Child Centred Community Resilience: Final evaluation of the Bangladesh Child Resilience Project

Save the Children International (SCI) has been working in Bangladesh over the past three years, supporting girls and boys, their families, schools and local communities in 36 rural and urban communities to build their capabilities to adapt, prepare, and respond to disasters, climate change and sexual and gender based violence. Using a child-centred approach to design and implement a Child Resilience Project, SCI along with its partners SEEP and Uttaran directly supported 14,076 girls, boys, women and men to build their resilience.

This report finds overall that the project has achieved a good level of success across the five key areas of enquiry. It is relevant at all levels from community to national. It has demonstrated impact by increasing the knowledge, skills and resilience of project beneficiaries in schools and the community; as well as partner staff, and to some extent government. It has used approaches that are participatory, child-centred, inclusive and suited to the context; and these have been effective. In particular, the participatory, child-centred approach to community development, which recognizes existing expertise in children, their families and the community, has contributed to the overall goal of building resilience and has been a strength of the project. The project has provided a good foundation for the continuation of project gains and longer term sustainability through different measures, including: enhanced capacities of children, school staff, community members and partners; increased local ownership of project interventions; and resources to support learning and action to date.