It has been 18 months since the mass influx of Rohingya people fleeing violence in Myanmar and coming to Bangladesh. But now, with continuous efforts and interventions, the scenario of the Rohingya camps have been changed a lot. Now the women are taking initiatives for bringing betterment.

Empowering women and young people through ensuring their leadership has been one of the key working areas of ActionAid Bangladesh. Last year, Angikar Samaj Unnayan Sangstha (ASUS), with the support of ActionAid Bangladesh, involved 150 young people through establishing a youth digital club at Panchagarh. Through this initiative 27 young girls came into leadership and initiated different advocacy.

While in one hand, unemployment is a challenge for the youth of the country, many industries are facing lack of skilled manpower. Industrial based apprenticeship training can bring a solution in this case. With this view, Access to Information (a2i) with the support of ActionAid Bangladesh organized a national consultation workshop with public and private level stakeholders where the discussants talked on different issues regarding the possibilities and challenges of employment opportunities for youth in the informal sector.

According to different statistics of Bangladesh, many women here face violence in one way or other. During disasters, women become more vulnerable to violence. For this, to prevent violence against women during disasters and ensure proper response to the victims of violence, ActionAid Bangladesh, with the support of UNFPA arranged a training workshop in Barishal, Jamalpur, Gaibandha, Sylhet and Khulna.

While the entire world observed 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women, a two-day long programme has been organized at Rohingya camp to raise awareness among the community. With the support of UNFPA, ActionAid Bangladesh initiated the programme where a group of ten artists performed interactive theatre drama in front of the Rohingya people.

Expressing solidarity with the global campaign ‘One Billion Rising’ to end violence against women and children, Bangladesh observed the day on 14 February 2019. Bangladesh Association for Community Education (BACE) and NDBAS in association with ActionAid Bangladesh organized campaigns at Madarganj and Kalyanpur area where hundreds of women and children took part to raise their voice against VAW and child marriage.

We shed our blood to protect our mother tongue, Bangla. But, ironically, our very own mother language is now being used against women. If we closely look at the abusive words which are commonly used in our society during any heated argument or fight, we will notice that almost all of them are women-centered violating their dignity.

Since the beginning of the Rohingya crisis, journalists have played a significant role to cover the issues and facts of the crisis. Considering the possible scopes and challenges of covering Gender Based Violence issues more intensively, ActionAid Bangladesh organized a workshop with the journalists in Cox’s Bazar with the support of UNFPA and Canadian High Commission.

Climate change is affecting everyone, specially vulnerable communities. Engaging young people’s voice is therefore needed to bring change. To encourage the young people to raise their voice in global platform to ensure international fund and climate justice to fight climate change, Youth Environment and Social Development Society (YESDS) organized ‘Dhaka Climate Talk 2018’ in association with Stamford University Bangladesh, ActionAid Bangladesh, Oxfam and Independent University, Bangladesh.

Globally, the fashion industry is responsible for contributing to global water waste by 20% and emits 10% of global carbon emission. Cotton farming itself is responsible for 24% of insecticide production and 11% pesticide production. While 15% of textiles are recycled, the rest of 85% is sent to landfill, that is about 21 billion ton per year which puts a huge impact on the environment, he said, adding that the waste, as they decompose, release methane, which is a significant contribwsutor to global warming.

Mosammat Laizu Begum is a farmer and President of Jago Nari Women Federation of Lalmonirhat. Being one of the participants of ActionAid Bangladesh’s POWER Project, she leads 20 women groups under the federation. Taking part in the SAARC Regional Expert Consultation from 9 to 11 June 2019, Laizu begum shared her learning on doing Climate Resilient Sustainable Agriculture Practice (CRSA) and challenges of getting access to the market.

The first ever ‘Water Museum’ in Asia is located in Bangladesh’s coastal district Patuakhali. ‘Water Museum’ may sound too futuristic for 2014. Has water become so scarce that we have to preserve it in a museum? Let’s find out.