Resources
Cultivate Change: Explore our valuable resources for empowering communities and driving positive impact.
C-CAB Introduces 'Golpo Cycle' to Amplify Community Engagement
C-CAB developed the ‘Golpo (Story) Cycle’ – a bicycle equipped with a framed banner, a sound system, and IEC materials to effectively disseminate SBCC content in the communities. Three of these bicycles were deployed full-time to spread the ‘Song of Oporajita’ in the project area. C-CAB’s community workers accompanied the Golpo Cycles to engage with the community directly. In addition, C-CAB printed leaflets to complement the story cycles. The Golpo Cycle attracted more community interest than expected because of its unique and different approach.
Community Dialogues in Gazipur and Savar: Fostering Engagement and Empowerment
As a part of the Oporajita Project, Center for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB) organized 16 Community Dialogues across various wards in Gazipur and Savar, with 11 dialogues held in Gazipur and 5 in Savar. These community dialogues took place in beautiful locations, welcoming individuals from diverse social backgrounds- including garment workers and their families, teachers, professionals, homemakers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders. C-CAB introduced a puppet show at the beginning of each session to enhance the engagement and effectiveness of these dialogues. This puppet show, presented four key messages developed by C-CAB, and served as both an icebreaker and a conversation starter. The narrative focused on the lives, struggles, and aspirations of women garment workers, illustrating how they can improve their situations through training and learning in the era of digitalization. The puppet show featured scenes from the early life of Shikha, the protagonist of C-CAB’s communication initiatives, a young woman garment worker. The show portrayed her journey of overcoming social barriers to advance in both her career and family life. This engaging performance set the mood for open discussions, where participants shared real-life experiences and challenges faced by women garment workers, giving a deeper understanding of their realities and the paths to empowerment. Out of the 16 Community Dialogues organized by C-CAB, three were held at the beginning of December in collaboration with CARE Bangladesh and WaterAid Bangladesh. This collaboration was instrumental in broadening the reach and impact of the dialogues, particularly by involving participants from CARE’s women-friendly spaces.
Gao Praan Khule (Sing from the Soul):
As a part of the Oporajita Project, the Center for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB) aims to collaboratively engage with CI partners to improve the lives of women workers in the garment sector. C-CAB launched a heartfelt initiative to amplify the hopes and dreams of female garment workers through music. C-CAB produced a music video about the hopes and aspirations of female garment workers, called the ‘Song of Oporajita’. The song features renowned singers Raef Al Hasan Rafa and Ankon Iasmen and six raw voices from garment workers. C-CAB aimed to spotlight the authentic voices of the garment workers themselves. To find hidden talents from RMG workers, C-CAB launched the ‘Gao Pran Khule (Sing from the Soul)’ campaign, an open call for garment workers to showcase their singing abilities. Sixteen promising participants were selected for an audition held at Baimail Government Primary School in Gazipur in August 2023. This group chose six outstanding voices to feature in the music video ‘Song of Oporajita’, where they shared their aspirations through song.
Shohag Mia’s Story Building Balance Partnerships at Home
When Shohag Mia from Mymensingh district, married Sharmin Akhter he believed women were responsible for household work. As he looked back on his marriage, he remembered how he turned a blind eye to Sharmin’s running around all day, doing multiple tasks at a time, and adjusting every step of the way in their new house, in different roles from a new wife to eventually a mother of two small children. He remembered telling himself, “You are a man, this is not your headache.” He and Sharmin felt pressure from surrounding people when she decided to join the H&M-supported Oporajita initiative’s Women-friendly Space (WFS). Sharmin became a member of WFS in October 2023. Before joining the WFS, she was already burnt out from shouldering all the responsibilities of their home. As a woman, this role of caretaker had been emphasized all her life. “Ignoring all the noise around her, my wife started going to the WFS in our area. That was the first time I saw Sharmin do something for herself,” said Shohag. Once Sharmin became a member, she joined the learning sessions at the center. Through these sessions, she got to know deeper into topics like sex and gender, violence against women, effective problem-solving, decision-making, health and nutrition, and stress management. Whatever she learned about women’s rights from the centre, she would share with neighbouring women. She would discuss these issues with everyone at home. She had lengthy discussions with her husband. The centre became Sharmin’s "me space" where her new friends uplifted each other. Shohag started to see a change within Sharmin, a growth within her. She was more relaxed and more confident, and she had a new sense of self-worth. Sharmin told Shohag about the couple’s workshop organized at the WFS and asked him to join the workshop. She wanted them to participate in that workshop. Though initially reluctant, Shohag joined the workshop with her. “I had my reservations at first, but my curiosity gave in,” explained Shohag. “When I joined the Couple’s Workshop and was asked to analyse our roles to bring balance to our home, it was an eye-opening moment. The workshop provided me with the space to understand that sharing work at home with our female members has nothing to do with being a man; it’s about being a better human.” From the workshop, Shohag Mia started to understand better the division of labour, the valuation of household work, access, and control, gender upbringing, the harmful effects of violence, happy and unhappy relationships, sexual and reproductive health, and the role of men in family planning. With the Couple’s Workshop initiative at WFS, the Oporajita initiative of CARE Bangladesh tried to build a more equal relationship between couples. Shohag's perspective started to shift. He used to think that household work was solely a woman's responsibility. But now he is working at home alongside his wife. Together, they celebrated events like International Women's Day on March 8, International Labor Day, and a men's cooking competition from the WFS. Like Sharmin, Shohag also started advocating for sharing work at home with his friends and neighboring men. For Shohag Mia, sharing household tasks now meant reducing the pressure on Sharmin at home and improving his family's health and mental well-being.