It’s great to be here in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as the 2010 World Cup kicks off. Even though their national team’s not in the comp, locals here are as soccer-crazy as the biggest football nations. Oddly, Brazilian and Argentine flags flutter proudly from just about all the city’s rooftops, cars and jazzed up rickshaws.

We are here blogging and teaching the youth in Dhaka’s slums about social media, as part of ActionAid Australia’s Project TOTO. This exciting initiative has a number of goals.

One is to blog about our experience and the amazing projects that ActionAid Bangladesh has set up here. We’re hoping to raise awareness at home about the day-to-day reality of poor locals, and the innovative ways that ActionAid Bangladesh is combating poverty. Hopefully this will encourage Aussies to think about development issues, not only here, but worldwide, and take action. Issues such as child labour, early marriage, a lack of education and healthcare and poverty-induced oppression are a stark and ever-present reality here in Bangladesh. Our blogs are just a small taste of what life here is really like.

The other endgame is to join forces with ActionAid Bangladesh to get them an ever-expanding online presence. So we’re working with their super-talented team to set up a blog-cum-website that links the 31 development areas where they’re active. With a swish new blog, the aim is to get stakeholders involved with their grassroots programs, on all levels, including funding and management.

In this way, youth in Bangladesh’s poorest districts have a direct line to national policy-makers. We hope this will help engage government officials – who often ignore the harsh realities – as their electorate is speaking to them directly. ActionAid Bangladesh says this has more weight, and is more likely to lead to real change.

Of course, there’s the money too. ActionAid Bangladesh’s projects rely on donor funds. One fantastic project that we saw was a joint ActionAid Bangladesh and Assistance to Slum Dwellers venture, known as Happy Homes. It gets girls who are at risk of exploitation, trafficking and sex slavery off the streets and into a safe place. With a roof over their heads, access to healthcare and an education, these kids now have brighter futures ahead. But Mahbub Hasan, ActionAid Bangladesh’s top sponsorship guy, and his gutsy team, tell us that funding might phase out by the end of the year.

Projects like these need money to survive.

So we’ve been working hard on networking. So far we’ve done some amazing stuff on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and it’s wild seeing the follower numbers shoot through the roof. It’s global, exponential and in real time. We’re also plugging away, ensuring ActionAid Bangladesh’s blog is fully linked to ActionAid countries where people sponsor Bangladeshi children – like Sweden, the UK and other European countries.

As it will be kids who will create and maintain the blogs, this project is helping to teach tech-savvy skills that future employers will jump at. And the different development areas, where ActionAid Bangladesh has sponsored kids, can pool their talent to come up with novel community-based approaches to fight the causes of poverty.

We’ve been busy in the office, no doubt. But out on the streets too, we’re constantly dodging deadly traffic and demolishing tasty treats. With splashy rickshaws and bright salwar kameez, it’s an explosion of colour.

One thing we won’t ever forget is the people. Locals, and especially the ActionAid Bangladesh team and the kids we’ve met, have been totally awesome – surely some of the most fun-loving folk on the face of the planet.

The best thing about Project TOTO is that it brings the infinite power of social media to the poorest. In that way, people who for so long had no voice, can now be heard.

The other day, we were lucky enough to see an ActionAid-sponsored 1Goal soccer game in Dhaka’s rough-and-tumble eastern district – and if the kids’ social media skills are as good as their World Cup-worthy soccer prowess... then watch out world!

So head on over to the Project TOTO blog and the brand new ActionAid Bangladesh blog and read some first-hand accounts from those living in poverty. Leave some comments, tell us what you think, share it with your friends – and help give poverty a voice!