About us

We provide:

training, particularly in sewing, clothing production and tailoring
further educational support and scholarships
skills coaching focused on family welfare, healthcare and community development benefits

The Khalique Foundation develops routes out of poverty through training and education. We focus on poorly paid in-country migrant workers in industries such as garment manufacturing and domestic work.

How we help

The Benefits:

enhanced welfare and education of workers, children and communities
poverty alleviation through potential paid employment at decent local rates
career opportunities through training for employment
community development, particularly in sanitation and healthcare

Our projects will also provide livelihood for selected individuals, and support extending to their families and communities. This includes healthcare and sanitation provision.

The context

Bangladesh is a developing country. It has:

a large young population of approximately 160 million, with the majority under 24
Over half the population earns less than a $1 a day
Almost half the people live under the local poverty line

But it is undergoing major change.

In 1970 an average women gave birth to 7 children, and the child mortality rate was 25%.
By 2003 women were having 3 children and the child mortality rate had dropped to 7%.
As of 2014 the birth rate had dropped to 2.4%, and child mortality to 4.5%.

Bangladesh has also made huge gains in education, health, and sexual equality.

Life expectancy is now over 70 years
Between just 2000 and 2005 the percentage of girls enrolled in primary school more than doubled to over 90%, on parity with boys.

Bangladesh has done more than most developing nations to improve the status of women. This was partly deliberate policy and partly a consequence of a major family-planning programme. This not only reduced birth rates, but ultimately also raised the status of women within the household since it was they who now controlled the size of the family. Their status was further enhanced by ground-breaking access to micro-credit to start small village businesses.

Then the textile industry took off in Bangladesh, and as 80 percent of the workers are women, their status and income improved. Additionally, women in the developing world have been shown to be much more likely than men to spend money on their family’s health, education and meals, so consequently child welfare rose.

Source 2015:

UN, BBC, Labour Behind the Label, Source, McKinsey, Professor Hans Rosling, MPI, Swiss Agency for Development