What do you do when you see a problem? Do you complain about it? Do you talk about it with your friends and then eventually forget about it? Do you simply ignore it? Or do you do something to get rid of that problem?

It’s Humanity Foundation (IHF) is the outcome of two youths eager to solve a problem that is prevalent in Bangladesh.

It all started five years ago when two friends engaged in a dinner table conversation at a small restaurant in Rajshahi. Five years ago it was nothing but a dream, but today they have turned that dream into reality and have successfully established an NPO that works with the sole vision of the betterment of rural and underprivileged children and help them create a better future, by coaching them through education and life experiences to be stronger and more confident.

IHF first kicked off in a small one room school in Syedpur of Nilphamari. It was equipped with nothing but a black board, a few chalks and some mats to sit on. Founder of IHF, Md. Adnan Hossain would take in kids from the streets in an attempt to provide them with some primary education. Every year during the semester breaks and other vacations, he along with a few other friends would visit the school and enlighten the children with whatever limited set of skills and knowledge they had.

But soon afterwards, the number of students started to dwindle. This was one of the major problems IHF had to overcome. When investigated, IHF team found the families these kids came from depended primarily on the income of only one of their family members, usually the father. As the kids grew older, the family would rather have them work and act as an extra earning member of the family rather than letting them go to school.

After much thought and poking around, the team came up with an interesting idea to convince the families. They discovered that many of the rural women were naturally skilled in craftwork such as stitching. They decided to open up a training institution for those women and give them the opportunity to enhance their crafts skills and put them to use. Soon they were able to sell their craftworks to the market and earn good money.

Solving this problem meant that families were now more willing to send their children to school. The number of kids attending classes started showing a positive trend and the kids became more regular. Around 2010, the first campus of IHF School was launched and presently they are providing free primary education to 383 students in that campus. The second campus was opened in Cheragali area of Tongi in 2014 where 94 students are attending free classes regularly. ,Recently IHF opened their third campus in Birampur, Dinajpur where 178 students are getting free education. In order to provide these students with proper methods of learning, teachers training sessions are arranged every 45 days to ensure that the teachers are well informed and capable to teach.

IHF plan on taking their school to the next level very soon and start providing higher secondary education as well. In 5 years time, they plan on seeing themselves having established 10 campuses of their schools around Bangladesh and provide free education to at least 3000 underprivileged kids.

IHF School is currently registered with the Registrar of Joint stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) under Society Act 1860.

A portion of the fund to run the school is provided by our women empowerment project ‘Protibha’ where women are taught different craft skills. Their products are then sold in the markets and a majority of the money collected is given back to the women. The rest is used to run the school. IHF plans on seeing Protibha providing employment to at least 5000 women in the next 5 years; while currently, IHF has 300 women working with utmost enthusiasm. 

Besides operating the school and women empowerment project, IHF also carries out winter campaign programs where they provide the unfortunates with warm clothes. Last winter, they distributed winter clothes to over 15,000 people in different parts of Bangladesh. They are preparing to carry out the winter campaign program this year as well and distribute clothes to a higher number of people.

For more details : www.itshumanity.org or fb/itshumanityfoundation

by

Jawwad Rabbi

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Its Humanity Foundation in pictures