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জাকিয়া সুলতানা

উইম্যান পিস ক্যাফে, জাতীয় কবি কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের নতুন সদস্য সংগ্রহের দ্বিতীয় ও চূড়ান্ত  ধাপ মৌখিক পরীক্ষা গতকাল (সোমবার) ২৫ ফেব্রুয়ারী ২০২২ সকাল ১০টা ৩০মিনিট থেকে বিকেল ৫.০০টা পর্যন্ত বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের কেন্দ্রীয় লাইব্রেরীর ৬ষ্ঠ তলায়, উইম্যান পিস ক্যাফের অফিসে অনুষ্ঠিত হয়েছে।

২০২২ সালের মার্চ মাসে অনলাইনে নতুন সদস্য আহ্বান করে বিজ্ঞপ্তি প্রকাশ করে পিস ক্যাফে। সেই বিজ্ঞপ্তির প্রেক্ষিতে ১৮০ জন শিক্ষার্থীর আবেদন জমা পড়েছিল যেখানে নারী ও পুরুষ শিক্ষার্থীর অনুপাত ছিল ৬:১ । এই আবেদনের প্রেক্ষিতে গতকাল শিক্ষার্থীদের মৌখিক পরীক্ষার সম্পন্ন হয়েছে। যেখানে ২৪টি বিভাগের বিভিন্ন শিক্ষাবর্ষের শিক্ষার্থীদের স্বতঃস্ফূর্ত অংশগ্রহণ লক্ষ্য করা যায়।

এ সময় সরাসরি আবেদনকারীদের সাথে কথা বলেন সংগঠনটির চিফ মেন্টর, মো.সাকার মুস্তফা তিনি জানান, ‘উইমেন পিস ক্যাফে সমাজে শান্তি ও সমতা বিনির্মানে যে ভূমিকা রাখছে, নতুন সদস্যদের নিয়ে সেই প্রচেষ্টা আরও তরান্বিত হবে বলে আমি মনে করি।’

একইসাথে অনলাইনে যুক্ত ছিলেন উইমেন পিস ক্যাফের মেন্টর এবং সেন্টার ফর পিস এন্ড জাস্টিস, ব্র্যাক বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের কমিউনিকেশন্স অফিসার মোঃ ওয়াহিদুল ইসলাম। তিনি সরাসরি অনলাইনে যুক্ত হয়ে শিক্ষার্থীদের সাথে কথা বলেন এবং নতুন সদস্য সংগ্রহের ব্যাপারে তিনি বলেন, ‘একজন সদস্য একটি সংগঠনের প্রাণ সদস্য ছাড়া একটি সংগঠন যেমন পূর্ণতা পায় না ঠিক তেমনি একজন সংগঠকও দক্ষ সংগঠক হতে পারেনা। উইমেন পিস ক্যাফে বরাবরের মত এবারেও খুব সুন্দরভাবে সরাসরি সাক্ষাৎকারের মাধ্যমে নতুন উদ্যমী,সৃজনশীল যোগ্য সদস্য যুক্ত করছে। ভবিষ্যতে পিস ক্যাফের কার্যক্রম আরো গতিশীল করতে নতুন এই সদস্যরা দলবদ্ধ হয়ে এবং সমাজে শান্তি বিনির্মানে কাজ করবে বলে প্রত্যাশা রাখি’।

এছাড়া অনলাইনে আরোও যুক্ত ছিলেন সেন্টার ফর পিস এন্ড জাস্টিস, ব্র্যাক বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের এমপাওয়ার্ড উইমেন পিস্ফুল কমিউনিটিজ প্রকল্পের প্রজেক্ট এসিস্ট্যান্ট রাহাত আরা রিশতি ও নির্ভয় ফাউন্ডেশনের প্রতিষ্ঠাতা মো. আরিফুল ইসলাম।

