Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation & Humanitarian Affairs Paulette Lenert on Tuesday visited char areas in Gaibandha and Kurigram to witness the developmental activities of non-governmental organization Friendship.
Her visit included a tour of the Emirates Friendship Hospital, a vessel hospital that serves remote communities in the riverine areas, ICT-enabled schools providing lessons to students through video classes recorded by teachers from Dhaka, legal booths, theater shows on child marriage awareness, flood-resistant cluster village on plinth, vocational training centre, disaster response groups and agricultural projects in the Char Sidhai of Gaibandha and Char Goynerpotol in Kurigram, says a press release.
Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation & Humanitarian Affairs Paulette Lenert, Friendship Founder & Executive Director Runa Khan and others spending quality time with children Courtesy
Friendship Founder & Executive Director Runa Khan and Friendship Luxembourg Chairman Marc Elvinger accompanied the visiting delegation during the visit.
Remarking on the resilience and willpower shown by the shifting river islanders in Bangladesh, the visiting minister expressed that Luxembourg wishes to prioritize projects that are cohesively replicable, and solutions provided by Friendship fall very much into that category, added the release.
“Luxembourg Government has been a major contributor of Friendship in Bangladesh for over a decade, and this support has allowed Friendship to have the kind of impact it has today; improving millions of lives in the most hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh,” said Runa Khan.
Luxembourg Minister for Development Cooperation & Humanitarian Affairs Paulette Lenert, Friendship Founder & Executive Director Runa Khan with others on a ship
Friendship International in Luxembourg was opened by Runa Khan, in 2006. It is an independent structure co-chaired by Runa Khan and Marc Elvinger. Friendship Luxembourg, chaired by Marc Elvinger, co-financed by the Ministry of Development cooperation is the largest partner of Friendship Bangladesh.
Friendship Bangladesh began with the innovative concept of a floating hospital and progressively built its distinctive integrated community development model, which includes health, education, climate change adaptation and disaster management, sustainable economic development, inclusive citizenship, and cultural preservation, besides its work with refugees and disaster stricken communities for relief and rehabilitation, added the release.
