FRONT END PAPER ( GUMMING )
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This book has been commissioned by UNDP Bangladesh and produced by HerStory Foundation. The stories in this book were collected through a nationwide open call for nominations in October of 2019. The stories were selected based on merit, impact and the power to inspire readers to contribute to achieving the global goals.We have researched and verified the validity and integrity of the characters and their work, however we cannot take responsibility for what they do in the future and hope our readers will take away the positive message of this book. We wish our Transformers all the best in their journeys and hope they will continue to contribute to the greater social good.
Illustrators (in order of appearance) || Sayeef Mahmud | Dhakayeah | Kavayra (Humayra Kabir) | Salzar Rahman | Waseka Nahar | Farah Khandaker | Syed Rashad Imam | Aabir Khalid | Veevinci | Fatehul Joy | Kazi Istela Imam | Suhas Nahian | Mighty Punch Studios | Reesham Shahab Tirtho | Noor Us Safa Anik | Inshra Sakhawat Russell Concept | Md Abdul Quayyum Support | Rifaat Newaz Management Support | Kazi Md Zilla Haider Book Design | Nowrin Maliha Editorial Team | N Anita Amreen | Katerina Don | Zareen Mahmud Hosein | Tania Noor | Tayran Razzaq | Aanila Kishwar Tarannum Copyright | UNDP Bangladesh First Published | February 2020 Publisher | HerStory Publications Limited Publishing Consultant | Nokta Printer | Progressive Printers Pvt Ltd. Special thanks | Prothom Alo | Shaveena Anam | Mathews Chiran | Jasmine Khandaker | J Sharma Luna | Graner Marak | Hla Thoaiching Marma | Mithun Raksam | Porag Ritchil | The Daily Star
www.bd.undp.org This book is not for sale. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without permission from UNDP Bangladesh.
If these Transformers can - so can you! Let’s work together for a better future to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030! This book is for the children and youth of Bangladesh, who are the problem-solvers of the future. BANGLA
CHAKMA
GARO
Ya katta banglani disa pisa aroba panti-nomilrangna jemang rama pnnikkani. MARMA
SANTAL
TRIPURA
In bijap chini thinangni chati, Bangladeshni cherokrok bai chakili-sikala chalairokni bagwi.
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THE TRANSFORMERS GOAL 1: NO POVERTY Mahmud Hasan Tabib & Rana Aka Gully Boy
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GOAL 2: ZERO HUNGER Ikram Uddin Abir 8 GOAL 3: GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING Yeshim Iqbal 10 GOAL 4: QUALITY EDUCATION Shams Jaber 12 GOAL 5: GENDER EQUALITY Rehana Parvin 14 GOAL 6: CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION Soumic Ahmed 16 GOAL 7: AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY Abdullah Al Hamid 18 GOAL 8: DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH Md. Al Amin Noyon 20 GOAL 9: INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE Md. Imtiaz Uddin Chowdhury 22
GOAL 10: REDUCED INEQUALITY Azwa Nayeem 24 GOAL 11: SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES Farhana Rashid 26 GOAL 12: RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION Md. Mahmudul Islam 28 GOAL 13: CLIMATE ACTION Ahsan Rony 30 GOAL 14: LIFE BELOW WATER The Dolphin Boat Team 32 GOAL 15: LIFE ON LAND Md. Mahidur Rahman 34 GOAL 16: PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS Muktasree Chakma Sathi 36 GOAL 17: PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS Md. Fahad Ifaz 38 SDGs 40
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I truly believe that today’s children and youth possess courage, skills and aspirations to bring about change for social good. In life, everything begins with aspirations, which when pursued with courage and nurtured with skills, blossoms into something that we can all enjoy. When all of our collective dreams and aspirations are focused on the greater good, we will be able to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This book contains 17 stories of 17 Social Change Makers who are helping address the SDGs through their work. I hope these stories will inspire you to cultivate your own dreams into reality, starting today! Sudipto Mukerjee
Resident Representative, UNDP Bangladesh
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MahmuD Hasan Tabib & Rana AKA GULLY BOY Talk about the harsh realities of the underprivileged Manikganj & Faridpur In the future, there will be robots, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality but will every kid have a home? Will every girl and boy have enough food to eat everyday? At the moment there are millions of children who live on sidewalks and by railroads - cold, hungry and in danger of being kidnapped, abused or killed. Rana Mredha, known as Gully Boy, is one such kid, and together with poet Mahmud Hasan Tabib, he raps about the realities of poverty. These two Transformers are changing the way people think about poverty. Rana was selling flowers near Dhaka University when he first saw Tabib getting on his motorbike. The bike excited Rana, “Can you give me a ride?” he asked. Tabib could not refuse. As the flower sales boy and the university student zoomed around the campus, a great friendship began. That night, at home, Tabib could not stop thinking about Rana. What was his life like? Where did he sleep? What would he grow up to be? Tabib wrote a poem about the boy and when they met again the next day, he taught Rana the words and asked him to recite them. Rana was a natural rapper and the words made sense to him, he even added a few of his own. Tabib and Rana started meeting everyday to practice, and at the start of 2019 they made a music video about Gully Boy. I am Rana, Gully Boy, Dhakaya Gully Boy, I wish I could go to school, eat three full meals a day, give my mother a new sari. Rana fasts throughout the year, without sehri. The video went viral on social media. The stories of Dhaka’s poor were finally heard by millions. Rana and Tabib described the pains of poverty; the heartbreak of a father who can’t buy his daughter a new dress for Eid, the cruelty of the gangsters that control the slums, and the never-ending hunger. The full moon looks like a roti; I have been surviving with an empty stomach. Through the lyrics and music videos, Tabib wants to draw people’s attention to the struggles of kids like Rana, who are forced to work to survive. The duo know that they have a responsibility to stay true to their cause - to make people understand the true meaning of poverty and to do something about it. A 12-year-old boy and a university student have made people think about the suffering of those who go unnoticed and unseen. For this, the duo have been featured in local and international media, including the BBC. Today Gully Boy is learning to read and write and dreams of becoming a doctor someday. But even though Gully Boy was able to succeed and become famous, there are millions of girls and boys just like him who are cold, hungry and homeless. What about them? This is the question Tabib and Rana ask with their music, demanding answers from those who have the power to make sure that development leaves no one behind. Each one of us can fight poverty, through efforts big and small, even by being mindful and considerate of those who have less. Illustrated by: Sayeef Mahmud
