To build social leadership skills of young people and promote youth volunteerism in Bangladesh, Department of Youth Development (DYD), Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the British Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the Ministry of Youth and Sports on Thursday, 29 July 2018.
The MoU signing ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. A.B.M. Ruhul Azad, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. A.N. Ahammad Ali, Director General (Additional Charge), Department of Youth Development; Ms. Barbara Wickham, Director Bangladesh, British Council, Dr. Shahnaz Karim, Director Society, British Council. Mr. Md. Ashadul Islam, Secretary, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the Chief Guest.
By signing this MoU, DYD and the British Council will work together to develop a pool of facilitators who will be using British Council’s ‘Active Citizens’ methodology and training toolkit to support young people across Bangladesh in building their social leadership skills. The trained young people will carry out social action projects in their community on various social themes after receiving their leadership training. After successful completion of the training and social action project, each young people will be awarded a certificate jointly signed by the DYD and the British Council.
N. Ahammad Ali, Director General (Additional Charge) of Department of Youth Development said, “We are really happy today to make this partnership with the British Council as we have our common vision to empower the young generation of Bangladesh. Through this partnership, DYD will reach out to around 2000 young people across 64 districts to support them in building their leadership skills. This trained young people will act as change agents in their local community and deliver social action projects to solve local issues.”
Barbara Wickham, Director Bangladesh, British Council said, “The British Council is delighted to be partnering with Department of Youth Development to build the leadership skills of young people across the country. The next generation of young people in Bangladesh have a key role to play in improving the overall socio-economic status of the country and our flagship youth social leadership programme Active Citizens has already supported nearly 40,000 young people to develop the skills they and the country need. Through this collaboration, we look forward to working with even more future leaders.”
Mr. Ashadul Islam, Honourable Secretary of Ministry of Youth and Sports, said, “To achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) along with Government’s vision 2021 and 2041, it is essential to ensure youth’s participation at every level including local, national and international. From the Ministry of Youth and Sports, we have taken number of initiatives to build leadership and entrepreneurial capacity of young people. I truly believe that our partnership with the British Council will enable us to jointly offer a globally standard leadership programme to the young people of Bangladesh as well as giving them an opportunity to be connected in a global network of Active Citizens.
