On 12 August 2021, SAVE Youth organized an interactive youth seminar on “Young people matter: Indengionus and female youth participation in the time of crisis” to celebrate the International Day of World Indigenous People and the International Youth Day 2021. The program was supported by UKAID and IFES. Distinguished professors, NGO personnel, and young participants embraced the program with their thoughts and views. Dr. Sadeka Halim, a professor and the dean of the faculty of social science at the University of Dhaka, was the keynote speaker of the program. The country director of IFES in Bangladesh and Srilanka, Silja Paasilinna was the guest of honor of the program. Fatema Samina Yasmin, who is an assistant professor and the moderator of SAVE Youth, University of Dhaka, and Afzalur Rahman, an assistant professor and the moderator of SAVE Youth, University of Chittagong, moderated the seminar. However, the seminar was divided into three panels. The first panel had faculty members and NGO professionals. The second panel had representatives from the Indigenous community. The third panel had representation from female youth participants.
The program started with the welcome speech by Fatema Samina Yasmin. In her speech, she appreciated and addressed youth participation in building society and introduced the other panelists. Before starting the panel discussions, Tawkir al Farabi played harmonious flute music, which grabbed everyone’s attention.
The guest of honor of the program was Silja Paasilinna, country director of IFES. In the program, she discussed the indigenous Sámi people of Norway, Sweden, and Finland who are deprived of their human rights. She addressed the contribution of indigenous people in art and culture. She tried to relate the context of Europe to Bangladesh discussing the indigenous community. In her speech, She told how young people came forward to protect the rights of the Sámi people in Finland and she inspired youths from Bangladesh to protect others’ rights. She mentioned, “Humanity is about diversity” to figure out how diversity is important to have an inclusive society.
The keynote speaker of the program Dr. Sadeka Halim presented her findings from a research project titled “Indigenous Communities in Bangladesh: Issues and Challenges”. At the beginning of her presentation, She addressed youth people for taking responsibility in the pandemic then she started with the definition of Youth. Then she depicted her concern about the recognition of the Indigenous community in the constitution of Bangladesh. She explained why the word “Tribal” is a derogatory remark and she suggested to everyone to use “Small Indigenous community or Indigenous people” rather than using Tribe. She discussed how the word “Adibashi” has become a problem and a debate in Bangladesh. In her presentation, she showed the situation of Indigenous people from different aspects. She told about the condition of Indigenous people in Plainland and Chittagong hill tracts, Indigenous peoples struggle to retain customary ownership of land, their income and expenditure status, and their livelihood. She addressed the significant impact of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to sign the peace treaty with Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti. She has also discussed the development projects on Indigenous people’s land and the shift of their livelihood. At the ending of her presentation, she advised the youth to take lead to support humanity and diversity, culture, and history. She concluded her speech by answering a few questions from the youth students’ audience.
The speakers of the second panel were Hla Thoaiching Marma, Probin Tripura, and Tuhin Chaka. They have represented their respective indigenous community in the panel discussion. The panel was hosted by SAVE Chittagong University moderator Afzalur Rahman.
In the panel, The indigenous youth leaders discussed their contribution, challenges, and impacts in the time of crisis.
Probin Chakma in the time of crisis helped indigenous youth to learn different soft skills and 21st centuries skills. Tuhin Chakma helped the indigenous community to learn Bengali which affected their education positively. Thoaiching Marma helped indigenous students to ensure mental wellbeing and health issues. He also helped the vulnerable indigenous community by providing them food, health, and hygiene support and He positively impacted fifteen thousand people at the time of the pandemic.
The speakers of the third panel were Nushrat Jahan Tani, Fairoze Maliha Afra, Atia Sanjida Sushoma, and Nabila Islam Ridi. The panel was hosted by SAVE Dhaka University moderator Fatema Samina Yasmin. In the panel, the female youth leaders discussed their initiatives and contribution to society and their challenges.
Nushrat Jahan Tani was involved in food and relief distribution, teaching and training to different youth groups, and organizing different healthcare support, awareness, and social engagement events. In her philanthropic activities, handling her family was a challenge. They didn’t support her going outside in the Coronavirus outbreak.
Fairoze Maliha Afra in the time of covid-19 promoted gender equality through digital storytelling. She produced a video that gained one thousand views on Youtube. In her challenge, she mentioned cyberbullying and the potential future threats to be harassed online.
Atia Sanjida Sushoma was involved in a study on the Hijra community in Bogura.District. Her study collected data about the livelihood of the Hijra community in the Covid-19 in Rural and Urban areas. For being a woman she faced security challenges. Her peers, classmates, and family members were scared of her security.
Nabila Islam Ridi completed her thesis exploring the challenges of the differently able child especially the child with autism in the Covid-19. Although the child needs physical support and eye contact to understand anything; in her study, she explored differently able children are also adjusting to the new method of learning. Ridi experienced how people criticize differently able children and the misconceptions about the child during her thesis project. As a challenge, she mentioned reaching people to collect data.
Sayed Md. Jahedul Islam presented his activities during the pandemic to inspire the youth. He has contributed at the grassroots level. His primary focus of work was Relief distribution, Free admission coaching for university admission candidates, Tree plantation, and different research projects. He has also contributed to run a health camp. He participated in a Beat Policing conference with a marginalized community by Bangladesh Police and discussed on causes and effects of violence. He came up with some recommendations for youth at the end of his presentation.
The national moderator of SAVE Youth and the Director of MGR, Aynul Islam took the lead to the program and conclude the panel discussion with closing remarks. In the closing remarks, he appreciated the intervention of youth and inspired the youth to intervene more in society.