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IKRAM UDDIN ABIR Only through sharing we can create a strong society for the future Dhaka Every night in Dhaka, colourful lights flash while dozens of tables are filled with biryani, polao, rezala, firni, and countless other dishes. But once the guests leave and the lights go out, a lot of this food is thrown out. What could have fed hundreds goes to waste because of the late hour and difficulties of transport. This drove Transformer Ikram Uddin Abir to set up Prochesta Food Banking, a food saving operation that daily feeds hundreds of people. The idea is simple, the Prochesta team collects leftover food from events and brings it to those in need. After spending time in city slums for a school project, Abir realised that the people living there were just like him, full of hopes and dreams, joyful and loving. But the big difference between him and them was that people in the slums faced many more hardships. They often fell sick, had fewer chances of getting a good education or job, and there was never enough to eat. Moved by what he learned, Abir dedicated himself to improving their lives. First he opened a school and then in 2016, he came across a simple idea to fight hunger. That year, Abir heard about a team of people from India and Nepal that collects leftover food from weddings and delivers it to the poor. He thought this would be a fantastic idea for Dhaka, where hundreds of weddings and events take place every month, and a lot of food is wasted. Abir set up a hotline and a famous blogger friend of his shared the idea on Facebook, asking people to call to donate leftover food. The very next day, Prochesta got its first call to pick-up 100 extra plates of biriyani. Volunteers took large containers to collect the food, carried it to Prochesta School and then divided it fairly to feed 100 hungry people after midnight. That night, Prochesta Food Bank was born. With the help of 50 volunteers, Abir has collected food from hundreds of weddings, birthdays, akikas and other celebrations, and has fed over 2.5 lakh people. People call Food Bank every day, donating meals from all over the city. Once they even received a very special call from a bride on her wedding day, she had ordered 100 extra servings to give to Prochesta! In his quest to stop wastage, Abir hopes to get big restaurants and hotels to rethink what they do with extra food. He hopes to take Prochesta Food Bank all over Bangladesh, in fact the idea of food banking is spreading - it is now popular in Sylhet, Chattogram and Rangpur. It takes a lot of hard work, from managing calls, arranging transport, making sure food stays fresh, dividing it fairly to delivering it. But Abir and his team are always at the ready, because the joy on the faces of the people they feed is worth it. Whether it’s ten plates or one, Abir believes that no meal should go to waste, and no child should go to bed hungry. Any effort, no matter how small, counts in the fight against hunger.
Illustrated by: Dhakayeah
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YESHIM IQBAL Slowly, slowly, slowly, everything starts to become possible Dhaka Sometimes life seems hard and things don’t go as you had hoped. Sometimes, even though you have everything, you still feel sad and it seems that no one understands you. You are not alone in feeling this way, and that is why Transformer Dr. Yeshim Iqbal started Kaan Pete Roi, Bangladesh’s first mental health helpline. This is a number you can call to share your thoughts and feelings, when there is no one else to talk to. The service is anonymous, which means that you don’t have to say your name, the people answering the calls listen without judgment for as long as necessary. Yeshim studied psychology, a subject that deals with the human mind and our behaviour. She learned that many people find it difficult to share their feelings. They fear being told off, and are often scared of what others might think. While volunteering for a suicide prevention helpline in America, Yeshim answered calls from strangers who needed emotional support. Many callers were losing hope in life. One day she picked up an anonymous call from a man who was about to jump off a bridge. After a two-hour conversation, he decided to step down. That phone call helped him choose to keep trying and it changed Yeshim’s life. Yeshim decided to open a similar helpline in Bangladesh, where so many young people keep their troubles to themselves. In 2013, Yeshim returned to Bangladesh to set up Kaan Pete Roi. Millions of Bangladeshis suffer from depression, but they rarely know what to do about it. Mental wellbeing is just as important as physical health, but people often have trouble talking about their feelings and asking for help. Yeshim spoke to psychologists and counselors to understand how to best create a suicide prevention service in Bangladesh. Once she was ready, the work began from a small office with 15 volunteers who were trained to listen without judgment, manage crisis situations, and protect their own and callers’ privacy. At first, there were few calls but soon enough, people began to understand the service. More and more calls started coming in. Inspired by a famous Rabindra Sangeet, the name Kaan Pete Roi communicated hope, that there is always someone who will listen. To this day, over 20,000 calls have been answered, many of which helped callers to keep trying. Today, there are 60 volunteers offering their time and empathy, and Yeshim’s goal is to make the service available 24 hours a day, everyday, so that there’s always someone to talk to no matter when one is feeling down. Yeshim is full of hope, because she knows that good things take time, “Nothing in the world that is worth doing is ever going to be easy - but it is also always worth it. Always know that no matter how bad things get, you always have someone who cares, someone who will listen.” Talking about mental health can be hard, but it is the important first step towards good health and well-being.
