Sanzida Zaman
- Award:Best Social Action Project Award-2015Awarding Organization:British Council, British High Commission in BangladeshDate Awarded:March 27, 2015
- Award:Nominee for International Study Visit (ISV), UKAwarding Organization:British Council, British High Commission in BangladeshDate Awarded:January 24, 2015
- Award:International Social Action ProjectAwarding Organization:British Council, British High Commission in BangladeshDate Awarded:March 21, 2017
Since 2013, under my leadership Youth Club of Bangladesh (YCB) implemented over 172 events at 45 schools, colleges and universities in 53 areas of all 8 divisions across Bangladesh. For the 04 years or more, YCB worked with partners and people of all age groups to create a grassroots movement benefiting over 1030000 people about major Public Health issues. It pioneered the largest health movement ever to eradicate thalassemia, while putting enormous emphasis upon generating demands for menstrual and contraceptive services both in urban and rural areas.
Earlier we formed a popular coalition of citizens—teachers, professionals, physicians, journalists, administrators, priests, politicians, victims and people of all walks of lives to successfully implement this Public Health events.
As a Bangladeshi girl, I’m told menstruation is a shame if not a crime, when Islam tells me to stay away, family tells me to avoid public appearances and school tells me to stay home while menstruating 7 days a month. We can’t go to mosque, pray, cook or touch food. Even our lady teachers are too discomforted skipping the chapters on textbook. About 97% women suffer from cervical infection due to unhygienic menstruation that hampers their sexual life and instigating their husbands to torture.
In 2013, I cofounded Youth Club of Bangladesh (YCB), which implemented over 172 events about menstruation, contraceptives and thalassemia at 45 schools, colleges and universities in 53 areas across Bangladesh that benefited over 1030000 people. Later in 2016, YCB becomes partner with Peacempire, a Women Deliver seed grant project that works in 32 villages of Narayanganjj to reduce early marriages and gender violence forming popular coalition of priests, politicians and administrations for SRHR.
Once I'm winner this year, I'll use the platform to implement "Menstrual Corps", a popular movement led by young people to generate demands for menstrual and contraceptive services in Bangladesh. This pipeline project will be the entrepreneurial venture of Youth Club of Bangladesh, the largest youth initiative on Public Health in Bangladesh. Moreover, we will launch our new project "Live, Let Live", a storytelling initiative to document the unheard voices of reproductive health and rights.
