Complete Project List

RDRS Bangladesh implements this project, in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) and funded by the U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh, aims to increase livelihood and employment opportunities for indigenous youth in Rangpur district, focusing on their rights, empowerment, and active citizenship. The project targets about 30% of the 2,400 households in Mithapukur Upazila, addressing socio-economic vulnerabilities in remote areas. Activities include leadership training for 400 youth group leaders and life skills and technical training for 557 group members. The project also develops entrepreneurs and facilitates job placements and financial support.

RDRS Bangladesh is implementing the ASHA Project: Impact of Depression Treatment and Economic Strengthening Intervention for Low-Income Women in Rural Bangladesh: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. The project is being implemented in partnership with icddr,b and the University of Massachusetts, USA. The project focuses on low-income women in rural Bangladesh. The primary beneficiaries are 660 low-income women residing in Birganj Upazila of Dinajpur District.

The project addresses the alarming mental health crisis identified by the World Health Organization (WHO), which highlights a significant global burden of mental and psychiatric disorders. This project aims to fill that gap by conducting a community-based study of mental health problems in rural Bangladesh.

Our goal is to create a ripple effect of positive change, empowering women to become self-sufficient and contributing members of their communities. Our project tackles the interconnected issues of mental health and economic hardship. By offering comprehensive support, we're working to break the cycle of poverty and create sustainable solutions. The project aligns with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth).

RDRS Bangladesh, in partnership with the Stromme Foundation, is implementing the Socio-Economic Empowerment with Dignity and Sustainability (SEEDS) Project. This initiative targets 3,000 families from marginalized communities, including indigenous groups, women, youth, and children, in Mithapukur, Badargonj, and Pirgonj Upazilas of Rangpur district.

The SEEDS Project strives to improve the socio-economic well-being of vulnerable families, empowering them to escape poverty with dignity and sustainability. Aligned with multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including No Poverty, Good Health, Quality Education, Gender Equality, and Climate Action, this initiative seeks to create positive change in communities.

Key activities encompass skill development, formation of self-reliant groups, vocational training, and capacity building for community members to assert their rights and hold local governments accountable. Additionally, the project focuses on providing quality education, empowering adolescents, and promoting sustainable income generation through green jobs and climate-resilient technologies.

RDRS established a Rehabilitation Center in Lalmonirhat to provide shelter and support to women and girls affected by violence. The center promotes women’s rights, offers marketable skills training, basic education, legal and rights-based education, counseling, health care, and recreation. Since 2009, 930 women and girls have benefited from these services, gaining confidence and becoming empowered entrepreneurs.

RDRS Bangladesh implements the CNB Project in Kurigram district, Bangladesh, aims to reduce early child and forced marriages. It is funded by Norwegian State Broadcast Corporation (NRK- Telethon) and supported by Plan International, Bangladesh. The CNB project focuses on youth leadership development, economic empowerment of youth and increasing the knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents. The project directly helps over 18,000 people and reaches over 600,000 through radio.

RDRS Bangladesh is committed to ending the scourge of slavery and human trafficking. Our Fight Slavery and Trafficking in Persons (FSTIP) project, in partnership with USAID-Winrock International, is focused on protecting vulnerable people in northern Bangladesh, including expectant migrants, young people at risk of trafficking, CM survivors, single mothers, ethnic minorities, and trafficked survivors. The project aims to benefit a total of 10,72,176 individuals, including 22,176 direct participants. Implemented across 60 unions within 15 upazilas of Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, and Sirajganj districts.

Access to Justice for Women (A2J for Women) is a joint project of the Law and Justice Division, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA), and GIZ. RDRS Bangladesh is implementing the project in Rangpur District and the project duration is March 2024 to December 2026. The objective of the project is to ensure access to justice is increased for the poor and vulnerable, especially women. The project works to ensure legal representation of justice seekers including prisoners and reduce case backlog through effective case management. The indigent litigants will be assisted in obtaining legal services in coordination with the District Legal Aid Office, Courts, Police Stations, and Prison.