Illustrated by: Kavayra (Humayra Kabir)
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Shams jaber Everything changes when you realise you can be the solution Chattogram What if school was a place you went to play? What if math was fun? What if you could build your own pets out of mechanical bits and ends? Believe it or not, such a place exists in Dhaka - it’s called The Tech Academy. This is a place where students learn to make robots, cartoons and games. When Transformer Shams Jaber was in school, he sat at the back of the class drawing imaginary cities and making up rules to his own games. Shams did not care much about exams and grades, for him, learning to make things was more important. He used the Internet to teach himself the basics of engineering and robotics, and was fascinated by how the brain works. Later in university, Shams started spending time with a group of street children. He offered to teach them anything they were interested in learning. One boy wanted to be a journalist, so Shams learned the ABC’s of the trade and taught him how to be a reporter. A girl wanted to build robots, so Shams brought some wires and sensors and together they started building a moving gadget. Shams and his small class sat on the pavement outside his university, learning and teaching and learning and teaching. This experiment grew into The Tech Academy, a special after-school program for children from all kinds of homes. Since 2013, students as young as eight learn to build video games, robots, and even brain wave sensors! Everyone participates in creating the curriculum and some students are so excited to go to class they have trouble sleeping the night before. Shams knows that going to school and learning are different things - you can learn anywhere, anytime. If you want to understand how a car moves, build a toy car. If you want to see a cartoon about the grumpy old lady on your street, make that cartoon. If you want to play a game that does not exist design it! This is the only rule of The Tech Academy, where classes are full of kids working together to build and create. At The Tech Academy, everyone is a teacher and a student, some kids have even been enrolled to teach adults robotics and animation. The Tech Academy has had hundreds of students over the years. This is a special place where numbers are fun, and you can learn to make things move. Shams believes that the kids in the back of the class, designing games or drawing cities, are learning just as much as the kids making sentences and solving equations, and he wants to empower every child to succeed in a future when there will be plenty of new jobs that don’t even exist yet. Shams dreams of growing The Tech Academy into a school with students of all ages. In this school there will be no subjects, because just like in everyday life, everything is connected. Through his crossdisciplinary approach to teaching, Shams is improving the quality of education for many kids (and grown-ups) and changing the idea that learning happens only in classrooms. Just like Shams, you too can contribute to improving the quality of your education, by asking questions, following your passions and sharing your knowledge with those around you. Illustrated by: Salzar Rahman
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Rehana parvin If we don’t stand up for ourselves, then who will? Kurigram This story is about a young girl, whose heart is always on the playing field - Transformer Rehana Parvin is the founder of Rehana Sports Academy in Kurigram, and she works to encourage more girls to play sports. Known for her exceptional athletic talent, Rehana is a skilled kabaddi, handball and football player - a true all-star champion on the national front. Rehana loved the outdoors. The youngest of seven children, she was very competitive, too competitive for a girl, many people said. Rehana would wake up at the break of dawn to practice riding her brother’s bike. “Girls should not ride bikes,” her neighbours complained. But Rehana was too busy enjoying the morning rides to care about what people had to say. Though her parents tried to interest her in singing - they thought that music was a suitable activity for a girl - Rehana would skip class for the football field. There was just no stopping her. In school Rehana played all kinds of sports and brought home many awards and medals. And when she completed her SSC exams and joined the Bangladesh Ansar special forces - her athletic nature had found its calling. At the same time, Rehana was selected for Bangladesh’s first under-19 women’s football team, a great athletic achievement! It was rare to see girls playing football and some people even protested outside the stadium, but the girls played on. Rehana excelled in football, handball and played on the Bangladesh National Kabaddi Team at the SAF games in 2006. Kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh, a form of tackle tag that is rarely played by women. In Bangladesh, women’s sports are not given much importance. There is not enough money or support for girls’ teams and professional female athletes have a hard time finding equipment and good trainers. Rehana says, ”Since I struggled as a woman, I understand the problems of female athletes; bad facilities and lack of opportunities. Besides, many girls get married before they are 18, which is why I started the Academy to encourage girls to get involved in sports professionally, to be confident and lead a career oriented life.” She has been speaking up for gender equality in sports for over a decade. And through her efforts over the years, the salaries of female national players have been raised from Tk 200 - 300 to Tk 20,000 - 30,000. This is progress that Rehana can be proud of, but she knows that there is still a lot of work to be done to get more girls to play sports. Rehana has won many awards, but the one that stands out is the President Ansar Sheba Padok for her accomplishments as the coach of Bangladesh Ansar’s football team and her work in promoting sports for women. By setting a good example, she has helped many young women find the courage to play and the Rehana Parvin Foundation supports girls throughout their professional training. It is not an easy task, but Rehana is determined that slow and steady will win the race. Rehana believes that every woman must be independent and chase her dreams, no matter what they are. Women must work for their rights and to secure their place in the world, only then can we achieve gender equality. You too can make a difference, by playing on your local team or cheering them on! Illustrated by: Waseka Nahar
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SOUMIC AHMED There are many different problems, which are actually challenges for us to solve Rajshahi Bangladesh has hundreds of rivers, but many people living in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) have no easy access to water. Everyday, rain or shine, the people living on the hilltops have to walk down to collect drinking and bathing water. And then they trek all the way back up carrying many litres on their backs. But one Transformer, Soumic Ahmed, has set out to fix this problem. Water, like all things that have mass, falls downwards, and when it does, it makes energy. But what if you could make water flow upwards? Soumic Ahmed thought about this problem a lot. During a trip to Bandarban in the hill tracts, Soumic was very frustrated to see how villagers use their valuable time and strength just to fetch water. What if there was a way to pump water up the hill and use the movement of the water to power the pump? An environmental engineer, Soumic was fascinated by the idea of sustainable energy, and this pushed him and his teammates to make their own hydraulic RAM pump, which requires no electricity or fuel and can be made using simple pipes and valves. The magic of the RAM pump is that it works just on the laws of physics, the flow of water through the valves converts kinetic energy, or the energy of movement, into pressure which pushes the water onwards and upwards. It might sound simple, but building a pump is a difficult job, with a lot of trial and error. An engineer must be frugal, Soumic’s team tried out different scrap materials to create the pump - water bottles, old bicycle tires, and other bits and ends - looking for a cheap way to make the pump. The team spent many days knee deep in water, fighting gravity, until finally, they got a working model and were ready to build the pump in the village. This simple system of pipes and valves would carry water up a slope of 120 feet, about the height of a 12-storey building. At first the villagers were reluctant, they thought Soumic and his team were trying to take their land. Mischievous children would hide their tools and get in the way of their work, but in time, Soumic was able to make them understand that with this pump, water would come to the village and they would no longer need to go down and up the hill. From then onwards, the children were there to help Soumic lay bricks and to hand him tools. Together they built the pump and brought the water all the way up the hill, without using any electricity! The RAM pump is being used in three villages and a new model is being tested to bring water to farms high in the hills. Now the people of the hilltop villages don’t just have more water, but more time and energy to spend on other things, like learning or earning. There are many ways to collect clean water, the challenge is doing it in a sustainable way that saves energy and does not damage the environment. Soumic has many plans and dreams for the future, to make lives easier for people living in remote areas. No matter how old or big a problem, there is always a way to fix it if you are not afraid of getting a bit dirty or failing a few times in the process.
