Youth Vision

BYLC: Time to develop young leaders in Chittagong

Minhaz Morshed

WITH the same striving purpose, the innovative idea, and the audacious aspiration of uniting the country’s youth and providing them with a unique training to work for the improvement of human condition, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) has once again launched a brand new season of Building Bridges through Leadership Training, BBLT 4, this summer, in Chittagong, its roots, from where it all started 2 years back.

Forty-two bright and promising candidates from diverse backgrounds will be objectively selected after a rigorous set of assessments. Students who have completed and/or are studying HSC/A’Level/Alim are eligible to apply. Moreover, first year university students in Chittagong are also eligible for this program. The leadership classes will be taught by Ejaj Ahmed who will be ably assisted by trained leadership facilitators.

Unlike the last three seasons, BBLT 4 will be a four-month long program. This necessary value addition has been made with a view to ensure sustainable positive impact on the program. There is no point in rendering training without aptly translating it into real life experiences. After an intensive month-long training and community pilot programs, students will be required to scale up the pilot community projects over the next three months during the weekends. BYLC batch one graduated in 2008 in Chittagong. They conducted several projects on education, medical awareness and hygiene campaigns in the local Kushumbag slum. Even after the leadership program was over, Roxana Akhter Munni, BYLC batch one student, founded Karushilpo, a social enterprise that employs female acid-attack survivors to produce handicrafts. Such an act goes to show the impact BYLC has had on the lives of others. For further information the readers can visit the website at www.bylc.org.The application deadline is June 7, 2010 and the program officially begins on July 10, 2010. Forms will be distributed in the institutions. We are also inviting online applications. Selected participants will be provided with full scholarship from BYLC.

(BYLC batch one student and Project Coordinator, BBLT 4)