About our guiding principles

The complexity and urgency of the arsenic problem requires a programme linking research and practical project implementation. On the one hand, we want to take time to understand the situation in order to come up with adequate solutions, and on the other, we must act immediately in order to save lives. We aim to come to grips with this tension through an adaptive and collaborative approach.

As practitioners/researchers, we feel we must give up control (or rather the illusion of control) and consider ourselves as participants in the development of others. Development is a lengthy process that has to come from within, otherwise it might not adequately reflect people's own priorities nor sustain itself on the long-term.

Particularly for the poor, however, this type of 'self-development' is often blocked by various poverty traps and unequal power relations. In the arsenic case, there is also a serious lack of community awareness regarding the contamination. We see our role in triggering and facilitating social and technical change in line with the development pace and concerns of poor social groups.

About our organisation The Arsenic Mitigation and Research Foundation (AMRF) was established as a joint effort between researchers (from Delft University of Technology and University of New South Wales) and practitioners from local Non-Governmental Organisations: Peoples' Resources In Development Enterprise (PRIDE) and AITAM Welfare Organisation.

The projects take place in several villages in two districts; Jessore and Munshiganj. However, because the scale of the contamination is much larger, we are looking to share our experiences and research findings with (inter)national platforms and networks. It is necessary to suggest viable long-term strategies and discourage the damaging development programmes and policies that are currently in place. The geo-morphological and social variation between Jessore and Munshiganj can help us formulate recommendations relevant for other arsenic-affected areas across Bangladesh.