Six Bangladeshis in Women Deliver Young Leaders Class of 2020

Women Deliver, a US-based development agency announced the name of 300 young change makers from around the world who are dedicated to promoting gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Chosen from more than 5,600 applicants from 96 countries, this year, six Bangladeshi young leaders were among the selected participants for the class of 2020. They are: Mohsina Aktar, Sohanur Rahman, Nafisa Tasneem, Nowshin Chowdhury, Tanjila Mazumder Drishti and Saadman Faisal.

Mohsina Aktar is currently working as a Program Coordinator at Community Development for Peace. She is actively involved in issues related to sanitation practices in urban slums as well as reproductive health of young girls.

Sohanur Rahman is the Chief Executive of Bangladesh Model Youth Parliament and a member of Climate Action Network South Asia committee. As Co-Founder and Coordinator at YouthNet for Climate Justice, he works with strategic partnership, resource mobilization and training programmes.

Nafisa Tasneem is a Medical Officer at Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Hospital. Additionally, Nafisa is a volunteer medical assistance provider in the Narail district, and provides free medical services through social media and works with issues related to male engagement and reproductive health among others.

Tanjila Mazumder, Nowshin Chowdhury and Saadman Faisal are employees of BRAC. Senior Manager at BRAC, Tanjila Majumder Drishti is responsible for leading a team to oversee knowledge management, communications, partnership management, and advocacy projects for BRAC’s health programme that reaches 110 million people across Bangladesh each year. She generally highlights issues related to the multi-dimensional effects of child marriage, a data-driven referral system reducing maternal deaths in Bangladesh and access to services for the urban poor.

Saadman Faisal is a Social Inclusion Officer at BRAC Bangladesh. Additionally, he is a Youth Advocate at Youth Ag Summit. He generally highlights issues related to LGBTQIA+ rights on education and training in developing nations, economic empowerment of women and LGBTQIA+ populations and the effect of climate and environment on women in developing countries.

Working as a Deputy Manager of Communication and Knowledge Management at BRAC, Nowshin Chowdhury ensures partnership and knowledge management of the urban programme, which works across 500 slums in Bangladesh in slum upgrading. Additionally, Nowshin is the Communication Focal at the United Nations Youth Advisory Panel under Bangladesh UNICEF, an Associate Fellow at the Royal Commonwealth Society, and an activist with Activista.

Over the next two years, the selected change makers will receive training and resources to extend their influence for gender equality and actively shape programmes and policies that affect the health and rights of the youth. They will also participate in the Women Deliver 2022 Conference, which is the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women.

Women Deliver is a leading global advocate that champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women. Started in 2010, the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program connects passionate young advocates with the platforms, people, and resources to amplify their influence on a larger scale. With an emphasis on sexual and reproductive health and rights, Women Deliver promotes the work of young people taking a stand for gender equality. The programme has reached 1,000 young advocates from 148 countries so far.

Source: The Daily Star