Push to empower char children to build discrimination-free Bangladesh

GAIBANDHA, Aug 19: Speakers at a function called for empowering children living in hard-to-reach char areas to help build a discrimination-free Bangladesh.

“If we ensure rights, education, health care and other basic services for char children, they can become responsible citizens and play a significant role in the country’s development,” they said. “The government should bring char children into the mainstream of development while ensuring their fundamental rights.”

They made the remarks at an inception meeting of a project titled “Ensuring Rights, Empowering Char Children (Shokti)” at the conference room of the Gaibandha Sadar Upazila Parishad on Tuesday noon.

Friendship, an international social-purpose organisation that has worked for the overall development of char communities in Gaibandha and neighbouring Kurigram since 2010, organised the meeting to brief upazila-level government officials and other stakeholders.

Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sobuz Kumar Boshakh chaired the meeting. 

Project Manager Mosarrof Hossain presented an overview of the project’s activities using a multimedia projector. 

He said the five-year project, funded by KNH Germany, would operate in three char unions - Kamarjani, Mollarchar and Gidari - in the Brahmaputra River basin under Sadar Upazila. The project will cover all children in the three unions and focus on their protection, health, education and access to social safety-net services, he said. 

Md Yunus, district coordinator of Friendship, and other senior officials answered questions from participants during an open discussion.