একইসাথে উইম্যান পিস ক্যাফের চলমান কমিটির সদস্যবৃন্দ  এবং  স্বেচ্ছাসেবকদের  সার্বিক তত্বাবধানে নতুন শিক্ষার্থী সংগ্রহ প্রোগ্রামটি সম্পন্ন হয়। মৌখিক পরীক্ষার ফলাফল খুব দ্রুত উইম্যান পিস ক্যাফের অফিসিয়াল ফেসবুক পেইজ (www.facebook.com/wpc.jkkniu) এবং ওয়েবসাইটে (https://wpcjkkniu.org/announcement) জানানো হবে।

উল্লেখ্য, জাতীয় কবি কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে ২০১৯ সাল থেকে উইম্যান পিস ক্যাফে নারীর অধিকার, নারীর ক্ষমতায়ন, শিক্ষার্থীদের শারীরিক-মানসিক স্বাস্থ্যসচেতনতা, নারী-পুরুষের সমঅংশগ্রহণের মাধ্যমে শান্তিপূর্ণ সমাজ গঠনে কাজ করে যাচ্ছে। সেন্টার ফর পিস এন্ড জাস্টিস ব্র্যাক বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় প্রতক্ষ্য তত্ত্বাবধানে এবং ইউএন উইমেনের সহযোগিতায় বেশ কয়েকটি প্রকল্প সফলতার সাথে শেষ করেছে এই সংগঠনটি।

A delegation of Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ), Brac University, and United Nations Development Programme in Bangladesh, Digital Khichuri Challenge Programme team visited Women Peace Café, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University (WPC, JKKNIU) on Tuesday,19th July 2022. The visit aimed to build a partnership between UNDP Bangladesh and the Women Peace Café, JKKNIU for organising the Digital Khichuri Challenge Contest (DKC) at the JKKNIU Campus.

The delegation consisted of Md Faisal bin Majid, Project Officer-PVE Programme; Tosnimun Nahar, Project Officer, UNDP Bangladesh; Zia Uddin, Technical Advisor; Md. Wahidul Islam, Communications Officer, CPJ, Brac University, and Chalkboard representatives. Facilitated by Md Bake Billah, Chief Mentor of WPC, JKKNIU the delegation joined in 3 meetings with the Honorable Vice-Chancellor of JKKNIU, Professor Dr. Soumitra Sekhar Dey, Registrar Kbd Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir, and Women Peace Café team.

They commended the JKKNIU University administration for supporting various activities of Peace Café facilitated by CPJ, Brac University which has been recognised as a role model of student engagement in promoting peace and social cohesion. To continue the momentum, CPJ and UNDP expressed their interest to extend their seed funds, training, and mentorship support under the DKC programme.

They have also organised a planning meeting with Women Peace Café members for better community engagement for the DKC contest. Peace Café members and mentors shared their experiences on Women Peace Ambassador Initiatives and showcased various activities of Peace Café for the UNDP delegation.

Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat is an initiative that is working to create awareness on domestic violence and sexual harassment, the project is guided by Women Peace Cafe, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University (JKKNIU), funded by UN Women and facilitated by the Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University under the “Securing Peace Off and Online” Project. The project is planned not only for temporary benefit but also for the permanent establishment of peace and social cohesion in the communities. The main target of this project is to create an aware and peaceful society.

In society still now sometimes, victims do not get support from their family or their community. Rather they get blamed by saying various things. That is why, Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat is trying to create awareness among the people of the society so that they get a proper understanding of their rights, and be able to raise their voice and stand against such crimes. In continuation of that various competitions are organized by them where themes usually focused on domestic violence, sexual harassment, women empowerment, gender equality, peace, and cohesion, etc.

Recently Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat successfully completed a Writing Competition titled “Narir Badha Joyer Golpo”. Every human being has some other dreams in their life but very few can overcome all the obstacles and cherish their dream. And most of the time women have to face a little more adversity to make their dreams come true due to social support, family status, religious orthodoxy, etc. Beyond all these, she cherishes her dream in his own being. With all these stories of overcoming all obstacles and moving forward actions was the theme of this writing competition.

