“I am very proud to see that the Youth women are now quite confident and courageous to come forward; I see that they are not weak and not afraid at all. With community radio, even the youth women at upazila level are now coming up, tackling the challenges of the society and moving towards progress in media professionalism.” –said Ms.Anowara Begum, Joint Secretary (Radio), Ministry of Information in the inaugural session of a 2-day orientation workshop on “Fellowship for Young women in Media and Journalism”. The orientation has been started on 12 February at YWCA Conference Room, Dhaka, where she was speaking as a Chief Guest.

Referring to the examples of her own life, Ms.Anowara Begum shared some experiences of her professional career, which could be the lessons learned of the participants. She described how she addressed the challenges of the society and came out. Along with her own personal commitment, she has also assured the young women fellows to provide all appropriate supports from the Ministry in future.

Mr.AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of BNNRC encouraged the fellows and reassured BNNRC’s supports in their future nurture and growth.

There was a video documentary and a power point presentation on Community Radio sector and the Fellowship program.

The two-day orientation includes sessions on basic journalism, Women and Child issues in Electronic and Radio Reporting –those are scheduled to be facilitated by Shahela Akhter, Asstt.Editor, PIB, Shahnaz Munni, Senior Reporter, ATN News and Amin Al Rasheed, Senior Reporter of ABC Radio.

A total of 22 participants from 11 Community Radio Stations of the country joined in the program. There are 12 fellows and 10 mentors among the participants. The Program was organized by Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) in collaboration with Free Press Unlimited.