News
Our latest news.
24 October 2025 Lessons Learnt from a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Model in Manikganj
We are proud to share the insightful article “Lessons Learnt from a Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Model in Manikganj…
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26 September 2025 Learning in a relaxed and fun-filled setting
Niketan’s special education program offers thematic education to children with severe learning difficulties. It challenges pupils, builds…
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26 September 2025 Election debate – The Netherlands is not an island
During the election debate organized by the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) and Partos…
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26 September 2025 Learning without barriers
Maisha is fortunate to be able to get the best of both schools. She plays and learns…
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9 June 2025 Annual Report 2024 – Together, We Made a Difference!
With pride and gratitude, we present our 2024 Annual Report. This past year, we brought smiles to the…
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3 June 2025 First Aid training
Niketan organized a two-day training course on first aid for children Occasionally something happens at our school that…
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19 May 2025 My Name is Runa – Now Available as an Audiobook
Niketan and Biblionef launch an audiobook to promote diversity and inclusion. Children with disabilities are often excluded from…
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31 March 2025 A new veranda school in Bagutia
In January, we started a new veranda school in Bagutia, a small island in the river Padna, a…
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31 March 2025 Antora and Muhibur
Antora and Muhibur both have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities and were married in September. They had been…
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31 March 2025 In conversation with parents
During my stay in Bangladesh in February, I (Antoinette) attended a parents’ meeting that focused on the problems…
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31 March 2025 Anyone can help someone
For more than 10 years, Niketan has worked with nearly 120 volunteers in its community care program. They…
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10 December 2024 25 years anniversary
Finally, with a year’s delay due to political unrest, we were able to celebrate Niketan and DRRA’s…
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10 December 2024 New President
For more than ten years, Rutger-Jan Schoen was Niketan’s President. Under his guidance, it was decided that in…
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10 December 2024 Family development training
How do you show parents’ strength? How do you ensure that they have to worry less about today…
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10 December 2024 Collaboration with BRAC in the ‘Stories for Inclusion’ project
We are extremely proud that NGO BRAC, the world’s largest non-profit organization, has contacted us about using…
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9 September 2024 Collaboration with Wilde Ganzen
In 2024-2025, Niketan will again collaborate with Wilde Ganzen. For 26 years Niketan has been providing care and…
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9 September 2024 The situation in Bangladesh
2024 has so far been a year full of climate and politics related problems in Bangladesh. The new…
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9 September 2024 People with intellectual disabilities have a right to sex education
Like young people without disabilities, young people with intellectual disabilities also want to talk about sexuality. They too…
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8 August 2024 Learning brief: Sexual and Reproductive Health education.
Niketan/DRRA has been offering Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) education since 2016. With this Learning Brief we want to…
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4 June 2024 Annual report 2023
It is with great pleasure that we hereby share with you the link to our annual report.
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25 March 2024 Are you happy?
Happiness is different for everyone, but the feeling comes from within. Many factors influence your sense of happiness,…
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18 December 2023 Do children with disabilities also have rights?
Children have rights; after all, they are human beings too. All human rights also apply to all children.
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16 October 2023 Knowledge sharing
A key objective for Niketan is to share knowledge and expertise. Over the past 25 years we have…
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20 September 2023 “Stories for Inclusion”: A project Learning Brief
This project – a partnership between Niketan Foundation and Biblionef Nederland – is founded on the belief…
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7 July 2023 Inclusion in SRHR health service
The “We Care” project has contributed to strengthening a more inclusive SRHR health service in Bangladesh. Vulnerable young…
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29 May 2023 Annual report 2022
It is with great pride and pleasure that we present our annual report. Every year is special in…
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23 May 2023 Evaluation CBR program
With nearly a decade of experience implementing Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR), DRRA and Niketan commissioned an evaluation. The…
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11 May 2023 Instructional videos on crawling, standing and walking
We are proud to let you know that the final videos focused on gross motor skills are ready.
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11 May 2023 Helping children with disabilities for 25 years
August marks Niketan’s 25th anniversary, but the first seed for all our work was planted in 1993, 30…
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11 April 2023 let’s meet : Saskia Caspari
My name is Saskia and after one year of ad-hoc involvement in one of Niketan’s projects I joined…
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1 March 2023 My life wasn’t worth anything
“I’m being abused by my mother, my sister and her husband. They beat me, verbally abuse me and…
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18 December 2022 Making dreams come true with a children’s book
“Every Thursday we are taught from the book ‘My Name is Runa’. An important lesson we learn is:…
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18 December 2022 The sun is shining again at our school in Dhaka
In previous newsletters, we told you about the setbacks we have had at our school in Dhaka.
