Interdisciplinary learning
The challenge
According to the UN, one key to reach the Sustainable development goals is to ensure youth employment in healthy environments. The youth (age 15-24) unemployment rate in Bangladesh is about 15%1. Many children and youth work in hazardous environments that may cause health problems or are at risk of being recruited to youth gangs, illegal work or violence.
Our response
We encourage youth to learn useful skills and start income generating activities. They come up with ideas, make plans, budgets and present this to the Youth Borad and the Executive Committee.
EDS gives the initial funding. The income generated goes back to the youth, EDS and to further invest in the activity.
The youth report on their income generating activities weekly to the Youth Board where we encourage critical reflection and learning from how to solve challenges that arise along the way.
Results
The EDS youth
- Sell sports clothes to encourage youth to form sports teams. They also sell dresses for celebrations.
- Run the fish/shrimp/vegetable/fruit three farm
- Give training in electricity
- Crop the roof garden
- Grow a garden in the Ajax jute mills to teach the students how to grow vegetables and improve their nutrition and health
Fish/shrimp/vegetable/fruit three farm
The youth do all the work from planning and cropping to harvesting manually. They take care of a 6000m2 land about 1 hours by cycle from the EDS house.
They focus on biodiversity and sustainable cropping methods and have brinjal, bitter gourd, guava, mango, …variety of fish and shrimp.
They develop character like willpower to endure challenging situations like flood, thunder and lightning, snakes and draught. They learn to be accountable, honest, responsible, creative, to find solutions when problems arise and to make plans and show commitment and endurance to maintain and complete projects.