National Advocacy

Project Inception Workshop

Dhaka CALLING project commenced its journey with an online project inception workshop in April 2021 with the generous financial support of USAID & FCDO and technical support of Counterpart International.The workshop was brought a huge success with 145 participations from policymakers, higher government officials, local government representatives, relevant experts, media, CBO leaders, community peoples that includes the marginalized groups, youths, other genders, etc. The Chief Guest of the event was Mr.Tanvir Shakil Joy, MP, Member of the Standing Committee for Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.The event was inaugurated by Mr. Md. Shahidul Islam, Deputy Commissioner & District Magistrate, Dhaka.The objective of the event was to be engaged with various stakeholders including the media and slum community leaders and to share the project goal and objectives.

Memorandum to community authorities on needs of community

Memorandums, under the project, have been submitted to the Honorable Mayor of DSCC. The representation from CBO and Federation leaders, youths, journalists, community peoples, etc. submitted these memorandums to mobilize community leaders, slum dwellers, media, and community authorities asking for their transparent role and accountability towards the promotion, proper implementation, and implementation of laws and rules to minimize environmental pollution. Honorable Mayor Barrister Sheik Fazle Noor Taposh exchanges his sincere thanks for initiating this time-worthy project and expresses his wish to work with it

Local Level Stakeholder Consultation Meeting.

The project has organized Local Level Stakeholders Consultation Meetings. The objective of the event was to sensitize the local duty bearers and the media for their accountable and transparent role in order to proper implementation of laws and rules to minimize the environmental pollution as well as scrutinizing the pertaining environmental problems of the slums and making bridges among different stakeholders of the project and also to enhance collaboration amidst them for continuing advocacy initiatives.

The meetings were conducted with a large number of representatives from Govt. officials, DSCC, DNCC. Local Government Institute Representative, NGO, CBO, Young Advocates, Trade Union, and Journalists.

Local Level Public Hearing

Local Level Public Hearings are one of the most successful events of the project with more than 200 participants from DNCC, DSCC, Youth Advocacy Group, CSOs, Community, media. The major objective of the event is to facilitate community peoples, CBOs, and their Federations to directly raise their voices and demands face to face in the process of pursuing and influencing ward councilors and city duty bearers to instigate their functional duties to address slum dwellers’ environmental issues for a healthy life of the low-income communities.

Parliamentary Standing Committee Meeting

DSK Consortium organized a meeting with Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) members of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (EF&CC) at Parliament Members Club of Bangladesh National Parliament. The meeting was made a success with the presence of Chief guest Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, and Chairman, Standing Committee on EF&CC; special guest Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy, MP, Member of EF&CC Md. Rezaul Karim Bablu, MP, Member of EF&CC; Mr. Naimul Azam Khan, Deputy Secretary and PS of Chairman of Standing Committee for EF&CC; Mr. Mainuddin Ahmed, PAR’s Chief of Party; Counterpart International, Mr. Shyamal Dutta, Editor, The Daily Bhorer Kagoj; Mr. Abu Naser Khan, Chairman, Save the Environment Movement (POBA); Suman Ahasanul Islam, Technical Advisor of Dhaka CALLING project shared the gap and limitation of “The Environment Conservation Act, 1995; The Local Government (City Corporation) Act, 2009 and Draft Waste Management Rule 2021” and provide recommendations before the members of respective Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) for addressing

Local Level Public Hearing/ Peoples Dialogue

The Dhaka CALLING project under the Promoting Advocacy and Rights (PAR) with the generous support of USAID and FCDO as well as technical support of Counterpart International (CPI) organized a Local Level Public Hearing/Peoples’ Dialogue on March 27, 2022. 79 individuals (women-43, men-36) including Government Officials, Ward Councilors, Journalists, cultural team members, community leaders, youth advocates and community people. The Chief Guest of the event was Hazi Iliasur Rahman Babul, Panel Mayor of DSCC, councilor (Ward-14); Mr Nure Alam, Councilor, Ward-55 of DSCC participated during the event as the special guest. The event was chaired by Babor Ali Mir, Deputy Secretary, Zonal Chief Executive, Zone-3, DSCC.

The major objective of the event was to facilitate community peoples, CBOs, and their Federations to raise their voices and demands in the process of pursuing and influencing ward councilors and city duty bearers to instigate their functional duties to address slum dwellers’ environmental issues for a healthy life of the low-income communities.

Hazi Iliasur Rahman Babul, Panel Mayor of DSCC, councilor (Ward-14) said, “Large amount of waste has been generating from Hazaribag area of Dhaka city. Around 80-85% of generated waste being managed according to the regular process. If the project like Dhaka CALLING works in the 75 wards of Dhaka South City Corporation, then the Solid Waste management situation will be improved gradually.”

Local Level Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders

Another Local Level Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders was organized by Dhaka Calling Project on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. The event was participated by 44 individuals (Women 20 and Men 24; Youth 12) from DNCC, YAGs, CBOs, Federations, CSOs, NGOs, community, media, etc.

The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Ziaur Rahman, Zonal Executive Officer (Deputy Secretary) & Executive Magistrate, DNCC while Masuda Farouk Ratna, Executive Director, Gram Bikash Shohayok Sangstha (GBSS) was the Chair of the event. Doctor Farzana Afroz, Assistant Health Officer, Zone-02, DNCC discussed about the health impact of waste mismanagement and Mr. Anowar Hossain Bhuiyan, Assistant Social Welfare Officer, Zone-02 discussed about the current waste management practices of slum. The event was facilitated by Md. Mahbul Haque, Project Manager, CUP. An overview of the Dhaka CALLING project was presented by Md. Rokibul Islam, Project Manager, DSK.

