Our Story

A children’s organization founded five years after a war

Kochi Konther Asar was established on 15 January 1976 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by Hemayet Hossain, a social organizer and humanitarian leader. The founding arrived at a moment of national significance: Bangladesh had become independent less than five years earlier, emerging from the 1971 war of liberation.

Hossain and his team envisioned a platform where children could grow with knowledge, confidence and opportunity — a counterweight to the uncertainty and deprivation many faced in the new nation’s early years.

The presidents who became its patrons

The organization’s first years benefited from high-level political support. President Ziaur Rahman took it under his wing as Chief Patron during its formative period, and the arrangement outlasted him: Presidents Abdus Sattar, Hussain Muhammad Ershad and Khaleda Zia each served as Chief Patron in turn.

In 1978 the organization received formal registration from the Directorate of Social Welfare, Ministry of Social Welfare, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, and it later obtained approval and recognition as a National Children’s Organization from the National Social Welfare Council.

By the early 1980s Kochi Konther Asar had become the preeminent children’s organization in Bangladesh, known across the country. Its work drew support from cabinet members, secretaries, professors, journalists, educators and local administrations.

The work across Bangladesh

It played a major role in shaping educational policy for street children, establishing Pothokoli Schools across all 64 districts of Bangladesh to bring learning to children the classroom had never reached.

It held science fairs at national level. Kochi Kontho Lalit Kala Academy trained and graduated students in music and the performing arts, and many of its graduates became prominent artists. It maintained schools serving the full spectrum of Bangladeshi society, including international and model schools, and its children’s home, Kochi Kontho Shishu Nibash, continues to house orphaned children.

A weekly column, “Kochi Kontho”, ran in the newspaper Daily Janata, and the organization held seminars, symposiums and street rallies throughout. Its children’s groups performed at state functions and for visiting dignitaries.

In 1990 the organization held the UNICEF World Children Summit, bringing together state chiefs from more than 100 countries and 10,000 children — a landmark year that also saw its National Conference and Education Camp that August.

The organization takes root in the United States

In 1991, facing economic and personal considerations, Hemayet Hossain relocated to the United States. He re-established Kochi Konther Asar there as a nonprofit, securing registrations with UNICEF and the United Nations.

On 23 February 2000, Kochi Konther Asar, Inc. was registered with the New York State Department of State as a Domestic Not-For-Profit Corporation, filing number 2477055, with its registered address in Jackson Heights, New York. That was the formal establishment of the organization’s home in the United States.

Where the work reaches today

Kochi Konther Asar now works across the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and continues to collaborate with UNICEF and other international child-focused organizations on child welfare. What began on one stage in Dhaka now reaches children in more than 33 countries around the world.