Multi-stakeholder training in Rangpur to develop women's political leadership

 Multi-stakeholder training in Rangpur to develop women's political leadership

 Published on 20 may 2026 : Own Reporter: A two-day special training program titled 'Sea Leads: Women's Political Agency and Leadership Development Training' has been successfully completed in Rangpur with the aim of developing women's meaningful political participation and leadership at the grassroots level. The two-day training, initiated by Wave Foundation and ActionAid Bangladesh, was held at RDRS in Rangpur city on May 18 and 19. With the support of the United Nations Electoral Support Project, Wave Foundation, in partnership with ActionAid Bangladesh, is implementing the 'Gender-Sensitive and Inclusive Decision-Making, Framework Strengthening Project for Democratic Reforms in Bangladesh'. Under the EDGEWATCH project, this training program was organized to analyze the political and socio-institutional context of women's political participation, the need for women's political agency, and to inspire them to acquire some essential political skills to ensure women's meaningful involvement in the electoral and political reform process. The training was attended by various grassroots level civic organizations, youth organizations, candidates for the national parliament elections and local political figures from the project areas of Rangpur, Bogra and Kurigram districts, and 14 women, 4 men, 1 transgender and 1 representative of marginalized communities from the media. In the training session, the participants deeply analyzed the concept and development of women's political rights, the interrelationship between our power, gender identity and representation through various theoretical discussions and group work to understand the real political empowerment of women, and identified the structural obstacles to women's leading roles in politics and discussed in detail the means to overcome them. In addition, the participants learned about constitutional and legal rights and advocacy strategies through the training. During the training, the participants expressed their opinion that women's participation in politics should not be just symbolic, but should be effective. In addition, they expressed their determination to work towards making grassroots level women activists aware of their political rights and increasing their advocacy and networking skills. They hope that the knowledge gained in this training will play a helpful role in ensuring women's representation in the political arena and developing them as skilled leaders in the future.

The two-day training was conducted by renowned trainers Abdullah Zafar and Rita Das. ActionAid Bangladesh's Program Officer Shanta Islam and Field Coordinator Sidratul Muntaha were also present at the training. At the end of the program, a memento was distributed among the participants. In the closing remarks, ActionAid Bangladesh expressed its optimism that this training will contribute to achieving the goal of the EDGE Watch project, namely building an inclusive and participatory democratic governance system in Bangladesh. ActionAid Bangladesh expects the trainees to apply their acquired knowledge to design relevant advocacy strategies, form alliances and networks, and implement collective initiatives to ensure women's meaningful political participation; in addition, they will adopt and implement a social action plan in this regard.