Illustrated by: Farah Khandaker
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Abdullah Al Hamid Never give up Noakhali
From shingaras to samuchas to daal puri, everyone loves fried food! But did you know that these snacks are often cooked in oil that is used over and over again? This old oil is not only dangerous for your health, but it’s also terrible for the environment when thrown away. Transformer, Abdullah Al Hamid wanted to do something to transform this toxic waste into a useful resource. One day, while munching on crunchy iftar with his family, Hamid got an idea. What if he could find a way to transform the used cooking oil into engine fuel? That was the start of Biotech Bangladesh, a company that recycles cooking oil into biodiesel. Hamid never thought he would be doing the work he is doing now. Growing up in Hasan Hat village in Noakhali, he enjoyed a simple hard-working life, spending a lot of time outdoors farming and gardening. In the village nothing is ever wasted; old clothes are recycled into kantha blankets then mops until they are finally burned. In the city, life is different and there is much more wastage. Restaurants dump used cooking oil down drains, industries throw hazardous waste into rivers - all adding up to an environmental disaster. After university, Hamid began his research into recycling used cooking oil to create biodiesel, which is better for the environment than regular diesel. After learning everything he could learn about making biodiesel, Hamid decided to make his own machine using materials found in Bangladesh. It wasn’t easy, but together with a good team, he made it in just six months. The first batch of cooking oil he converted into biodiesel powered a gigantic factory generator! Next came the challenge of selling the fuel. Hamid was able to convince some ferry and launch drivers near the Buriganga river to give it a try, promising less smoke and more power for a better price. He was true to his promise. Restaurants and street-side vendors were eager to sell their used oil, which they had thought of as nothing more than waste until now. Hamid taught them to drain the oil early on, before it was completely dark. When oil is used over and over it can cause cancer, and Hamid gave cooks a good reason to refresh their oil-pans. Today, Biotech Bangladesh makes one tonne of biodiesel everyday, which is sold to businesses and fuel stations in the capital. For many, biodiesel was just a fantastic idea, but Hamid believed it was possible and brought it to life. He saw an opportunity where everyone else saw a problem. “Waste is a resource” is his motto. Hamid hopes that one day all the restaurants in the city will stop dumping used oil and invest in alternative ways to recycle and reuse. Recycling is a creative challenge, that each and every one of us can take part in, by making use of affordable and clean energy.
Illustrated by: Syed Rashad Imam
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Md. Al Amin Noyon Only kindness can make the world a better place Rajshahi Have you heard of Superman and Batman? They have fantastic costumes and superpowers, but some heroes are dressed in simple clothes and go unnoticed in the crowd. Transformer, Md. Al Amin Noyon is one such hero. For the last 12 years, Noyon has been helping Bangladeshi migrant workers - especially those who have been trafficked abroad to work in terrible conditions. The eldest son, Noyon always felt it was his responsibility to get a good job and support his family. He studied hard but finding work in the small village of Faridpur was not easy. After several years of trying, Noyon met a broker who promised a good paying job at a TV-assembly factory in Malaysia. There Noyon would earn almost four times the average salary offered in Bangladesh. This was a dream opportunity that could change his family’s fortunes, so Noyon paid the large sum of money, packed his things, and with a hopeful heart, set out to start his new job in a far away land. But things did not go as promised. Noyon and others like him, waited at the airport for two days and nights until a strange man gathered and transported them by truck to an overcrowded room where they were held captive. More days passed and then Noyon was moved to a forest swarming with poisonous snakes and made to chop trees alongside other Bangladeshi workers. They had no way to call for help and when they refused to work, they were badly beaten or starved. Noyon and the others were devastated to think that they had paid for their own kidnapping and that they would die in that forest so far from home. But Noyon wasn’t ready to give up, he kept pushing the guards to let them go, threatening to set the trees on fire. Eventually Noyon’s group was sent back to the city to be resold. There, they managed to escape and ran straight to the embassy. The migrant workers, led by Noyon demanded to be returned home until they were given the tickets to fly back to Bangladesh. Back home, Noyon did not stop fighting - he wanted to get back every taka that he and his fellows paid the brokers. He did not rest until they were all paid in full. With the support of other victims of trafficking, in 2007 Noyon opened IMA Research Foundation to help Bangladeshi workers who were in trouble abroad. He wanted to make sure that no one would have to suffer his fate. Today Noyon helps returning migrants to recover money and rebuild their lives. It is hard work, he receives over a hundred calls a day from victims, but it is never too much for Noyon. He understands their pain - he knows exactly how it feels. So far, he has helped and counseled over 3,500 people who faced injustice and ill treatment at work. No matter how stressful it gets, Noyon does everything in his power to help people get back home. He is often at the airport, waiting for them, to listen to their stories and record evidence to catch the brokers and criminals that run the trafficking rings. You probably won’t even notice him, and pass him by, but there he is, a superhero in plain sight, fighting for people’s right to work decent, safe jobs and to be paid fairly, without losing life or dignity. Illustrated by: Aabir Khalid
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MD. ImtIaz UDDIN choWDHURY My way or the highway. No matter what - I WILL DO IT Dhaka When fires, earthquakes or other catastrophes strike, a blocked exit door can result in tragedy. Many buildings do not follow safety rules and people working or living on the top floors risk being trapped with no way to escape but the windows. To solve this problem, Transformer Md. Imtiaz Uddin Chowdhury created an inflatable escape slide that is used on the outside of a building to save people from falling. Long before creating Free Fall, when Imtiaz was just a little boy, he dreamed of becoming a computer engineer. Obsessed with programming and graphic design, Imtiaz learned everything he could and at 15 years old, he got his first paid job to make a company logo - all those days and nights in front of the screen had paid off! A few years later, at just 19, Imtiaz opened his own IT firm. Success came easily and things were going well, but then something happened that changed him forever. One April morning in 2015 an earthquake shook Nepal, killing 9,000 people and destroying many towns. The quake was so strong, the aftershocks reached Bangladesh and this deeply affected Imtiaz. He could not stop thinking about the people forced