Implementation of a child protection and welfare program for orphaned and displaced children

Every Child Deserves Safety. Every Child Deserves a Future.

DIHAN Foundation delivers child protection, education support, and long-term welfare programmes across all 64 districts of Bangladesh. We stand beside children living in chronic poverty, children orphaned or displaced by the events of July 2024, and every child whose future is at risk before they are old enough to defend it themselves.

Across Bangladesh, millions of children are growing up in circumstances that make a safe, healthy, and educated childhood increasingly difficult to achieve. These children are not invisible because they are few in number—they are invisible because their struggles have become normalised. Yet behind every statistic is a child with dreams, potential, and the right to a better future.

Children Living in Poverty face challenges that extend far beyond a lack of income. According to UNICEF, nearly 40% of children in Bangladesh experience multidimensional poverty, meaning they are simultaneously deprived of education, healthcare, nutritious food, and safe living conditions. For many low-income families, sending a child to school is not simply an educational decision—it is a difficult choice between learning and survival.

More than 26 million people in Bangladesh live in extreme poverty, and children from these households experience some of the country's highest rates of school dropout, malnutrition, child labour, and early marriage. In many cases, a single illness, job loss, or unexpected expense is enough to end a child's education permanently.

Children Who Have Lost a Parent or Breadwinner face some of the most severe risks. When a family loses its primary source of income, the impact on children is immediate and often devastating. Education is frequently the first sacrifice. Many children are forced to leave school, enter the workforce prematurely, or assume caregiving responsibilities at home.

Research shows that children who lose a parent are significantly more likely to experience long-term poverty, educational disruption, and social exclusion. Female-headed households, many formed after the death or disappearance of a male breadwinner, are among the most economically vulnerable in Bangladesh. In these households, children are far more likely to become involved in child labour and less likely to complete their education.

The Children of July 2024 carry an especially heavy burden. Hundreds of children lost one or both parents during the events of July 2024, while thousands more witnessed violence, experienced displacement, or saw their families lose their only source of income. These were not families with financial security or extensive support networks. For many, the loss of a parent was not simply a tragedy—it was the beginning of a cycle of uncertainty, hardship, and vulnerability.

The children affected by July 2024 did not choose the circumstances into which they were born. They did not choose poverty, displacement, or loss. And they should not have to pay for these events with their education, safety, or future opportunities.

DIHAN Foundation believes that every child deserves more than survival. Every child deserves protection, quality education, emotional support, and the opportunity to build a life defined by hope rather than hardship. Through educational assistance, welfare initiatives, child protection programmes, psychosocial support, and community-based interventions, we are committed to ensuring that no child is left behind.

Because when a child is protected, a future is protected. And when we invest in children today, we build a stronger, more compassionate Bangladesh for generations to come.