Conservative Friends of Bangladesh - Project Shapla 2019 On 13th September 2019, the Conservative Friends of Bangladesh (CFOB) is leading its 5th social action project to Bangladesh. The team will be visiting Dhaka and Sylhet for one week until Friday 20th September 2019. Conservative parliamentarians Anne Main MP, Paul Scully MP and Bob Blackman MP will lead a team of 23 volunteers, including Conservative party activists and members of the British Bangladeshi community. This year, CFOB will also be joined by a team of volunteers from the Conservative Friends of International Development. CFOB is an established party affiliate group which works to promote the culture, successes and values of the British Bangladeshi community and advocate closer relations between the Conservative Party and the British Bangladeshi community. The 2019 delegation will visit several health and education projects run by BRAC, who are a major international development organisation with a focus on Bangladesh. The delegates will also visit several UK-based charities in Bangladesh, such as London Tigers and Oxfam. The delegation will also visit the John Lewis Foundation Project which supports economic empowerment for women. CFOB also work to support smaller charity and social action projects in the country. In Sylhet, the team will help the team of activists at the Clean Surma Green campaign. They will be helping to litter pick and clear the river banks of plastic waste which has become a major problem for the area. In Dhaka, the group will visit the LEEDO peace home which has been home to thousands of orphan children from across the city over the last few years. A group of the children from LEEDO came to visit Parliament and play in the Street Child Cricket World Cup in London in May of this year. The trip will also include meetings with senior members of the Bangladesh Government, including the Prime Minister, the President and opposition party leaders. Delegates will also have the opportunity to visit some investment projects supported by British businesses and entrepreneurs. Mehfuz Ahmed, Chairman of CFOB said: “We hope to continue to build our everlasting legacy through social action partnerships with Bangladesh. I believe that our trips provide further opportunities to improve the lives of many people in Bangladesh and also help to attract investment as we strengthen ties between the two nations.” President of CFOB, Anne Main MP said: “I am looking forward to what will no doubt be another successful social action visit to Bangladesh. We have been able to make a real difference on our previous visits and this is certainly the aim for this trip. “I am pleased we will be championing women’s empowerment projects and environmental initiatives during this trip. It will also be wonderful to meet the children from the LEEDO peace home again too. “It is hard, but rewarding, work running our Project Shapla trips and I want to thank all of those dedicated volunteers for putting this all together. I must also thank our generous donors as, without them, this would not be possible.”