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আমাদের প্রিয় বাংলাদেশ তার সুবর্ণ জয়ন্তী, স্বাধীনতা ও বিজয়ের ৫০ বছর উদযাপন করছে। এই ৫০ বছর জুড়ে বাংলাদেশের যাত্রা অনেক সহজ ছিল না। এর মাঝে দুর্ভিক্ষ, প্রাকৃতিক দূর্যোগ,সামাজিক বৈষম্য, সামাজিক, রাজনৈতিক দূর্বৃত্তায়ন এবং দুর্নীতির আমাদের চির-বর্তমান সমস্যা, এরি মাঝেও প্রচণ্ড সংগ্রামের মধ্য দিয়ে এদেশ এগিয়ে গেছে। কিন্তু জাতি হিসেবে আজ বিশ্বে এবং জনগণের হৃদয়ে বাংলাদেশের স্থানকে কেউ অস্বীকার করতে পারবে না। সম্ভাবনাময়, সুযোগে পূর্ণ একটি দেশ। কিছু জটিল সামাজিক সমস্যা সত্ত্বেও, বাংলাদেশ এখন আগের চেয়ে শক্তিশালী এবং দেশটি দ্রুত বর্ধনশীল উন্নয়নশীল দেশ হিসাবে ব্যাপকভাবে স্বীকৃত, এবং দ্রুত একটি উন্নত রাষ্ট্রে পরিণত হওয়ার দিকে এগিয়ে যাচ্ছে। আমাদের উল্লেখযোগ্য অর্জনগুলি প্রধানত জিডিপিতে ($৪০৯ বিলিয়ন/অধিক ৩৫ লক্ষ কোটি টাকা), মাথাপিছু আয় $২,৫৫৪ এর বেশি, আয়ু ৭৩ বছর, বৈদেশিক রিজার্ভ $৪৪ বিলিয়ন, দারিদ্র্যের হার (প্রি-কোভিড-19) ২0%, একইভাবে, শিক্ষার ক্ষেত্র, স্কুলগামী এবং সাক্ষরতার হার, লিঙ্গ উন্নয়নে নাটকীয় অগ্রগতি, বিশেষ করে নারীর ক্ষমতায়ন, জন্ম-মৃত্যু হার হ্রাস, কৃষি উৎপাদন, ১00টি অর্থনৈতিক অঞ্চল প্রতিষ্ঠাসহ বিবিধ কাঠামোগত উন্নয়ন বেশ দ্রুত গতিতে এগিয়ে চলেছে। যখন আমরা স্বাধীনতার সুবর্ণ জয়ন্তী উদযাপন করি, তখন আমরা  কৃতজ্ঞতায় স্বীকার করি শহীদ, নির্যাতিত বীর সন্তানদের আত্মত্যাগের ফল এবং আমরা তাদের জন্য কৃতজ্ঞ। অত্যাচারী পাকিস্তানি শাসন থেকে আমাদের মুক্ত করার জন্য বীর মুক্তিযোদ্ধা এবং সকল নারী-পুরুষের পাশাপাশি, আমরা জাতির পিতা বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমানের প্রতি আমাদের গভীর শ্রদ্ধা জানাই, স্বাধীন ও সার্বভৌম বাংলাদেশ প্রতিষ্ঠার নেতৃত্বের জন্য।  তার নেতৃত্বে পরিচালিত করার জন্য, তাঁর অতুলনীয় ভূমিকার জন্য। অতএব, এখনই উপযুক্ত সময়  সমালোচনামূলকভাবে পুনর্বিবেচনা করার জন্য যে স্বপ্ন নিয়ে আমরা বাংলাদেশ স্বাধীন করেছি, যে স্বপ্নের জন্য আমাদের মুক্তিযোদ্ধারা এত মহৎ জীবন বিলিয়ে দিয়েছিলেন, এবং একটি ন্যায়পরায়ণ সমাজ প্রতিষ্ঠার জন্য কাজ করে তাদের স্মৃতিকে সম্মান করার অঙ্গীকার পুনরুদ্ধার করা। স্বাধীনতা বাংলাদেশের সর্বশ্রেষ্ঠ প্রাপ্তি, যুদ্ধ ও অনেক ত্যাগের মাধ্যমে আমরা এ স্বাধীনতা পেয়েছি। আমাদের সংবিধানের চারটি মৌলিক নীতিকে আলিঙ্গন করে আমরা এগিয়ে যাচ্ছি। তা হল ১) জাতীয়তাবাদ ২) সমাজতন্ত্র ৩) গণতন্ত্র এবং ৪) ধর্মনিরপেক্ষতা। সংবিধান একটি সমাজতান্ত্রিক সমাজ গঠনের নিশ্চয়তা দেয়- যেখানে আইনের শাসন, মৌলিক মানবাধিকার এবং স্বাধীনতা, সাম্য ও ন্যায়বিচার, রাজনৈতিক, অর্থনৈতিক ও সামাজিক সব নাগরিকের জন্য সুরক্ষিত থাকে।

কাঙ্ক্ষিত লক্ষ্যে আমরা অনেক কিছু অর্জন করেছি কিন্তু সামাজিক ও অর্থনৈতিক ক্ষেত্রে এখনো অনেক কিছুই অর্জিত হয়নি। যেমন সকল নাগরিকের জন্য সামাজিক ও অর্থনৈতিক নিরাপত্তা নিশ্চিত করা, রাষ্ট্রের সকল অঙ্গে গণতান্ত্রিক চর্চা, বৈষম্যহীন সমাজ ও অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক বাংলাদেশ গড়ে তোলা, রাষ্ট্রীয় সম্পত্তির অপচয় রোধ ও দুর্নীতি হ্রাস, উগ্রবাদ ও সাম্প্রদায়িকতা মোকাবেলা, সামাজিক পরিবর্তনে যুব ও নারীদের সম্পৃক্ততা, শান্তি ও নিরাপত্তা, অসাম্প্রদায়িক ও সম্প্রীতিপূর্ণ বাংলাদেশ, ধর্মীয় বিশ্বাস ও বাকস্বাধীনতা সমুন্নত রাখা, সিদ্ধান্ত গ্রহণ ও বাস্তবায়নে জনগণের সম্পৃক্ততা, সহনশীলতা বৃদ্ধি, সঠিক ভিত্তিক পন্থা নিশ্চিত করা, মানসম্মত শিক্ষা নিশ্চিত করা, যুগপযোগী মানবসম্পদ উন্নয়ন, টেকস্ই জলবায়ু অবকাঠামো ও পরিবেশবান্ধব উৎপাদন, উদ্ভাবনী উন্নয়নে যুব সমাজকে সম্পৃক্ত করা। চাকরিপ্রার্থীদের পরিবর্তে আত্মকর্মসংস্হান সৃষ্টি, ধর্মীয় জাতীয়তাবাদ বা ধর্মীয় অনুপ্রাণিত সহিংসতা ও চরমপন্থাকে নিরুৎসাহিত করা, জনসংখ্যা বৃদ্ধি হ্রাসকরন, বিভিন্ন গোষ্ঠী ও সম্প্রদায়ের মধ্যে আস্থা, বিশ্বাস ও সহযোগিতা গড়ে তোলা, অসহিষ্ণুতা, সংঘাত হ্রাসকরন ইত্যাদি। শান্তিপূর্ণ, উন্নত ও অন্তভূক্তিমূলক বাংলাদেশের গঠতে ও স্বাধীনতার স্বপ্ন পূরনে আমাদের এসব বিষয়ের উপর গুরুত্বআরোপ করতে হবে। একই সাথে আমাদের নিজস্ব সীমাবদ্ধতার মধ্যে জনগণের প্রত্যাশা পূরনে অগ্রাধিকার দিতে হবে।

