Women's Rights are Human Rights
As part of its continued commitment to promoting women’s leadership and advancing gender equality in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad and Bonhishikha successfully implemented a series of intergenerational dialogues, capacity building workshop, forming coalition for strengthening women movement, and knowledge products that brought together diverse women and gender rights actors from across the country. The initiative created space for women from different age groups, ethnic communities, geographical locations, and social backgrounds to exchange experiences, reflect on shared challenges, and collectively shape priorities for future advocacy
The first phase of the project began in August 2023. During this phase, intergenerational dialogues and consultations were organized across five divisions, bringing together women’s groups from diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives.
Through these consultations, participants revisited the history of the women’s movement in Bangladesh and reflected on its achievements, ongoing challenges, and relevance in the current socio-economic context. A total of 111 organizations from different parts of the country participated in these dialogues and collectively developed 98 demands.
The consultations also created a platform to discuss advocacy with state and non-state duty bearers and to identify key gender equality issues that require greater attention in policy and practice. At the same time, the process supported intergenerational leadership development by creating space for both younger and senior women leaders to learn from one another, build relationships, and strengthen a shared vision for collective action.
Drawing on the findings and recommendations from the intergenerational dialogues, the project developed a Charter of Demand. The Charter of Demand summarized the key advocacy priorities identified by women’s rights organizations and activists, with a focus on gender equality and women’s leadership in the context of Bangladesh’s LDC graduation, post-COVID-19 recovery, July uprising etc. It was designed as a collective advocacy tool grounded in the voices and experiences of women from diverse regions and constituencies.
Building on this process, the project also developed a comprehensive Position Paper on women’s empowerment, gender equality, and the leadership role of the women’s movement in Bangladesh. The paper documented the history of the women’s movement, its achievements, continuing challenges, unfinished agenda, and key priorities for the coming decade. Developed through a consultative and evidence-informed process, it was further strengthened through a validation event with relevant stakeholders and experts.
Building on the first phase, which brought together diverse women’s groups through intergenerational dialogues and resulted in the development of the Charter of Demand and Position Paper, the second stage focused on sustaining that momentum in response to growing discrimination, insecurity, and exclusion faced by women and marginalized communities across Bangladesh. To address these challenges, the project strengthened divisional-level solidarity among CSOs, WLOs, and movement actors through workshops in all eight divisions, enhanced the movement’s capacity on security and risk assessment through national and local capacity-building processes, and advanced coordinated advocacy initiatives at both divisional and national levels. Grounded in the priorities identified in the Charter of Demand, this phase helped build collective resilience, stronger support systems, and a more united advocacy front to hold state and non-state actors accountable for women’s leadership, rights, and empowerment.
Building on the earlier phases of the project, the current phase is focused on turning the movement’s shared demands into stronger local coordination, protection mechanisms, and sustained advocacy. In response to rising backlash, insecurity, and exclusion faced by women and other structurally excluded groups, the project is now working to strengthen divisional coalitions, improve crisis preparedness, document risks and threats, and support more strategic collective action. As part of this phase, a coalition-building workshop in Dhaka has already been completed with representatives from all eight divisions, creating the foundation for local platforms and stronger cross-divisional coordination. The next steps include supporting each divisional coalition to develop its own crisis management strategy, form response and support teams, introduce an incident registry tool for regular documentation of threats and attacks, and lead coordinated online and offline advocacy initiatives based on both the Charter of Demands and field-level evidence. Through this ongoing process, the project aims to build collective resilience, strengthen feminist support systems, and create a more united and evidence-based movement to hold state and non-state actors accountable for women’s rights, leadership, and equal participation.
A day-long strategic planning workshop was held on 30 March 2026, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at the Anwara Begum–Munira Khan Auditorium of Bangladesh
Sufia Kamal Bhaban
10/B/1, Segunbagicha, Dhaka
Bangladesh
Phone: 88-02-223352344
Fax: 88-02-223383529
Email: info@mahilaparishad.org
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