The “Elisabeth Bernecker Community and Health Center Gazipur” is our latest project.
The plan is to build an elementary school with five classrooms around 25 km north of Dhaka. A social center and community health center are also to be built. There are many textile factories in the area, which is why many low-income families live there. There is a lack of schools and the nearest state health facilities are far away and therefore inaccessible for many people. With our holistic center, we want to counteract these problems and thus support the local population in the best possible way.
Thanks to a grant from the state of Salzburg, but above all thanks to the generous support of Elisabeth Bernecker, we are now able to start this project. The project planned in Jamalpur had to be relocated to another region. In June 2025, we are currently in the final planning phase and hope to be able to start construction this year.
Women do not have an easy position in Bangladeshi society. This project aims to change the situation for the better for women in the area.
The school in particular aims to give girls, who often have no opportunity for schooling in rural Bangladesh, the same opportunities as boys. Through various workshops, women should also become economically independent.
The social workers will also increasingly reach out to women and mothers through home visits and consultations at the social center. Assistance will be provided for (single) mothers. Training and courses will also be held that are particularly aimed at women and strengthening their role in local society.
The plans for the center were drawn up by Swiss architect Alexander Heilig. He paid particular attention to using local materials and making the best possible use of the wind and nature to cool the rooms through open and green architecture.
A big thank you from the bottom of our hearts to our supporter Elisabeth Bernecker. Without her generous donation, this important project would not have been possible. Many, many thanks!
The following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being promoted with the help of this project:
The local NGO responsible is our long-standing partner “Glory Future Model School”. Together with this partner, we also run schools and a training center in Dhaka.
