Friendship expands awareness to cope with climate change adversity

Staff Reporter :
Social purpose organization ‘Friendship’ started a special initiative in 2021 among the students in remote areas to face climate hazards and disasters in the riverine islets (chars) of the Brahmaputra river basin, which are separated from the main land.
The aim of this project is to make students skilled in climate change and disaster management at marginal area in Bangladesh. As per the program, students of Friendship’s own schools participate in online sessions with students abroad, sharing experiences, knowledge, and fostering camaraderie, companionship and mutual understanding.
This year the program has been expanded to five more countries, with an inauguration event held on January 25, 2023. Students of 15 Friendship Schools will continue to exchange climate and disaster coping capacity knowledge with 18 schools from faraway France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Cambodia under this project.
Runa Khan, founder of Friendship, delivered the welcome speech at the ‘Inter-School Connectivity’ project inauguration event. She said, “Students from the chars survive facing natural disasters like floods, river erosion, cold wave, drought, cyclones every year. Improving and spreading survival strategies will contribute to climate change and sustainable development.”
AQM Shafiul Azam, Director of Secondary and Higher Education and Nicolas Marquis, Deputy Director of National Education and Youth Ministry of France, discussed the objectives of the project as honoured guests.
They hope that the students’ language and communication skills will improve using the technology of this project. Beside this, the pupils’ knowledge of Science, Geography, English, Ethics and others can also be benefited.

At the event, Brigadier General (retd) Ilyas Iftekhar Rasul, Friendship’s head of Education, informed the attendees about the ‘Inter-School Connectivity’ project. He said the project is being implemented in five upazilas of Gaibandha and Kurigram districts. A total of 360 students from Friendship schools will be benefited in the Jamuna-Brahmaputra char region under Kurigram Sadar, Chilmari, Roumari, Gaibandha Sadar and Fulchari upazila.

On the corresponding side, a total of 360 students from 18 schools in France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Cambodia are also participating from their respective countries. As a result, near about 30,000 people char people will get direct and indirect benefits from this project, he expects.