Nishat Akter Kiran, an inhabitant of the Community Centre Relief (CCR) camp of Ward 20, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), stated that her community consists of more than ten-thousand people who are living under the threat of malnutrition, poor hygiene, fraudulent activities, and human trafficking, especially the women. With no access to education, these women are married off at an early age with no knowledge of their rights. Thus, when she heard about the British Council's PRODIGY (Promoting Democratic Inclusion and Governance through Youth) training from the camp chairman, she did not waste any time in joining them. Along with some other PRODIGY young leaders, she inaugurated a Social Action Project (SAP) in the form of a non-formal and temporary school named ‘Swapnojatra’ on 6 August 2018. This SAP has been covering the CCR camp, bringing change in elemental education. The project title was 'Creating education opportunity for the marginalised elderly women’.
The senior women citizens of CCR camp were not aware of their civic rights. Most of them were uneducated and involved in odd jobs. These jobs included working in garments, preparing packets for food, and working in households. More often than enough, they encountered fraudulent practices in the workplace. Moreover, they didn't receive proper wages. Due to illiteracy, they were unable to calculate the amount of their earnings as well. Though they were self-dependent, they faced a lot of difficulties when they went outside of the camp. They couldn't even read Bangla writing on signboards, and they depended on their children or grandchildren for basic chores such as going to the hospital and so on. The young leaders wanted to remove the darkness and curse of illiteracy from that community through their Social Action Project.
The young leaders faced a problem when the male residents of the camp came to know about the Women Education SAP plan. They immediately reacted negatively. Unaware of the importance of women education, they thought it was unnecessary. So, the young leaders conducted a survey among all houses in CCR to create awareness about the benefits and necessity of education. Around 50 women gave their names.
Swapnojatra school provided these women with elementary education, including how to give a signature and currency calculation. Along with regular meetings with the chairman and beneficiaries, the youth leaders organise monthly documentary exhibition. They aim to create public awareness about the importance of education, keeping the community clean, adolescent health, and the curse of child marriage among the marginalized women and CCR community. They also take volunteers from the community to help them carry out these activities. Thirty marginalised women have completed the required education courses. Now they can read and write, Bengali and English as well as count currencies. The youth leaders are motivated to carry out such inspiring initiatives for their community.
PRODIGY has developed the knowledge and skills of 801 young people to engage the wider community through volunteer activities including youth club activities, theatre performances, internships with local government, community radio programs and public dialogues, creating platforms and channels to ensure that the wider community has access to government information.