The RDRS Core Comprehensive Program (CCP), supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), is a project focused on improving access to health services for disadvantaged communities in Bangladesh, particularly targeting pregnant women, visually impaired individuals, and other marginalized groups in Rangpur Division and Jamalpur districts. Running from 2023 to 2025, the project aims to enhance the quality of life for these groups through various health interventions, including eye health services, reproductive health education, and emergency support for at-risk pregnant women. The project targets 114,965 participants, including women, adolescent girls, individuals with eye conditions, students, and disadvantaged people. It focuses on providing primary eye health services, including screenings, eye camps, and surgeries, with a priority on restoring eyesight for the underserved.

RDRS Bangladesh, in collaboration with prominent organizations including the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and Kathmandu University School of Arts, is implementing the project “Promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Schools: Building on What Children Value and Aspire to Do and Be” from 01 March 2024 to 28 February 2027. The project aims to strengthen education systems in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal to teach gender equality and social inclusion while empowering children to actively shape these values. Implemented across five Upazilas of Cox's Bazar district—Cox's Bazar Sadar, Ramu, Ukhiya, Moheshkhali, and Teknaf—the project directly engages 4,500 participants, including students, teachers, and stakeholders, in eight selected schools. Using participatory methodologies, the initiative focuses on creating inclusive and equitable learning environments, ensuring that children’s voices, values, and aspirations guide systemic educational changes for a more gender-equal and inclusive society.

The Rural Micro Enterprise Transformation Project (RMTP) is a 3-year initiative by RDRS Bangladesh, funded by Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). It started in September 2022 and will end in August 2025. The project aims to increase income, ensure food security, and improve family nutrition for small farmers and poultry entrepreneurs. It focuses on value addition, expanding financial services, and strengthening the framework for safe eggs, meat, and meat products. The project operates in 25 unions across 5 upazilas in Rangpur, Gaibandha, and Kurigram districts, involving 9,500 farmers and 500 service providers. Private sectors like Agrilife24.com, Renata Limited, Norish Feed Limited, and Aftab Bhohumukhhi Farms Limited support the project by training farmers, modernizing farms, and ensuring quality inputs and services.

Since October 2023, RDRS Bangladesh has been implementing the TROSA 2: Rivers, Rights, and Resilience project in Kurigram district, covering 4 upazilas. Funded by Oxfam in Bangladesh and partnered with CNRS, the project focuses on advocacy, influencing, and research for inclusive transboundary water governance. It aims to improve cooperation in managing shared water resources and strengthen the climate resilience of communities in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna River basins.

During the implementation, two key activities stood out. The first is Nodi-Boithok, a bottom-up approach at the village level. It provides a platform for community members (men, women, and youth) to share their concerns and find solutions. This has boosted confidence, especially among women, about their rights and entitlements. The second is Bandal, which acts as protective walls to mitigate river erosion by changing the river’s flow, thus reducing flood damage.’

The Extended Community Climate Change Project-Drought (ECCCP-Drought) is a four-year project funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and co-financed by the Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF). It started in March 2024 and will end in October 2027. RDRS Bangladesh is implementing the project in four unions of Niamatpur upazila in Naogaon district. The goal is to increase the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities in drought-prone areas of Bangladesh.

The project interns to address drought-related problems in the Barind region by promoting good water management, adaptive technological practices, and infrastructure maintenance. It also focuses on planning for irrigation, drinking, and household usage. The project aims to reduce water needs by promoting crops with low water requirements during the dry season, reducing irrigation needs by up to 70% in winter. Additionally, it will provide more water access points for drinking, reducing the burden on women.

As a whole the project will in the Barind region will bring 3,500 hectares of land under irrigation by rehabilitating 140 kms of canal in the three selected districts. In order to promote a sustainable use of groundwater resources, the project will implement a Managed Aquifer Recharge technique (rainwater directed through tubes to the aquifer) to replenish the ground water. It is expected that 2,500 rooftop-based MAR (Managed Aquafire Recharge) will replenish about 560,000 m3 of water into the aquifer annually which will increase access to drinking water of the selected communities in proposed districts. 40 inject wells in ponds will replenish 400,000 m3 of water into the aquifer annually. In addition, these ponds will also preserve about 150,000 m3 of water as surface storage. Also, 15,000 farmers will apply drought-adaptive cropping patterns.