আমরা, স্থানীয় ধর্মীয় এবং ঐতিহ্যগত শান্তিপ্রণেতারা আজ টেকস্ই সামাজিক, অর্থনৈতিক, পরিবেশগত বা উন্নয়নশীল মানবিক মূল্যবোধ, মর্যাদা, আধ্যাত্মিক সংযোগের বিভিন্ন ক্ষেত্রে সম্মিলিতভাবে বা ব্যক্তিগতভাবে অবদানের প্রতি আমাদের প্রতিশ্রুতি পুনর্ব্যক্ত করছি। কিন্তু টেকসই শান্তি বিনির্মাণে এবং অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজের উন্নয়নে প্রকৃত ভূমিকা কী হওয়া উচিত তা আজকের আলোচনার এজেন্ডার আলোচনার বিষয়।

টেকস্ই উন্নয়ন নীতি, সামাজিক শান্তি এবং স্থায়িত্ব আমাদের জাতীয় অগ্রগতির প্রধান হাতিয়ার। এখন, সময় এসেছে আমাদের শান্তিপ্রণেতাদের ভূমিকা এবং সামাজিক কর্মকাণ্ড এবং উন্নয়ন সংক্রান্ত বিষয়ে আমাদের স্বল্প বা দীর্ঘমেয়াদী কৌশলগুলি সংশোধন করার। এর জন্য টেকস্ই কর্মপরিকল্পনা প্রয়োজন, আমাদের বর্তমান এবং পরবর্তী প্রজন্ম আমাদের অবদান থেকে কী অর্জন করবে। এই কারণেই টেকস্ই উন্নয়ন নীতির প্রয়োজন এবং আমরা টেকস্ই উন্নয়নের লক্ষ্যে আমাদের সমস্ত প্রক্ষিপ্ত কর্মসূচীগুলিকে এগিয়ে নিতে চাই।

দীর্ঘমেয়াদী সামাজিক শান্তি এবং স্থায়িত্ব আনতে আমরা সাধারণত আমাদের সমস্ত সামাজিক কাজ এবং দায়িত্ব বিবেচনা করি। এটি বিভিন্ন উপায়ে শান্তির সংস্কৃতিকেও প্রচার করে। কিন্তু কোন উপায়সমূহ টেকস্ই শান্তি আনে? এবং একটি অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজ গঠনের জন্য  কী কী প্রয়োজন? আমাদের আজকের আলোচনাটি ‘টেকস্ই শান্তি ও অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক বাংলাদেশ বিনির্মাণ’ এ আমরা শান্তিকর্মীদের দায়িত্ব এবং প্রতিশ্রুতির উপর আলোকপাত করব।

টেকস্ই শান্তির একটি সুস্পষ্ট কার্যকরী সংজ্ঞা যাতে ধ্বংসাত্মক গতিশীলতা প্রতিরোধ এবং ইতিবাচক মনোভাবের প্রচার উভয়ই অন্তর্ভুক্ত। আমরা টেকস্ই শান্তিকে এমন একটি রাষ্ট্রে বিদ্যমান হিসাবে সংজ্ঞায়িত করি যেখানে সমস্যা সমাধানের জন্য ধ্বংসাত্মক সংঘাত, নিপীড়ন এবং সহিংসতা ব্যবহার করার সম্ভাবনা এতটাই কম যে এটি দলীয় কৌশলের মধ্যে প্রবেশ করে না, অন্যদিকে সহযোগিতা, সংলাপ এবং সহযোগিতামূলক সমস্যা সমাধান ব্যবহার করার সম্ভাবনা সামাজিক ন্যায়বিচার এবং মঙ্গল এত বেশি যে এটি সামাজিক সংগঠন এবং জীবনকে নিয়ন্ত্রণ করে। টেকসই শান্তি একটি গঠনমূলক সূচনা, শান্তির সংস্কৃতি এবং যত্নের অনুভূতি প্রদান করে যা শিশুদের এবং প্রাপ্তবয়স্কদের অহিংস উপায়ে তাদের চাহিদা পূরণ করতে সাহায্য করে, যা শিক্ষার্থীদের এবং পরবর্তী প্রজন্মের নেতাদের নিরাপত্তা, অন্তর্ভুক্তি, ন্যায্যতা এবং আশার অভিজ্ঞতা প্রদান করে।

আমরা যদি আমাদের পরিবার ও সমাজে শান্তি স্থাপন করি তবেই আমাদের দেশে টেকসই শান্তি প্রতিষ্ঠা করা সম্ভব। এখানে পরিবার ও সমাজে শান্তি বজায় রাখতে সহযোগিতামূলক ও সুশৃঙ্খল আচরণ জরুরি। যেমন আমরা জানি আমাদের সমাজে বিভিন্ন ধরনের মানুষ বাস করে এবং তাদের প্রত্যেকের প্রকৃতি ও চিন্তাধারা আলাদা। সুতরাং, তারা একে অপরের সাথে ঝগড়া করতে পারে এবং ঝগড়া সময়মতো সমাধান করা উচিত অন্যথায়, এটি সমাজে সমস্যা তৈরি করে যাকে দ্বন্দ্ব বলা হয়। তারপর ব্যক্তি ও গোষ্ঠীর মধ্যে ঐকমত্য তৈরি করে বিরোধের সমাধান করাকে শান্তি বলে।

