Two months' of extensive activities are over. The national meet for the campaign, 'SDG: Need for strong representation of youth and women', was held on 19 December in Dhaka, after making rounds in Rajshahi, Sylhet and Chattogram. Youth, women, members of the third gender, representatives of the tea community, disabled persons and students from Chittagong Hill Tracts took part in the national meet held at the KIB auditorium in the capital.
State minister for planning, Shamsul Alam, as chief guest at the event, highlighted Bangladesh's successes and potential in the various SDG areas. Also speaking at the event as special guests were United Nations Bangladesh resident coordinator Gwyn Lewis, Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman, UNDP Bangladesh's deputy resident representative Van Nguyen and Bangladesh nation women's football team member Sajeda Sathi. The speakers said that it would not be possible to implement the SDG without the participation of the youth.
During the two-month campaign, the programme was run with six specific goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). These were SDG-5 (gender equality), SDG-8 (decent work), SDG-10 (reducing equality), SDG-13 (climate change), SDG-14 (life below water), and SDG-15 (life on land).
In this drive, over 1,200 youth and women were identified, who were committed to work on implementing the SDG. Their strong voice and committed indicated that like the SMG, Bangladesh would not lag behind in implementing the SDG. Each of these youth were SDG champions.
At the divisional level, the events included SDG rallies, meetings, open discussions, debate, art competitions and cultural programmes. The campaign also included six radio programmes with experts, six documentaries, six educational videos, 12 picture stories, 10 expert opinions and 10 video messages online over two months. Over 700,000 persons viewed these and gave their comments.
On a national level, 341 persons took part in an essay competition of SDG. The three best essays were awarded. There were also interuniversity debates which were watched live online by a few thousand viewers. Jahangirnagar University was the champions in the debate competition, with Bangladesh Textile University coming up as the runners up. Seven students won prices in the quiz contest on SDG. The two-month campaign came to an end with a lively cultural show.