Counterpart International is pleased to announce Dalit and Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha—both partners of our USAID-funded Promoting Advocacy and Rights project in Bangladesh—as the recipients of the inaugural Civic Champion Award. As part of Counterpart’s commitment to highlighting the work of our partners in the civil society sector, the Civic Champion Award was created to celebrate local organizations and leaders who make a positive difference in their communities. We launched the award program following the 2023 Global Democracy Coalition Forum to honor their sacrifice and commitment to advance civil society, human rights, and democracy.
Within an environment marked by mass arrests, widespread political violence, intense surveillance, and the suppression of public discourse ahead of the 2024 parliamentary election in Bangladesh, Dalit and Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha have demonstrated resilience, flexibility, and a politically savvy approach to provide a platform for marginalized communities to participate in the election process.
Dalit
Dalit is an organization that represents the historically marginalized Dalit community in Bangladesh. In Bengali, Dalit means oppressed, exploited, neglected, and deprived. Millions of Dalit people live in Bangladesh, with most living well below the poverty line. They are often deprived of their basic rights and access to services such as healthcare, education, clean water, and secure housing. With no previous election experience, Dalit organized meetings with 56 political leaders and seven parliamentary candidates and secured 63 pledges from political parties to support their citizen-led priority issues post-election.
Dalit hosts a citizen dialogue to identity the community’s priority issues.
Dalit, with the support of Counterpart, refined their citizen-identified issues in eight clear demands. They focused on cultivating relationships with mainstream Bangladeshi political parties and media organizations. In doing so, they leveraged their relationships with the media to get over 70 published articles spotlighting the Dalit community issues and demands at a critical moment in Bengali politics. Because of the work done by Dalit, Bangladesh Awami League and Jatiya Party included Dalit issues in their election platforms for the first time. This was their major first foray into election advocacy and successfully raised the profile of the Dalit community and helped them claim their political voice to demand accountability from policymakers.
Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha
Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha is a woman-led civil society organization working to support the political, social, and economic empowerment of disadvantaged and socially excluded Bangladeshis, with a focus on women, youth, and people with disabilities. The organization partnered with Counterpart in April 2022 to promote the rights of the Cobbler community, one of the most marginalized communities in Bangladesh who have long struggled to access basic rights such as healthcare, education, and legal services. Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha empowered the Cobbler community to advocate for their rights by establishing community-based youth platforms and facilitating connections with political parties, election candidates, like-minded civil society organizations, and media. In 2023, they supported Cobbler youth to conduct advocacy meetings to share the priority recommendations with political leaders and candidates. Through their advocacy, the Cobbler youth forum secured 20 commitments and pledges to advance the rights and access to services for the Cobblers and marginalized communities after the election, including from two new members of Parliament, Saber Hossian Chowdhury and Jahangir Kabir Nanok. The Cobbler community’s recommendations supported by Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha are well-aligned with the ruling party’s election manifesto, which, for the first time, called for the establishment of the National Commission for Minorities and Minority Protection Act.
Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha celebrates Cobbler women leaders on International Women’s Day.
Both Dalit and Gram Bikash Shohayak Shangstha continue to demonstrate a deep commitment to advancing civil society, human rights, and democracy. Their work over the past year has resulted in significant gains for marginalized communities in Bangladesh and put a spotlight on their advocacy efforts. Their work embodies the spirit of the Civic Champion Award and Counterpart is proud to honor our Bangladeshi partners who will continue to advocate for the rights of marginalized communities. The organizations will be presented with their award in April.
