Youth Opportunity and IPDC hold virtual prize-giving ceremony of "Write to Fight"

A virtual prizegiving ceremony was organised on September 5, 2020 for the winners of "Write to Fight - Bangladesh's Recovery Idea and Plan: Youth Perspective", a national writing competition jointly organised by Youth Opportunities and IPDC Finance. Through 1,217 submissions, youth from 64 districts shared more than 6,000 thoughts, ideas and recommendations for the Covid-19 recovery plan of Bangladesh.

State Minister Nasrul Hamid MP, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of Bangladesh was the chief guest of the programme. Mominul Islam, Managing Director and CEO, IPDC Finance and Tom Miscioscia, Director Bangladesh, British Council were the special guest. 

"Each of the recommendations received in these competitions are very extensive, especially the ones that won. These recommendations will be really helpful for the policy makers. I do not want to end this by just doing a programme, I want to see these implemented", said State Minister Nasrul Hamid. "Thank you Youth Opportunities and IPDC for arranging such an innovative competition at the right time," he added.

"Who would have dreamt of a virtual prize giving ceremony six months ago, but here we are," said Tom Miscioscia, Director Bangladesh, British Council. "It is a real privilege to have had the opportunity to partner with this exciting initiative which has given young people a voice on the solution that they perceive to be necessary for Bangladesh to come out of this crisis that we are facing," he mentioned. 

Mominul Islam, Managing Director and CEO, IPDC said, "We often say that youth are the future, but they have to remember that you are the present. You (youth) cannot just wait for the future. You (youth) have to start taking responsibility of the country from today".

The champions of each category received BDT 10,000 research grants from IPDC and an internship opportunity at the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

The second runner-ups received free library memberships from British Council Bangladesh. Along with this, the first runner-ups also received internship opportunities at The Daily Star.

A special prize of BDT 20,000 was given to Sanjida Afroz from Dhaka Economics School by "Nijer Bolar Moto Ekta Golpo" Foundation.

The program was also attended by Manik Mahmud, Head of Social Innovation Cluster, a2i -  Aspire to Innovate; Bijon Islam, CEO, LightCastle Partners; Shahana Sharmin, Head of BRAC Youth Platform, BRAC; Jamal Sikdar, Deputy National Commissioner, Bangladesh Scouts; Iqbal Bahar, Chairman, Nijer Bolar Moto Ekti Golpo Foundation; Tajdin Hassan, Head of Marketing, The Daily Star; Maliha Iqbal, Head of Partnership, Youth Opportunities; and Osama Bin Noor, Co-founder, Youth Opportunities.