Australian High Commission
Bangladesh
Bangladesh

Media Release 2008

Australia provides funds to support safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation

         

High Commissioner Douglas Foskett is handing over cheque to JSK and SPACE

The Australian High Commission has announced the granting of BDT 14 lac under its Direct Aid Program (DAP) 2008-09 to two Bangladeshi NGOs, Society for People’s Actions in Change and Equity (SPACE) and Jano Sheba Kendra (JSK).

SPACE will spend its share of taka seven lac to provide arsenic-free safe drinking water to families of three villages in Manikganj through low cost and non chemical-based water treatment. About 3000 people including vulnerable children and women from the three villages will benefit from this project. Earlier this year, SPACE successfully installed 120 ecologically friendly toilets with DAP funding in Manikganj and Gazipur.

JSK has received a total of Tk 6.98 lac to provide hygienic sanitation facilities in five schools in Raipur Upazilla, Lakshmipur district. Along with providing sanitation facilities, JSK will also raise awareness about good hygiene practices among school children and organize advocacy meetings and workshops for members of the community as a whole.

The Australian High Commissioner, Douglas Foskett, handed over cheques to Mr Azhar Ali Pramanik, Executive Director of SPACE, and to Ms Nasreen Sultana, Executive Director of JSK this morning at his office. Mr Foskett said that safe drinking water and improved health standards among school children are things we take for granted in Australia - I am very happy to support these projects which provide inexpensive solutions for critical issues facing the people of Bangladesh.


Australian High Commission, Dhaka
21 December 2008

For further information please contact:
Senior Political & Economic Research Officer, AHC, Dhaka.
Tel: 8813105, E-mail: [email protected]