WHO WE ARE

“One sees clearly only with the heart” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Mati Bangladesh is officially registered as an NGO in Bangladesh at the NGO Affairs Bureau Dhaka (NGOAB) and the Social Welfare Office Sherpur.

Our head office is in Sankipara/Mymensingh, where Lenen Rahaman, founder of Mati, extended his parental home into an office and training complex. Besides, we work from five village-based field stations. Around 70 full-time staff work for Mati, alongside local and international volunteers.

  

MATI trains up young local women and men as social workers, so-called “field motivators”. They pass on their knowledge in the areas such as organic agriculture, environment protection, health care & hygiene, water & sanitation, nutrition, family planning, violence against women & domestic violence, child marriage, and child care, quality education, etc. to the groups through the weekly meeting.

 

The women groups also function as savings groups. By saving together, the group members gain access to loans for income-generating activities such as livestock, a rickshaw, a small business, or much-needed hut repair, a pending operation, or an education loan for their children.

In the groups, the women are informed about all Mati projects, but also about relevant offers from other NGOs, local government agencies, health centers, or training opportunities.

To date, there are more than 180 women’s groups, each with 15 – 25 members. Together, there are about 4,500 women who actively work with MATI. In the family context this means that about 25,000 people benefit from our work.