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18 December 2022 Family life in Bangladesh and the role of fathers
I have been coming to Bangladesh for almost 30 years now and continue to be amazed by family…
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29 November 2022 Local award
On Sunday, November 17, Antoinette Termoshuizen received in Bangladesh an award from the Chairman of Ghior Upazilla for…
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12 September 2022 When adversity challenges us
Life is at times all smiles, at others it’s an uphill struggle. In 2022, this applies especially to our…
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12 September 2022 Visit of the Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare from Bangladesh
In August, the Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare from Bangladesh visited the UN in Geneva and…
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12 September 2022 Cooperation with Maastricht University
Winning the Impact Award was the start of a 6-month period in which we worked together with…
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7 September 2022 Distribution of books among young children in Daulatpur
Upazila Executive Officer Md Imrul Hasan inaugurated the distribution of “Runa Books” book among young students in Daulatpur…
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28 June 2022 Floods in Bangladesh
In our last newsletter, we told you about the growing inequality and rising prices of food…
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27 June 2022 Annual impact report
Proudly, we like to share our annual impact in 2021. 2021 was the second “COVID year”, which obviously,…
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20 June 2022 Stories for Inclusion
Children with disabilities are often disadvantaged and barred from mainstream society and education. This is true in the…
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20 June 2022 We Care – sexual & reproductive health and rights services
Having access to adequate sexual & reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services and knowledge is crucial. In Bangladesh,…
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20 June 2022 The current situation in Bangladesh
The war in Ukraine is affecting the global trade in key food products such as wheat and vegetable…
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28 March 2022 In loving memory: Rabeya Neela
On 9 March, our master trainer and director Rabeya Neela of the Amar Joti School passed away completely…
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28 March 2022 How care at home combats (social) poverty
Our veranda schools seem to be a solution for sustainably embedding care and education in local communities. They…
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28 March 2022 Goodbye and welcome
In January we said goodbye to our dear care mother Selena. After 13 years of lovingly caring for…
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27 December 2021 Back in Bangladesh
After more than 20 months we could finally visit the projects and our partner organization in Bangladesh again.
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27 December 2021 Book ‘My name is Runa’ presented to Runa
On Monday, 22 November, the first ‘My name is Runa’ book was presented to Runa and the Ambassador…
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23 November 2021 NIKETAN wins the Impact Challenge Award 2021
The Impact Challenge aims to enhance the social impact of the charity sector. Charity organisations recognised by CBF…
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31 October 2021 Niketan is one of the finalists of the Impact Challenge Award
We have been nominated as one of three organizations for the Impact Challenge Award with our project ‘alternative…
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29 September 2021 “Schools have reopened”
Schools in Bangladesh had been closed for 74 weeks, making Bangladesh the country where schools remained closed the…
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29 September 2021 Art for Niketan
A tribute to the life and work of Anton Verhoeven, that’s what the exhibition in the Oude Kerkje…
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16 June 2021 Niketan is building an ecosystem for special children
A young housewife, Shurma Akhter’s son was born a seemingly healthy child. However, as a toddler when he…
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28 April 2021 Two veranda schools handed over to volunteers
In 2019, the idea was born to explore whether we could gradually hand over our veranda schools to…
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28 April 2021 Policy plan
The new policy plan is ready and available online. In this plan, we look back on the past…
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28 April 2021 Poverty on the rise
COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented rise in poverty over the past year throughout the world, including in…
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21 April 2021 Fill the Empty Plate with your Zakat donation
Real happiness is created by the impact you have on the lives of others. “Covid 19 still claims…
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29 January 2021 Bangladesh: an ‘initiative driven society’
2021 marks a special year for Bangladesh. Not only is Bangladesh celebrating 50 years of her independence, but…
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29 December 2020 Will you help make our dream come true?
For over 20 years Niketan has been providing high quality care and education to children with…
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29 December 2020 Bangladeshi Ambassador receives the first Runa book
World Disability Day is celebrated yearly on the 3rd of December. On this day we promote the full…
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29 December 2020 Niketan wins the best idea for alternative childcare
Who won the best idea for alternative childcare in 2020? On Friday the 30th of October, 8 organisations…
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28 December 2020 What a Year!
