Reaching the marginalised and socially isolated sex worker and sweeper communities of Tangail, Bangladesh

Sex workers and sweepers are socially isolated in Bangladesh. Sex workers are not economically deprived, but social elites or political forces as well as the religious leaders most of the time take stance against the sex workers. Though sex workers are comparatively affluent, they can’t live in the society with dignity and pride due to social stigma and isolation. They are also deprived of basic human rights including water, sanitation and hygiene services. On the other hand, sweepers are extremely poor and socially indispensible. They clean the shit of thousands, but their WaSH facilities are unhygienic and many times unusable. WaterAid in its Inclusion programme included both these communities and provided special support to ensure their WaSH rights in the respective communities. In this briefing paper, we will try to explore the different level of software and hardware interventions we have taken in our programme in different communities namely the sex workers and the sweepers of Tangail district.