About the Project

Deyalkotha is a pilot project under the Tejgaon Bijaysharani Flyover in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The flyover addressed traffic congestion concerns. However, it resulted in the misuses of the land under the bridge such as illegal dumping and illegal parking of trucks and cars. The surrounding low income communities ingeniously developed activities in the area such as cooking, sewing, sleeping, playing and animal husbandry.

These low income residents are mostly migrants from distant villages who do not possess IDs and are denied of government services. They are not recognized by the Bangladesh government, and the children are profiled as neglected vagrants.

Sanhjabin Kabir and Tanzia Islam redesigned the public space for slum and footpath for children as an interactive learning platform.

 

2015 Project Scope

• Helping slum children develop specific character traits, including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
• Provided onsite teaching workshops for slum children
• Trained twelve volunteers for the project

2016 Project Scope

• Trained a group of university volunteers on communication techniques, meeting etiquette, time and project management.
• Provided tools to help volunteers cope with student behaviors.