যুদ্ধ ও সহিংসতা বন্ধ না হলে দেশের উন্নয়ন সম্ভব নয়। তাই দেশে টেকস্ই শান্তি বজায় রাখা খুবই জরুরি। সমাজ ও দেশে টেকস্ই শান্তি প্রতিষ্ঠার বিভিন্ন উপায় রয়েছে। টেকস্ই শান্তি প্রতিষ্ঠার জন্য নিম্নলিখিত ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা উচিত:

১. অন্যের চিন্তা-চেতনায় সম্মান করা উচিত।

২. সবার জন্য সমান ন্যায়বিচার নিশ্চিত করতে  হবে।

৩. বিবাদমান পক্ষের মধ্যে সংলাপের পরিবেশ তৈরি করতে হবে।

৪. অন্যের সমস্যা অনুভব করা এবং সমস্যার কথা শোনা প্রয়োজন।

৫. সমাজের সকল মানুষকে তাদের জাতি, ধর্ম, বর্ণ বা অর্থনৈতিক অবস্থা নির্বিশেষে সমান সুযোগ দিতে হবে।

৬. লোভী,অহংকারী এবং ঈর্ষান্বিত হওয়া চলবে না।

দ্বন্দ্ব ব্যবস্থাপনার জন্য, সালিসকারীর ভূমিকা অত্যন্ত গুরুত্বপূর্ণ। বিবাদমান উভয় পক্ষ এবং গোষ্ঠীকে বোঝানোর চেষ্টা করুন, তবে তাকে নিরপেক্ষভাবে কাজ করতে হবে।

টেকস্ই শান্তি বিনির্মাণের জন্য অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজকে বেশি অগ্রাধিকার দেওয়া হয়। সাধারণভাবে, অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজকে এমন একটি হিসাবে সংজ্ঞায়িত করা হয় যেখানে সমস্ত মানুষ মূল্যবান বোধ করে, তাদের পার্থক্যকে সম্মান করা হয় এবং তাদের মৌলিক চাহিদাগুলি পূরণ করা হয়, যাতে তারা মর্যাদাপূর্নভাবে বাস করতে পারে। সংক্ষেপে সমস্ত মানুষকে সাধারণভাবে প্রত্যাশিত বা প্রয়োজনীয় সমস্ত পরিষেবা বা আইটেম সরবরাহ করা হয়, একই সাথে কোনও পক্ষ বা গোষ্ঠীকে বাদ দিয়ে নয়। শুধুমাত্র অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক শান্তি প্রক্রিয়াই সংঘাতের অবসান ঘটাবে। বাংলাদেশে আরও শান্তিপূর্ণ, ন্যায়পরায়ণ ও অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজ গড়ে তোলা আমাদের প্রত্যাশা। দারিদ্র্যতা হ্রাস, স্বাস্থ্য এবং শিক্ষার মতো ক্ষেত্রে গত পাঁচ দশকে উল্লেখযোগ্য অগ্রগতি সত্ত্বেও,এখনও সহিংসতা এবং নিরাপত্তাহীনতা,ন্যায়বিচার ও দূর্বল গণতান্ত্রিক অনুশীলন আমাদের চ্যালেঞ্জগুলির অন্যতম।

টেকস্ই উন্নয়ন লক্ষ্যমাত্রার (এসডিজি) দিকে অগ্রগতির প্রতিফলন ঘটিয়ে আমাদের প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা বলেছেন, “আমাদের যাত্রায় কেউ পিছিয়ে থাকবে না যেহেতু আমরা একটি ন্যায়, প্রগতিশীল, শান্তিপূর্ণ ও সমৃদ্ধ বাংলাদেশ গড়ার আকাঙ্খা করি।” জাতিসংঘের টেকস্ই উন্নয়ন ২০৩০ এজেন্ডা, যা বাংলাদেশ স্বাক্ষর করেছে, পাঁচটি উন্নয়ন অগ্রাধিকারের মধ্যে একটি হওয়ার জন্য শান্তিপূর্ণ, ন্যায়সঙ্গত এবং অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজের প্রচারের আহ্বান জানিয়েছে। টেকস্ই উন্নয়ন লক্ষ্য ১৬, বিশেষ করে, সহিংসতার মাত্রা হ্রাস, ন্যায়বিচারের সুযোগ বৃদ্ধি এবং অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক এবং প্রতিনিধিত্বমূলক সিদ্ধান্ত গ্রহণের প্রচারের লক্ষ্যগুলি অন্তর্ভুক্ত করে। বাংলাদেশের জন্য স্পষ্টতই সমস্ত প্রাসঙ্গিক বিষয় রয়েছে এবং এটি উৎসাহজনক যে সরকার সপ্তম পঞ্চবার্ষিক উন্নয়ন পরিকল্পনায় এসডিজিগুলিকে একীভূত করার তাদের ইচ্ছার কথা জানিয়েছে।

এর কোনোটিই নিজে থেকে ঘটবে না: পরিবর্তন এজেন্টদের, রাষ্ট্র এবং সমাজ উভয়ের মধ্যেই, লক্ষ্য-১৬ কে চ্যাম্পিয়ন করতে কার্যকরভাবে কাজে লাগাতে হবে। গত ৫0 বছরে যে উন্নয়ন লাভ হয়েছে তা রক্ষা ও টিকিয়ে রাখার উপায় হিসাবে বাংলাদেশে একটি আরও শান্তিপূর্ণ, ন্যায়সঙ্গত এবং অন্তর্ভুক্তিমূলক সমাজ গঠনের প্রচেষ্টাকে অগ্রাধিকার দেওয়া জন্য একটি শক্তিশালী সামাজিক ও রাজনৈতিক অঙ্গীকার সৃষ্টি করতে হবে।

আমাদের মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, স্বাধীনতার উদ্দেশ্য ও স্বপ্ন রাতারাতি পূরণ হয়ে যাবে এমনটা ভাবার কোনো কারণ নেই। তবে দেশপ্রেম, সততা ও মুক্তিযুদ্ধের চেতনা নিয়ে দেশ পরিচালনা করা গেলে অল্প সময়ের মধ্যেই আমাদের স্বপ্ন ‘টেকস্ই শান্তি ও অর্ম্তভূক্তিমূলক বাংলাদেশ বিনির্মাণ’ সত্যি হবে।

Overview of the initiative:

