HOUSES FOR CHANGE

The Harijan, an ethnic group of Bangladesh who are actually cleaner in profession, are the most neglected unprivileged & socially excluded community in Bangladesh.They are ‘untouchable’; an extreme victim of caste based social discrimination. Social realities compelled them to belong to some specific occupation. This limited work opportunity made them poor & are becoming poorer day by day. The study area is the ‘Suchiker Niketon’ a Harijan slum in the Jessore municipality (i.e. Jessore is a district town & a major economic hub for the southwestern region of Bangladesh), a very much unhygienic congested slum of the town. The proposal focuses on the development of their living environment based on their physical, social, cultural & economical realities and shows how a little change in their housing unit, which is economically affordable to them, can make a huge contribution to their family income, so that they can fight against poverty.