Satkhira: a story of innovation, built with no map to follow.

Long before national policy caught up, DRRA was learning — with communities — what inclusive education and disability inclusion could look like in practice.

"We started where there was no established model, no clear guideline and limited understanding. We learned with communities, developed approaches, and contributed to a larger change."

Where it began

No model, no guideline — just communities

When DRRA began working in Satkhira, Bangladesh did not yet have the national policies, guidelines or established understanding of inclusive education, inclusive preschool education, or disability inclusion that exist today.

There was no ready-made approach to adopt. DRRA worked directly with communities at the field level, developing approaches through practice rather than theory.

What DRRA drew on

Practice, informed by existing knowledge

Where relevant, DRRA used existing international knowledge to inform that field-level work — including the WHO Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) framework and its Bangla adaptation.

This was not a top-down rollout of an existing model. It was an adaptation — international frameworks tested and shaped by what communities in Satkhira actually needed.

What grew from it

From field practice to a wider conversation

The inclusive preschool education work developed through this journey later became connected with wider national discussions around inclusive education and pre-primary education.

DRRA does not claim to have single-handedly created or caused this policy shift. What's presented here is DRRA's own contribution — field-level practice that fed into a far longer, multi-stakeholder process involving government, communities and other organisations working towards the same goal.

The Satkhira timeline

An institutional journey, not a single project

Early field work

Community identification and home-based support, the same model DRRA used nationally from its 1996 founding, extended into Satkhira's villages well before any formal inclusive-education framework existed.

Developing an approach

Field-level practice, informed by the WHO CBR framework and its Bangla adaptation, shaped into a working model for inclusive preschool education and disability inclusion.

Capacity building

Strengthening organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) in Satkhira in advocacy, fundraising and coordination — community leadership built on years of earlier field work.

Connecting to national conversations

As inclusive and pre-primary education gained national policy attention, DRRA's field-tested Satkhira approach became one practical reference point among the evidence informing that wider conversation.

Today

Satkhira remains a core site for DRRA's climate resilience, disability inclusion and economic inclusion programmes. See current programmes →

The lesson

Community leadership, not just community presence

Satkhira's story isn't only about what DRRA built. It's about who DRRA built it with. Community leadership, ownership and participation were not an add-on to the work — they were the method.