EMK Center’s grants supporting youths working for people’s betterment

Manas Saha established a vocational institution in Mymensingh for the disabled – aiming to generate employment for them.

He started the lab, which is the first of its kind in the country, with a small budget. Then, he fell into trouble due to the pandemic.

At this crisis moment, the EMK Center came forward and supported him with financial assistance from its Small Grants project, said Manas Saha.

Apart from him, four other recipients of the grant described their ventures and toilsome journeys to success at a virtual programme organised by the EMK Center on Thursday night.

Their enterprises were set up to help people in their communities and bring about a positive change to their lives.

At Manas' vocational lab, the special learners are getting a practical education and being trained in several skills, including: clothes-making, cooking, cake-baking, and photography.

Niamat Ullah Al Galib, another changemaker, has made a move to counter fake news and radicalisation through the inclusion of young students.

"Fake news and hate speech are being spread both online and offline in Bangladesh, which creates social unrest and clashes. That is why we started to counter these activities through different programmes with the assistance of the EMK Center's grant," said Galib. 

Meanwhile, Mosarraf Hossain has a venture raising awareness among girls about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This is because girls in Bangladesh lag behind in the arena due to a lack of information and motivation, as well as stereotypes in a social context.

At the virtual programme, Joshua Kamp, cultural affairs officer of the United States Embassy in Dhaka, mentioned that young people are coming forward with several projects to develop people's skills.

Intelligent young people will make the future of Bangladesh brighter, he added.

Prof Imran Rahman, special adviser to the Board of Trustees of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, and Asif Uddin Ahmed, director of the EMK Center, also spoke at the programme.