My first days in Bangladesh staying with the NFYOB
Ilona Meier (Schweiz), Dhaka, Bangladesh
I’m already in Bangladesh for more than one week. First of all I need to say thanks to the NFYOB for their invitation. They look after me really well. Thanks to this opportunity I have the chance to visit this great country and its youth organizations. Also my host-family is really nice and introduced me to a lot of their friends. They made it possible for me to learn more about very varied organizations who achieve a big contribution for youth development. I get introduced to a lot of difference members of the NFYOB and could have a look how they actually work...
I’m already in Bangladesh for more than one week. First of all I need to say thanks to the NFYOB for their invitation. They look after me really well. Thanks to this opportunity I have the chance to visit this great country and its youth organizations. Also my host-family is really nice and introduced me to a lot of their friends. They made it possible for me to learn more about very varied organizations who achieve a big contribution for youth development. I get introduced to a lot of difference members of the NFYOB and could have a look how they actually work...
One of the meetings I could join was a conference of a lot of different youth organizations of Bangladesh and a government representative. There I could learn more about how national projects are established.There will be hold a “youth festival” in the end of July. I was surprised in which short-term they want to organize such a big event. In Switzerland we would have started to plan an event like this minimum half a year before.
Some members of the National Youth Council (NYC) of Bangladesh showed me different projects of their member organizations. I’m deeply impressed by the moitree night school. This is a school for children who have to work during the day. The school is run by volunteers, especially students. To have well educated people is so important for a country. By reason of the enormous increase of population in Dhaka projects like this are required .An other meeting I could join was a discussion meeting organized by the NYCB. There have been collected ideas for projects about the “international year of youth” of the UN. They collected a lot of innovative proposals for special activities. I'm curious about to see which project they will realize. Maybe it would be a good idea also to contact youth organizations in other countries who are developing projects about the same issue. It is always a good idea to share experiences and proposals from others. It is very important that children and youth politics are gaining public importance, also with the international year of youth.
An other organization I could visit was the Azad Muslim Welfare Complex of Bangladesh. They run a lot of different projects on education, training of different skills for woman and they have a medical center for pregnant women. I was so pleased to see how good a local organization takes care of the poor. This people are really taking responsibility in society.
The youth organizations in Bangladesh work differently from the Swiss organizations, although they have similar problems. The mobilization of the youth for example is not always easy. The biggest difference between Bangladesh and Switzerland, apart from the economical differences, is the participation of young people in politics. Here in Bangladesh young people and its organizations are not involved in the political process. One reason for this is obviously the political system who is not as democratic as the Swiss system. The people don’t have yet the possibility to bring in any proposals. I think that in this field a lot of work has to be done by the Bengali organizations. From my point of view especially the NFYOB and the National Youth Council (NYC) of Bangladesh ought to think about how the youth can get involved in politics and they need to lobby for implement the youth policies.
My next weeks I will stay with “Hunger Free World” (HFW), this is a nonprofit Japanese organization who is run by local people. Under the ideal of “Creating Together, Working Together” , HFW is inspiring, mobilizing and creating an enabling environment so that the villagers themselves can create a sustainable future of their own.
I’m able to look forward to work on different projects with “Hunger Free World”. I will especially work with the members of “Youth Agains Hunger” (YAH), the Bengali wing of the worldwide organization “Youth Ending Hunger” (YEH).
Nightschool
Traffic in Dhaka
Some members of the National Youth Council (NYC) of Bangladesh showed me different projects of their member organizations. I’m deeply impressed by the moitree night school. This is a school for children who have to work during the day. The school is run by volunteers, especially students. To have well educated people is so important for a country. By reason of the enormous increase of population in Dhaka projects like this are required .An other meeting I could join was a discussion meeting organized by the NYCB. There have been collected ideas for projects about the “international year of youth” of the UN. They collected a lot of innovative proposals for special activities. I'm curious about to see which project they will realize. Maybe it would be a good idea also to contact youth organizations in other countries who are developing projects about the same issue. It is always a good idea to share experiences and proposals from others. It is very important that children and youth politics are gaining public importance, also with the international year of youth.
An other organization I could visit was the Azad Muslim Welfare Complex of Bangladesh. They run a lot of different projects on education, training of different skills for woman and they have a medical center for pregnant women. I was so pleased to see how good a local organization takes care of the poor. This people are really taking responsibility in society.
The youth organizations in Bangladesh work differently from the Swiss organizations, although they have similar problems. The mobilization of the youth for example is not always easy. The biggest difference between Bangladesh and Switzerland, apart from the economical differences, is the participation of young people in politics. Here in Bangladesh young people and its organizations are not involved in the political process. One reason for this is obviously the political system who is not as democratic as the Swiss system. The people don’t have yet the possibility to bring in any proposals. I think that in this field a lot of work has to be done by the Bengali organizations. From my point of view especially the NFYOB and the National Youth Council (NYC) of Bangladesh ought to think about how the youth can get involved in politics and they need to lobby for implement the youth policies.
My next weeks I will stay with “Hunger Free World” (HFW), this is a nonprofit Japanese organization who is run by local people. Under the ideal of “Creating Together, Working Together” , HFW is inspiring, mobilizing and creating an enabling environment so that the villagers themselves can create a sustainable future of their own.
I’m able to look forward to work on different projects with “Hunger Free World”. I will especially work with the members of “Youth Agains Hunger” (YAH), the Bengali wing of the worldwide organization “Youth Ending Hunger” (YEH).
Nightschool
Traffic in Dhaka