State Minister of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroz Chumki inaugurated the event as the chief guest. The event was arranged with the support United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Women and Children Affairs secretary Nasima Begum ,UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Mia Seppo joined the event as special guests.
“Women and men should not be labelled, in fact they should be addressed as mere humans. We should work to include men in the women empowerment process in order to facilitate respect and dignity towards women and decreasing gender-based violence,” said Meher Afroz Chumki.
“When you educate a man, you educate an individual, but when you educate a woman, you educate a family, a country,” she said.
UNRC Mia Seppo said, “The Millennials are an exciting generation. They are the only generation that actually believes in gender equality. We, however, were taught to do so. That in itself is an achievement. I hope this movement continues against patriarchy, gender inequality and impure mindsets.”
A panel discussion joined by Youth Advisory Panel was also held following the inauguration. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Abul Hossain who discussed about the different dimensions of violence and the necessary steps to be taken to eradicate gender-based violence especially early marriage, said a press release.
Participating agencies delineated their response to prevent violence against women and help the survivors of violence in Bangladesh.
The Solution Fair featured a total 14 stalls representing the works of Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), Action Aid Bangladesh, Bangladesh Legal Aid And Services Trust (BLAST), Center for Men and Masculinities Studies (CMMS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), Joyeeta, Multi-sectoral Project on Violence Against Women, United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), UN Women, Unite for Body Rights Alliance, Nirapod, AdoHearts, and other partners of the Kingdom of Netherlands.
Among the participating organizations, UNFPA, for instance, recreated a dummy of their Women Friendly Spaces that provide an array of services to survivors of violence, including psycho-social counselling, case management and referral services, all this while strengthening their productive capacity by providing them with essential skill development trainings.
From legal supports to reconstructing people’s perception about women and violence itself to provision of necessary education and vocation skills, the stalls in the fair brought a comprehensive picture of the root level action that the organizations have undertaken to fight gender-based violence in Bangladesh.