Atisha Dipankar Peace Trust Bangladesh is glad enough for kindhearted support from the ‘Female Sangha Initiatives for Social Transformation in Southeast Asia’ project leaded by INEB, in partnership with Join Together Society (JTS Korea) for running a project on ‘Buddhist Women’s Leadership and Livelihood Development of Bangladesh’. It is a first time approach for capacity building and leadership development initiatives of the local Buddhist women to fit them in social and economic needs, promote livelihood with equity and dignity, meaningful participation, decision making process, peacebuilding and development policies inclusion. It focused on their needs and made them fit as the diver of hope and inspiration of their respective families and communities, not leave them behind as gender identity and to ensure sustainable livelihood embracing the Lord Buddha’s teaching in the way of life. In Bangladesh women generally contribute more at home and out but are denied basic rights to meet  their social and economic needs. In many cases their contribution is not recognised and they get less privilege in access to development issues and fitting them for the current societal needs. In general women are abused with  gender based/domestic/social violence, inequalities and oppressions in social and economic life. Sometimes patriarchy, social restrictions, freedom of choice/expression/participation deprived them to qualify  in social and economic achievements. The COVID-19 pandemic situation also made it difficult in their everyday life. As a religious minority the Buddhist women are in worse situations in many locations. Buddhists mainly in villages and remote areas live in poverty and are deprived of basic needs to uplight their condition. So, we have targeted poor and remote areas where it is very much needed for developing capacities and make them empowered for fulfilling their social and economic needs, and lead them in sustainable livelihood. We have selected 10 geographic places within 4 districts and targeted 250 promising young, interested women in different Buddhist villages and urban areas in Chattogram (7 spots), Rangamati (1 spot), Cox’s Bazaar(1 spot) and Dhaka (1 spot) districts. Later we changed Cox’s Bazaar, Dhaka replaced Bandharbon, Kharachari districts to add ethnic Buddhist women from different groups. Buddhist women in the CHT districts need more  support to overcome the difficulties for lack of proper facilities or support than urban women in Chattogram and Dhaka metropolitan cities.  We have initially conducted surveys and dialogues for selecting the participants and their needs for sustainable livelihood. There are 124 from the Barua community, 75 ethnic Chakma, Marma, Tanchanga from CHT ethnic community and 11 Bhikkhuni Sangha from Barua and ethnic communities participated in the project initiative. It is estimated that 250 Buddhist women from 250 households (30% young, 60% mid aged,10% old aged).

We started the project activities from May 2, 2021 . Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the government has implemented a lockdown from April 5 to April 30 and due to high peaks we also were unable to stop the activities from June mid to August 20 . We have to postpone our programs and gatherings due government restrictions on all physical gatherings. We started some project activities and communications in six target locations. The rest four locations are far from us and  some are in Chittagong Hill tracts (CHT), where Buddhist women need more project benefits for developing their social and livelihood. In the first step, we have started feasibility study, formal project based discussions and field surveys with participant needs . In all the locations it was very inspiring , especially the eagerness of women’s inclusion in development issues. We arranged a concept note and our project objectives with their desire and social needs. Also have some inspiring quotes from project objects from the  INEB and JTS KOREA, specially venerable Pomnyun Sunim contributions for developing the Buddhist women in the Southeast Asian countries. After August 20 we started the Training Workshop in different target locations. And October 30, successfully finished the training workshops, field visitation, project evaluations on contemporary Bangladeshi women and project achievement on uplifting Buddhist women’s social dignity, right based approaches, peace building and developing sustainable livelihood. In short, we consider it as a pilot project and to broaden it’s initiatives in an institutional way for all Bangladeshi women as a center of social innovation for empowering and capacity building of the local and grassroots level women by promoting their meaningful social and economic inclusion, encourage them in social innovation and fit them for building an inclusive society. It is necessary to include the women in social and economic ways for societal peace, sustainability and sustainable national progress of Bangladesh.       

Objectives:

The project ‘Buddhist Women’s Leadership and Livelihood Development’ is a new innovative initiative in our Bangladesh Buddhist perspective. We have developed a concept paper for a clear understanding of the project. It is focused on uplifting the status of Buddhist women in organization and community, promoting gender equality, women led entrepreneurship and business management development, local  safe food production, advocacy on women’s leadership, gender based violence, peacebuilding, promoting religious pluralism and inclusion in sustainable development. We designed training schedules as 1) Pre-training idea sharing with participants and organizers 2) Survey and interactive dialogue on schedule trainings (outcomes, outputs and impact) 3) Training workshop on ‘Buddhist Women’s role on sustainable social and economic development of Bangladesh’ 4) Training with hands and tools ( Eco Friendly household items production, beautification training, safe food production and sustainable food security promotion, innovative social entrepreneurship and business management development) 5) Field works evaluation 6) Introduction of digital technology and e-commerce as service providers  7) Post training monitoring on self employment and it’s promotion 8) Long term initiatives for collective or individual development by forming cooperative/joint venture for local community development. The project activities are challenging and difficult to implement in the root levels for lack of trained volunteers, expert trainers, smart training curriculum, communication gap , short project duration, limit of funds, formal training center, training materials, stipend etc.  Firstly we have started the project activities in full swing. But due to the high pick of COVID situations we faced difficulties in physical gathering, discouragement of participants, lack of cooperation from the local support groups, increased transportation costs. So, it has postponed the activities for  more than two months and also rescheduled some programs on field level development project activities and training. But theoretical learning and group work continued successfully. The training workshops were designed to build capacities on the learning fields in very interactive ways.

Challenges and difficulties:

The project activities are very effective for building capacity and empowering our women in social and economic development ways for building sustainable livelihood. Our women are the willing force in home and out. They are closely involved in family and community to implement any sorts of progress or changes. But their roles are limited in meaningful ways and the decision making process at every stage. We are trying to fit them into social changes and interconnect them in every social and economic development way as hope and inspiration of families and community levels. If they are equipped with modern learning and generate them with positive outlooks, they can build a brighter generation with ethical values and wisdom, would play in developing the Buddhist community in sustainable ways and would contribute to national progress. It is difficult to change it in a short term of time, informal ways, lack of project staff, trainers, well equipped learning modules and training lab, technical materials and a particular guideline for long term benefits. In the project time we are faced with more difficulties due to COVID pandemic situation and coordinating with the local participants. It caused panics within the participants  in the physical gathering, organizing the 10 project areas which were distances from 25 kms to 170 kms from our organization. Many of the participants were wage workers or engaged in local business. So without economic benefits, it becomes difficult to ensure their participation. For the first time it is challenging to organize just training modules focusing on all level participants, selection of interested participants, suitable project areas, working team, communication and trust building among the root level participants and we are grateful for the support from the Buddhist monks and social activists. We have successfully completed theoretical learnings, not able to complete the technical training in hand and tool, field work evaluations due to COVID situation and lack of voluntary trainers. Technical learnings are very needed in most project areas, the participants also desired most but it needs more technical hands, financial support and a long term approach for better achievement.

