Global Xchange Program in Bangladesh
Global Xchange is an international volunteer exchange program which gives young people (from 18-25 years) the opportunity to spend 6 months as part of an international team of volunteers , living and working in 2 host communities in 2 countries.
The aim of Global Xchange is to deliver the international volunteer exchanges and other activities that develop and inspire active Global Citizens. That is why Global Xchange is primarily termed as a learning experience for the volunteers who participate in it. Global Xchange aims to motivate the volunteers in learning from the experience of others around the world, have an awareness of issues facing developed and developing countries and put that learning into action.
The main elements of their learning involve the counterpart volunteer with whom they live and work with, their Host families, the community organizations they work for, CAD(Community Action Days) and GCD (Global Citizenship Days). All these components are designed to help volunteers develop their skills by practical experience of actively engaging themselves in them. The activities on these days vary to suit different learning styles: some are reflective, some are more active; some can be done as individuals and some need to be done with other people outside the team.
is is the first time Global Xchange took place in Bangladesh . The host community in UK was Hounslow (in London borough) and the host community in Bangladesh was Rangpur. In UK , the program was run by a partnership of two organizations: British Council and VSO. In Bangladesh , the program was run by a partnership of British Council Bangladesh , VSO Bangladesh and Implementing Partners Nagorik Uddyog and Young Power in Social Action (YPSA) . The major Implementing partner Nagorik Uddyog, being based in Rangpur, Rangpur was selected as the Host community in Bangladesh . All the partner organizations are committed to the idea that international volunteer exchanges can develop active global citizens. The theme of the UK-Bangladesh Global Xchange this year was: Building Youth Capacity as Leaders in the Community .
Through active community involvement, the volunteers had the opportunity to learn more about themselves and each other, to work for positive change both in the UK and Bangladesh .. The team of 18 volunteers comprised of 9 volunteers from Bangladesh and 9 volunteers from UK . They were selected on July of 2007 based on the commitment they demonstrated to the program and its aims. The exchange was supported by Global Xchange staff in UK, the Line Manager in UK Ms. Caroline Davies , Country Management Team in Bangladesh: Line Manager of Global Xchange in Bangladesh and CE of Nagorik Uddyog Mr. Zakir Hossain, Finance and Partnership Officer in British Council, Mr. Omar Faruque , Education Promotion and Marketing Manager, Ms. Raiqah Walie-Khan , Country Director of VSO, Ms. Shahana Hayat , Chief Executive of YPSA Md. Arifur Rahman and representative from YPSA, Mr. Henry Hebol Roy , two program supervisors, Ms. Sarah Greaves from UK and Ms. Ricky Salmina from Bangladesh.
Every Global Xchange programme constitutes 2 phases. This year, Global Xchange of UK with Bangladesh was the 63 rd exchange ever since its beginning.
UK PHASE:
The Bangladesh team of volunteers – Elma Tahsin Hoque, Rejowana Alvis Khan, Monika Roy, Runa Khatun , Md. Obaydul Islam, Farzeen Ferdous Alam, Md. Ekram Hossain, Prince Sumon Baroi- and the Bangladeshi Program Supervisor flew to join the British team in UK on September 16 of 2007. One Bangladeshi volunteer was paired with one British Counterpart to live in a Host Home in Hounslow for 3 months. 3 of the pairs lived with families with British origins. The rest of the 6 counterpart pairs lived with families with British-Indian origins.
 The names of the organizations they worked for were: Ground works- Community & Environmental Development; Army Welfare Youth Service- Youth/ Community Service; Marjory Kinnon School- School for students with moderate learning difficulties and autism; Hounslow Extra Club- Holiday club for children with disabilities; Hounslow Age Concern- Service provision for older people living in Hounslow Borough; Youth Service – participation team- Youth service- informal education and activity focusing on young peoples active citizenship and participation; Hounslow Racial Equality Council- Promoting race equality throughout the borough; Disability Network Hounslow- Information , advice and guidance service for people with disabilities; Speak out in Hounslow- Advocacy and support; service for adults with learning difficulties; AWAAZ-Youth Service- Youth Service – informal education and activity with young people of predominantly South Asian origin; Equality & Diversity officer at Youth Service- Supporting project and event work including Black History Month and work leading up to the Holocaust Memorial Day; PHAB Youth Project- Inclusive informal education project integrating young people with special physical and learning needs; Friends of Faith- Research and consultation project with young people identifying youth interfaith needs and opinions; HAAYA- Informal education and activities with young people of predominantly African / Asian origins. Based on the survey conducted by the volunteers in Hounslow on a need-assessment case-study, volunteers had 9 community Action Days.
BANGLADESH PHASE:
The team of British volunteers – Adam Playfair, Mark Smith, Kyle Mortimer, Jack Howarth, Katie Toddington, Vicki Bass, Sarah Utting & Katharina Parr - and Bangladeshi volunteers and two program supervisors landed in Bangladesh from UK on December 8, 2007 . The teams came to start their work in Rangpur on December 13, 2007 .
 The team of 18 volunteers worked together for a need-based issue in the community on Community Action Days during their stay in Rangpur: setting up dustbins in the Bazaar community in Gongachora, distributed warm clothes and medicines with other local volunteers, helped painting walls in the bar council in Rangpur Shadar, organized a rally to raise awareness on motivating parents to send children to school, stop child marriage and be more conscious on health, hygiene and sanitation, arranged a multi-sports event with children from Pouro Horijon Primary school in Rangpur Shadar, conduct survey on the violation of rights of community of disabled people in Badargonj and compile a report on the survey and sending that to the concerned authorities and take action to follow up the impact of the information they provided.
The Volunteer Placements in Bangladesh were: Gongachora- Podokhhep Manobik Unnoyon Kendra-Poverty alleviation; Nagorik Uddyog-Human rights & social justice; Bodorgonj-ADD-Disabled community; RBNS-Promoting primary education and basic literacy. Rangpur shadar- Dalitpara Pouro Horijon Primary school-Education, ASOD-Sanitation, Light House-Drug rehabilitation.
In this year's World Economic Forum the central theme for the world leaders and businessmen was combating extremism and poverty. In a panel discussion attended by Arab and South Asian leaders three factors were identified – democracy, economic development and education in the fight against extremism and poverty.
Thousands of miles away from Davos where the WEF takes place, in Rangpur a small community in North Bangladesh , I have been working in a program which has allowed me to work first hand on two of the issues discussed by the world leaders . - Farzeen Ferdous Alam, Global Xchange volunteer, Bangladesh
Each of the 18 volunteers dedicated 6 months of their lives and more than 12000 hours of free service to the communities they lived in. Local volunteers from Gongachora, Badargonj and Rangpur shadar stated that : Global Xchange volunteers actively supporting them for the last three months of their stay in Rangpur boosted their spirits by a thousand folds. They got to feel more confident and hopeful about believing in themselves in making Bangladesh a better place.
Both the teams left Rangpur for Dhaka on February 22, 2008 , after official closure of the programme in a Community Farewell Programme arranged in Rangpur. The British team went back to UK on March 1, 2008 .
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