Plan International, JAAGO start nationwide youth campaign challenging fear of violence 

To challenge "Fear of Violence" against women and build youth leadership, a countrywide youth campaign has kickstarted ahead of International Women's Day. 

International development organisation Plan International Bangladesh and national development organisation JAAGO Foundation jointly organised the campaign Monday (7 March) titled "Challenging Fear of Violence" to bring the youths of the country together, reads a press release.

The campaign was launched in the presence of Plan International Bangladesh and JAAGO Foundation representatives at Plan International Bangladesh's country office in Dhaka.

Plan International Bangladesh Director (Girls Rights) Kashfia Feroz, Plan International Bangladesh Campaign Manager Shemonty Monjari, JAAGO Foundation Founder Korvi Rakshand, and Assistant Director (Operations) Esha Farooque were present among others.

The campaign will start with training 20 youth leaders from different communities to build their capacity and enhance their leadership skills challenging fear of violence. 

During the discussion, Kashfia Feroz said, "Fear of Violence' came up very strongly from their end, limiting their potentials and restricting their mobility. We started collecting evidence-based information from different ends of the country and were commissioned to analyse policy and budget for further advocacy initiatives." 

Among 12 thousand survey participants, 81.6% of female participants experienced harassment in public places while 86.8%of women and girls said they were victims of harassment in their households. 

Some 74% of female students among the participants claimed that they faced verbal abuse from their teachers and senior students. 57% of them were informed of being harassed online, while 56% mentioned sexual harassment at their workplaces. 

The study revealed that many parents feel discouraged to send their daughters to educational institutions or let them participate in sports or picnics and even for private tuitions. We want to break this circle of fear.

Korvi Rakshand said, "The agency to a woman's life gets limited by the fear of aggression or gender-based violence before she can exercise or express it. We seek a society in which every place is a safe space for people of all genders."

The 20 youth leaders from Dhaka, Rangpur, Barishal and Cox's Bazar will get back to their community and raise awareness among their community people. 

A social media campaign to raise mass awareness will go on simultaneously.

The whole campaign will be wrapped up through a national dialogue where youths from different parts of the country will come together, talk about their challenges regarding fear of violence and will share solutions from the community level.