Strengthened Civil Society Protects and Promotes Women’s Rights

The Daily Star and NETZ in partnership with WE CAN and DASCOH Foundation organised an online discussion titled “Strengthened Civil Society Protects and Promotes Women’s Rights” on April 24, 2021. The programme was supported by the European Union. A summary of the discussion is as follows.

The project ‘Strengthened Civil Society Protects and Promotes Women’s Rights (SCSPPWR)’ that began in 2018 with an aim to strengthen the grassroots civil society to actively enhance their operational space and direct it towards the protection of human rights and prevent violence based on gender and other identities. The project has been implementing in partnership with WE CAN, DASCOH Foundation, and NETZ with the financial assistance of the European Union.

Dr Max Stille, Executive Director, NETZ addressed the various factors contributing to this increase in domestic violence and child marriage and affirmed that the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are working twice as hard now to cope.

Sara Khatun, Programme Manager, NETZ talked about the project. Through this project, 3,200 civil society actors in 128 groups were organised and regular dialogues with 1,600 representatives from 44 public authorities were arranged; training had been provided to 160 marriage registrars and 40 female police officers on Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) and Domestic Violence Protection Act (DVA). So far, 1,501 gender-based violence (GBV) cases have been reported by the CSOs and addressed with combined initiatives and at least 300 child marriages have been successfully halted. 13,000 students were made aware of gender and rights issues. 660 girls received self- defense training and transferred those skills to 2,000 girls in their community. Girls and boys have prepared 96 harassment maps to stop GBV at public places in their locality and have taken steps to address those with teachers and their local authorities.. She also addressed that there is a gap in implementation of the existing law.

A significant number of high profile guests from different backgrounds were present at this roundtable, starting from people in the government to academic institutions, CSOs, INGOs, NGOs and activists. They contributed their valuable inputs in the discussion. The name and designation of the guests is as follows-

1. Mohammad Golam Sarwar, Assistant Professor, Department of Law, University of Dhaka
2. Sultana Yasmin, Convenor, Athail-Shimul CSO, Iswardi Upazila, Pabna
3. Munira Begum, CS alliance member, Chapainawabganj Sadar, Chapainawabganj
4. Imdadul Haque Rana, UP Chairman, Shara Union
5. Provati Mahato, Upazila Women’s Affairs Officer, Nachole
6. Md Nazmul Hamid Reza, UNO, Porsha
7. Shamima Begum, Joint Commissioner (Transport), DMP
8. Sheepa Hafiza, Gender Specialist
9. Halima Tus Sadia, Convener, Student Forum, Shishu Bohumukhi High School
10. Akramul Haque, CEO, DASCOH Foundation
11. Jinat Ara Haque, Executive Coordinator, We Can
12. Meghna Guhathakurta, Executive Director, Research Initiatives Bangladesh (RIB)
13. Sadeka Halim, Professor, Dhaka University
14. Selina Ahmed, Programme Head, Gender Justice and Diversity, BRAC
15. Sharmin Islam, Gender Analyst, UNDP, Bangladesh
16. Laila Jasmin Banu, Programme Manager, Governance and Human Rights, Delegation of the European Union
17. Dr. Abul Hossain, National Consultant, UNDP and Former Project Director, Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MoWCA)
18. Sultana Kamal, Former Advisor and Renowned Human Rights Activist
19. Aroma Datta, Hon’ble Member of Parliament
20. Shahidul Islam, Director, NETZ
21. Shamsuddoza Sajen, Editor, Commercial Supplements, The Daily Star