The 'Good Life' Brewery Quarter Cheltenham Style!

HRA Foundation Bangladesh / Curry With Love UK

Through my work with Global Footsteps I have become involved with a Bangladeshi Community Capacity building project called The HRA Foundation. It has recently run into difficulties, I have written a report outlining the problems and I am trying to raise awareness and support. This is what I'm sending out to journalists:

The HRA Foundation, a community capacity building project based in the Bishwanath sub-district of Sylhet, Bangladesh, has been forcefully and illegally closed down by powerful and self-interested local members of the ruling Awami League Political Party. The Awami League promised in its recent election manifesto, Vision 2021, that it is ‘committed to freeing Bangladesh from its current state of crisis and building a country whose citizens are able to live prosperous and happy lives.’1 The HRA Foundation was set up along very similar principles to the Vision 2021, it is supported by UK partners The Rendezvous Society (UK registered charity: 293357) and Martin Horwood MP (Cheltenham, Lib Dem). Its closure clearly contradicts Awami League promises and is an example of the political obstacles standing in the way of economic and social development in Bangladesh. Awami League public representatives with dual Bangladesh and British citizenship are implicated by their non action. They have thus far failed to attempt any arbitration and have willingly and very wrongfully painted the closure of the foundation as a simple family feud over property rights. The reasons for its initial closure were due to disagreements at a micro level, its continued closure highlights worrying truths about the Awami League at a macro level.

The HRA foundation was founded by Arosh Ali and is financed purely by the Curry With Love Bangladeshi takeaway and delivery service in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. I have uploaded a report outlining the origins and current situation of the HRA Foundation and Curry With Love to the Global Footsteps news page. Please read it here

Global Footsteps

I am the director of the Global Footsteps education programme, we run International Youth Environment Conferences, Global Ventures and lots of events in Gloucestershire related to Sustainability and International development. I've just been updating the website, please have a good look aorund it and spread the word!

Dr Phillips to the rescue

Here I am in my robes at Cheltenham racecourse on Wednesday just before the ceremony in The Centaur! It was a lovely family day and the graduation ceremony was really well run, if a little expensive for guests, photos, robe hire and so on!! I was graduating alongside everyone from the education department, the most noticeable thing was how few men were graduating... nearly every graduate of the PGCE (Primary education) was female. There were also considerably fewer men compared to women going into secondary education... just an observation!

Thanks to everyone who made sure I handed the thing in, it was a long but very rewarding journey that I couldn't have finished without you! The real work starts here!