Specific results (Outputs, Outcomes, Impact): 

Activity 1: Pre-training idea sharing

Outputs: The participants are well acknowledged on Buddhist value based sustainable women empowerment project activities

Outcomes: Highly motivated and encouraged to participate

Impact: Positive changes in value based social engagement

Activity 2: Survey and interactive dialogue

Outputs: Found out possibilities and problems on the Buddhist women development 

Outcomes: Innovative idea generated for training learning fields

Impact: Realistic learning tools are selected for sustainable women development

Activity 3: Training workshop ‘Buddhist women’s role on sustainable social and economic development of Bangladesh’

Outputs:  The participants are well defined with value  based women empowerment issues on social, economic, environment and human right based approaches for sustainable livelihood, community and national development

Outcomes: Encouraged and improved the capacities on sustainable livelihood and community development issues

Impacts: Would play as the driver of hope and inspiration-working on dignified better livelihood and sustainable societal changes from family to state levels

Activity 4: Training with hands and tools [motivated only]

Outputs: Connected with importance on eco-friendly household product and safe healthy food production, beautification training and innovative social entrepreneurship and business management development for sustainable livelihood 

Outcomes: Got interested to work as entrepreneur rather than service holder

Impacts: Would play as change makers in local economics

Activity 5: Fields works evaluation [not full completed]

Outputs:  Inspired to sharpen their meaningful contribution in daily life

Outcomes:  Applying sustainable development policies for better livelihood

Impacts:  Would bring long term positive changes in social and development ways

Activity 6: Post training monitoring [not full completed]

Outputs:  Making connection with the innovative economic development ways

Outcomes: Would lead right livelihoods and mindful ways of life

Impacts: Social peace and  economic sustainability would prevail in the society

Activity 7: Long term approaches [continues]

Outputs: Local Buddhist women would play as actors on social/economic development ways and achieve change maker’s attitude for social innovation.

Outcomes: Would play as leaders in decision making and implementation process in social and development ways

Impacts: The trained up Buddhist women will play positive roles in sustainable community building and continue their efforts for nation development and overall achievements. 

Observations:

1)Social attitudes- Women in Bangladesh generally take care of their families. Employed women earn money and do all family work. In the Buddhist community, they contribute to the propagation of Buddhism and rituals. But their contributions are not recognised in many ways, some of the participants said.  Some of them mentioned, the community doesn’t admit their roles and responsibilities in meaningful ways. They added, there are no action oriented roles in uplifting status and dignity of the local Buddhist women or other community levels also. The participants expressed satisfaction for adding them in the Buddhist women’s development project activities and changing their mental attitudes in meaningful participation in every social issue, in the decision making process. They got confidence as the driver of hope and inspiration, as change makers, overcoming gender based discrimination or social patriarchacy. They also expressed satisfaction in participating in social rights based approaches,mentioning the importance of their contribution in the community and the need for empowerment in meaningful social inclusion for sustainable community and local development. 

2)Economic value– the participants realized their economic contribution is less than men but sometimes bigger than men. Once they are treated as caretaker of the families but in some ways considered as  the willing forces in economic development ways. They mentioned that we inspire them and make them fit to contribute to the local economy by generating business, entrepreneurship, and productive ways rather than service providers.  

3)Environmental ethics- One of the most important topics is to build awareness on conservation of our surrounding nature and environment following the Buddha’s teaching. Generating loving-kindness to all beings and non-living nature, use of eco-friendly products, ethical consumerism for low carbon emission, keep the mother earth a  liveable place for all living beings. Every participant got inspired and committed in keeping their contribution for saving the earth from unethical greed, lust and consumerism.

4)Human right based approaches- The participants mentioned, they have little knowledge on basic human/constitutional rights, Govt Women development policy-2011, universal declaration on human rights, CEDAW, UNSDGs. We gave them a light understanding on the women’s rights based approaches and importance of all men and women participation for building an equitable, discrimination free, dignified society. They expressed their satisfaction for including them in the right based approaches and making them a general understanding on these important issues.

Overall observations and recommendations:

1. It needs an equitable opportunity to develop Buddhist women as human resources in social and economic ways. We have conducted basic theoretical learnings on women empowerment. Now, it needs technical/practical learnings for them to implement it in field levels for social and economic benefits.    
2. Our Buddhist women are interested in engaging in social innovation by promoting their latent talents by developing entrepreneurship or promoting business rather than as job holders.   
3. It needs women’s leadership development for meaningful participation and decision making process in every stage from family to national life.
4. It is essential to change positive approaches for adding more women’s participation in sustainable peacebuilding, conflict resolutions, disaster management, humanitarian services etc     
5. Well equiped technical/quality education and meaningful social engagement can reduce gender based violence and discrimination within women of Bangladesh
6. It needs long term approaches to change men’s outlook and social attitudes for uplifting women’s equal rights and dignity in all levels.

Now, we plan to implement some findings in an institutional way by forming a center of social innovation. It is important to set up a social innovative training centre for our Buddhist women in promoting women led entrepreneurship, developing business management and empowering them in productive ways . We do hope it would be possible to skill up one thousand Buddhist women to make them fit for right livelihoods embracing the Lord Buddha’s noble eightfold within the next two years and after that time we are hopeful to implement the proposed initiatives within our large women community. It would be a Buddhist based effort for our women of Bangladesh to add them to productive ways and develop their leadership to lead positive changes. We emphasize on sammak gibhika/right livelihood as the first priority, as we are not able to ensure better life, we will not ensure our societal peace and a strong community to sustain in the 21th century. We hope INEB and JTS Korea will extend their generous support for the next project.

