Who We Work With
ECDO is dedicated to the development of the indigenous people of the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh. Principally, ECDO works with the following communities: the Khasi, Manipuri, Patro, Garo and the Tea-Labour communities of Mahali, Bhumijas, Khumi and others.
For more detailed research on the indigenous people of Sylhet, please click here.
Sylhet Division borders India to the east where it is fringed by hills, but its main geographical characteristic is plain land. Sylhet Division has a population of 6.7 million people, the majority being Bengali Muslims followed by the Bengali Hindus. Indigenous people represent just 1.5% of Sylhet Division, and are situated mostly in tiny villages near to the Indian border, or in colonies on tea estates where some indigenous people live and work as labourers.
Most of the indigenous people of the area earn their living by agricultural work and live just above the subsistence level. The indigenous communities in Sylhet division are scattered and disunited united in preserving their traditional and cultural practices. They are very poor and have little opportunity to improve their socio-economic condition. In most cases they are disadvantaged due to the fundamental and basic problems such as lack of access to clean water, sanitation, health facilities, education and opportunities of employment.
In addition, the isolated geographical location of most of the ethnic communities, particularly the Khasi community means that they have limited access to Government resources and are also largely ignored from Government initiatives.
ECDO has extremely good links with the leaders of these communities, and as ECDO’s staff are indigenous people themselves, ECDO benefits from greater access in to indigenous communities than might be enjoyed by other, non-indigenous organizations. ECDO utilizes this advantage by involving the communities as much as possible in all decision-making processes, and operates a rights-based approach to development.
ECDO utilizes everything from high-quality academic research to regular open-forum discussions in villages to try to understand the situation and needs of the indigenous people, and ECDO always attempts to make their analyses as participatory as possible, to ensure a sense of community empowerment, ownership, and long-term sustainability to the projects.