Bangladesh has the scope of being a future leader of countries where the youth have the space to be successful policymakers.

The Youth Development Department has been making strenuous efforts along with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to transform the youth segment of the country into an organised and productive power. It needs to be mentioned that Bangladesh is facing a paradoxical situation when it comes to tackling issues concerning youth.

Youth in Bangladesh account for approximately 48 million of the total population. However, opportunities for this segment have been scant as reflected by the high unemployment rate in Bangladesh.

Failing to utilise their potential has a deep impact on the socioeconomic future of Bangladesh and its push towards achieving the status of a middle-income country. Lack of guidance and safe space for expression is driving Bangladeshi youth to increasingly feel alienated, making them vulnerable to radicalisation and unlawful activities.

Youth organisations, NGOs and voluntary organisations play important roles in the development and welfare of youth in Bangladesh. Some organisations have performed tremendously well in upholding the role of young people in the country’s development, especially over the last three decades.

Different roles for development

Most youth organisations work to eliminate poverty, improve education, and empower youth in the grassroots. Other organisations with similar focus include:

Relief and welfare organisations: These organisations are working to provide relief support. These organisations step in to support the affected people in case of a disaster, natural or man-made.

Service organisations: These organisations deliver services to the targeted segment. For example, some organisations  work  specifically  for  the Dalit community, others with persons with disabilities, while others focus on violence against women and children.

Funding organisations: These organisations  operate  as  conduits  of foreign  donors.  They  are  engaged  in making grants to organisations and enable local NGOs find foreign assistance.

Networking/coordinating organisations:   These   organisations work to facilitate mutual sharing of learning and experiences and also promote mutual support and co-operation among the community.

Development organisations: These organisations operate to mobilise people in poverty through education and awareness so that they can nurture their development activities into success stories.

Consulting organisations: These organisations provide consulting services to the government, donor agencies and other actors for successful completion of the programmes.

Youth empowerment

The Government of Bangladesh is morally entrusted to empower the youth for the overall development of the country. There are many skills development initiatives by the government, ones that especially focus on rural development through self-help. These initiatives include vocational training in shorthand and typewriting, watch repairing, radio mechanism, carpentry, photography, training on home management and childcare, nutrition, family planning, etc.

Entities like youth clubs operate as training and production centres with the aim to build income generation among marginalised groups such as women from rural areas, unemployed youth and landless labour. These centres also work on the reduction of illiteracy, development of health, nutrition and education so that young people, no matter where they are from, can develop awareness and participate in important decision-making.

Non-profit organisations like BRAC, Plan, Save the Children, Asia Foundation, and CARE work for youth empowerment in both rural and urban Bangladesh.

Microcredit programme

Imparting skills and vocational training are not enough to reduce unemployment, as employment opportunity in the formal sector is not proportional to the unemployment rate. In order to get the desired result, it is necessary to create self-employment opportunities.

However, due to poverty, even after receiving training on different trades, many young people fail to adopt self-employment projects. On the other hand, in the absence of collateral resources, youth from disadvantaged backgrounds have limited access to loans from the formal sector and thus normally depend on the informal sector where the cost of finance is traditionally high.

Taking in the reality that in order to properly utilise human resources and expedite the youth empowerment process, organisations such as BRAC, ASA, Grameen Bank and other voluntary associations have focused on collateral-free credit programme. The main aim of these organisations is to direct their programmes towards integrating the youth into the empowerment process through self-employment and income generating activities.

They have a provision to reward and grant the youth and youth organisations (in cash and material) for their exceptional performance in self-employment, income generation, skills training, mobilisation of resources etc.

Data shows that most of the participants (58 per cent) have made profit from these projects. Rest could not make profit due to natural calamities, paying off previous loans from present credit, using the money in unproductive sector and non-cooperation of family members.

BRAC, ASA, Grameen Bank among others operate microcredit programmes through a ‘target group’ approach. The target population consists of communities in the remotest regions, most of who are young. This approach has increased the labour force participation rate and improved the overall socioeconomic condition of the country.

Other organisations, networks and programmes

Youth-led organisations and networks exist in almost every district of Bangladesh. Engaging rural youth increases the overall success rate of awareness campaigns, leading to better exposure in the international arena. JAAGO Foundation, Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD), Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Youth Engagement and Support (YES) platforms, Red Cross Society, Bangladesh Girl Guides Association are some of the renowned organisations in this sector. They work on selected areas along with cross-cutting issues related to the youth of the country.

For example, JAAGO Foundation mostly works towards the betterment of people living below the poverty line. Additionally, they focus on quality education and professional growth.

Volunteer for Bangladesh is a platform where young people learn new skills. So far, volunteers have been arranging diverse programmes on education, environment, health, law and rights, human rights, civic participation and democratic engagement for community development.

YES focuses on sensitising and nurturing strong ethical values and democratic governance amongst young people primarily at the local level and, on a limited scale at the national level, through cultural and other activities.

TIB believes that young people have the potential to transform their respective communities and tangibly fight corruption. Whereas older generations may have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, the youth are usually more open to change and have the courage and strength to actively seek out that change.

Red Crescent Society has a youth wing named Red Crescent Youth. They have been implementing different activities like first aid training, health awareness training, orientation of HIV, anti-stigma campaigns, establishing flower gardens and book banks, organising inter-school games, debates, painting and essay competitions, improving sanitation facilities, providing books and stationary materials to orphans and poor students etc in 50 schools of every year.

Bangladesh Girl Guides Association also played an important role in the development of Bangladesh 374,300 young members. They offer leadership training to girls and young women.

In addition, guiding has been incorporated into the student curriculum at the Government Physical Education College and at the Primary Teachers’ Training Institute. Every year more than 80 young women participate in training. Guiding is also an integral part of the secondary school curriculum for girls.

The main objective of Bangladesh Scout is to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens and members of local, national and international communities.

Apart from all these renowned institutions, there are 50 other youth-led organisations throughout Bangladesh, names of which may not be as well-known but nonetheless are bringing significant impact through their work.

All the organisations are working hard with limited capacities and budgets. Supporting them with the right resources, direction, coordination while focusing more on skills development, accountability, transparency and technological advancement will allow young people to play the role desired from them.

Chiraranjan Sarker is an advocacy analyst and Moon Moon Hossain is a policy analyst at BRAC Advocacy for Social Change.