Bangladesh - A village gains its economic and social independence
Bahadurpur, in Bangladesh, is a good example of a village in which senior Scouts have achieved social and economic changes. They have done a lot for the community: built schools and roads, and reduced health hazards. So it is not surprising that the local population has given it a new name as a sign of gratitude: Rover Poly, which means the “senior Scouts village”.
The young people of the village have learnt how to assess the community's needs and how to transform and maintain a self-sufficient local economy and build houses with better sanitation.
In 1978, when the project first began, the senior Scouts realised that in order to make social and economic changes, they had to identify the fields which needed help most urgently and to work to improve them. These fields were teaching, sanitation, clean water, health care and diversification of income sources.
The village now has a population of 5,000, twice what it was 20 years ago. As a result of the involvement of the senior Scouts, who built schools and a college, the literacy rate is now 90%. Development of the village infrastructure has enabled every house to have clean water, through building a well and installing uncontaminated pipes and waterproof latrines. The village is now more accessible following the construction of several roads.
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