We look back at a special, if not strange, year. A year that won’t be quickly forgotten and…
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4 November 2020 Covid-19 impact on our work
Undeniably, the direct and most immediate impact of the Covid-19 crisis in our sector is the loss in…
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3 October 2020 Stories for Inclusion
“Hello, I am Runa. I have Cerebral Palsy and I live in Bangladesh. Because I walk and talk…
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24 September 2020 We Care
Government policies in Bangladesh recognise that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services and information are crucial. …
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30 August 2020 Floods in Bangladesh
And on top of the Covid-19 crisis, the predicted heavy rain resulted in severe flooding. Every year…
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30 August 2020 Covid-19 update
As in the Netherlands, Bangladesh has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic since March 2020. And just like…
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30 August 2020 You brought back the sun in their lives.
We asked your support to help families with a disabled child through this difficult time. Your support brought…
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29 June 2020 Inclusive on paper, exclusive in practice!
Bringing children with disabilities into mainstream schools turns the whole system upside down. Maybe that is…
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27 May 2020 Collaboration with Wilde Ganzen
We are proud of the collaboration with Wilde Ganzen. This year, they not only increases the donations…
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30 April 2020 Our response to the corona crisis
Schools are not only places for academic teaching and learning, but also for social-emotional and other kinds of…
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30 April 2020 Webinar: Disability-inclusive disaster response in Bangladesh
Disasters are on the rise and Bangladesh is a country often affected by natural and man-made disasters. These…
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14 April 2020 How the coronavirus pandemic affects inequality in Bangladesh
Countries all over the world are struggling to manage this global crisis and Bangladesh is no exception. But…
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3 March 2020 E-learning course
Great news for every parent, teacher and NGO who deals with children with disabilities. Niketan together with…
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22 November 2019 Ready for appropriate work
Fourteen youngsters with an intellectual disability pass their final exam of the My Way to Work training. During…
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15 July 2019 Lithon (32) did not survive mistreatment.
Lithon was mistreated by strangers because he was “different”, his health complaints were not taken seriously by doctors…
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9 July 2019 Leadership training for vulnerable girls
Research suggests that women with disabilities are more likely to experience domestic violence, and sexual assault than women…
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9 July 2019 The year 2018: We share the Future
2018 was the year that Niketan has been working 20 years in supporting children and youngsters with a…
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9 July 2019 Giving Tuesday
This year Niketan participates in “Giving Tuesday”, a worldwide movement to help others through the gift of your…
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16 April 2019 Niketan methods of a high international level
Niketan has developed dozens of methods and training courses in recent years. To gain insight into whether the…
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3 April 2019 Ehimoy, a cultural event for Niketan
In the mood for a party and to immerse yourself in a different culture ?! On June 29,…
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24 October 2018 Prone Standing Frame – The earlier you start the better
The prone standing frame helps a child to strengthen his muscles, it stimulates the senses and improves the…
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26 September 2018 An awesome party!
On August 6, 2018, Niketan, celebrated 20 years of service in Bangladesh and organized a small party for…
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26 September 2018 Storybooks on SRHR education
Youngsters, in particular those with a disability are highly vulnerable. They are confronted with aggression and violence throughout…
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26 September 2018 ‘I thought boys have a period too’!
Mary (not her real name) is 13 years old, she lives in a small settlement in thana Daulatpur.
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26 September 2018 Reaching the hard to reach
A large number of children with disabilities still face exclusion and discrimination. They are invisible, often locked in…
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17 September 2018 A research on meningitis
For our minor International Health and Development, which we (Janine van der Meij, Derek Mersch and Stefanie Strasters)…
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13 March 2018 Unsung Women Nation Builders Award
On March 3, Niketan founder Antoinette received the Unsung Women Nation Builders Award from Gowher Rizvi, international affairs…
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9 January 2018 Photo-book “Untold desires”
On December 28, 2017, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University launched the photo-book titled…
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27 November 2017 SRHR education at special schools in Bangladesh
A 14-year-old girl from Bangladesh with mental and hearing disabilities tells her story, agitated but smilingly. She uses…
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27 September 2017 SRHR issues are neglected among young girls with disability
According to UNFPA, 16-30% of boys and 40-68% of girls are affected by sexual abuse before the age…
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25 September 2017 Dutch NGOs reassures their support for SDG
By: Istiaque Ahmed, First Secretary of the Embassy of Bangladesh in the Netherlands Dutch NGOs reassured that they…
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12 September 2017 NGO Network & Friendship meeting
On september 22, Niketan and the Embassy of Bangladesh organise a Network and Friendship day for NGO’s active…
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16 October 2016 Graduated
In the Netherlands, the children have passed their final exams and will prepare for the next phase. On…
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7 September 2016 The right to decide
The UN convention for people with disabilities declare that they, like others, can participate in society. However, it…
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