Green Voice describes itself as Bangladesh’s first and largest independent, voluntary environmental youth organisation. Besides working to protect the country’s environment and raise public awareness, it does various kinds of social and humanitarian work. It regularly takes initiatives to help Bangladesh cope with climate change, prevent plastic pollution and deforestation, and keep rivers, canals, wetlands, playing fields and parks free of encroachment.
How Green Voice began
In 2005, when trees were being felled indiscriminately in Bangladesh, rivers, canals and wetlands were being polluted and the use of plastic and polythene was rising sharply, a group of young people began to stir. To speak out about pollution of the environment, noise and water and to build public awareness, they launched Green Voice on 18 April 2005. They were led by the environmental organiser Md Alamgir Kabir and several far-sighted friends. The organisation has since grown into the largest of its kind in the country.
Its wing, Bohnishikha
Bohnishikha, a wing of Green Voice, has been working for the rights of women and children for five years. It aims to help girls develop physically, mentally, socially and intellectually and become self-reliant. Through its long work in the field, Green Voice came to see that women’s safety, development and rights are equally important in building a good society, and so the wing for women’s and children’s rights was formed in 2020.
Bohnishikha: women’s development in seven areas
Bohnishikha works on seven main pillars. It does not only build a woman’s capacity in terms of empowerment; it also makes her aware of economic self-reliance, technology education, self-defence training and legal matters.
Self-reliance: to depend on herself a woman must be skilled and capable. Through this she becomes economically independent, and that independence makes her accepted and respected by all.
Samajbidushi, the socially aware woman: its main aim is to take women who have fallen behind forward by giving them their rights. Those rights will be properly exercised only when a woman has morale, confidence and courage. With these she can face traditional superstitions and the various injustices prevailing in society.
The enlightened woman: there was a time when women were kept confined within four walls. Freed from those chains, Begum Rokeya used her creativity, boundless moral courage, sharp knowledge and keen intelligence to bring light to society. In the same way the women of this age must take a leading part in moving society towards change through education, knowledge, leadership and intelligence.
Women in technology: the main work of this branch is to make women skilled through training in various technical subjects, in step with the present world. Through this a woman can use various services online or become self-reliant through online income.
The strong woman: its main aim is to arrange various kinds of self-defence training for women in the hope of ensuring their safety. Through it a woman becomes confident and self-reliant as well as mentally strong, aware and brave, which contributes greatly to women’s empowerment. It also helps women stay confident in public speaking, presentations, running events, guiding a team and many other areas of work.
Women in service to others: its main aim is to stand beside a woman and give her courage. Giving women the right guidance when needed, giving moral support and building a bridge between a helpless woman and those who can help are also among this branch’s tasks.
The woman as ombudsman: its main work is to raise awareness of the law on the rights of women and children and to establish justice in society through the proper application of the law.
Every place of beauty holds the story of a community. When a tree is cut, more than a tree is lost; the stories of the many lives sheltered beneath it are lost too. When a field is lost, a generation’s childhood on the playing field is lost with it. Only if young people come forward to protect the environment can a beautiful world be handed on.
Above all, only if the rivers and trees survive will our nature, our communities and the stories of our lives endure.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report