Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center
Non-Profit Organization
Founded January 5, 2009
Founder Ejaj Ahmad
Headquarters Dhaka, Bangladesh
Website bylc.org

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) is the first leadership institution in Bangladesh. Originally developed at Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership in 2008, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center was established in Bangladesh in 2009. The signature component of BYLC is the four-month-long youth leadership program, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT). Besides the BBLT program, BYLC also conducts executive programs and workshops[1] for university students.[2]

Ejaj Ahmad, Founder & President of BYLC, speaks to students at the Victory Day Rally on December 16, 2009

About BYLC

Formation

The concept of a youth leadership center was originally developed at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in January 2008. The proposal for a month-long leadership program, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT), was jointly developed by Ejaj Ahmad, then a graduate student at Harvard University, and Shammi S. Quddus, then an undergraduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The proposal was one of a hundred college projects awarded a grant by Projects for Peace in 2008.[3][4]

Ahmad and Quddus ran the pilot phase of BBLT in Chittagong in the summer of 2008, with technical and financial support from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Public Service Center. Building on the success and lessons learned from the pilot, the BBLT program was encapsulated within the framework of a non-profit organization, the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC).

In early 2009, BYLC was registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms in Bangladesh as a non-partisan social venture.

The signature program of BYLC, BBLT, expanded into a four-month program for BBLT 4 on July 2010. The first month consists of intensive classroom training in leadership skills after school. In the next three months, students work in teams to implement their leadership training by designing and conducting community projects in local slums.

BYLC program participant, Tasfia teaches the alphabet to an underprivileged woman in Korail slum in Dhaka

Activities at BYLC

Mr. James F. Moriarty, US Ambassador to Bangladesh, addresses participants at BYLC's second graduation ceremony on July 23, 2009[5]
Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank (Central Bank of Bangladesh), addresses graduates at BYLC's third graduation ceremony on January 9, 2010[6]

Youth Leadership Summit

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center organized the first Youth Leadership Summit from March 3, 2011 to March 5, 2011 at the Spectra Convention Center and the Bangabandhu International Conference Center.

Awards and Recognition

In 2009, Ahmad was profiled as one of Asia's most promising young leaders and awarded the 2009–2010 Paragon Fellowship by the Foundation of Youth Social Enterprise.[7] He was also among 20 outstanding young social entrepreneurs recognized by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) for the 2010 YouthActionNet Fellowship.[8] The 2010 fellows came from 18 different countries across five continents.[9] Recently he was featured in The Washington Post on a special program titled 'On Leadership: Ejaj Ahmad, bringing Obama to Bangladesh'.[10] Assistant secretary Robert O. Blake, Jr. of the Bureau of South and Central Asia Affairs in the US government mentioned the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center as one of "South Asia's Unheralded Stories" at the 2010 San Diego World Affairs Council.[11] Ahmad was selected as one of the 150 delegates from Asia and the US in the 2010 Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.[12] Additionally, BYLC has received considerable media attention in Bangladesh via newspapers, radio and press conferences.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Public Lecture on "Leadership for the 21st Century" at BRAC University". Star Campus. 2 (1). The Daily Star. April 2009.
  2. ↑ "Exploring Real Leadership: BYLC holds lecture at IBA". Star Campus. 2 (1). The Daily Star. April 2009.
  3. ↑ "BBLT 12" (PDF). BYLC.
  4. ↑ "2008 - Projects for Peace". Projects for Peace.
  5. ↑ "Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center graduation ceremony". Star Weekend Magazine. The Daily Star. January 15, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Youths together to decide their future". The Daily Star. July 25, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Ejaj Ahmad". Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship.
  8. ↑ "Ejaj Ahmad". YouthActionNet.
  9. ↑ "Ejaj Ahmad honored as a 2010 Global Fellow of the International Youth Foundation" (PDF). BYLC. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2012.
  10. ↑ "'On Leadership: Ejaj Ahmad, bringing Obama to Bangladesh'". The Washington Post. June 8, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Remarks by Assistant Secretary Robert O. Blake, Jr. at the San Diego World Affairs Council" (PDF). BYLC. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2013.
  12. ↑ 2010 Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit
  13. ↑ "Press Clippings". BYLC.

External links

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