to jump from high-rises to escape. A graduate of computer science and engineering, Imtiaz began to apply his problem solving skills to this challenge. He wanted to create a cheap, easy and fast solution for tall buildings. He began to research safe exit strategies like the inflatable airplane slide, which is fast and easy to use. He thought of ways to adapt the design for tall buildings on busy streets. In 2016, Imtiaz formed a small team to design and build an inflatable emergency tornado slide - a spiral that can be inflated in six seconds. The Free Fall slide comes with sensors that detect earthquakes and fires and send warnings to nearby fire-stations. The slide can go as high as 20 stories and up to 35 people can come down at a time. It took the team a few years to perfect the model but it is now ready to be used. The BGMEA, one of the biggest garments associations in the world, is in full support of Free Fall slides, and hopes to have them installed in factories to prevent another disaster like Rana Plaza. Imtiaz understood that changing the buildings themselves is a difficult and expensive task, so he created a solution that is low-cost and easy to install. And if not in an emergency, quiet fun to go down. One man even tried to climb up the slide, and although he got to the top, it took his breath away. This was no small feat - Free Fall holds the Guinness Record for the world’s tallest safety slide. Of his journey, Imtiaz says, “If you need to climb a mountain, it is useless to worry about the long way up. Start climbing, and you will reach the top one day.” Imtiaz took a big problem, and came up with a simple innovative solution that can be made using local materials. His invention saves lives and improves the infrastructure of many potentially dangerous buildings. No matter who you are, or where you come from, you have the power to create something new for the good of all.
Illustrated by: Veevinci
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Azwa nayeem Be brave, be bold but spread love like there’s no tomorrow Mymensingh Have you ever thought about why some of your classmates excel while others do not? Why do they end up with such different results when they use the same text books? Somewhere there’s a wide gap through which many students fall through. In fact one in four drops out before finishing class five. Inequalities exist on every front - among students, and also amidst teachers - some are trained while others are not. To resolve this widening gap, the Transformer Azwa Nayeem, created the Alokito Hridoy Foundation, to help all schools adopt sound teaching techniques. Growing up in Dhaka’s cantonment area, Azwa was used to order and discipline. So much so, that when she saw the chaos and cruelty of the city, she felt the urge to fix things. As the years passed, this desire only grew stronger, and she knew that the classroom was the right place to start. On her visits to public schools, Azwa saw that teachers were overworked and did not have the same books and resources that teachers in private schools benefit from. She noticed that class sizes were much bigger and teachers struggled to control the students, at times resorting to punishment. Azwa wanted to find a way to help teachers help students learn better and to bridge the gap between public and private education. But when Azwa set out to teach the teachers, she met with an obstacle; Azwa realised that she was not welcome. So she changed her plan - she spent time listening to the teachers and learning about their problems. What she learned grew into the Alokito Teachers online platform - a school for teachers with many fun lessons, methods and games to use in the classroom. Here teachers can share advice, learn, and even find work. The platform is a network of over 1,250 teachers from all over the country who use it to learn new skills and ways of teaching. By training teachers online Azwa helps to reduce the difference in quality between private and public schooling and this has so far improved the lives of over 10,000 students. Azwa is setting an example of how to lead with love. She is helping teachers teach better, and giving them the support they need to nurture students to excel in school and become good people. Teachers and students alike need empathy and compassion and both groups learn better driven by curiosity rather than fear. Empathy is a free resource we can all use anytime, anywhere to help those around us feel more welcome and empowered. The difference between a good school and a bad school is how classes are taught. Many private schools benefit from having the funding to buy good materials, pay for teacher training and keep class sizes small. But the majority of students in Bangladesh are enrolled in public schools which do not have these privileges and are at risk of falling behind. By bringing quality teacher training to educators nationwide for free, Azwa is reducing the inequality between the students of different schools This effort to improve the quality of teaching will affect the lives of millions of students as they make their way from class one to graduation. Illustrated by: Fatehul Joy
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FARHANA RASHID Our aim is to create healthy and clean public toilets throughout Bangladesh Rajshahi Don’t you hate it when you are out and need to go to the toilet, but there isn’t one in sight? Many girls in Bangladesh are used to having to wait for hours for a bathroom break, as clean and safe spaces are rare. From a young age, girls learn to drink less water to save themselves the trouble. But in the long term this results in more trouble - not drinking enough water causes dehydration, urinary tract infections and kidney damage. Transformer Farhana Rashid wants girls to drink all the water they need without having to worry. Her solution is simple - create more public toilets. Farhana was born in the beautiful city of Rajshahi, but she travelled all over Bangladesh - Barisal, Khagrachari, Kushtia and Lalmonirhat. And everywhere she went, she watched how people lived. Farhana was interested in how cities work and earned a scholarship in sustainable urban planning and design in Sweden. There she learned how to create better public spaces and after graduation, Farhana returned home and set out to solve an issue affecting every woman in Bangladesh - the lack of public bathrooms. This is no small problem, the lack of toilets for girls has a direct and negative effect on their health and Farhana had seen her own aunt suffer and die from kidney disease, caused by a lifelong habit of drinking little water. In 2016, Farhana created Bhumijo to clean, create and plan public toilets. Some may think that this is not the most glamorous job, but Farhana’s work has affected the lives of more than 140,000 women, 6,000 children and 120,000 men. While public toilets exist in big cities, most are not clean and difficult to use for women; nearly impossible for pregnant women. Starting with Dhaka and the surrounding cities, Farhana has created a toilet cleaning fleet for the existing washrooms and a map of the busiest areas where there is a need to build new toilets. So far Bhumijo has created four public toilets but they are set to open another thousand across the country in the next five years. The first Bhumijo washroom was opened in 2017 in Gausia’s popular Noor Mansion Market, where hundreds of shoppers come every day. The toilet has been flushed an amazing 30,000 times and counting. Next was Surovi Udyan in the heart of the Rangpur, then a spot in Naryanganj. Recently the team has taken on the task of cleaning the toilets in Dhaka’s railways stations, where many travelers need to take a bathroom break. A landmark Bhumijo location is the wash centre in Dhaka’s Kalyanpur slum, before which many girls used to wait until dark to find a safe place to go to the bathroom. Now girls and women can use a proper sanitation facility and drink all the water they want! Bhumijo has won several awards, and people are becoming more aware of the need for clean toilets for women and men alike. Farhana won’t stop until women everywhere can go to a clean bathroom without having to wait. She loves her job, and feels a great sense of pride when people call her ‘Toilet Apa’, happy to know that she is known for her work, and that it has a real, positive effect on people’s lives. We can all take responsibility for making sure that the common spaces we use are clean, safe and sustainable. Illustrated by: Kazi Istela Imam
