Over 38 million people in Bangladesh live below the poverty line, often relying on food charity to survive. However, in traditional food charity a class imbalance is often created between donors and recipients. Which affects their self-esteem and dignity. A vicious cycle of dependency is created through this, of which even their families are unable to step out of.

Bidyanondo, a voluntary organization in Bangladesh, wanted to provide nutritious meals for the underprivileged, while ensuring greater dignity and meaningfulness for the recipients.

The objective was to create new model for food charity- one that would more empathetic, convenient and ultimately more fulfilling for the underprivileged.

There is a longstanding tradition of charity in Bangladesh, where recipients stand in long lines and donors stand upon a stage to provide handouts. The donors act noble and make long speeches while the recipients suffer humiliations. The recipients' pressing hunger makes them bow to the master slave relation. Their pictures are clicked regardless of consent, and they are forced to endure this. We wanted to break this tradition. We found that, culturally, the relation between a buyer and seller is one of equality. So instead of free meals, we decided to sell them at a token price to change the charity culture of Bangladesh.

One Taka Meal, an initiative allowing the underprivileged to buy meals for less than a penny while ensuring dignity.

Bidyanondo believes that anything when provided for free reduces the value of the act. Providing free food through charity ended up costing the recipients their sense of self-worth and dignity. And while there remained a class imbalance between the donors and recipients of food charity, no such imbalance existed between buyers and sellers of goods.

The creative initiative was to evolve the simple act of charity into a simpler and more effective one of transaction- ensuring greater dignity and meaningfulness for the recipients while providing them with healthy, nutritious meals of their choice- all for less than a penny.

In short, alleviating beggars to become respectable consumers. ensuring charity with dignity.

Despite progress and the improved availability of food due to increased production, 40 million people — one quarter of Bangladesh's population — remain food insecure, and 11 million suffer from acute hunger. Bidyanondo works with a significant portion of these people who live below the poverty line in Bangladesh. Homeless, jobless and often suffering from a variety of disabilities, this group often has to resort to begging as a means for survival for themselves and their families.

For most, proper meals are irregular and largely dependent on the charity of others.

Bidyanondo's strategy was to create an initiative that would help these underprivileged masses retain their self-esteem while mitigating their hunger.

Bidyanondo created a countrywide distribution network with 16 mega kitchens, 30 sales points, and two restaurants. Over 20,000 volunteers help them cook, prepare and distribute. It has now become one of the largest food charity organizations in Bangladesh. Every day 10,000 people are provided with not just a full meal but a sense of being able to choose and provide for themselves.

Donors easily donate through either the website or across social media platforms using mobile financial services.

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Over 132,000 Donors

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As per the social behavioural and cultural norms of charity in Bangladesh, there is a class imbalance between donors and recipients. A master slave dynamic exists between the two. This is a very old behavioural practice. The recipients have to trade their dignity and suffer a toilsome process all for a meal. We wanted to change this behaviour.

We found that there exists no class imbalance between buyers and sellers. They are of equal status. Therefore, instead of donating free meals we decided to sell them at a token price. As a result, many donors have shifted from traditional charity to donate funds for One Taka Meal. Many recipients have now turned into buyers and their behavioural patterns have also changed.