The two founders of Unnayan O Shikkha Proshar Trust (USPT) are Mr. Jacob Baroi and Ms. Erin Tanner. In 2005, both were working on a Pilot Project of Urban Slum School Education, implemented by a local NGO and funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Ms. Tanner, a native of the United States who was in Bangladesh on a Fulbright scholarship, was assigned by UNICEF to assess the impact and success of the slum-school project.

After three years, in 2008, the Pilot Project of Urban Slum School Education was discontinued. As a result, its 6,000 children were left without support, and thus without hope for an education, while 200 teachers were left unemployed. This news was devastating.

With over 20 years of experience working on non-formal education projects, Mr. Baroi was convinced that such programs could transform the lives of Bangladesh’s poorest children. Ms. Tanner also came to appreciate the importance and potential of non-formal schools, reflecting this view in her evaluation of the project.

In early 2008, Mr. Jacob Baroi, in collaboration with Ms. Erin Tanner, took the pioneering initiative to provide quality non-formal education to children in the slums of Dhaka. Together, they founded Unnayan O Shikkha Proshar Trust (USPT). Their journey began with a shared vision of bringing hope and opportunities to the most vulnerable children. The first USPT school opened in 2008, focusing on creating life-changing educational opportunities for children who would otherwise have no access to schooling.

Over the years, many visitors and volunteers from Bangladesh and other countries became interested in USPT’s work, offering help and support in various ways. One such visitor was Mathias Geinsenfelder, a student from Germany, who first visited the SHIBASH schools in 2009. Deeply impressed, Mathias became committed to supporting the SHIBASH project. Support for USPT grew significantly over the years, partly due to international volunteers like Mathias Geinsenfelder, who went on to establish the German charity Banglakids to raise funds for the program.