Rationale
Election violence is a well-known phenomenon to many people
who in the process get injured and killed during every
national election. Many political leaders are unwilling to
defeat and often resort to violence to try and foil the
election results. They also seek to validate their violent
activities, claiming those as protests for the fraudulent
result of the election. It is seen that these violent
activities are mostly carried out by the youth wing of the
political parties. It causes fear for women and men and
creates a lack of interest among the general youth towards
participating in the election.
The purpose of this program was to promote peace through
youth-led initiatives before and after the 2018 National
Election in Bangladesh. Through this project, the youth were
able to engage in constructive conversations with influential
members of political parties, candidates of constituencies,
members of civil society and press. So that it helps to
promote the peaceful political and election culture.
Objective
Create and promote peace through youth led initiatives in 7
districts of Bangladesh for National Election 2018.
Activity Details
1. Workshops and Town Hall meeting
A total of 785 participants attended the workshop and
townHall meeting discussions from 7 locations. The key issues
that were discussed were the locality problems and probable
solutions,youth expectation from the government administration
politicians, candidates and political workers to maintain
peace before and after the Election Day.
2. Debate Sessions
The participants from the workshops and town hall meetings
also engaged in 7 debate sessions in 7 districts of
Bangladesh. Two groups were formed (Winning Party and
Opposition Party) who discussed the issues talked upon during
the workshop and TownHall meetings. The 314 participants were
given one topic to openly discuss the prospects and challenges
of implementing the selected topic.
3. Post election Dialogue
The six post-election discussions were held in Dhaka,
Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Bogura, Comilla, and Narayanganj, a
total of 310 youth and participants from political parties,
civil society and press were engaged in discussions. The
dialogue focused on skill development and self-employment,
accountability for government service to end corruption,
society free from drugs and extremism, opportunity for
recreation, mental health and physical development. Overall,
the goal was to ensure peace is promoted during the transition
period after the national election.
