A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between Save the Children and Mediastar Ltd. (Prothom Alo) to jointly work for improving the life of the children and ensuring their rights.
The MoU was signed at a virtual event on Thursday afternoon. Representatives of non-government organisation Save the Children and Prothom Alo were present there.
The agreement will remain effective till 31 December 2024.
Under the agreement, alongside Prothom Alo, different departments including ABC Radio, Prothoma Prokashon, Kishor Alo and Bondhushava will join the activities.
The events include roundtable, media cafe, digital content, radio program, publication and campaign.
As the first activity of the agreement, ARTivism: Drawing and Photography competition on climate change issues will be started on 1 August.
Speaking at the event, Onno van Manen the Country Director of Save the Children in Bangladesh said, "Save the Children and Prothom Alo are going to work together to amplifying the voice of the children especially who are living in a disadvantaged and difficult situation. We really value the relationship with independent and free media and applaud the role Prothom Alo has been playing in pushing forward the children’s rights. We believe through this collaboration we would be able to make the things better for the children in Bangladesh.”
The Editor of Prothom Alo, Matiur Rahman, said, "Save the Children is our longtime friend. We are continuing other work with them too. We hope we will work for children with strongest effort. This agreement will help advance the work for the children."
Save the Children Director (Programme, Quality and Development) Reefat Bin Sattar said Save the Children implements programmes, does advocacy and run campaigns to bring meaningful changes to the life of the children. We speak about child rights and mass media is one of the channels for this to reach wider population and the government.
He also said we are going to work with Prothom Alo not only for their reach and coverage but also for their social commitment to working for the children. In many cases the rights of children are violated and there jointly with media we can strongly say what should be said.
Prothom Alo associate editor Abdul Quayum said Prothom Alo is giving importance to the rights of children from the beginning. Prothom Alo has a policy for the children and the newspaper's journalists follow this. Photos and videos which may harm children are not published, he added.
Prothom Alo associate editor and the editor of Kishor Alo Anisul Hoque said, "We do various work including publication of Kishor Alo for the advancement of children."
The activities include Math Olympiad, Physics Olympiad and language competitions, he added.
At the end of the event, wishing the success of the MoU, Save the Children Senior Manager (Media and Communications) Nusrat Amin gave vote of thanks.
Prothom Alo assistant editor Firoz Choudhury moderated the event.