On 1 July 2020, six young Bangladeshi change-makers were presented with The Diana Award. The award is given to the youth as recognition for their humanitarian efforts and their relentless work to bring in social changes in Bangladesh. Meet the young change-makers of the nation:
In 2017, Sabira Mehrin- an IBA graduate founded ‘Wander Woman‘ to make traveling accessible for Bangladeshi women from all backgrounds. Being a travel enthusiast herself, she recognized how difficult it for women to break the stigma against women traveling in her country. The lack of information and help made it more difficult for women to curate their trips within budgets. Wander women stepped in to organize both domestic and international trips for women at affordable rates. It has since then grown into a global network of over 30,000 female travel enthusiasts.
Rafiul Haque Anter is the organizing secretary of ‘Volunteer for Bangladesh‘. He has been working for the JAAGO foundation to provide education for the underprivileged children in Bangladesh for the past seven years. His most notable work, ‘Sponsor a Child’ Campaign raised $40,000 from over 150 sponsors to fund education for the poor children. He is recognized for his contributions to raising awareness regarding water pollution and the need for eco-friendly transportations in Bangladesh. He developed projects and includes the youth to bring in impactful changes in society.
Shah Rafaya co-founded ‘Footsteps Bangladesh’ that addresses the social challenges around education, health, and the environment. His team works to provide the underprivileged communities with proper education, safe drinking water, better sanitization, and prepare them with effective disaster response. In 2015,’ Footsteps’ initiated the project “Trishna” to help marginalized communities with safe drinking water. This campaign has been very successful in gaining global recognizing and funds for ‘Footsteps’. The project is currently running to provide safe water for over 75,000 people across the country. Furthermore, Shah was nominated as one of the 16 inspirational young leaders around the globe in 2018.
Sakia Haque co-founded ‘Travelettes of Bangladesh’ back in 2016. It is an online platform that brings in women travelers around Bangladesh to share their experiences and travel guides. She took her traveling opportunities and started the initiative, “Narir Chokhe Bangladesh”. She and her team went on motorbike trips to conduct sessions in rural schools across the country. She emphasized on menstrual education, self-defense, and essential health care throughout these sessions. Her project reached over 23,000 young women across 64 districts of the country, educating them regarding social issues that are nevertheless considered as taboos.
Muhammad Jahirul Islam graduated from the Canadian University of Bangladesh and started to teach street kids voluntarily. In 2016, he founded Ignite Youth Foundation (IYF). The organization aims to alleviate poverty by providing quality education for underprovided children in rural areas. Jahirul helped to establish a school to facilitate 67 poor children back in 2016. This imitative gathered around 23,000 local and international volunteers. Jahirul Islam is planning to open IT centers with modern technologies to provide the best training institutes for students from rural regions. He intends to establish IYF schools in every district across Bangladesh.
Sheikh Inzamamuzzaman is a graduate from Ahsanullah University who has always been compassionate about the welfare of the disabled community. He founded ‘Study Buddy‘ back in 2018. It is an initiative that uses interactive approaches to teach children with learning difficulties. Sheikh provides children with special learning tools and professionals to teach them through augmented reality and games. He reached out to over 1000 children and 1500 parents through this program. Study Buddy has over 4000 volunteers working to interact with children with special learning needs and their parents.