The 18-day writing competition started on 29 December 2020 and ended on 15 January 2021. They got a good response from the participants of different universities, medical colleges and got a total of 12 write-ups, by 9 female writers and 3 of them are male writers. All the write-ups were posted from the Facebook page of Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat so that people can reach these success stories and be there to support the women around there hereafter. These wonderful stories were judged by Professor Dr. Md. Sahabuddin, Head of the Department of Bangla Language and Literature, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University. The marking was distributed by 40 and 10, a total of 50; were 40 marks was to given by the Judge and 10 were upon the like, comment, and share from the Facebook page. After the assessment of marks, the result was announced on 24 January 2021.

Nazmun Nahar Tonni has gained the 1st position by her wonderful writing. She is a student at the Department of Philosophy, JKKNIU. The 2nd winner was Provati Khan and 3rd winner was Atia Sharmila Akhi from the same university. The winners will receive books as an award by Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat.

Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat is one of the four projects of Women Peace Café, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University supported by Centre for Peace and Justice, Brac University and funded by UN Women which is working to create awareness among the youth and society against Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment – an alarming issue nowadays.

To reduce Domestic Violence and create the awareness among women about their physical health, Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat recently organized a workshop titled “Domestic Violence & Women’s Physical Health”. The session started at sharp 3:00 pm through Zoom Meeting App and ended up around 5: 00 pm on January 23, 2020. The workshop was arranged by Sanjida Haq Vabna, the Group Coordinator, and three other dedicated volunteers- Irin Akter Asha, Tanjum Mustafa Orna, and Al Muzahid Arko.

Tanjum Mustafa Orna started by greeting the speakers, mentor and the audiences. Uswatun Mahera Khushi, Mentor, Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat talked about the project briefly and also advised that violence should be removed from the root to establish a peaceful society and said that “we’ve to change our thoughts to make changes in our society, if at least 10 people can be made aware by this workshop, that’ll be our achievement.”

The workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session was on “Domestic Violence” and was taken by Md. Masudur Rahman, Lecturer, Department of Sociology, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University. He firstly defined Domestic Violence and then respectively he described the cause, types, consequences, laws, helplines, and many surveys on domestic violence that helped the audience to learn and know about the facts and become aware of Domestic Violence.

The second session was on “Women’s Physical Health” and conducted by Parama Das, MMBS, and Mymensingh Medical College. She mainly discussed three sensitive topics related to women’s health: Menstruation, Brest Cancer, and Uterus Cancer. She described the process of menstruation and ways to stay healthy and pain-free during the period. She also suggested the proper lifestyle to stay healthy and risk-free from Brest and Uterus cancer. She advised to walk at least 20-30 minutes a day and eat green vegetables with an exact amount of water.

After finishing the two main sessions, there was a Q &A session for the audience to clarify their doubts or if had other queries. This wonderful and effective workshop was hosted by Tanjum Mustafa Orna, Women Peace Ambassador, JKKNIU, and member of Amra Anibo Ranga Probhat. On  Behalf of the Group Coordinator, she at last said the vote of thanks to the guests, mentor, and volunteers and declared the ending of the program.

Women Peace Cafe JKKNIU organised a 15 days long-run quiz contest event for youths from 23 December 2020 to 06 January 2021 and published the quiz test result 12 January 2021. Women Peace Cafe is basically working for empowering young women for promoting a just, peaceful and inclusive society where every human being is treated with equal dignity and rights. This youth platform working in JKKNIU campus since 2019. It financially supported by “UN Women” and technically supported “Centre for Peace and Justice of Brac University”.

The main objects of this quiz test to learn more about the worldwide participation, contributions and capabilities of women among our youths. The coordinator of this event was Rafia Islam Vhabna, General Member of WPC. There were some criteria for selecting the winner. More than 100 youths from different universities participated virtually.

As it was a virtual quiz test the public reaches for Facebook post found 15,907, engagements 2,904, 626 youths commented, liked 350 and shared the quiz test post from various pages nearly 102 times in 15 days. All participants shared answers in the comment box and there were particular questions on particular time from daily 7: 00 pm to 12: 00 pm. All participants should be shared their correct answers each day in the particular post from WPC Facebook page. After these 15 days long run contest, WPC published the result of quiz test and the winner, Shakil Mirza, Student of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University from Finance and Banking Department.

