Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) has been implemented the project titled Connecting and Empowering Voices for Just, Inclusive and Peaceful Society project supported by Switzerland in Bangladesh
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-16 focuses on inclusive societies, democracy, strong institutions, justice and rule of law. SDG-16 is the key goal and the driver of all other sustainable goals. BNNRC aimed at fostering public debate for sustainable development for a peaceful and inclusive society. There is an intrinsic link between SDG-16 and SDG implementation.
To foster public debate and sensitize stakeholders for the meeting of these issues at the national and community level is very essential. BNNRC has been fostering public debates and sensitizing stakeholders at the national and community level with special emphasis on SDGs localization for a peaceful and inclusive society.
Goal: Enabling Environment to fight against poverty and injustice to contribute to sustainable inclusive development through SDG:16.
Objective: Men and women are empowered and connected to making a just, inclusive, and peaceful society.
Outcome 1: Institutions are engaged in public debate and policy advocacy for a peaceful and inclusive society
Outcome 2: Voice and participation of the youth and vulnerable communities in localization of SDG-16 is enhanced and amplified
Output-1: Institutions are engaged in public debate and policy advocacy for a peaceful and inclusive society
Output -2 Stakeholders enhance their participation and voice on the SDG-16 implementation process
Engage Youth and Youth women through social media for Employment generation project sensitized and engaged youth and other groups disadvantaged people and marginalized communities. This support will enable the beneficiaries to learn, demand and access their rights to information and services for bringing positive changes in their lives and livelihood generating employment opportunity. The project also sensitized local government officials, civil society and policy makers through a participatory consultative process to identify policy gaps, provide recommendations and initiate adaptive measures for implementation of SDG-16.
Engage youth for employment generation through social media has been playing a significant role. The project engaged youths for employment generation employees in your social strategy to keep them more engaged at work while extending your social reach and involve them for their empowerment. Getting youths involved in social media allows they are most likely to trust and create some innovative ideas for their development. At the same time, it allows them to showcase their initiatives and expertise.
Hyperlocal process has been used for relating to or focusing the youth of the remote areas beyond the connectivity on matters concerning a small community or geographical specific area through social media. We have disseminated different materials to the hyperlocal youth through using social media like Facebook, YouTube and Skype.
Economic growth has been a central focus of development. But the economic situation of the Dalit communities is more vulnerable. Their distance from policy-making urban centers casts a double cloak of invisibility over women in this community.
Goal, objectives, results of the project
The Goal of the project was to create employment opportunity for youth engage social media. The Objective of the project was Youth and Youth women are empowered and connected through social media for empowerment using social media. The result of the project was the institutions are engaged in providing support youth and youth women for developing an inclusive society.
Voice and participation of the youth and vulnerable communities in employment generation is enhanced and amplified. Youth and the mainstream and community media improve their capacity to participate in the empowerment proces
Replicability
The project is possible to replicate for all over the country with the participation all community people. Engage youth and youth women through social media under SDG 16 Localization focuses on inclusive societies, democracy, strong institutions, justice and rule of law. SDG-16 is the key goal and the driver of all other sustainable goals. BNNRC aimed at fostering public debate for sustainable development for a peaceful and inclusive society. There is an intrinsic link between SDG-16 and SDG implementation and empowering the youths through social media. To foster public debate and sensitize stakeholders for convergence of these issues at the national and community level is very essential. Progress in implementation of SDG-16 is much better in Bangladesh due to wide focus of the Government on the goal, widen civil society space to raise concerns that are sensitive in nature for the Government and also lack of peoples’ awareness on accessing their rights to information. Considering the importance of the issue need to foster public debates and sensitize stakeholders at the national and community level with special emphasis on SDGs localization for a peaceful and inclusive society.
Sustainability
The ability of the community youth and youth women is enhanced through the interventions of social media under SDG-16 localization for community people including involving youths thus they can take the initiative to cope with the practice and respective community and employment generation for them and support other youths for their employment. The youths and community media have been incorporated the issues of their regular program and content development and trying to sensitize the issue of employment creation through their regular programs. How this topic has been discussed and shaped by youth and youth women, the community media, local administration, civil society and academics.
The youth and youth women learned what the message looked like and how it might have been interpreted by audiences. Explain to someone else why it is important that we think about this issue carefully. Understand and critique the role of technology and the ‘new gatekeepers’ in enabling the community raise their awareness and participation to develop an inclusive society. Identify emerging best practices within the news industry for catching issue for their development and creation of employment opportunity.
