Youth Forum: BRAC University

On December 14, 2016 a Bangladesh Priorities Youth Forum was held at BRAC University in Dhaka. Twenty eight students from different departments of BRAC University actively participated in the youth forum. Quazi Nazmul  Haque, Senior Proggramme Officer, Danish Embassy Bangladesh and Dr. Md. Mahfuzar Rahman, Programme Head, Research and Evaluation Division, BRAC attended as special guests.

After a lively debate and fruitful discussion regarding the ranking of top priority for Bangladesh, 6 students ranked “E-procurement across government” as a top priority by focusing the mismanagement happening in the government procurement sector due to a manual system. To quote one participant

Bangladesh is aiming to build up ‘digital Bangladesh’. Procurement sector is one of the biggest sectors where digitization can bring multiple benefits in terms of money, transparency and good governance."

Another 6 other students prioritized “Boost Agricultural Productivity” as number one. One student remarked that

development should start with farmers because they are source of bread and butter. Agricultural development should get most priority not only to tackle negative impacts of climate change but also make overall development.” 

Together, the students ranked the following interventions as their top 5 priorities for Bangladesh.

• E-procurement across government.
• Boost agricultural productivity.
• Land records digitization.
• Newborn homecare by health workers.
• Mangrove protection in Sundarban.