Netzkraft Movement

Bengal Link e.V.

c/o Südasien-Seminar

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
06099 Halle (Saale)
Germany

Contact person: Carmen Brandt, Lisa Zander

+49 (0)345-5523653
+49 (0)345-5527370
carmen.brandt@bengallink.org
info@bengallink.org
http://bengallink.org

Topics

  • Aid organization
  • Educational policy/project
  • Women's policy
  • Volunteers are welcome.

About us

Bengal Link was founded in January 2008 by students and scientific workers on the Southern Asia course at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Established scientists from various disciplines and countries joined later.

The members also include people working in development and cultural areas and others interested in the Bengal regions, i.e. Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.

Aims
• Sustainable development policies and exchanges on equal terms, cooperation with partners in the Bengal regions leading to more support in the following areas: poverty reduction, self-help assistance, education, gender equality, enforcement of human rights, help and support for minorities, furtherance of local culture, environmental protection and international understanding.
• Conveying the variety of the region: Bengal Link puts on cultural and educational events to portray to a wider audience the many different cultures to be found in the Begali regions. This should give people in Germany a more multifaceted picture of the regions of Bengal.
• Networking various domains: in order to achieve the above aims effectively, Bengal Link tries to link people working in scientific, developmental and cultural fields.

Projects
Bengal Link does not only actively support and present the projects of its Bengali partners; the partners themselves get a hearing in Europe. We only support projects based on local initiatives, with the active participation of local people. We attach particular importance to religious and ethnic neutrality and gender equality.
• For example: ANKS (Adivasi Nari Kalyan Sanstha - German charity for indigenous women) is an organisation founded and run by Santai women in North West Bangladesh, which stands up for the ethnic minorities in the plains in the north west of the country. The members of Bengal Link support an ANKS project to generate income in Santai villages.
It is only partly possible for the Santais to support themselves by agriculture, because of the low land ownership. For some families, the annual harvest is only sufficient for their own consumption. They have to supplement their income by poorly-paid work such as day labouring. Since women’s pay for such work is only half that of the men, ANKS offers additional earning opportunities to women from poor families.
• Stays in Bengal: Many members of Bengal Link have years of experience of living in Bengal and have built up a network of contacts there. These should be made available to other interested parties, to facilitate stays by journalists, scientists, developmentalists and tourists.

Carmen Brandt is the President of Bengal Link.

On request we can offer other net participants advice, give a presntation and provide up to date information and contacts in the field of our work.