75 years old Jainal has been paying taxes over his 3.73 acres of land, still he did not have any entitlement to it.

In Bangladesh, more than 4.5 million people remain landless mostly due to lack of information on policy instruments and inadequate accountability mechanism. With technical assistance and training on advocacy facilitated by Voluntary Association for Rural Development, a long-term partner of ActionAid Bangladesh, a group of 38 families undertook many initiatives starting from gathering information regarding the official process of accessing Khas lands and formally applying for lands.

Jainal got legal claim on his land with their help. “Leaving behind a piece of land that my children can call their own is the biggest achievement of my 75 years of journey” – he said while thanking ActionAid for their initiative.