The Council of Minorities, a Human Rights Organization which works for establishing the Rights of different minority communities in Bangladesh organised the National Annual Minority Leadership Summit – 2021 on “Skill & Empowerment in The New Normal” it has been held from 19 to 21 October, 2021 at the NGO Forum for Public Health, Dhaka. This year, at the summit, Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), Brac University, Nagorik Uddyog, and Nationality for All are participating as knowledge partners for the event.
Manzoor Hasan, Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), Brac University inaugurated the session. Taposh Kanti, Advocate, Subin Mulmi, Executive Director, Nationality for All and Hannah Sholder, (Urban Planner) from USA were Guest speakers at the Summit. Sholder joined the inauguration session through online, discussed land rights and sharing her experience on community-led development projects. The event included presentations and discussions on Minority Reports by Monjurul Islam, Nagorik Uddyog and a recorded Statement from Dr. Fernand de Varennes, United Nations Special Rapporteur. Khalid Hussain, the Chief Executive of Council of Minorities delivered his opening remarks, and the event was moderated by Shahariar Sadat, Director, Academic and Legal Empowerment at CPJ.
At this part of the summit Dr. Motahar Akand, Chairperson of Right Centre Trust and Nilufa Sultana Sheta, Programme Coordinator of CPJ facilitated the leadership training through some engaging activities and focused on philosophy of law for the recognition, protection and fulfillment of rights, difference between gender and sex, gender division of labor through card clustering activity, and power walk exercise discussion. They also conducted brain storming and group work exercises to understand community needs, and taking action to resolve the issues.
On the second day of the summit, Parveen S. Huda, Consultant of Human Resources Development Facilitated, a session on developing personal skill and creating opportunity for higher education.
Coline Schupfer and Sumaiya Islam, Senior Programme Manager of OSJI joined the closing session through online, Zakir Hossain, Chief Executive, Nagorik Uddyog and Sanjeeb Drong, General Secretary at Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum participated as a guest speaker and delivered a vote of gratitude to everyone that has worked hard to make this event successful. They congratulated the 45 young participant from 13 different minorities’ communities across the country for their amazing endeavors all along this National Annual Minority Leadership Summit and aspired on Skill & Empowerment in The New Normal. Finally, Certificates of participation were provided to every participant at the summit.