Youth Manifesto
2019-2023

What Bangladesh’s youth want to see in the next five years

More than 52% of Bangladesh’s population is below the age of 25. There is, therefore, a pressing need today to empower youth, build their capabilities, and engage them in political processes to ensure that their voices are reflected in national policies and priorities.
BYLC conducted the three-day Youth Leadership Summit 2018 to create a platform for youth to drive conversations on national development with a focus on democratic participation. Over the three days, 350 young delegates co-created the Youth Manifesto to begin a structured process to voice their demands and engage in domestic politics. 

Youth Matters Survey

In preparation for the Youth Leadership Summit, BYLC conducted the Youth Matters Survey to understand the issues that are important for youth and their priorities for development. We collected the insights of over 3000 young people from all 8 divisions of Bangladesh 

Top 4 challenges faced by Bangladesh’s youth today

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1. Lack of quality education and skills development opportunities
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2. Absence of sufficient work opportunities
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3. Corruption in public and private institutions
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4. Exclusion from civic participation

Bangladesh’s youth have a positive outlook

70%

Respondents feel that they have the
power to influence policy

78%

Respondents are hopeful about
Bangladesh’s future

Youth Manifesto

1. Allocate more of the overall budget for the education sector and create a transparent monitoring system so that citizens can observe how the money is being spent

2. Improve quality of teaching by continuously training teachers through physical and online platforms and monitoring progress and impact of training

3. Incentivize teachers and uphold teaching as a viable occupation by improving salary structures and increasing wages

4. Remove discriminatory practices that limit students’ potential

5. Reduce inequality by creating equal opportunities and investing equal resources and facilities to all education mediums and institutions

6. Include teaching of soft skills, practical skills, and 21st century skills in national curriculum

7. Include subjects and services that develop students’ wellbeing such as mental health counseling, sex education, and values based teaching

8. Take measures to prevent corruption in the teacher recruitment process and stop question leakage during admissions tests and exams

9. Improve communication between the school management committee and the institutions

10. Reform examination system so the focus is on learning rather than competition and take measures to change practice of rote memorization 

1. Conduct Labour Market Tests and analyses of current needs and demands every ten years to understand and create new skills and work opportunities

2. Create frameworks and policies that attract foreign investments and incentivize local industries to create more jobs

3. Use technology to remove corruption and ensure transparency in recruitment and human resource management processes

4. Bring informal sectors within legal frameworks

5. Modernize agriculture sector with more investments in modern equipment, involving more skilled youth in agricultural work, and removing middlemen

6. Include skills development training in traditional education system for young workers and entrepreneurs to create skilled workers to send to foreign markets

7. Properly reintegrate and create new skills development and employment opportunities for migrant workers who return to the country

8. Invest in public and private institutions to facilitate proper research facilities so that unemployment can be properly understood and strategically tackled

9. Ensure provisions for health insurance, pensions, and allowances after retirement from the private sector

10. Create monitoring cell to observe whether rights, facilities, and legal support are being provided to employees who are women, third gender, or from minority groups 

1. Teach concept of social inclusiveness in school so all students are made aware of diversity, social inclusion, and constitutional rights

2. Ensure participation of specific groups during policy-making processes when the law or policy concerns them

3. Ensure equal legal support and access to justice to protect the rights of marginalized communities (e.g. ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, underprivileged people, people with disabilities)

4. Enhance rights of people with disabilities through social awareness campaigns

5. Remove inequality between different education mediums by providing equal resources to all of them and creating more opportunities for exchange between them

6. In the matter of employment, salaries, or taxes, ensure that there is no discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnic or religious background, or socioeconomic status

7. Equal rights, opportunities, wages, promotions, and holidays should be ensured for women in the workspace.

8. Education, jobs in the public and private sector, counseling services, and participation in all sectors (jobs, competition, festivals) should be ensured for people of non-binary genders

9. Secure special provisions and facilities for senior citizens that ensure their dignity and respect

10. Harness modern technology to improve quality of public services in government institutions to remove corruption and ensure equal services and facilities to all citizens 

1. Secure citizens’ freedom of speech across physical and digital platforms

2. Ensure road safety and rule of law by creating a digital monitoring system

3. Ensure equal and safe opportunities for entertainment and recreation for all citizens

4. Foster better law enforcement and rehabilitation facilities to stop drug smuggling and drug usage

5. Explicitly designate equal rights for third gender people in the constitution and ensure its application

6. Ensure better law enforcement to punish violence against women and take steps to raise social awareness to prevent future violence against women

7. Make skill development of youth a top priority for the government

8. Establish a neutral platform for the youth to assert their political rights and express their opinions

9. Establish Upazila level counseling centers and develop counseling services and emergency helplines to provide mental health support services for youth

10. Ensure proper implementation of laws against cyber crime 

In the run up to the next election the Youth Manifesto will be widely disseminated among major political parties to ensure that youth voices are heard and acted upon at the highest policy making levels in our country. We will actively engage with the new government to implement some of the issues that will be highlighted in the manifesto.

#YouthMatters

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About BYLC

Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), the country's first leadership institute, exists to build connections among youth from diverse backgrounds, equip them with leadership skills, and enable them to have high impact in public, private, and civil sectors. All our efforts aim to strengthen prosperity, justice, and inclusiveness in societies worldwide.

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