Md. Tamzid Hayder Tawrat Sikder
2019 Winner
Position: Founder
Organization: Y Coalition
B.Sc from Textile Engineering
Additional Degrees and Certifications:
-Participant to “Youth Leadership Program on Gender” by JPG School of public Health, Brac University
-Training on ‘Agents of Social Change’ by Asia Foundation
-Training on “Community Engagement & participation” by UNHCR
-ASEF Leadership & Capacity Building Training by Asia Europe Foundation & Ministry of Foreign affairs, Bangladesh.
-National Delegate to ” Global Sustainability Summit 2017″ in Delhi, India.
-‘International Training on Youth & Peace-building” by RGNIYD, Ministry of Youth & sports, India.
-Participant to “Commonwealth Youth Summit-2017” at Malaysia
-Served “Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center” as A campus Ambassador of BUFT of 2016.
Awards Received:
Award:
Commonwealth Peace Award
Awarding Organization:
The Commonwealth
Date Awarded:
March 1, 2019
Award:
Young Fellowship Challenge Award
Awarding Organization:
South Asian Youth Society
Date Awarded:
June 3, 2016
Award:
Champion for Children
Awarding Organization:
Save the Children
Date Awarded:
February 13, 2013
“Unplanned pregnancies cause 20% growth of 1.2 million Rohingya refugees. Early marriages, opposition to contraceptives and religious prejudices are responsible. Mr Tamzid works on contraceptives, menstrual hygiene & sex education in refugee camps.“
– Nominator
Describe your contributions to and achievements in family planning.
As a young researcher & activist I founded a Youth Organization Y Coalition. With ‘Life beyond the border project” We empowered Youth adolescents Rohingya Refugees to break the social taboo & Create Awareness on Menstrual hygiene, early forced marriage & Sex Education that involve 376 Youths, 312 Women & girls, 40 Imam from the 10 Communities in Camps. For contribution to the Community, The project received Commonwealth Peace Award 2019 among 54 Nations.
What sparked your passion for family planning?
I was born & raised in a village where Rohingya refugee living since 1996 & since then we hosted 1.2 million Rohingyas who outnumbered local population. Victimization of such a humanitarian crisis spark my passion to initiates ‘Life Beyond the Border”. I have spent all my life in Refugee camp, and I have witnessed women and girls suffering unbearable pains of gynecological complexities and Menstrual unhygienic and immature pregnancies. With the project, we work with 2000 adolescents’ refugees.
Give one or two examples of how you display leadership in your family planning work.:
We engage adolescent and adult refugees, aged 10 to 35 and train them to make ‘Public Opponents’.The Popular Opponents (POs) are refugees who stand up to early marriage in the camps. POs are divided into four categories. So far,Life Beyond The Border has trained 132 POs as Community Reporters, 149 as Young Advocates,63 as Peer Educators and 1100 as Campaigners,who reported 23 child marriages, stopped 27 child marriages and educated refugees to access family planning services from 30 clinics.
If you are named a winner of 120 under 40, how will you use this new platform and the $1000 grant to advance your work?
– Organizing an Exchange Program between Bangladesh Youth & Burmese Rohingya Refugees on Family Planning.
– Conducting an empirical research on Hormonal Contraception & Barrier Methods about Rohingya Refugees.
– Producing two story-based documentaries.
– Arranging 3 Street drama for awareness.
Photos of the nominee in the field/at work:
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