Thanks to the Sharique project, women are elected to the Union Parishads office – the lowest administrative unit in Bangladesh. They are increasingly well-informed and politically savvy.
In remote parts of rural Benin, many children do not attend school, or rapidly drop out. Reasons include the long distances to schools, overcrowded classrooms, difficulties in understanding the teachers and the cost involved.
Although Helvetas' work focuses on rural areas, it does not stop where the countryside ends. We are already active in many small to medium sized towns.