| Type | Civil Society Organization |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 14, 2007 |
| Founder(s) | Korvi Rakshand, Chairman |
| Headquarters | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Website | www.jaago.com.bd |
The JAAGO Foundation, based in Bangladesh, is a youth-oriented organization established in April 2007,[1] JAAGO operates with the help of young volunteers to improve the lives of people living below the poverty line. With more than 7,000[2] volunteers under the volunteer wing Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), JAAGO Foundation is most notably known for their trademark event, Universal Children's Day, and their bright yellow t-shirts.[3]
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In April 2007, Korvi Rakshand, a law school graduate, started a charity program with some friends to distribute relief to the flood victims in the slums of Rayer Bazaar in Dhaka city. Later he expanded this program to form the JAAGO Foundation with the slogan ‘breaking the cycle of poverty through education’. Although JAAGO originally started out by providing free of cost secondary school education to the children of Rayer Bazaar, it slowly started to expand its activities for women empowerment and health awareness for the impoverished people of Bangladesh.[4]
JAAGO Foundation looks to create a society free of exploitation, discrimination and violence, and facilitate the achievement of its beneficiaries.[5]
JAAGO’s projects and programs put special emphasis on their literacy, nourishment and capacity building in an attempt to improve the socio-economic conditions of its beneficiaries.[6]
The JAAGO Foundation School is the main and the most important project of the JAAGO Foundation. The institution which started in 2007 with 17 children[7] and a white board on a piece of carpet, has now expanded to three fully functional branches, and over 600 students. The JAAGO School is the first of its kind to provide education of international standards to the destitute children of Bangladesh, free of cost.[8] Most of the students are from the Rayer Bazaar community and are chosen on basis of merit and discipline as well as the requirement that they live below the poverty line. The primary course of instruction is English although students are also taught to have a very strong background in Bengali. Extra-curricular activities such as art, dance, drama debate, sports, singing, photography etc. are also given special priority.[9]
With the help of a veteran doctor and a well-qualified nurse, JAAGO ensures regular health check-up and free medication of each child enrolled to . The First Aid Center also provides a health card every month to the families of the students who can avail the services as many times as they like and buy their medicine at a much lower rate[10] than the prevailing market price.
Many of the JAAGO students are malnourished and are unable to concentrate properly in their studies. JAAGO’s healthy Living project provides these children with nutritious food such as milk, egg, bread and butter and to care for their health. JAAGO also gives food to these student’s families. By receiving food on a regular basis, families have both short and long-term incentives to send their children to school instead of sending them to work in the streets.[11]
Most of the JAAGO students and their families are devoid of the basic knowledge or necessities of hygiene. JAAGO therefore initiated the Call for Hygiene Project which aims at providing hygiene products such as shampoo, soap, detergent, toothbrush and toothpaste on a monthly basis free of cost. Every year, JAAGO holds hygiene sessions where instructors teach the children how to brush their teeth, wash their hair, and other hygiene-related asks.[12]
The JAAGO foundation collaborates with Bachhara, an Australian designer label, to use the principles of ethical trade and develop solutions for women empowerment. Designs from Bachhara are sent to the JAAGO Foundation Sewing Centre, which are then transformed into high-end clothing by the employees of the sewing centre. The employees are mostly women from the Rayer Bazaar slum who are paid wages higher than the average workers in Bangladesh and are also able to work in the safe environment of the JAAGO Foundation Sewing Centre.[13]
Although some of the mothers of the JAAGO students and others in the community work in the Sewing center, there are also women who suffer from poor eye-sight due to malnutrition. As they cannot see the needle or the thread well enough to work, these women are given employment in the JAAGO candle-making factory. The candle-making factory not only provides employment to these women, it also provides a safe environment for the workers.[14]
JAAGO also simultaneously hosts multiple events all over Dhaka City to promote awareness about the environment, health, safety etc.
Through Volunteer for Bangladesh, JAAGO Foundation for the first time in Bangladesh, gave the youth a voice and a platform. This concern of the JAAGO Foundation is a nation-wide association of Volunteer Action Groups that work for the betterment of their individual communities and the nation as a whole. Volunteer for Bangladesh plans to establish Volunteer Action Groups in all of the 64 districts of Bangladesh and is supported by the US Embassy, Dhaka.[15]
The Youth of the Nation, another concern of JAAGO Foundation, is responsible for finding the extraordinary individuals or groups who work to make a difference in the lives of the under-privileged and the unfortunate of Bangladesh. The program aims at giving credit to the new generation and gives them recognition as well as appreciation for those who are already involved in these works. The Youth of the Nation includes a number of categories, where the nominees compete to prove excellence and innovation.[16]
JAAGO has now opened supporting branches[17] in Australia, UK, US, Denmark and Canada. Most of these branches are operated by native nationals who once worked as volunteers for JAAGO.
In the past year, JAAGO Foundation has developed relationships with several leading organizations, namely the US State Department[18] and British Council.[19] JAAGO Foundation has been supported by the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Partner, UNDP, UN Habitat, Global Fund for Children, World Bank Group and the Bangladeshi private sector.[20][21][22][23][24][25] JAAGO Foundation is currently holding talks with several local and international organizations to further enhance its programming efforts.