26 December 2012, Dhaka. BRAC has won a Good Practices Award for its Gender Quality Action Learning (GQAL) programme, implemented by Gender Justice and Diversity.
The Good Practices Award was jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and UNFPA Bangladesh. There were two categories for NGOs’ violence against women (VAW) interventions —national and local; BRAC was the only NGO to win the award in the national category.
The award giving ceremony took place on 20th December 2012 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka.
Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs graced the occasion as the chief guest. In her speech, she called for all to end once and for all this demonic practice which is a social malice.
Mr Arthur Erken, UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh was also a special guest at the event.
Ms Sheepa Hafiza, Director, Gender Justice & Diversity and Migration programme, received the award on behalf of BRAC, and expressed her gratitude to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and UNFPA. She also thanked her BRAC colleagues for their commitment to the GQAL programme, as well as congratulating the thousands of GQAL women and men who she said really deserve this award.
GQAL is considered an important step in the internal process of promoting gender equality within BRAC. This was a training focused programme, which was launched in 1995, and aimed at improving gender relations both at the organisation level and community level. This aspect not only makes GQAL unique within the scope of Bangladesh, but also because GQAL’s approaches include both women and men from the same family.
