For Justice and Equality
For Justice and Equality
Country Director of ActionAid, Bangladesh and Human Development practitioner, Farah Kabir is one of the pioneers of this country who has tirelessly worked for women's rights, equality and recognition and has successfully brought changes to our society. An Honour's and Master's holder, Farah majored in Public Administration when studying at Dhaka University (DU).
After university, Farah went on to work at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) as a research assistant. “While working at BIISS, I had to write about strategic issues and international politics. After a while, I started leaning towards gender and woman related issues. I managed to create the gender dimension there,” says Farah. She then joined Think Tank, an NGO that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture, and worked with women and their roles in politics.
Later, Farah joined the British Council, Bangladesh. She developed their Governance and Gender programme and went to Scotland, UK, where she worked for 9 years with the Governance team and participatory democracy. She was the first Bangladeshi to sit on the Zero Tolerance board, a campaign in the UK to stop violence against women.
“In 2007, I was approached by ActionAid and found that they do the kind of work I am interested in,” says Farah. Farah's work in ActionAid ranges from Women's Rights, Education and Poverty, to Global Warming and Disability.
She has actively played a role in helping open up schools and promoting education in Bangladesh. She has also been working determinedly for the adaptation of climate induced changes, in places such as the Lalua chor in Patuakhali, post Sidr or the Dakope chor in Khulna where they worked on salinity levels. Besides this, she has been a part of numerous international negotiations and dialogues.
Her work with disability starts from being a part of the mental health act amendment to working with the first blind Olympics cricket team and rehabilitating Rana Plaza survivors.
One of her well known projects is Happy Homes- a centre for underprivileged girls. While Happy Homes serves as a residence to underprivileged girls from the ages of 7-15, it ensures food, education, by enrolling them into public schools, and also is a drop-in centre for girls of that area to come and rest.
Farah believes that today's youth can help bring about changes. “I believe in today's youth! They have not only created opportunities for themselves, they are taking a stand against injustice.”
During her own youth, Farah Kabir took up News Casting as a job after her O' Level examinations. “I started at Bangladesh Betar and then moved onto read news on BTV,” she says. She was also a member of Dhaka Theatre and would regularly perform plays across the country.
While being a role model for women all over the country, Farah Kabir's most important motto in life is 'Be proud of being a woman'. “I think every woman and girl needs to embrace their womanhood and fight the battle, knowing that she is equal to any man.”