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Feature

Interview of Zeinab Badawi of the BBC World Service Trust

Interview taken by Mahdin Mahboob

THE BBC World Service Trust is the BBC's international development agency. It uses media and communications to reduce poverty, promote human rights and improve people's lives. It has worked in over 40 countries worldwide, implementing projects in health, education, environment, governance, human rights, livelihoods and emergency response.
The BBC World Service Trust launched its first significant programme in this country through "Bangladesh Sanglap" in November 2005. Sanglap is a weekly political debate program produced by the BBC Bengali Service in conjunction with the BBC World Service Trust. In May 2008, the BBC World Service Trust launched its second major program in Bangladesh "English in Action," using television, radio, mobile phones and the Internet to improve English language skills.

About Zeinab Badawi
ZEINAB Badawi is the presenter of World News Today, one of BBC World News'hour-long news and analysis programmes. The programme features reports and discussions with leading BBC correspondents, and interviews and debates with people who are making the news around the globe. Previously a presenter of BBC World News' The World, Zeinab has worked in British broadcasting for two decades. She has worked on a range of programmes reporting from Europe, Asia and Africa, where she covered the famine in the mid-Eighties. After a stint in reporting and presenting programmes on British politics live from the BBC's Westminster studios, Zeinab joined BBC World News where she has become a regular face, presenting debates on major issues as well as being a presenter of HARDtalk, interviewing personalities such as the Dalai Lama and US General Tommy Franks.

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BBC World News, in association with The BBC World Service Trust, is producing a special edition of The World Debate from Bangladesh. Presented by Zeinab Badawi, the debate will ask 'Are there too many people in the world?' The debate has been recorded at Dhaka's Lalbagh Fort on the 25th of February and it will be broadcast in April on BBC World News.

Experts from different sectors were included in the panel and they have considered a range of issues including:

* Is rising global population sustainable?
* Can technological advances and economic growth provide for all?
* Might migration help address population imbalances around the globe?
* Should population numbers be controlled and if so how?
* Should we worry about population shrinking?

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The following interview was taken a day prior to the Debate (on 24th February 2009).

Star Campus (SC): What is the main purpose and functionalities of the BBC World Service Trust?

Zeinab Badawi (ZB): The BBC World Service Trust is a charitable arm of the BBC and it uses the expertise of the BBC in terms of journalism and information dissemination. The fundamentals are based on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (freedom of expression, freedom of opinion). We were always struck by the fact that the Indian Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen said that 'there has never been famine in a country where there is freedom of expression and freedom of information'. We always try to ensure that local people can disseminate information through whatever media, whatever form, to the people of that country. Mediums that can be used include the radio, or perhaps for a wider audience, sending a message through a dramatized program. It's the power of the media to inform the public about different issues including public health and so on. Also, there are issues of governance, which is a very important issue here in Bangladesh and it is just not enough to say somebody has the right to vote. They have to understand about the candidate's ability. But the organization is not only concerned with political issues, but rather it acts as a facilitator of local people.

We have many different programs, including the Active Literacy program in Somalia, Promotion of the English Language program, it doesn't have a one-side fixed approach. It takes into consideration what the locally engaged people say about the needs of their country, for instance in Darfur, people were helped to find out where they could get help or humanitarian aid, since an emergency situation is in existence there. And in Khartoum, the Trust has helped train local journalists in order to give them a media framework and make them understand how to present important news in a balanced fashion. The main objective is to help people help themselves. It doesn't really do or build things like build a hospital but makes people aware that they need one. We have different programs about the prevention of malaria and HIV-AIDS. In Bangladesh, we have a program called Bangladesh Shonglap. We are a new organization and we have had discussions about whether we should keep the word 'BBC' with the name of the trust or not. But keeping in mind that we have the same values as that of BBC, we finally decided to keep it.

SC: The topic for the debate at Lalbagh is about different issues related to population. What made you choose Bangladesh as the country where this will be discussed?

ZB: The question that we are going to ask is, is there an impending global population crisis? I don't want to give anybody the impression that we are asking if there are too many people in the world? And that there are too many people in Bangladesh! We came to Bangladesh to discuss if there is a thing as population crisis globally and for some countries it could mean a shrinking population as well as ones which are expanding too rapidly for their governments to cope up with. Australia, Japan and some countries in Europe are facing severe problems because of their steadily aging population. In Bangladesh, the population growth has long been a problem specially because of global warming, floods and other problems which is claiming your land. So Bangladesh was a good place to discuss the issue.

SC: Is there any reason behind choosing the Lalbagh fort for the debate tomorrow?

ZB: The only reason is it's a beautiful fort and it's going to look even better when it gets floodlit. The weather too is very good at this time of the year and it sure is going to portray a positive image of Bangladesh. Enclosed auditoriums and conference rooms are present everywhere; this is what is going to make the country look different.

SC: How important do you think debate is as an extra curricular activity in schools, colleges and universities? Students of today will become future Presidents and Prime Ministers. Does it help in their grooming up?

ZB: The format of debate is a very good discipline to make young people aware of what's happening around them at a very early age. Sometimes in the media it is said that you are trying to oversimplify issues by saying that something is for and against, the world is not black and white, it's grey. I have sympathy with that point of view, however I believe that a debate, in the true sense of the word, helps to clarify your thoughts when you have to take a stance for or against an opinion. It is not just a superficial exercise. It forces people to think hard.

SC: You've been very successful in terms of journalism, news presentation and conducting the debates and also in the World Service Trust. What would be your advice for young girls, budding journalists who are coming into this profession these days in Bangladesh?

ZB: There is no step-by-step guide to do this. I have been in this profession for a while now. The key thing I'd say is to be interested. Be interested in people around you. You must have that curiosity which you never ever lose. Freedom of expression is very important and many people in the world do not have that. So one has to ask if there is something more than just showing my face on TV!