British American Tobacco

2019 marks the 10th anniversary of BAT Bangladesh’s Probaho clean water initiative.

Launched in 2009, Probaho now provides 400,000 litres of water daily through 78 filtration plants in some of the many rural areas of Bangladesh which are affected by arsenic-contaminated water. The initiative touches the lives of 200,000 beneficiaries every day.

The initiative is in keeping with our Group’s commitment to working towards enabling prosperous livelihoods for all farmers who supply our tobacco leaf. It also supports United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

One Probaho beneficiary said: “My children, my family, they all drink Probaho water. We drink it, cook it, wash with it.”

Another added: “Before Probaho we would spend a lot on healthcare. That’s changed now. Fewer illnesses, fewer trips to the doctor.”

Probaho was featured in our original ‘We are BAT company video’ and in a subsequent follow-up production, from 2017, which you can watch above.

Shehzad Munim, General Manager, BAT Bangladesh, said: “Probaho is a project that we are very proud of at BAT Bangladesh and demonstrates our commitment to improving the lives of people and communities where we operate. When the small actions of people add up to make something bigger than themselves, it creates a ripple effect – which makes projects like Probaho possible.”

Earlier this year, BAT Bangladesh launched a media campaign to drive further awareness of Probaho, all in keeping with the World Water Day 2019 theme of “leaving no-one behind”.

You can read more about Probaho and watch a video celebrating the 10 years of the initiative on its dedicated Facebook page .

Download our latest Sustainability Report to read about our work and progress across our three strategic focus areas: harm reduction, sustainable agriculture and farmer livelihoods, and corporate behaviour.