Mati is an organisation that aims to join all its human forces, energy, and love in the universal fight against poverty and towards a life in dignity for all human beings, regardless of gender, status, colour or creed. Mati was founded in 1998 through the personal conviction of its founder Lenen Rahaman that the extreme poverty in rural Bangladesh is a severe form of injustice (as it is anywhere else in the world), which cannot be tolerated in any society that claims to be civilized. With a small group of friends, who shared his basic humanist ideas, they started the first Mati-project in the small village Huzurikanda, Sherpur District. From the beginning, poverty reduction through people’s empowerment, especially of women, and self-defined, participatory development methods were at the core of Mati’s activities. Since those early days, Mati’s activities have continuously expanded, and its mission, vision and goals have been fine-tuned over the years.