News Archive

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International Youth Day 2007 Observed in Bangladesh

To observe the International Youth Day 2007, a colorful grand youth rally was brought out from the National Museum at Shahbag, which ended at Central Shahid Minar, Dhaka in the morning. Around one thousand youth participants including concerned government officials, members of the youth organizations, trainees of various training courses, non-governmental organizations and Youth Development Directorate took part in the procession. The theme of this year was ‘Be seen, be heard: youth participation for development'.

After colorful procession, the Youth Development Directorate and UNFPA jointly organized a seminar, marking International Youth Day 2007 at the Juba Bhaban in Motijheel, Dhaka. The secretary in-charge of the youth and sports ministry, Dr Md. Golam Mustafa Talukder, attended the seminar as chief guest while Director General of the youth directorate Mr. Md. Ismail Hossain was in the chair. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country representative Mr. Arthur Erken, National Programme Officer of Youth & Education (UNFPA) Dr. Noor Mohammad, Project Director of Youth Empowerment Project Mr. M Sayeduzzaman and youth representative Mr. Junayed Rahman also spoke on the occasion. One hundred thirty participants (Including 70 Youth) joined the seminar. One informative IYD 2007 English souvenir was published. YPSA and Pro Youth Network Bangladesh actively participated both of this program.

Government steps forward to a Policy for the Shipbreaking industry in Bangladesh

Finally the government of Bangladesh initiated the process of preparing a policy for shipbreaking activities. It's seems like that the government wants to move the stuck stone to get some fresh air that will help for protecting shipbreaking workers' rights and the environment from the pollution. That is really a big achievement of our campaign along with all of you.

On 19 July 2006, an Inter-minstrel was arranged by the Dept. of Shipping where all the related ministries, with shipbreaking, participated. The meeting was presided by the Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping. The goal of the meeting was to take comments from all to prepare the policy that will indicate the intension of the government. It was also said the policy can be detailed in to a guideline later. They gave a draft policy in the meeting. The intension of the government is to make a practical policy that will be workable or suitable in Bangladesh. That's why they want to hear from all the sides.

It was decided to form a sub-committee with the representatives from all the government bodies. A member from the NGOs also is in the committee. The committee will sit in every 15 days or a month after its formulation. The committee will work on finalizing the policy.

In the meeting our position was about enforcing the national legislations to protect workers' rights and environment, ensuring pre cleaning of ships, inventory list, infra structural developments to upgrade the shipbreaking yards, developing facilities to ensure the environmentally sound management of Shipbreaking, considering the Basel convention and the technical guidelines from Basel secretariat and ILO. In the meeting, the shipbreakers were saying that if they would want pre cleaned ships they will not get any ship to cut here in Bangladesh.
We have to be optimistic that a good draft policy will be done by the committee and that will be approved by the government soon.
Let's hope for the best.

Birth registration in Free of cost by 2008

Bangladesh Government declares on 3rd July ‘07 as National Birth Registration Day. The theme of the day was “Free of cost birth registration by 2008”. During the week, publicity in this regard was the main activity at the office of Divisional Commissioner at Chittagong with the support of UNICEF.

The government significantly observed National Birth Registration Day 07. On occasion of the 3rd July, rallies and seminars ware organized at Chittagong to raise awareness among the people in all levels for promoting birth registration. The District commissioners, TNO's, Government high officials and civil society representatives were present in these events.
YPSA cooperated in the events and distributed Caps with symbol of Birth registration day to the participants.

11th June tragedy – YPSA, always there with immediate relief.

It was estimated that 126 people were killed and about 1000 injured by the mudslides during the heavy rainfalls on 11th June in Chittagong, Bangladesh. According to the Meteorological Department in Chittagong, approximately 416mm of rain fell in a 24 hour period.
Location Estimated

After the incident, YPSA's Disaster and Emergency Management unit initiated a rescue operation with the help of many volunteers to the affected areas. YPSA worked with firefighters, the Bangladeshi Army and volunteers of different NGOs. YPSA's volunteers worked in the Motijharna, Pahartali and Debarpar affected areas. The volunteers retrieved dead bodies from underneath the mud and bodies were sent to the morgue of the Chittagong Medical Collage (CMC). Volunteers also helped to injured people to the CMC. A total of 32 volunteers participated in this rescue operation. Between 13th to 15th June, YPSA distributed relief to affected areas and also provided medical services with the support of ActionAid Bangladesh.

For work and a chance to improve their livelihoods, many landless or poor people come to Chittagong from other districts of Bangladesh. Most end up living in the slums located in different parts of Chittagong city. Chittagong is a hilly area. Many of the slums or quarters for the poor are built on these hilly areas. When there's heavy rainfall, it often happens that the slums are destroyed and buried beneath the mud, claiming many lives.

Immediately after, a needs assessment was done by the volunteers in the affected areas. YPSA initiated a relief distribution program based on this assessment.

Relief Distribution List

Campaign of anti tobacco to be continued as raised in the seminar

Development partnership between YPSA and Ranks Telecom Ltd.

As the primary target of the project, YPSA and it's partner organization will bring the target prople under the coverage of RanksTel in the Ctittagong division. Mr. Md. Ashrafuddin Ahmed (FCA)-Director Finance of RanksTel and Mr. Md. Arifur Rahman-Chief Executive of YPSA signed the agreement. Among other Mr. Anwar Hossain-Director RanksTel, Mr. Karim Iqbal Buiyan-Manager Sales & Customer Service, Mr. Fakrul Arefin Khan-Assisstant Manager PCO business Development, Mr. Javed Parvez-Executive Sales from Ranks Telecom Ltd. and Mr. Nazmul Haider-Program Officer from YPSA were present on this signing ceremony.

Goodbye Richard…

YPSA said farewell on 6 th June 2007 to one of its favourite volunteers Richard Yuwono. Richard came to YPSA in June 2006 as a Youth Ambassador for Development, a program run by the Australian government agency AusAID. Working with the ICT4D unit as an IT officer, Richard assisted the organization and many individuals in developing their capacity in IT, video editing, and how to get rid of that nasty virus in your computer! Always creative in his suggestions, during the past year work he has done for the organization and the interest he has shown in Bengali culture has earned him a place in the YPSA family.

Rescue Drill in Head Office

YPSA recently held a rescue drill simulation for its own head office staff. Involving over 40 people including staff members, volunteers and international delegates, the drill, usually for school students, was to educate and raise awareness among YPSA's own staff.

Lasting for one hour, the drill involved a briefing session, an explanation of various dangers and a demonstration of what to do when an emergency occurs. This included a simulated rescue by volunteers trained by YPSA's Disaster and Emergency Management Unit (DEMU).

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