ive young changemakers were also awarded as the Young Humanitarian of the Year: Adnan Hossain, founder of It’s Humanity Foundation; Shekh Mohammed Moinul Islam, founder of Human Aid Bangladesh Foundation; Shanjidul Alam Seban Shaan, founder of EcoVation Bangladesh; Azwa Nayeem, founder of Alokito Hridoy Foundation; and Md Sahariar Hasan Jiisun, founder of Bloodman.
It’s Humanity Foundation provides free quality education, healthcare and skill development training for marginalised communities, while Human Aid Bangladesh Foundation is working to empower underprivileged women and children through healthcare and education.
EcoVation Bangladesh engages youth volunteers with communities to help marginalised people with solar power and tech innovations, while Alokito Hridoy Foundation is training thousands of teachers in modern and gamified teaching methods.
Bloodman is a platform that connects blood donors to patients in Bangladesh.
CSR is a mammoth task and the government knows it very well,” Minister Mannan said, adding that there is synergy between the private sector’s CSR and the government’s social development works.
Nowadays, the spirit of volunteerism is fading; even with money, young people cannot be brought into volunteerism, Anam said.
“If Bangladesh has to continue a sustainable journey, all of us will have to work together,” he added.
As per estimates, Bangladesh needs nearly $1 trillion between 2017 and 2030 to implement the sustainable development goals (SDGs), said Mohd Monirul Islam, joint secretary (SDGs) at the prime minister’s office, in his keynote speech.
He mentioned five Ps for balanced and sustainable development in society: people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership.
“Until and unless jobs are created, economic growth will not be sustainable,” he said, while calling for a multi-stakeholder partnership for sustainable development.
Monirul also called for accountability and proper data to incorporate everybody in the government’s SDG plans.
“Without proper data and accountability, it is not possible to confidently say that nobody was left behind — which is the main target of the SDGs.”
To ensure better data protection, the government has created the national data coordination committee under the PMO, Monirul said, while urging the private sector to come out of the traditional CSR practices.
“We want to see a day when Bangladesh no longer needs foreign aid and we can solve our social problems on our own. We envision a day where every organisation will have humanity as one of its core values,” said Ahsan Rony, co-founder of CSR Window Bangladesh.
Shehzad Munim, managing director of BAT Bangladesh, called for moving on from CSR activities and adopting the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) standards, which provide a framework for evaluating a company’s efforts to positively impact its people, communities and the planet. For that, support from the government and societal changemarkers is needed.
BATB, which has been conducting CSR activities for the last 43 years, is the first company in Bangladesh to publish an ESG report and such reports will be published every year by the company, he said. “ESG should be considered as an investment, rather than as CSR, which is philanthropy,” he said, adding that the country needs to shift to greener and cleaner energy for environmental sustainability.