RDRS Bangladesh has been implementing the “Realizing Gender Equality, Attitudinal Change & Transformative Systems in Nutrition (REACTS-IN)” project in four upazilas of Thakurgaon district, since December 2023. Funded by IFPRI-HarvestPlus, the project aims to improve zinc nutrition through the adoption of biofortified zinc rice. RDRS Bangladesh collaborates with government agencies and private sectors to enhance nutrition, nutrition-related rights, and gender equality for the poorest and most marginalized, especially women, adolescent girls, and children under 5. Although this is a six-year project, the first phase will conclude in September 2024.

With the support of the Union Federation and in coordination with the DAE, beneficiaries have been selected for this project. The major activities include training for extension personnel, agro dealers, seed dealers, and retailers. The project also focuses on Early Generation Seed (EGS) production and establishing demonstrations. Volunteers and community extension facilitators (CEF) receive training, as do farmer leaders. Additionally, the project includes school sensitization programs, field days, advocacy meetings, and value chain actors' meetings. Development and distribution of SBCC materials and SMS messaging are also key components. These activities aim to enhance the skills and knowledge of all participants involved.

RDRS Bangladesh is implementing the Poverty Alleviation through Family-based Integrated Activities Implementation project in Char Rajibpur in Rajibpur upazila of Kurigram district. The project is being implemented with the support of Palli-Karma Sahayok Foundation (PKSF). The project is working with 12,000 households in the project area. The group members of RDRS microfinance programme will be benefitted from this project. The project is designed in line with SDG – 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 13 (No Poverty; Good Health and Well-Being; Quality Education; Gender Equality; Clean Water and Sanitation; Decent Work and Economic Growth; and Climate Action).

Char Rajibpur has the highest poverty rate 79.08%, with vulnerability in many areas like socio-economic condition, employment, education, health & nutrition, and communication than any other upazilas in Kurigram district. Natural disasters such as flood, cyclone, drought, river erosion are regular phenomena of this upazila. Considering the vulnerability of the area, RDRS has initiated this poverty alleviation project to increase per capita income of the poor people of Char Rajibpur.

The goal and objective of the project are sustainable poverty alleviation through the ultra-poor community to increase enabled and ensure food and nutrition; to enable adaptation and enhance economic condition improvement; and to assist ensuring of GO and NGO services.

The major activities under the project are training, technical service and income-generating activities (Livelihoods), inclusive finance, health & nutrition, social mobilisation, disability inclusion, gender equality, climate change & disaster management, education, immigration activities.

The key highlights are enterprise development, growing vegetables in the courtyard round the year, health camp, nutrition display camp, providing assistance to children, medicine for curative care, and providing assistance to pregnant mothers.

Since February 2023 RDRS Bangladesh is implementing a 3-years “Transboundary Flood Resilience Project in South Asia” under its core development program with long term support from Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with a goal to Increase the resilience of communities through multi stakeholder actions in Brahmaputra and GGP river tributaries in Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Priority areas of the project are strengthening early warning system, disaster resilience and climate justice. The project is implementing in 3 countries- Bangladesh, Nepal and India. In Bangladesh the project in Bangladesh is implementing at Kurigram Sadar, Chilmari, Ulipur and Nageshwari and Rowmari upazilas (sub-districts) of Kurigram district. The second year of the project is set to conclude in January 2025.

The project aims to reach the communities at upstream, midstream, and downstream of the Brahmaputra basin in Bangladesh. Till the reporting period the project reached 28,560 direct program participants of which 51% represented by female and 49% male. Among them 13% are children, 50% youth, and 37% adults in context of age distribution. The project focused on developing the social and economic resilience of the marginalized population which is a leading factor to enhance disaster risk reduction while working with DDM, Disaster Management Committees, BWDB, FFWC, BMD and other members.