This event is especially for youths of the different arena and their involvements made it successful. A representative from CPJ also instructed guidelines too. The whole quiz test technically maintained by Jesmin Khatun, Executive Member and Nowsad Al Saim, Youth Volunteer of Women Peace Cafe JKKNIU.

The project “White Dove” is committed to establishing peace in society through women’s empowerment and prevention of violence against women. It is one of the 4 projects of Women Peace Cafe JKKNIU in this phase.

“White Dove” project recently called a writing competition named “Uddokta Kothon” for its volunteers to write about their thinking on being entrepreneurs and story of entrepreneurs from 08-13 December.  The competition was categorized into two types: 1. Uddokta Kothon (Entrepreneurs Story) 2. Uddoktay Shonirvorota (Thinking about being an Entrepreneur).

Each category winner was two participants & total there were four winners. The result announcement Programme started at 16 December on the occasion of National Victory Day and the name of result publication Programme was “Bijoy Diboshe Bijoyini”. The Programme started at 8.00 pm and finished at 8.40 pm on victory day.

The Programme was moderated by two volunteers of project ” White Dove” Sanjida Akter and Marzia Sultana.

Sanjida Akter explained the great contribution of all freedom fighters’ women who helped in the Liberation war of Bangladesh. Jesmin Khatun thanked all who organized that contest, wished all participants & being grateful to judges.

Sanjida Islam Era, project member, to explain the contest. She said that it was a very short time competition with short notice.In future there will be more contest with more planning.

Then Rafia Islam Vabna, project member of “White Dove” highlighted the contribution of women freedom fighters in 1971. She said that there were many women who contributed to our liberation war.

Finally, Rafia Islam Vhabna shared her “Vote of Thanks” to all participants, judges and team members for celebrating the victory day with great joy. She wished that in future “White Dove” will arrange more attractive initiatives and work for women’s empowerment and all types of violence against women.

The whole Programme was technically maintained by Shohan Mahmud Mridul. The project is financially supported by “UN Women” and technically supported by “Centre for Peace and Justice of Brac University”. Duration of the project is from October 2020 – February 2021.

The project ‘White Dove’ is committed to establishing peace in society through women’s empowerment and prevention of violence against women. It is one of the four projects of Women Peace Cafe JKKNIU in this phase. To fulfil its commitment, project ‘White Dove’ arranged a different session for its members and volunteers previously and this Programme was the last Programme of the year 2020. The session started at sharp 7 pm through Facebook live and ended up at 7.45 pm on 31st December.

The Programme was moderated by Jesmin Khatun group coordinator and Sanjida Rumpa volunteer of ‘White Dove’ and there were two invited guests in the guest panel: Samira Akter Siyam, Ministry of Operation, Aachol Foundation and Md. Yusuf, President, Prothom Alo Bondhushava, JKKNIU.

Jesmin Khatun welcomed every participant and Sanjida Rumpa gave a short brief about the Programme. Sanjida Rumpa asked the two honourable guests how they are passing their days during this pandemic period and the guests talked about various activities what they are doing in their house. Sanjida Rumpa requested the guest Samira Akter Siyam to talk about the aims and activities of her foundation and she gave a vivid description about it. Then Md. Yusuf talked about the activities of JKKNIU Bondhushava in 2020. Samira Akter talked about her achievements in 2020 and Md Yusuf talked on the plans of JKKNIU Bondhushava in 2021. Both guests shared their thoughts about project ‘White Dove’ and highly praised the initiative and activities by them and assured to help ‘White Dove’ from their sides. In the end, the guests expressed their thoughts on “What should be the youth’s motto in 2020”. Samira Akter told that ‘Youth for Youth’ this should be the motto of 2021. Youths should help each other to establish peace in the society. Md. Yusuf said that he thinks the motto should be Technology’s proper use and youth’s prosperity’. The guests also talked about the activities of youths of universities for improving themself in future.

Group coordinator Jesmin Khatun gave the vote of thanks to the guests, mentor and volunteers and declared the ending of the Programme. The project ‘White Dove’ is financially supported by UN Women and technically supported by ‘Centre for Peace and Justice of Brac University’. Duration of the project is from October 2020 – February 2021.