Vulnerability in a Megacity

Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest growing cities of the world in terms of population. A large number of migrant workers move from the rural areas to the Dhaka city every year on a continuous basis, and they enter the urban informal sector, including cycle rickshaw pulling sector. We have conducted a structured questionnaire survey in 2017 for some 120 randomly selected cycle rickshaw pullers in five locations across the Dhaka city to examine livelihood difficulties and vulnerability of the cycle rickshaw pullers of the Dhaka city. Most of the respondents were willing to educate their children and did not want to include them in this sector. There were potentials of entrepreneurship if the governmental agencies and the non-governmental agencies provide them with skill training and financing. They have responded to be willing to improve the living conditions of their families and enhance future prospects of their children or future prospective children, which is actually difficult due to the multiple counts of vulnerability that they face.