1. Zulfikaur Wajid-Hasan
Bestway Head Office
Bestway Foundation
Abbey Road
Park Royal
London NW10 7BW
5 December 2008
Dear Mr. Wajid-Hasan,
RE: PLURALISM AND DIVERSITY IN ASIA: PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES THROUGH EDUCATION AND TRAINING [RMA]
I am pleased to submit to Best way Foundation a new proposal for fund from Minority Rights
Group International (MRG), an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) working
since the mid 1960’s to secure rights worldwide for indigenous, tribal peoples and ethnic,
religious and linguistic minorities, and to promote co-operation and understanding between
communities by bringing together groups with different views to share experiences and solve
problems collaboratively. MRG is a rights-based organization which, in partnership with others,
seeks to persuade decision-makers – and through them communities – of the need for
constructive change involving minorities.
The programme we are implementing focuses on the struggle against discriminatory practices in
education in countries in which religious minorities’ access to education is often denied or hard
to guarantee, particularly in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Pakistan. Started in 2006, this is a
5-year project; the first step towards the achievement of our goals has already been taken
through an improving review of existing curricula and textbooks and the introduction of
examples of good practice in teaching.
Now the second phase of the action is to be carried out and it will aim to enhance the
understanding by religious minority teachers, parents and students of their duties and rights to
education through increasing advocacy around their access to better curricula and teaching.
In particular, next steps will be: 1. continuing the creation of alternative curricula and materials,
particularly developing classroom topics/materials relevant to the situation in each specific
country; 2. organizing national and regional workshops for both teachers and parents, in order to
promote understanding of good practice in classrooms and of pluralist teaching methodologies
and also to develop shared understanding of the importance of pluralism and diversity in
education; 3. lobbying and getting in touch with key decision-makers within the countries in
order to get more effective and long-lasting results.
Our intervention strategy is based upon the collection and development of models of good
practice which we will publish, translate and advocate for and upon the training of teachers in
their use. The majority of the programme activities will target schools and local communities in 3
states in India, 2 provinces in Pakistan & the Dhaka area in Bangladesh. Decision makers in
those areas plus at national level will be targeted in advocacy activities: actually, if national

2. governments change education policies and curriculum, there is the potential for huge numbers
of people across the country to benefit, not just the programme focus areas.
The main concrete results we expect from this programme are: increased capacity of religious
minorities to be involved in developing curricula; the existence of viable, tried and tested
curricula materials which reflect religious pluralism and diversity; information and evidence-
based advocacy ensuring that key decision-makers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia
have a deeper understanding of the situation of religious minorities; increased understanding at
regional and international fora of the rights of religious minorities and increased linkages
between religious minority representatives and regional and international decision-makers.
We believe that this programme meets fully your priorities because its main purpose is to
enhance education strategies providing proper means of assistance for those who have not fair
possibilities of accessing it. We all know how fundamental can be receiving good teaching, not
only in order to learn skills and abilities, but mainly to develop basic values such as humanity and
respect for one’s own and other people’s rights. This is particularly urgent in marginalized
countries, such as those in Southern Asia, because getting a higher level of education there
means giving disadvantaged peoples a chance to overcome their underdevelopment.
MRG has already got generous support from Irish Aid and CAFOD to implement the first years
of this programme, but funds we received are not enough to continue our activities and carry out
the project completely. Considering your priorities, we thought if you might be interested in
supporting our foundation with contributing one of the in-country teacher training workshops
and one of the activist and parent workshops planned for next year: we would like to request an
amount of £12,000, which would allow us to provide for participants, partners and trainers’
accommodation and activity in both the workshops.
We hope that the Trustees will consider this proposal something significant enough to decide to
help us in carrying on our purposes and values.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for any further enquiry about the project or our
organization.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sara Marabiso
Fundraising Department
Minority Rights Group