Bengali Community Development ProjectServing the Bangladeshi community in Southwark
The Bengali Community Development Project (BCDP) is an integral part of the Community Involvement and Development Unit (CIDU) of Southwark Council. It was set up in 1991 by the then race equality unit to support and develop the Bangladeshi community living in the Rockingham and Tabard estates in north Southwark.
The project’s geographical remit has since been expanded to cover the whole of the borough. The Bangladeshi community in Southwark, numbering some 5,000 people, is the largest Asian community in the borough and is socially and economically one of the most disadvantaged of all the major ethnic groups.
The project’s strategic objective is to assist in the development of a confident and self-reliant Bangladeshi community in Southwark – a community that has a real voice and is able to take fullest advantage of all the social and economic opportunities available to them.
The project seeks to highlight the issues relevant to the Bangladeshi community to Southwark Council and various other service providers with a view to influencing policymaking and the delivery of services. The BCDP provides a focus for the Bangladeshi community in Southwark and is widely seen as the first stop for Bangladeshi people living within the borough.
The BCDP works very closely with other organisations in the borough, especially its sister organisation, the Bengali Women’s Group, to whom it provides close development support and guidance.
At present the BCDP provides the following regular services and activities for the Bangladeshi community
- Advice and representation work
- Councillor surgeries
- Housing surgeries
- ESOL classes
- Translation and interpretation work
- Racial harassment support
- Trips and outings
- Supplementary classes
- Keep fit classes
- Drop-in sessions
- Sewing and embroidery classes
- Mother and toddler group
- Health promotion work
Contact
For more information please contact
Tasneem Hussain
Tel: 020 7403 8361
Fax: 020 7403 2592
Community Advisor / Development Worker
Bengali Community Development Project (BCDP)
1 Martin House
Falmouth Road
London SE1 |