The Atisha Interfaith Council Bangladesh started its activities  as a pilot project under the technical and financial support of the EU funded SEA-AIR Project and a consortium  led by the Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers   in some innovative ways. At first a research team of five members and a working group of six members were formed with a secure spirit from multi-religious groups; actually the team members are treated as the core members of the Council. Initially we  organized a day long ‘Interfaith Leadership Development’ training on March 20, 2020 at the Caritas Training Center, Ctg  for 50 multi-religious actors and peace actors ( with 3 modules and 12 lessons) on understanding FoRB, Peace-building, youth & women empowerment, religious literacy, universal responsibilities, UN SDGs, COVID-19 and faiths,  making them fit on sustainable peace and development issues. The training was interactive and  participatory ,the participants enjoyed visionary learning with new hope and inspiration. The training also connected the actors with working for sustainable community building rather than traditional ways.

The second project initiatives were intra-faith dialogues with leaders of the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian communities respectively. The first intra-faith dialogue was with the Buddhist community leaders on ‘ Buddhist Efforts for Sustainable Leadership Development ’ in Chattagram Metropolitan area. About 36 active and potential Buddhist community leaders from local to international levels were present with interesting moods and sometimes were confused with the common efforts. But appreciated for intellectual ways for leadership developments. Next dialogue with the Hindu community leaders on ‘ Hindu Efforts for Sustainable Leadership Development’ with very fruitful ways. Almost 40 senior level Hindu leaders participated in the dialogue with curiosity and cooperative ways. We found some painful experiences during the Independence period, 1971 and mob attacks,  communal violence they faced during some critical times. Also mentioned their leadership inefficiency for community development in some cases. The leaders appreciated the initiative and for path findings for community development. The dialogue on ‘ Muslim Efforts for Sustainable Leadership Development ‘ was an important event in the intra-faith dialogue. About 35 Muslim leaders from different groups were present in the dialogue with their approaches for building a moderate Bangladesh where every people would live harmoniously  with each other according to constitutional rights and not to use Islam as a tool for their personal and group interest. Last intra-faith dialogue was with the Christian community leaders  in a church on the same issue. It was impressive and collaborative . About more than 40 actors participated in the interactive dialogue and emphasized on working together for leadership development and ensuring peace and security.

An interreligious effort on ‘National Inter-faith Peace Dialogue’ was hold on Feb 19 at Hotel Kashbon, Ctg  with the participation from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian  community leaders. About 70 religious leaders took part in the dialogue and emphasized  practice on love, mercy, compassion and non-violence for developing an interreligious platform under the Council for sustainable peace building and ensuring religious harmony for a prosperous and peaceful Bangladesh.

We have visited with some interreligious leaders and community members to extend solidarity during the COVID situation and exchanged views for a collective interfaith effort to overcome social difficulties and calamities. Also have served ‘Interfaith COVID-19 solidarity gifts ‘ to some religious leaders and actors.

A high level  online workshop on ‘Inter-religious Approaches for Sustainable Community Building’ was held on April 30 with more than 50 participants from the diverse religious and civil society members from different parts of Bangladesh and also had a welcome note from the network project manager Mr. Philip Gassert. The workshop was focused on ‘FORB: Contemporary Bangladesh and Global Perspective, Religious Peace Building, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and UN SDGs. The workshop learning enriched  the participants with modern techniques on sustainable peace building and development issues for inter-religious community building. 

The final project initiative was Training of the Trainers (ToT) Workshop on ‘ Inter-religious Sustainable Leadership Development ‘. The three days online ToT workshop was held on May 1, 7 and 8, 2021 with 40 participants from multi-religious and civil society groups from different parts of the country. The ToT event was equipped with 3 modules and 6 sessions on FoRB, UDHR, UN SDGs, Peace building, Building universal responsibilities & worldviews, Gender equity and women in Bangladesh within interactive ways. The main focus of the event is to build the inter-religious actors with high skills knowledge, idea sharing and fit them for positive change in sustainable inter-religious community building. In some ways it was achieved well and  would be able to connect them in their respective fields.  

Sanat Kumar Barua, Coordinator-Atisha Interfaith Council Bangladesh

The International Day of Peace (PEACE DAY) is observed on Sept 21 at the Caritas Training Centre in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Religious and Traditional Peacemakers from different parts of the country participated in the events with festive mood along with an annual peacemakers congregation committed to local sustainable peace and peace building efforts for global peace. Every year the Peace Day is celebrated by Atisha Dipankar Peace Trust Bangladesh  to strengthen the ideals of peace, both within and among all people around the world. It provides the local peacemakers a globally shared date for humanity to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace.

A discussion on the Peace Day theme ‘Recovering Better for a Sustainable and Equitable World World’  is held chaired by Dr. Dibakar Barua. Eminent educator and professor of the Chittagong University Dr. Sakander Chowdhury was presented as the chief guest. Among others Hindu community leader adv. Tapan Kanti Das, Buddhist scholar prof. Dr. Dipankar Srigyan Barua, Christain priest Rev. Asai Tripura and Professor Masum Ahmed participated as speakers. Before the discussion, an interreligious prayer and one minute of silence remembering the departed one who have lost their life from COVID pendemic and global peace. The speakers highlighted on recovering better for a more equitable and peaceful world by standing up against acts of hate online and offline, and by spreading compassion, kindness, and hope in the face of the pandemic, and as we recover. And emphasised on national unity for promoting an inclusive society in the fifty anniversary of independence of the state and leaving no one behind as religious or gender discrimination and ensure a peaceful Bangladesh for their countrymen. After the discussion a Peace Talk is held with participation of local peace actor’s role in the last year and engagement in the pandemic period. Peacemaker Kazi Iqbal Bahar Sabery, Sanat Kumar Barua, Mir Md. Ferdous Salim, Anna Sampson, Sanatan Chakroby Bijoy, Shaymal Chowdhury, Sarif Nabab Hossain, Hasan Mohammad Ripon, Ven.Dr. Priyadarshi Mahathero, Shampa Chowdhury  took parts and shared their engagement in local peacebuilding for common benefits for all and uplifting socioeconomic, environmental ethics, human values, 2030 agenda for the UN SDGs etc for contributing an inclusive society & to envision an equitable and sustainable world for all of us.

Atisha Interfaith Council Bangladesh (a project of the Atisha Dipankar Peace Trust Bangladesh) is launching a project in Bangladesh on capacity building and leadership development in Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), The Interfaith Council is technically and financially supported by the EU funded SEA-AIR project Southeast Asia: Advancing Inter-Religious Dialogue and Freedom of Religion or Belief with implementing partners Finn Church Aid/the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation (International Network of Engaged Buddhists-INEB), World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), Islamic Relief Worldwide and Religions for Peace (RFP).

