ActionAid Bangladesh’s festival of resilience to kick off in Dhaka Thursday

ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB) will celebrate the resilience of communities of Bangladesh and the country’s glorious heritage, culture, and traditions through a 2-days long festival, titled ‘Festival of Resilience: People, Planet and Possibilities.’

The festival will take place at the Naveed’s Comedy Club in the capital’s Gulshan 2 on Thursday and Friday, said a press release.

Centering around the strength of Bangladesh’s people to strive and rise against all odds, the festival aims to encourage celebration and participation among communities in recognition of their stories of resilience.

For decades, people of Bangladesh have faced countless challenges, such as, climate and human-induced disasters, inequalities, economic instability, refugee crisis and pandemic.

But every time, the mass bounced back with the power of resilience and survived with a renewed vigour. Very recent example would be the last two years, during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the collective effort of the people of this country helped communities to stay hopeful and agile, despite all the uncertainties and despair.

This innate quality and resilience of people is worth celebrating and hence ActionAid Bangladesh is organizing this festival. Through a wide and immersive range of activities, the festival will help celebrate the people, their strength, joy, and solidarity.

Key attractions include of the first day– opening performance by Happy Home girls; inauguration of exhibition and kiosks; opening dialogue on ‘Multi-dimensional perspective of resilience,’ featuring Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, Maleka Banu, general secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Rowshon Ara, member of Shetu Bondhon Gori Network, Mahrukh Mohiuddin, managing director of University Press Limited, Sabina Malo, general assembly member of AAIBS, Farzana Farukh Jhumu, Youth Climate Justice activist at Fridays for Future, Ibrahim Khalil Al Zayad, vice-chair of AAIBS, Taslima Tanisha, Happy Home representative, and Farzana Chowdhury, chartered insurer and managing director & chief executive officer of Green Delta Insurance Company.

There will also be a special ‘She-tales,’ segment, involving women leaders from the community who will share their tales of courage and resilience, and a cultural performance by AAB Band with the theme ‘Mukto Koro Bhoy, Apona Majhe Shakti Dhoro Nijera Koro Joy.’ M Khalilur Rahman, member of the General Assembly, AAIBS, will deliver the concluding remarks on the first day.

The last day's programme features a flash mob by the young participants of the Activista Network of ActionAid Bangladesh. There will also be three Human Book Café sessions with distinguished speakers – Imtiaz Ahmed, professor of International Relations & Director of Centre for Genocide Studies, University of Dhaka, Naveed Mahbub, engineer-turned-comedian, entrepreneur Tania Wahab, Afsan Chowdhury, journalist and researcher, Shameem Akhtar, filmmaker and media activist, Shakil Ahmed, futurist, educator, and storyteller at Ridiculous Futures, Mahrukh Mohiuddin, managing director of University Press Limited, Afzal Hossain, actor and director, and Ahsan Rony, founder of Greensaver.

Abul Kalam Azad, Tania Wahab, Afzal Hossain, Imtiaz Ahmed, Afsan Chowdhury, Shameem Akhtar and Farah Kabir will take part in the festival’s closing dialogue, followed by the renowned band “Joler Gaan’s” cultural performance.

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said, “The knack for survival through endurance and surpassing beyond obstacles is what makes us, as a nation, unique and commendable. At ActionAid, we felt that it was high time we celebrated this innate resilience of people – and therefore, came up with the idea of this Festival of Resilience.”

“Through this 2-days long event, we are going to promote the diversity of the country’s culture, an attempt to learn the grassroots’ resilience mechanisms, explore opportunities for potential partnerships and highlight the work of ActionAid Bangladesh for building resilience to increase awareness,” she added.

There will be games, live story-telling sessions and different stalls as well, where different handicraft, boutique and food items can be purchased.

On-site registration will be available on both days of the festival. Exhibition (photo, arts, crafts, audio visuals, etc.) and stalls of Aaurhi Trust, Barir Jeenish-Happy Home, Cox’s Bazar Rohingya Response will remain open from 3:00 to 6:00pm on Thursday and 03:00 to 08:00pm on Friday.

To register online for the festival, visit here.