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md. Mahmudul islam Saving nature with nature Rangpur
Can a thin, young man on a bicycle make a big change? Of course he can! Transformer Md. Mahmudul Islam, lovingly called Mamun, is one such everyday hero. He was born and raised in the small village of Tetulia. All his life he had been amazed by nature. Mamun loved the summer fruit trees, found the winter fog charming, and loved the thundering monsoon best. Some people thought Mamun was a strange little boy, he spent a lot of time looking at trees and even saved his pocket money to buy plants. What started as a hobby, became a full-time job. Mamun has made it his personal duty to teach the rules of reduce, reuse, recycle. In his mission against one-time use plastics, Mamun makes jute trash bags, and re-purposes the used plastic ones as banners to write important awareness messages on the harms of plastic. He knows the people of Tetulia well, and spends his days gardening with them. And whilst planting seeds and pruning trees, he makes sure to nurture a greater sense of responsibility for the earth amongst his neighbors, especially children. Sometimes he reads them the poems of Jasimuddin A village here, village there, and a broad field between; A page to read all written over, with crops and rice so green. Nature and books are Mamun’s passions, and he knows that both are in danger, one from pollution, the other from lack of libraries. Which is why he has been out on a conservation mission to teach people to spend their money and time on things that will bear fruit and not harm nature. He asks the people of Tetulia to think about what they throw away, and to reuse as much as they can. Mamun writes strong messages on plastic bags and barrels, reminding people to be mindful of the fact that plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose. He has taught many of his neighbors and the people he visited to reuse plastic containers as pots for vegetables and flowers. Every day, Mamun gets on his bicycle and zooms around the village helping people in their gardens, while also teaching them about plastic pollution and ways to reduce it. There is not a tree that he does not know by name, in fact he has planted several thousand in and around Tetulia. While he is gardening, Mamun makes it a point to tell people about the books he has read - the mystery novels of Humayun Ahmed, the prose of Selina Hossain and the sci-fi tales by Muhammad Zafar Iqbal. If someone asks where they can get a copy, Mamun is at the ready to lend one. He even started a book club, where kids get rewarded with trees if they finish a story. All this, because Mamun loves to see things grow. Mamun’s generous and kind spirit became so well known that he was featured in magazines and newspapers. He was even offered a motorcycle but Mamun refused it, ever-mindful of his carbon footprint. This Transformer prefers his old friend, the quiet bicycle, as he goes about his mission to save his village from plastic pollution and to spread knowledge. Each one of us leaves a mark on the earth, it can be a toxic wrapper or a blooming seed - when it comes to responsible consumption, the choice is ours to make. Illustrated by: Suhas Nahian
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AHSAN RONY It is our job to make the country beautiful and be the guardians of trees Mymensingh Dhaka is a growing city of millions of people, buildings, vehicles, and industries, that burn fuel and put out tonnes of pollution non-stop. As the city spreads outwards, more and more trees are cut down to make way. With each fallen tree, we lose the fight against climate change. Transformer Ahsan Rony, the founder of Green Savers, has been fighting back to protect the urban flora, in a bid to rid the city of pollution and make more oxygen, one tree at a time. Imagine if every rooftop was a lush garden, bringing joy to its residents. The gardens would produce fruits, vegetables, flowers and shade, they would be home to birds, bees and butterflies. This is Ahsan’s dream - to transform cities into gardens that effortlessly fight global warming and climate change. Planting trees is the easiest, and cheapest way to reduce the harmful carbon dioxide levels in the air, that are causing the temperatures to rise. Ahsan’s love for plants is rooted in a childhood spent on a farm in Jamalpur. There, he planted countless trees and grew up with them. They were his friends, and when he moved to Dhaka, Ahsan missed them. One day Ahsan asked his pupil about his hobbies “Video games,” replied the boy. Ahsan asked if he’d be interested in gardening, but the boy was not enthusiastic. This appeared as a challenge to the Transformer to show the boy the magic of seeds. Ahsan taught his pupil how to gently plant a capsicum sapling in a plastic bottle bottom and gave him watering instructions. A few days passed, and leaves started to sprout, as did the boy’s excitement. “I grew this!” he proudly told his friends. Ahsan was very happy to see that he had nurtured the love for gardening in his student, his very first green saver. Today, anyone can be a Green Saver. You can start a garden, sponsor a tree, or call the tree doctor if you notice a plant that is not doing so well. The Green Saver doctors go all over the city to care for ailing plants and give advice to gardeners. They even have a plant-sitting service! Every week, Ahsan visits schools and talks to students about the fantastic world of plants. Did you know that you breathe at least seven trees’ worth of oxygen a year? To make sure that we all have enough to breathe, Green Savers created the Oxygen Bank in 380 schools around Bangladesh. The way it works is that students give a little bit of money every month, as little as 10 taka, to pay for the oxygen they breathe. And at the end of the month, the money in the bank is used to buy and plant more trees. That way we never run out of clean air! Ahsan and the Green Savers have planted 1.5 million trees around Bangladesh, and installed over 5,000 rooftop gardens. They even had a tree wedding day, when they invited people to exchange plants and promise to care for them. But Ahsan has a bigger mission - he wants to be a Treelionnaire, by planting 1,000,000,000,000 trees all over South Asia with other tree lovers. Climate action may sound like a giant task, but every little seed counts!