The Atisha Interfaith Council Bangladesh (AIFC Bangladesh) is a collective faith-based initiative to build and equip multi-religious actions for advancing inter-religious dialogue and communication, from a peacebuilding platform based on nonviolent principles. AIFC embraces and supports different religious groups, and faith practitioners to uplift positive initiatives for the common good locally in Bangladesh, with a regional and global impact that can benefit many people. It also focuses on uplifting religious actors’ roles to prevent negative impacts from polarization, religious nationalism, armed conflicts, and more. The initiative upholds norms that safeguard humanity, leave no one behind in terms of religious identity or beliefs, yet generates love and compassion.

The Interfaith Council launched a number of programs on interfaith sustainable leadership development training, intra-faith and inter-faith dialogue, and interfaith solidarity visits under the initiative. In November 2020, the AIFC Bangladesh hosted Interfaith Leadership Training for fifty multi-religious and civil society actors from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian communities. The day-long training program was held at Caritas, Bangladesh, Chattogram Center presided by the project holders. The Atisha Dipankar Peace Trust Bangladesh chairman Tushar Kanti Barua highlighted the importance of the training program by the Interfaith Council, which may the first organized Interfaith Leadership Training program in the Chittagong division with 12 lessons on various issues to connect the actors with Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), peacebuilding and development policies. The training session was inaugurated by the national ‘Ekushy Padak’ awardee Dr. Bikiran Prasad Barua. The training modules are designed for the multi-religious actors, peace activities, youth and women including minorities and persons from ethnic backgrounds for capacity building and leadership development.

The Council Core member and SEA-AIR Interfaith Fellow Professor Mr. Masum Ahmed was the lead facilitator with other council members also facilitating. The workshop topics focused on strengthening understanding and inter-faith relationships through dialogue and peacebuilding through nonviolent means, the significance of communication, inclusiveness and other topics related to living in harmony with the environment. The training sessions were equipped with multi-faith initiatives for developing sustainable interfaith leadership in Bangladesh. The workshop supported an interactive learning experience for participants in an open friendly and stimulating environment where they learned new concepts on FoRB issues, peacebuilding, development policies, inclusion with climate justice that will enable them to build sustainable inter-faith communities for ensuring peaceful and harmonious coexistence.The Atisha Interfaith Council Bangladesh welcomes support for developing an institutional shape to continue its current and future activities. The AIC believes it will bring positive contributions on religious majority-minority dynamics in contemporary South Asian countries and (re) build trust among inter and intra religious groups and inter-faith leadership development for a sustainable peace which supports prosperity and harmony for Bangladesh, as well as benefits all of humanity.

The ATISHA INTERFAITH COUNCIL BANGLADESH (AIFC Bangladesh) is a collective faith based initiative that aims to facilitate multi-religious actions for advancing inter-religious dialogueand communication. The initiative will also focus on some broader context of  ‘Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB)’ or ‘Religious Liberty’ and promoting basic tools on Peace building, Trustworthiness, Religious Literacy, Religion and Development, Religion and Worldviews, Understanding Nonviolent Communication, Secularism, Conflict Transformation, Connectivity, Fellowship, Responsibility, Reducing Violence, Extremism, Enhancing Social Cohesion within different religious groups, faith practitioners with focus on shared responsibilities for uplifting one humanity within the mother earth. 

Achariya ATISHA DIPANKAR, was a great saint scholar and a humanitarian Buddhist monk who was an enlightened son of the country. He played an incomparable role for services to unbounded humanity, preaching loving-kindness, and the message of universal peace within Bangladesh and the Asian region. There are also many generous people and religious masters who have an incomparable role to universal responsibilities, uplifting human dignity, community well beings as well as world humanity to ensure societal peace, inter-religious harmony and sustainability. We encourage all religious and faith communities, religious and traditional peacemakers to uplift positive initiatives for common good locally and generate it globally for the benefit of many.

 Bangladesh is a country of religious diversity where Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian as well as various indigenous groups generally live in peace and harmony across all religious divides and cultural diversity. Though religious tensions have existed for many decades, overall positive religious pluralism is a part of Bangladeshi identity. But in recent times, the rapid increase of religious intolerance, violence, conflicts, religious motivated extremism, radicalization of youth, hate speech, hate crime have become  threats to societal peace and sustainability in Bangladesh and South Asian region.  It is urgently needed to engage the religious, traditional and civil society actors in peace building initiatives, to cultivate mutual respect and understanding in the societies, deep analysis and actions on religious conflicts, majority-minority protections, inclusivity ( Gender and Youth), reducing hate speech/hate crime, use positive language that is religiously and culturally suits, increase the number of peace messages and narratives that contribute to social cohesion efforts and promote positive understanding, enhance basic skills of on negotiation/mediation, conflict transformation, discourage hard line engagement, intolerance, identify areas for collaboration and ways for advocacy, understanding secularism, worldviews, development policies, human values, ethics etc.

Atisha  Interfaith Council Bangladesh (AIFC Bangladesh) emphasizes  on promoting  inter-religious understanding and cooperation for sustainable peace, amity, tranquility and harmony. Also enhancing connectivity through advancing dialogue for peace, fellowship and responsibility  based on truth, mutual understanding, love, compassion and respect on uniqueness of religious identity, views, rituals and cultural diversity and so on initially from greater Chittagong, Dhaka to all over the country.

In Bangladesh, Buddhist communities are closely connected to nature, such as forests and local ecology, that serve to reduce the environmental crisis and the physical and economic suffering of human beings. Almost all Buddhist temples, meditation centers, and related institutions in Bangladesh are eco-friendly in one way or another. Among them, the Rajban Vihara of the Rangamati Hill Tracts is a historically revered Buddhist temple. The Rajban Vihara complex stands on 33 acres of contoured green land, embraced on all three sides by the majestic Kapti Lake.

The Venerable Sadhannada Mahathero, widely known as Bana Bhante (1920-2012 AD), was venerated for his deep spirituality having practiced 28 years of meditation in deep forests before permanently residing at the Rajban Vihara in 1977.  He taught his followers not to harm others or nature for their livelihood. As such, the monks receive daily alms of local organic foods cultivated by the lay community. Any kind of slaughtered meat for dana to the resident monks is not permitted, nor is there any destruction of trees and natural resources that hurt the balance of the environment and the ecology.

