Yet another successful South Asian course concludes

XVth Sangat feminist capacity building month-long course

Sept 15 to October 15 2010; Bangladesh

After a long gap, the Sangat month-long course was again held in Bangladesh this year. This time, the venue was the well-designed and run BRAC Centre of Development Management (BCDM) in Rajendrapur, located about 30 kilometers outside Dhaka. In this most comfortable and conducive setting, 39 women from nine countries spent one month. They shared experiences and information, learned new concepts and theories from senior and committed feminist resource persons, and sang and danced. 

Sangat’s courses are meant for women development workers, activists, journalists, teachers, lawyers and so on from seven countries of South Asia. Gradually, NGOs from Afghanistan started sending women. Women from Turkey and Sudan applied and Sangat accepted them. NGOs from Myanmar asked if they could send their employees; we agreed readily. The 2010 course had two women from Iran, a woman from Burma and four to seven participants each from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They represented small and big NGOs, media institutions, human rights organizations, schools, universities and government institutions.  In this year’s group, there were several lawyers, a police officer, the founder of an independent newspaper in Bhutan, a television journalist and a Women’s Studies lecturer from University of Peshawar, among others. There was a political activist from Communist Party (Maoist) of Nepal who is also a member of the constituent assembly of Nepal.  Sangat was careful to include participants from marginalized communities such as Dalits and Adivaasis (tribals).  Several participants from minority communities were accepted, for example a Christian woman from Pakistan; two Muslim women from India (from Bihar and Kashmir respectively); a Nepali from Bhutan, a Hindu from Bangladesh and three Tamil women from Sri Lanka.

 On many evenings after dinner, participants from each country made collective country presentations. Participants from Bangladesh dressed in saris and started their presentation with a powerful Bangla song.  The presentations also included information about the participants’ organizations and their own work. Many brought organizational brochures that they shared with every one. Through these presentations, every one learnt about the nine countries and the 36 organizations represented in the course. The Bhutan and Afghan groups showed short films on their countries, especially on the situation of women. The participants prepared these presentations collectively and presented them in a participatory way.  Most of them had prepared Powerpoint presentations. 

The participants were taken through myriad, inter0realted concepts such as patriarchy, gender, women’s empowerment and movements, minority rights, neo-liberalism, self-awareness, human rights, sexual rights and so on. All the resource persons in these courses were women and men who have worked for many years to start and build innovative organizations and networks.  None of them is a full-time academic or researcher but people who have both academic and grassroots expertise.  All of them are involved with activism for a just and equitable society.  Interaction with these resource persons meant learning about their inspiring work and organizations.  They spoke about their own work and journeys, in addition to teaching their respective modules.  These courses facilitate an interface between older feminists/activists and young, budding ones.   The resource persons brought with them the history of some of the finest grassroots work and rights-centred organizations, movements and networks. 

In this course, the following women and men acted as resource persons:

Abha Bhaiya is a founder member of Jagori, Jagori Grameen, Sangat and Kartini. She has been working on gender and development issues since the seventies.  She is one of the most experienced feminist activists and gender trainers in India and South Asia. 

Dr. Ambreen Ahmad is a professional psychiatrist who serves as an Advisor to Rozan, an Islamabad-based NGO working on issues of emotional health, gender and violence against women and children. She facilitates workshops on self awareness and attitudinal change for all development workers.

Dr. Amena Mohsin is a professor of International relations at Dhaka University.  She also teaches in the Women’s Studies department of the University of Dhaka.  A feminist perspective informs her research and writings.

Farida Akhtar has been running UBINIG, an organization focusing on action research on people’s livelihoods, agriculture, crafts, health and so on.  Farida is part of several regional and global networks working for sustainable livelihoods, health and rights.

Halizul Islam is a lawyer at the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers’ Association.

Kamla Bhasin,  the Advisor of Sangat, was present for the first 17 days of the training during which she handled most sessions on feminism, patriarchy, masculinity, gender, Violence against Women, sustainable development and yoga.  Kamla has written extensively on issues related to gender, participatory development, peace and so on.

Khushi Kabir has been working on development issues since the early seventies. She runs Nijera Kori and is part of several national and international organizations, networks and campaigns.  She is one of the most prominent feminist and NGO leaders of Bangladesh and South Asia. 

Lubna Marium is an award-winning dancer from Bangladesh. Through her organization Shadhona, she has promoted classical music and dance of the 
sub-continent. Lubna writes in the local media on socio-political and cultural issues and is active on human rights, cultural and gender issues in Bangladesh and South Asia.

Manisha Gupte is the founder of Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM), an organisation working on the issues of health, domestic violence, women's resource development and self-employment of rural and tribal people since 1987. Manisha has been a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Martin Macwan is based in Gujarat where he has been working on issues related to Dalits, youth and women in India.  He is a founder of several strong organizations working at the local, national and global levels.  He is now part of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and the Dalit Foundation.

Meghna Guha Thakurta is a feminist activist, academic and researcher is running Research Initiative Bangladesh that focuses on marginalized communities.

Rizwana Hasan is a lawyer working with Bangladesh Environment Lawyers’ Association. As a legal activist fighting for ecological justice and public interest, she was given the Goldman award for her work on climate change.

Rukmini Rao is a feminist activist and scholar who works both at the grassroots and policy levels in India. She has worked with Saheli, Deccan Development Society, Centre for World Solidarity and is now actively involved with Gramya, an organization working with the Dalit community in India.

Sara Hossain is a lawyer and practices in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. Her main areas of practice are constitutional law, human rights law and family law. Sara is an active member of Ain o Salish Kendra, a national human rights and legal aid organization based in Dhaka. She also undertakes pro bono work with Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, the leading national private legal services organisation. Sara has written and lectured on human rights law, in particular on public interest law and women’s rights within marriage. She has many publications to her credit.

Sunila Abeysekera is a well-known feminist activist working for almost three decades on issues related to human rights, conflict in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, sexual rights etc. She has worked with INFORM and Women and Media Collective in Sri Lanka;  is a member or several Asian and global networks and is presently the Executive Director of International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific based in Kuala Lumpur.

Each day of the course started with reflections about the session on the previous day. This was a way to get an ongoing evaluation to ensure that the course was on the right track. There were written evaluations and reflections done in writing—a mid-term one and the second one at the end of the course. Given below are some samples of these reflections:

I will be sharing all my learning with fellow Parliamentarians in Nepal. After being here, I have gained lot of information about different issues in South Asia which are relevant for Constitutional Assembly members in Nepal. 
Jwala Kumari Saha, Constitutional Assembly Member (CPUN Maoist), Nepal

This course is different from an academic program; it makes you want to do something. Every day brought about a new topic to discuss on. I felt I was going one step higher every time I learned about a new issue affecting people’s lives, affecting my life. From then, every time I wrote ‘feminism’ in my notebook, I felt excited. I felt that I have entered a new phase; a phase in which ‘go on living the next day’ is not enough anymore. We are not alone. And that’s something I have learned through this course.  Setareh Masoumbeiki, Manager, Afghan School Educational Centre, Iran

 Sessions are very diversified and rooted in women’s issues. The course has cleared my confusion about terms and concepts. Yoga every morning made me happy and fresh. I thought I will not be able to do yoga and felt some fear but after some days I understood that yoga connects breathing with feeling. I want to continue for life. Sutharshini, Assistant Divisional Secretary, Government of Sri Lanka

Sangat is obliged to its donors, friends, partners and last but not the least the participants for making this year’s training a big success you. Hope that your cooperation and our solidarity continues!