A countrywide youth campaign has kicked off ahead of the International Women’s Day 2022 aimed at challenging the fear of violence and building youth leadership.
International development organisation Plan International Bangladesh and national development organisation JAAGO foundation are jointly organising the campaign titled “Challenging Fear of Violence” to bring the youths of the country together.
The campaign was launched on Monday in the presence of Plan International Bangladesh and JAAGO Foundation representatives at Plan International Bangladesh’s country office in Dhaka.
Kashfia Feroz, director-Girls Rights of Plan International Bangladesh, Shemonty Monjari, campaign manager of Plan International Bangladesh, Founder of JAAGO Foundation Korvi Rakshand, and Esha Farooque, assistant director- Operations were present among others.
During the discussion, Kashfia Feroz said fear of violence came up very strongly from their end, limiting their potentials and restricting their mobility.
They started collecting evidence-based information from different ends of the country and were commissioned to analyse policy and budget for further advocacy initiatives, she said.
Citing a recently-launched survey, she said some 81.6 per cent of female participants experienced harassment in public places.
86.8 per cent of women and girls said they were victims of harassment in their households, she said.
Korvi Rakshand said, “The agency to a woman’s life gets limited by the fear of aggression or gender-based violence before she can exercise or express it. We seek a society in which every place is a safe space for people of all genders.”
The campaign will start with training 20 youth leaders from different communities to build their capacity and enhance their leadership skills challenging fear of violence.
These 20 youth leaders from Dhaka, Rangpur, Barishal and Cox’s Bazar will get back to their community and raise awareness among their community people. A social media campaign to raise mass awareness will go on simultaneously.
The whole campaign will be wrapped up through a national dialogue where youths from different parts of the country will come together, talk about their challenges regarding fear of violence and will share solutions from community level.
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