Bangladesh embassy in US lauds Facebook contest winners

The Bangladesh embassy in the USA has hosted a reception for a six-member team from Dhaka University for winning a Facebook-based anti-extremism campaign competition held in Washington, DC.

They won the P2P Facebook Global Digital Spring 2017 Award. The competition was organised by Facebook in collaboration with US Homeland Security and the US Department of State on Wednesday, said a press release of the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington, DC.

The Dhaka University team competed as one of the four finalists and won the first prize. The three other teams are from Nigeria, Spain and the Philippines. A total of 156 institutions participated in the worldwide competition.

 “It's great news…Your success will inspire and guide our young generation,” Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Mohammad Ziauddin said greeting the team that visited the Bangladesh embassy on Thursday and had an interactive session on their current campaign. Officers at the embassy attended the session.

Dr Asif M Shahan, associate professor of development studies at Dhaka University, led the team of students. The members are Imran Ahsan of development studies, Monzurul Alam Munna of health economics, DM Rohis Uz Zaman of social welfare, and AKM Tousif Tanzim Ahmed and Sousan Suah of international relations.

The team campaigned for promoting tolerance and empathy through the development of critical thinking skills and extracurricular activities among the youth of Bangladesh encouraging them to think twice when interacting with others. They call it "Think Twice, Act Wise" campaign. It is accessible in Facebook and they have their own website also -- think2act.org.