Contribution to the implementations of WSIS Action Lines and the Sustainable Development Goals
The project has been addressed Action Line C-7 (e-Employment).
Until the introduction of the concept in the Community Radio did not have proper knowledge on SDG-16 Localization in Bangladesh. It is indeed a new topic that BNNRC introduced for Community Media in Bangladesh. The interventions have generated ideas about SDG-16 Localization in Bangladesh, especially at the grassroots level. Bangladeshi community media learned the skills to produce unbiased, high-quality in-depth reporting and investigations which will ensure effective public access to reliable and timely information for SDG-16 Localization and keeping lives & livelihood easy of community people in all aspects of life through connecting, empowering and voicing of community people through the interventions.
The program is facilitating Goal 4: Quality Education, Goal: 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, Goal: 10: Reduced Inequality, Goal: 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal. The initiative promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels, providing access to information and knowledge to people is also important to fostering tolerance between people and contributes to more peaceful societies through promoting the opportunity for the youth and youth women for their employment generation.
Impact
Youth and Youth women are empowered and connected for making a just, inclusive, and peaceful society through engage them in social media for their employment generation. The Community Radio stations with their new technologies and ideas are working for SDG-16 Localization and involve their social media also for disseminating their ideas and innovations to the youth and youth women especially unconnected area. The initiatives greater analytical depth and skills to broadcast programs for employment generation and youth and youth women are received ideas for developing an inclusive society as well as their empowerment.
Deepened their critical understanding of how social media can better serve open societies in a vastly expanded media environment, Understood the factors that drive trust in community media and how much trust can be sustained or rebuilt especially in the social media. Being able to explain to someone else why social media are working matters to engage youth and youths women in employment generation.
Youth and youth women are empowered and connected for making a just, inclusive, and peaceful society The Community Radio stations with their new technologies and ideas are working for SDG-16 Localization and engage them in employment generation for them and other youths in th community. The initiatives greater analytical depth and skills to broadcast programs for localization and the people are received ideas and inclusive society
Deepened their critical understanding of how community media can better serve open societies in a vastly expanded media environment, Understood the factors that drive trust in community media and how much trust can be sustained or rebuilt. Being able to explain to someone else why community radios are working matters.
Amplifying voice: This pertains to role as decision-makers in public and private spheres including politics and promotion of their leadership is considered here. Changed attitudes enhanced knowledge of their rights, and increasing their bargaining power are reflected in.
Create an enabling environment for advancement: Improve the socio-political pace, legal and policy support, and congenial social norms for the women. Oversight, enforcement of laws, regular collection of sex-disaggregated data, gender and social analysis skills including the capacity to develop, implement, and monitor gender strategies, understanding of gender issues too.
Increase economic benefits: Women’s access to productive assets, resources, services, skills, property, employment, income, information, technology, financial services, and other economic opportunities including community resources like land, water, forest, etc.
Improve Influencing power: Demanding issue-based solutions to achieve wellbeing and resilience of community and supporting people to hold local power holders accountable.
Challenges
The theme of Engage youth and youth women in employment generation using social media is comparatively new idea in Bangladesh and it would be challenging to introduce the issue to all media.
Mobilizing media on the theme would be a huge task with limited data and information from the ground. The media outlets need to understand more about what is SDG-16 Localization. The social media need to know where to look for these causes and solutions. Lack of experienced resource persons to train the media is another challenge faced by the social media.
The interventions have certainly generated tremendous enthusiasm among the participating youth and youth women which encourages the media outlets to further plan and design how best to extend and expand the ideas among the community.
Extended description
Project’s description (activity’s description)
- Organize Issue-based Social Open discussion using social media:
- Develop and Broadcast programs on progress, challenges, and way forward on the 10 Targets of SDG-16 through social media:
- Digital storytelling through social media on 10 targets of SDG-16
- Develop and Broadcast program on amplifying youth and youth women voices and participation in SDGs opportunities through social media:
- Fellowship for disadvantaged youth and youth women on SDGs
localization using social media
Importance of Partnership
The project was implemented through the partnership with the Community Radio Stations and through using their social media in Bangladesh. The partnership is important to implement any new and innovative ideas and crucial for capacity building for the implementation of any new initiative. Capacity building involves empowering individuals and organizations with the knowledge, tools, and other resources they need to reach their goals. Partners’ support was also important for strengthening skills in achieving the goal of the project.