The major objective of the event was to sensitize the local duty bearers and the media for their accountable and transparent role for proper implementation of laws and rules to minimize the environmental pollution as well as scrutinizing the pertaining environmental problems of the Molla slum and making bridges among different stakeholders of the project to enhance collaboration amidst them for continuing advocacy initiatives.

Local Level Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders

Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP), a Consortium partner of Dhaka CALLING project, an initiative of DSK consortia, funded by USAID and technical support of Counterpart International (CPI), organized a Local Level Consultation Meeting with Stakeholders on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. The event was participated by 38 individuals (Women 19 and Men 19; Youth 18) from DNCC, YAGs, CSOs, NGOs, community, media, etc.

The event was a result of the advocacy initiatives that has been continuing at the slum through different activities like- courtyard meeting, youth advocacy group meeting, CBO/Federation meeting, etc.

The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Abdullah Al Baki, Zonal Executive Officer (Deputy Secretary), Zone-03, DNCC, while Doctor Azizun Nesa, Assistant Health Officer, Zone-03 of DNCC and Mr. Basudeb Sarkar, Assistant Chief Waste Management Officer, Zone-03 of DNCC were the Honorable Guest of the event.

Calling on the city corporation to come forward in the waste management of slums, the Executive Director of the CUP, Khondker Rebaka Sun-Yat, said that most of the pollution in Dhaka is due to waste mismanagement.

National Level Public Hearing

‘Project like Dhaka CALLING (DCP) should have been started ten years earlier and should carry on for another ten years’ said, Mr. Babor Ali Mir, Zonal Executive Officer-03, Deputy Secretary, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) at the National Level Public Hearing (NLPH) organized under the DCP on Tuesday, January 04, 2022, at the Parliament Members’ Club, National Parliament Bhaban. The event was organized to raise the community’s voices in the process of pursuing and influencing responsive duty bearers to instigate their functional duties to address environmental issues of the low-income communities.

The event was enlighten by the graceful presence of Ms. Habibun Nahar, MP, Honorable Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) as the Chief Guest of the event while Mr. Tanvir Sakil Joy, MP, Honorable Member, Parliamentary Standing Committee for MoEF&CC, presided over the event.

Meeting With The Parliamentary Standing Committee Members

Dhaka Calling project organized another meeting with the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C) at the Parliament Members Club of National Parliament on March 12, 2022. A total of 14 participants (men-6, women-8) including 3 MPs, 2 media persons, CSO, and community representatives participated in the meeting.

The Chief Guest of the meeting was Mr. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP and Chairman, Standing Committee on EF&CC. The Special Guests of the meeting were Md. Moshiur Rahman Ranga, MP, Member of PSC on MoLGRD&C and Chief Whip of the opposition party of National Parliament; Advocate Khodeza Nasreen Akhter Hossain, MP, Member of PSC on MoEF&CC.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, expressed the view that there is no alternative for the Ministry of Health, Local Government, and the Ministry of Environment to work together on the impact of environmental pollution and solid waste management. He emphasized the issue of environmental health and emphasized the integrated planning and implementation of various ministries.

Day Observation

The World Environment Day 2022 was celebrated Dhaka CALLING project through organizing a Seminar jointly with the Department of Environment (DoE) and Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. The event was participated by 162 individuals (Women 73 and Men 89; Youth 62, Ethnic minority 12) from YAGs, CBOs, Federations, CSOs, NGOs, community, media, civil society organization etc.

The Chief Guest of the event was Mr. Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Additional Secretary, MoEF&CC. The audience of the seminar was sensitized by showing a video documentary at the beginning of the event. Before going to the discussions through different modes of participation the community people took the opportunity to hand over two memorandums to the representative of MoEF&CC and DoE. The discussion mostly focused on finding way-outs for the sustainable management of solid wastes that promote the idea of living sustainably with nature.

The Chief Guest of the event, Mr. Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Additional Secretary, MoEF&CC said that environment day is being celebrated nationally with special importance given by the Prime Minister herself. Environmental governance is one of the top priority issues of PM

“Local Level Public Hearing/ Peoples’ Dialogue” and “Issue Memorandum to community authorities on needs of community”

On July 31, 2022, DSK consortium organized a Local Level Peoples’ Dialogue at Auditorium Room, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Dhaka. A memorandum had been submitted to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DNCC by the slum dwellers during the event. During the event,

65 individuals (women -30 and men 35) were there from DNCC, Media, Marginalized Community, DSK Consortium, and Counterpart International.

The major objective of the event was to demonstrate prevailing environmental gaps and loopholes in the process of pursuing recommendations to responsible authorities that could facilitate community empowerment and increase the budget for SWM.

During the public hearing, representatives of Slum dwellers asked questions and raised their demand to the people’s representatives and the waste management authorities.

liaison and coordination meeting with Tanvir Shakil Joy

DSK consortium, under the “Dhaka Calling project” funded by USAID and with technical support from Counterpart International under their PAR project, organized a liaison and coordination meeting with Tanvir Shakil Joy Honorable Member of Parliament, Sirajganj-1, Vice President Bangladesh Awami Volunteer's League on March 30, 2024. During the event, the Dhaka Calling Team shared the community-identified solid waste management roadmap with the Honorable Member of Parliament, Tanvir Shakil Joy. The roadmap outlines the strategies and actions proposed by the local community to address solid waste management issues in the area.

Meeting with the Honorable Chairman of the Committee on Govt. Assurance