerable and excluded working children doing hazardous work and domestic labour in Bangladesh.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 is driving more people in Bangladesh into extreme poverty and as a result pushing more children into the labour market, when they should be at school.
Your donations will break the cycle of child labour
You can help us to break the cycle by getting working children back into education as well as helping to address the root causes of child labour. Children have three education sessions each week at our learning centres which enable them to develop basic literacy and numeracy skills, aligned to the national curriculum.
Another important part of the curriculum for all of the working children we support is life skills which include health, well-being, child rights, child marriage and we also support children to get their births registered.
Finally, our team also works with families of the children in our education programmes to help them be financially stable and independent. Through our ‘Family Futures‘ programme, we help families to create their own income through self-employment and also refer them to other agencies for financial support so that sending their children into hazardous working conditions doesn’t need to be an inevitable childhood.
Pial’s story is a great example of how you can make a positive impact.
We are fundraising via JustGiving. 100% of funds raised from our donations from the Ramadan appeal will go directly to supporting child labourers and their families.
For our supporters and donors in Bangladesh, donations can be made through bKash using the personal number: 01717682622.
Please contact 008801707600202 for any clarification.
I have 8 siblings and I must work to support my big family. I work in a welding workshop. I really enjoy coming to the UKBET centre, now I can go to school alongside working. I dream of being an engineer and my teacher says I can do this!
Our working children programmes
We reach and teach the most vulnerable and excluded working children forced into hazardous domestic labour. Our programmes below empower these young girls and their families through access to education, tailored vocational training, and livelihood support - offering them real alternatives to exploitation. By removing financial and social barriers, our programmes pave the way for long-term learning, dignity, and opportunity.
Doorstep Learning
Although not officially recognised as being ‘hazardous’, domestic work presents many dangers for working children both from the labour they are asked to do and the incidence of sexual and physical assault.
Family Futures
Poverty drives families to send their children to work rather than school. Our team works with families of the children in our education programmes to help them create income through self-employment and referring them to other agencies for support.
Historical programmes
The programmes below are no longer active. Initiated in 2013, these programmes aimed to help boys working in hazardous occupations. Despite their popularity, the number of boys progressing out of child labour was disappointing. Given limited resources, the Trustees have decided to close these programmes in February 2024 and focus on our Doorstep Learning and Family Futures programmes which continue to have great success and progression rate.
Waste Pickers
This pilot project will bring basic education to 50 children working as waste collectors in Sylhet. Children will be taught literacy, numeracy and life skills by specialist community teachers three times a week in education centres close to their workplace.
Hazardous Work
Following a baseline study that revealed that 3,000 children are employed in hazardous jobs in the city of Sylhet, we initiated our pioneering education programme with children doing hazardous work in workshops and small businesses in Sylhet.
Donate and support our work
Education can change lives.