PATRIZIA Child Care Mymensingh
30 million children in Bangladesh live in poverty and have hardly any access to education. In Mymensingh, 115 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka, children and families also live in extremely difficult conditions: While the mothers work, young children are left to themselves.
Together with its local partner MATI Bangladesh, the PATRIZIA Foundation has implemented an innovative project with PATRIZIA Child Care Mymensingh, which offers up to 100 children between the ages of 1.5 and 6 not only care but also high-quality early childhood education – and thus shows the families a path to a better life.
„PATRIZIA Child Care Mymensingh creates the conditions for families to find their own way out of extreme poverty.”
Constanze Egger
Vice Chairwoman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Innovative approach with long-term effect
In April 2024, a new building was opened in Mymensingh that can be used in a variety of ways. The day care centre and preschool has space for up to 100 children in four group rooms on two floors. The building also offers space for three rental flats, a training center for sewing and IT professions, a health centre, a pharmacy and a shop where ecological products from a local farmers’ cooperative are sold. The special thing about this concept is that the rental income finances a considerable part of the day care centre’s operating costs.
This forward-looking idea of impact investment ensures long-term operation and allows the operator to plan independently of external donors.
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Compensating developmental deficits
Children who grow up under difficult conditions such as war, crises or extreme poverty often suffer from trauma or developmental deficits that lead to learning difficulties, among other things.
The ‘Essence of Learning’ (EoL) concept, which is also used in the ‘Ready for the Future’ project, takes such deficits into account and promotes the children’s development in a playful way. This also gives children from extremely poor families the chance to learn independently and without problems at school.
With MATI Bangladesh, the PATRIZIA Foundation has gained an experienced local partner that has not only been successfully implementing the EoL concept in several facilities for years, but also has a local network.
The organisation has been providing aid to the poor population in Bangladesh for 25 years and is committed to school and vocational training, healthcare and organic farming.
How you can support this important educational project
MATI Bangladesh is financing a part of the construction costs. For its large part of the investment, the PATRIZIA Foundation needs donations from partners who want to commit themselves to education and better living conditions in Bangladesh. This can be done in a variety of ways. It is just as possible to finance the entire project as part of a CSR partnership as it is to invest in individual areas. An investment in the green roof enables the children to grow vegetables and learn about sustainable behaviour.
To ensure that the children receive a hot meal every day, the costs for one of the centre’s two kitchens can be covered. It is also possible to finance a group room, a seminar room or one of the rented flats in the building.
Our project partners:
Stories of Change in Mymensingh
Partho’s Story of Change
Partho belongs to the Hindu minority and lives with his widowed mother and two older siblings in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh.
Within the Hindu caste system, his family belongs to the most discriminated group, the “untouchables.” They are considered impure by other Hindus and live in extreme poverty.
Yet Partho’s family fights to get by: his mother works in three households, and his siblings save diligently to replace their old, dilapidated tin house with a new home with brick rooms.
Partho was the family’s early source of worry: from a young age, he has suffered from epilepsy. Due to developmental delays, his cognitive and motor skills were very limited during his first years of life. His mother feared he might never be able to attend school.
But at the age of four, Partho joined the daycare of our partner MATI, where he received targeted support from caregivers and physiotherapists. Only three years later, he was able to start primary school. Today, five years later, he proudly sings the Bengali national anthem at school in the morning and can play freely with his friends after class. And when he plays with his dog, he visibly blossoms.
Partho’s story shows that real change requires more than just luck—it requires competence, expertise, and long-term support from professionals like our partner MATI. And above all, it requires strong fighters like his mother, who did everything to give her children a better life.