Living during the pandemic in urban informal settlements in Bangladesh
This photo-narrative book was developed with community members from Green Land (Khulna), Bajekazla (Rajshahi) and Shyampur (Dhaka) communities, as part of the ARISE Responsive Fund in Bangladesh. It tells the stories of how many marginalised people in urban informal settlements of Bangladesh were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they came together to respond to the challenges. This project was facilitated by the ARISE project, and is one element of the project’s research supporting health, wellbeing and accountability. The stories are emotional, and they draw on memories of the initial phases of COVID-19. They also offer hope, documenting how communities can provide social and material support in times of strife. They are a reminder, while much of the world moves on and constructs a ‘new normal’, that the financial, psychological and health impacts will affect some of the most marginalised people living in extreme poverty for many years to come.