Sylhet Bureau

The inception of Shomotay Tarunno: Youth for Equality Project was held in Sylhet on Monday while three other inception events were held in Mymensingh, Chattogram and Rajshahi earlier February.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) has funded the four-year-long project, which will be jointly implemented by Plan International Bangladesh and JAAGO Foundation Trust in all eight divisions in Bangladesh till November 2027.

Earlier in July 2024, the project was launched in Dhaka, Khulna, Rangpur and Barishal divisions while the national level project launching was held in November 2024 with the vision of preventing gender-based violence, strengthening youth and youth-led organizations and breaking negative gender stereotypes.

Representatives from divisional and district level government offices, youth-led organizations, media professionals, local content creators, social media influencers, and the project implementing team were present at the events.

Attending the project inception event in Sylhet, G. M. Faruk, Deputy Director, Department of Youth Development (DYD), Sylhet, said “Youths can be changemaker of a nation. We want our youths to be self-reliant and they can contribute to the nation-building.”

He also urged the youths to be engaged in social activities preventing early marriage, eve-teasing, drug addiction etc.

Md Abdur Rafique, Deputy Director, District Social Services Office, emphasized knowledge on gender and discrimination. There must be a discrimination-free nation for development, he added.

Mohammad Rafiqul Haque, Assistant Director, District Social Services Office, Sylhet, said “Let the boys first be changed as the girls can go outside after evening and feel safe.”

Md Zakirul Islam, District Officer, Family Planning Association (FPA) of Bangladesh, Sylhet, emphasized the engagement of local government offices for sustainability of the project.

Md Aminuzzaman Chowdhury, Assistant Director, Youth Development Office, Sylhet, also spoke at the event.

Shomotay Tarunno Project at a glance:

Shomotay Tarunno Project is engaging youth and youth-led organizations, media professionals (print, electronic, online), local youth content creators, and social media influencers as direct participants. The project is also collaborating with four Ministries, academic institutions, media houses as strategic partners.

The project will engage 13,515 individuals as project direct participants. Of them- 12,690 youths of 252 local youth-led organizations, 75 members of the National Youth Council, 350 local content creators & social media influencers, and 475 media professionals, education institute authorities, teachers and government officials.

The project will also reach 2 million people through awareness activities through digital media campaign, and related media activities to convey the message on gender equality and breaking negative gender stereotypes in Bangladesh society.