Dhaka: Twenty-five young political leaders affiliated with Bangladesh Awami League (AL), Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jatiya Party (JaPa) graduated on Thursday from the `Young Leaders Fellowship Program.’ Democracy International (DI) awarded the young leaders with graduation certificates during the ceremony held at the Golden Tulip The Grandmark Dhaka.Top political leaders participated in the graduation ceremony including Barrister Biplab Barua, Special Assistant to the honorable Prime Minister and Deputy Office Secretary, Central Working Committee, Bangladesh Awami League; Azizul Bari Helal, Information Affairs Secretary, National Executive Committee, BNP; and Golam Mohammad Raju, Joint Secretary General, Central Executive Committee, Jatiya Party. The leaders voiced their support for strengthening youth leadership in parties to build a tolerant and participatory political environment in Bangladesh. USAID Mission Director Derrick Brown also provided congratulatory remarks as special guest at the occasion.
This 13 th fellowship program began in June 2019 and the fellows have completed monthly residential trainings in Dhaka on topics including internal party democracy, campaign management, media relations, and strategic political communications. In their districts, the fellows worked together across party lines to solve key issues in their communities including waterlogging, resolving mosquito infestation, road reconstruction, and restoring water reservoirs. During the graduation ceremony, the young leaders shared success stories of their cross-party advocacy campaigns with their top party leaders.
Since 2012, over 300 mid-level grassroots and national political young leaders have graduated from the Young Leaders Fellowship Program. The fellows have engaged over 15,000 youth activists in advocacy campaigns and other programs in their communities. This program was organized under the Strengthening Political Landscape (SPL) project co-funded by USAID and UKaid and implemented by DI.
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