The Rajban Vihara has over one hundred branch temples in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) and a few overseas. The branches also include forest monasteries (aranya kutir), meditation centers, and Buddhist educational institutions and hospitals. The Rajban Vihara and its branches also have more land and forests that contribute to community members’ livelihoods. Some of the temples serve Buddhists devotees by producing natural resources, foods, and fruits that supply local markets. Almost all the branch temples use solar electricity for their daily work with little use of hydro-electric energy which has been very destructive to the environment in this region.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Buddhist communities along with other religious communities are facing a terrible crisis due to the government lock down from March 25, 2020. It has caused a loss of daily income for laborers, wage workers, small traders, transport drivers, and many more people. The local devotees of the Rajban Vihara temples are mainly ethnic minorities and usually have some cultivated lands. In the past, however, the people had more cultivated lands, and many had become increasingly poor and lost their lands. Thus, during the lockdown period, they cannot provide food and essential items to the local temples or monks. As the Rajban Vihara and its branches have surplus land to produce food and natural resources, sometimes the monks supply additional food and previously collected essential items back to their devotees. Now during the pandemic, the monks are paying more attention to producing food items in their temple area to meet local needs and to engaging local devotees in this work.In Bangladesh, Buddhist monks play vital roles in their communities’ needs, especially in hard times. If the monks and the devotees can become well trained, they can work efficiently for the common benefits of the community in this kind of global pandemic period. The Rajban Vihara community is one example of an organized Buddhist group in Bangladesh. There are many other groups working for community development, environmental peace, clean energy, and social harmony. It is now the time to prepare such Buddhist communities for sustainable livelihood and overcoming natural or man-made calamities like COVID-19 in the coming years.       

The Second High level Buddhist and Muslim Leaders Summit was held on November 21-22, 2019 in Cox’sBazar, Bangladesh. Over 20 Buddhist and Muslim leaders from across the South and Southeast Asia to advance the Yogyakarta Statement of shared values and commitments to overcome extremism, advance societal peace with justice, to serve as a platform for interreligious and inter-religious initiatives in education & advocacy, rapid action for conflict prevention, solidarity visit in the event of conflict, constructive engagement and strategic common action, develop for positive messaging particularly via social & alternative media, current needs and efforts for Buddhist- Muslims across the region. The summit was hosted by Religion for Peace (RFP), organized by International Forum on Buddhist-MuslimRelations (BMF), In partnership with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), International Movement for a Just World (JUST), Persyarikatan Muhammadiyah (PM) and The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.

In the summit the Buddhist- Muslim leaders also reaffirmed solidarity with Rohingya refugees and to advance one of the seven shared values embodied in the Yogyakarta Statement on ‘ Living in Harmony with the Environment- by cutting of single use of plastics ’ with a focus on Bangladesh as a key outcome for the current needs. A task force was formed to implement the outcomes working for a sustainable and a harmonious future.

South and Southeast Asia is one of the most religiously diverse regions in the world. The region is important due to the rising of religious nationalism, economic power and shifting of the geopolitical landscape. In the region, among the various problems, environmental issues are the most concerning for peace and sustainability. It is a global threatening issue also. The overall situation has reached to such an extent that it is not impossible to completely reduce it, may be possible to minimize it if there are joint efforts by the Buddhist- Muslim communities with ethical, moral and spiritual undergirding.

Environmental ethics in Islam can summarized as just three precepts- ‘ Do what is right, Forbid what is wrong and Act with moderation at the time’. In Buddhism- human excessive Loba, Desha, Moha i.e, greed, delusion, and attachment are the main causes of suffering on our planet. The main issue in environmental degradation is due to climate change i.e, global warming, soil-water-air pollution, biodiversity, ecosystem losses and many more unethical human activities. South, Southeast Asian countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Philippines and other countries suffer from loss of homes and personal property, health hazards, increase in violent conflicts and the foregone income that accompanies climate change induced disasters and instability. Thus environmental issues cannot be separated from social-justice.

Now, plastic products become one of the major pollutants in this region. Plastic is inert and hard to degrade. So, it becomes a toxic techno-waste that has severe polluting effects on the earth’s biodiversity. National Geographic reports that plastic kills millions of marine and land animals every year. Experts have found that we are all consuming microplastics in the food supply, which may cause damage to our digestive and reproductive systems and eventually lead to an early-death. Plastic products are expanding worldwide. A report says, plastic contributes to the greenhouse at every stage of it’s cycle, from its production to it’s refining and the way it is managed as a waste product. We produce over 320 million tons of plastic globally every year, almost half is single- use of plastic, useful for minutes, then destined to pollute our planet and oceans for centuries. Its production must end now and find out it’s environmental friendly alternatives.

A report from the summit’s host country shows, Bangladesh is the most populated Muslim country in South Asia. About 170 millions people live here in 147,5070 square kilometers. It also adds 1.1 millions Rohingya refugees with her. For overpopulation the country loses a huge number of natural forests , resources for livelihood. On the other hand, climate change causes natural disasters, health hazards, sea level rising ultimately causing mass internal migration, contaminating salty water with groundwater, eventually barren food production, damaging natural mangrove forests and many others climate injured incidents. Here, it is mentioned, Bangladesh emits only 0.3% of the world emission but suffers most due to the environmental crisis and becoming the most vulnerable country in the world. Another report says Bangladesh generates around 3,000 tons of plastic waste everyday. About 36% of plastic waste is formally recycled, 39% is dumped in landfills and the remaining 25% leaked into the environment, eventually flowing to the Bay of Bangle through the rivers. And also generates around 3,744 tons of single use plastic produced annually, approximately 80-85% are discarded being used only once. Single use plastics include drinking straws, plastic cotton buds, sachets, food packaging and plastic bags. It takes a minimum 10-200 years to decompose the single use of plastics. Like Bangladesh, South-Southeast Asian People in other countries are suffering from plastic pollution. So, we appeal to the Buddhist-Muslim communities to raise massive faith based approaches working for environmental peace and harmony and it is now urgently necessary to cut of plastic products specially single use of plastics from the societal life .

In South, Southeast Asian countries people are of high religiosity where Buddhist-Muslim leaders and other religious actors have wide influence. Here religion plays a central role in the daily lives of many people and in the broader social dynamics. Religious actors often utilize ‘value based’ approaches which have potential for wider application. So for a just peaceful South-Southeast Asia countries, we humbly request to come together as an interfaith initiatives to address the complex and combined challenges of ‘ Living Harmony with the Environment’ because we have unlimited desire, yet few resources, the destruction we cause now will have a long term, everlasting effect. And most of all, the environment isn’t only for us human’s but for all species on earth. As we only have one mother earth. We seek to encourage healing in a world struggling for equality, justice and well-being. We shall continue to do in good faith as a sign of commitment to our religious teachings and shared love and compassion to all living beings.