Illustrated by: Mighty Punch Studio
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The Dolphin boat Respecting all living beings is very important The rivers of Bangladesh
On cool November days, you can see something very fascinating and strange floating on the Rupsha river - a gigantic river dolphin among the ferries and fishing boats. This is the Dolphin Boat, a floating museum about the shushuks, the river mammals that are common to Bangladesh’s waters. Created by a group of artists, Kamruzzaman Shadhin, Khandakar Nasir Ahammed, Moinuddin Moni and Salma Jamal Moushum, collectively known as Chinho, the boat is used to teach people about life below water. When the Dolphin Boat docks in a village, children and adults rush to see it. The door swings open and the four artists welcome their visitors on board for a tour. Inside the Dolphin Boat is a carnival, complete with a puppet show stage, bioscope, handcrafted dolphin models, and pictures covering the walls. There is never a dull moment on the Dolphin Boat, through crafts, storytelling and theatre, Kamruzzaman and his friends teach people about this unique animal. The Dolphin Boat is an art project with a very good cause which was started by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Bangladesh Forest Department, supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The gigantic dolphin is made of palm leaves woven together, and it can be removed and used as a tent on land. There is no engine, so the floating museum moves slowly and quietly, not disturbing the creatures living under water. It starts its journey in Khulna and follows the path of the shushuk all the way to the magical mangrove forest of Sundarbans, making stops at villages along the way. At every stop the artists fill up the boat with spectators, and put on a grand show about Asia’s last freshwater dolphins - the Ganges River Dolphin and the Irrawaddy. Chinho are teaching people how to love the shushuk and how to save them. The biggest threat to life below water is pollution, and there are many rivers in Bangladesh that are in danger of dying from the toxic waste dumped by people, factories and boats. The second danger is fishing nets. The shushuk’s long nose easily gets tangled in fishermen’s’ nets. Untangling would be a simple job, but fishermen usually don’t know how and for fear of being bitten, they leave the animals to die. Simply telling people to stop doing something does not usually work. The four artists knew that to change people’s habits, they needed to make a strong impression. And it worked! The boat is packed at every stop, visitors ask questions, tell stories and by the end of the show they promise to protect the rivers and the life they carry. But the boat not only attracts people, once it was followed by a pod of dolphins! The gentle creatures swam alongside the Dolphin Boat as it entered the Sundarbans. Maybe they were curious and excited by the biggest dolphin they had ever seen! The Chinho team is full of hope that the children that have been on the Dolphin Boat will protect rivers and life below water. Their interesting art project has left a great impression on the coast of southern Bangladesh, proving that art can change people’s minds and hearts. By not throwing things into the river and collecting plastic from the shores, you too can make a change and contribute to saving the shushuk and their friends. Illustrated by: Reesham Shahab Tirtho
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Md. mahidur rahman Know your environment, love your environment, protect your environment Rajshahi “How enthused they are, as they imagine their new creation, with their eager hearts. Chirping and twittering, again and again, they fly off and fly back,” wrote Sufia Kamal as she observed two birds building a nest. The sky over Bangladesh is home to many different kinds of birds - short eared owls, bulbuls, pin-striped tit-babblers, yellow throated laughing thrush - 803 species can be seen across the country. But many of these birds are in danger of disappearing forever, which has set Transformer Md. Mahidur Rahman on a mission to stop bird poaching. Mahidur was born into a full house, in Naogaon an area rich with the ruins of temples, mosques and monasteries. Mahidur was a very small child, often teased for how thin he was. But he never felt small, and was always at the ready to lend a helping hand, as his grandmother had taught him to never turn away anyone or anything in need. Naogaon’s many beel’s, or low-lying swamps, host migratory birds that arrive in winter to escape the Siberian cold. Mahidur noticed that there were fewer and fewer birds and he learned that poachers were catching them and using the ends of their feathers to poke out their eyes to prevent them from flying away. This broke Mahidur’s heart and he decided to set up Naogaon Initiatives for Youth Society Heritage and Nature, NIYSHAN for short, to protect the land and the birds that live on it. Fighting bird thieves is no easy task, but Mahidur has been fearless. While there are strict laws about bird poaching, punishable by up to six months in jail or a 30,000 taka fine, often the poachers take flight. Mahidur has investigated many criminals, collected evidence, gone undercover pretending to be a bird collector and followed poachers to their hideouts. Till date he has liberated 885 birds and punished 385 poachers. NIYSHAN also works with the people of the villages to teach them to care for the birds and the trees they live in. Sometimes this can be difficult, as in the case of the Rajshahi mango orchard. Mahidur heard that a mango farmer was about to destroy the nests of thousands of shamul khol birds that had taken up residence in his mango trees and were eating the fruits. The farmer was losing a lot of money, but thousands of birds were at risk. NIYSHAN worked to get the High Court to protect the nests and pay the farmer for his losses. Working together with the Forest Department, Mahidur has found and mapped 138 bird colonies, which need extra security and has saved close to 1, 200,000 birds. He has also cultivated countless lilies in ponds to create a more welcoming environment for the feathered creatures. An important part of Mahidur’s work is to teach people to respect the freedom of all living things. Buying birds as pets is cruel, as it keeps them from doing the thing they love most - flying. We can each take care of the creatures big and small, who live on the land with us, by tending to their environments and needs, and working to achieve the sustainable development goal of preserving and protecting life on land. Illustrated by: Noor Us Safa Anik
