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A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. Since 1998, AP has supported 117 community-based organizations in 52 countries.

Read more about AP partners who have produced social change.

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Partners > Asia > The Blind Educati...

The Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization

The mission of the Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO) is to empower people with disabilities through income generation, leadership development, education, training and treatment facilities to become full members of their community with access to the social mainstream. They also aim to increase public awareness about disability issues, to facilitate partnership between disabled and non-disabled members of the community and to prevent disability through medical treatment.



Watch an interview with one of BERDO's training recipients!






BERDO was formed in 1991 with the main target of empowering the disabled community of Bangladesh, a poor and overcrowded country where approximately 8-10% of the population is disabled.  An estimated 8.5 million people are physically disabled; 1.3 million are speech and hearing impaired; almost 2 million are visually impaired or blind; and approximately 1.5 million people are intellectually impaired.

Lacking access to education and employment opportunities and medical facilities, the disabled are dependent upon their families and considered a burden on society by their communities. 

To address the harassment and humiliation which these people face, BERDO works to empower  the disabled community and uplift its members towards full participation in society. (source: BERDO)

• BERDO has a talking library that produces and disseminates “talking books” for students and individuals with visual impairment.

• The organization's medical center provides accessible medical services to prevent disability.

• BERDO awards scholarships to support the educational endeavors of students with disabilities.

• Job placement, another one of BERDO's activities, generates jobs for workers with disabilities.

• BERDO provides Braille education to visually impaired children through their School of Happy World .

• They help in the development of computer skills for visually impaired persons through their School of Information and Technology for the Visually Impaired.

• BERDO's Rehabilitation Program for the Disabled facilitates community dialogue between individuals with disabilities and non-disabled persons and provides training to people with disabilities, family members, teachers, and community leaders to further understanding of disability issues among community members, while also facilitating income generating opportunities.

• In addition, BERDO hopes to expand their activities to the printing of Braille books upon the availability of support.

• BERDO runs a microcredit program with the loans ranging between $50 and $200 and are usually invested in "planting vegetable gardens, purchasing a rickshaw, (or) buying small stocks of cloth." The repayment rate of disabled borrowers is 100 percent.

• Press Releases
  

On August 16, 2007 BERDO sent out its first e-newsletter with commentary, news articles and a profile of a scholarship recipient.

December 10, 2003

Programme Experiences: Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organisation (BERDO) - Bangladesh
Md. Saidul Huq, Executive Director

December 2001
Disability development in education in the urban community: A study in education for children with disability
Md. Saidul Huq, Executive Director
 

• AdvocacyNet

• Blogs

In 2008, AP sent Peace Fellow Danita Topcagic to work with BERDO. Read Danita's blog.
 
In 2007, AP sent Peace Fellow Caitlin Burnett to work with BERDO. Read Caitlin’s blog.

• Photographs

Income Generating Tea Stall.

Mizanur Rahman receiving a scholarship from BERDO.

Group Meeting in Barisal.

Discussion Meeting.

• In the Media Highlights

Outreach Partners

In recent years, BERDO has received the financial support of a number of international entities, including:

• The Canada Fund
• The Royal Netherlands Embassy
• The Royal Danish Embassy
• The Embassy of Japan
• The German Embassy
• Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Japan
• Nova Consultancy Bangladesh (NCB)
• Cord aid Netherlands
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
• Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)
• Zonta International Club (III) -Dhaka-Bangladesh
• USC Canada-Bangladesh
• Rabobank Foundation-Netherlands
• World Bank Office - Dhaka
• OPEC-Austria
• National Foundation for the Development of the Disabled Person (NFDDP)

In addition, BERDO has enjoyed the support of a number of corporations working in Bangladesh, including:

• The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC)
• Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd.

The government of Bangladesh has also supported the work of BERDO, through the following ministries:

• The Ministry of Social Welfare
• The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
• The Ministry of Cultural Affairs

Other organizations have provided in kind support, including training and computer donations:

• Relief International
• Schools Online of USA
• Save the Children Fund Australia of Bangladesh
• CARE Bangladesh
• Ashoka Innovators for the Public of Bangladesh
• Asian Health Institute of Japan
• Disabled Peoples International of Bangladesh
• Center for Disability in Development (CDD) of Bangladesh
• South Asia Partnership-Bangladesh
• Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) –Japan

• Legal Action: Bangladesh signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007 and passed the Bangladesh Persons with Disability Welfare Act in 2001.

• Government Support: Ministry officials have supported BERDO's work through financial contributions over the past three years (see below for BERDO's partner list)

For more information about networking with Berdo, email Ms. Saidul Huq, Executive Director.

Contact:
3/1, Road # 11,
Rupnagar, Section # 5
Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Tel : 0088-02- 8060703
         0088-02- 9009451
Res:  0088-02- 8058317
Fax : 0088-02-9003786
Email BERDO

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