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MUKTASREE CHAKMA SATHI Keep asking questions, don’t just believe what you are told. Listen, read, reflect and ask yourself – is this fair? Chittagong Hill Tracts Bangladesh’s hilly southeastern corner is not just geographically unique, it is home to many diverse groups of people. Once home to many kingdoms the area is known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts and still today the Chakma royal family lives on the bank of the legendary Kaptai Lake in Rangamati. The language, culture and history of this region is different from that of the flatlands, and the people are known as indigenous. There are eleven indigenous groups including Lushai, Bawm, Chaks, Mro, and Tripura. This story is about a brave girl who speaks up for their rights and works to strengthen the relationships between the hills and the flatlands - Muktasree Chakma, known as Sathi, the founder of SPaRC (Supporting People and Rebuilding Communities). The history of this beautiful region is one of struggle for rights. In 1997, after much fighting in the hills, the CHT Peace Accord was signed to recognize and protect the rights of indigenous people. Muktasree was just a child then, but as she grew up she saw that very few indigenous people were able to truly enjoy their rights. So she decided to study law to change this and became an advocate for minority rights. Indigenous groups face many problems including kidnapping, violence, and land-grabbing. Many villages are cut off from basic necessities such as water and healthcare and children must travel long distances to go to school. In 2013, Sathi started SPaRC to defend the rights of indigenous people, particularly women, who often face the most violence and oppression. She also works to build communal harmony with educational events and by busting myths and rumours. Through SPaRC, Muktasree creates a strong sense of partnership between different indigenous groups, working together for a common good. She organises workshops, meetings and addas to hear the needs of people and help them design solutions. Sathi spends her days talking about the needs of these communities to people in power, persistently working towards more recognition and support. Muktasree is like a loudspeaker for cultural diversity and minority rights. Many women, who are abused at home or work rarely manage to escape their situation, because they have nowhere to go or are scared. To tackle this Sathi created a project to teach women their legal rights. She also provides counseling and shares stories of women who came out as champions, not victims, to inspire courage. Till date, SPaRC has helped 2,000 people directly and affected the lives of 6,000 others, no small achievement! Every Bangladeshi has the same right to freedom and self-expression. But in some parts of the land it takes an extra pair of eyes and hands to make sure that the law is being followed. Muktasree has made it her mission to defend those who go unnoticed. Anyone can contribute towards the goal of a just, peaceful society; we must come together and pledge to work towards that which is right and fair.
Illustrated by: Inshra Sakhawat Russell
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MD. fahad ifaz Where you come from and where you are right now, does not determine where you can or will go in the future Dhaka More than half of the population of Bangladesh work in agriculture -- growing rice, lentil, pumpkins, watermelons, indigo, and so much more! Fertile soil and tropical weather make our country the perfect place to grow almost anything. This is why agriculture creates thousands of jobs, and big companies earn large sums by growing and selling produce and livestock. But often times, small farmers who don’t have enough money, farming machines, or know-how are left behind. They can barely make ends meet because they remain disconnected from the larger market. Transformer Md. Fahad Ifaz set out to close this gap by using technology, a revolution for the age-old practice of farming. Growing up in a joint family in the capital, Ifaz was a keen problem solver, naturally leaning towards development work. He worked on many big projects in villages across Bangladesh and talked to hundreds of farmers. Ifaz began to notice a problem in the disconnect between small farms and the larger marketplace. Farmers were spending too much on growing produce or animals, and not getting a good price on selling them. He thought this problem could be fixed with a simple match-making system by connecting farmers, investors and buyers. Ifaz set up an experiment to understand the problem better. He gave a farmer some money as an investment for the next harvest and connected him to a good buyer. At the end of the farming cycle, Ifaz saw that he made double the amount he invested. “It’s not the quality of crops, but the cost of production and lack of access to the marketplace that’s the problem,” realized Ifaz. This experience led Ifaz to build the simple, easy-to-use iFarmer website, where anyone can invest in a small farming venture. What might seem like a small amount of money for a city-dweller, can actually fund a whole harvest for a year. Even a small amount of money for a short time period would go a long way. Through iFarmer Ifaz found a way to financially empower farmers while generating interest for investors who enjoy a return on the amount they put in. It is a win-win solution for both parties. Moreover, iFarmer teaches new farming methods to its members and connects them to good buyers who offer fair prices. In two years, iFarmer has worked with over 100 livestock farmers, 40 percent of whom are women. These farmers are earning an extra 7,000-8,000 taka per cattle and are able to buy more livestock with the profit, growing wealthier! In 2019 iFarmer, partnered with the United Nation Capital Development Fund, to work with small and medium livestock farms run by women. But this is just the beginning. Ifaz is trying to convince people in rural areas to stay in agriculture and farming, while he tries to promote the idea of short-term investments to urban citizens. Sometimes bridging the gap and building stronger partnerships only takes a simple website, and you can do it as well.
Illustrated by: Sayeef Mahmud
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HOW CAN YOU BE Donate what you don’t use. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.
Avoid wasting water. Clean, accessible water for all, is an essential part of the world we want to live in.
Waste less food and support local farmers. The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.
Use only energy-efficient appliances and light bulbs. Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity.
Vaccinate your family. Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development.
Create job opportunities for youth. Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs.
Help educate the children in your community. Obtaining a quality education is the foundation to improving people’s lives and sustainable development.
Fund projects that provide basic infrastructure. Investments in infrastructure are crucial to achieving sustainable development.
Empower girls and women and ensure their equal rights. Not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.
Support the marginalized and disadvantaged. To reduce inequalities, policies should be universal in principal, paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations.
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Bike, walk and use public transport. There needs to be a future where cities provide opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more.
Recycle paper, plastic, glass and aluminum. By 2050, the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to sustain current lifestyles.
Act now to stop global warming. Climate change is a global challenge that effects everyone, everywhere.
Plant a tree and help protect the environment. Sustainably manage forests, combat deforestation, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss.
Stand up for human rights. Access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions for all.
Lobby your government to boost development funding. Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.
Avoid plastic bags to keep the oceans clean. Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.
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