US award for young Bangladeshi activist

The US State Department has presented Emerging Young Leaders Award to Bangladeshi youth, community development and woman rights activist Tanzil Ferdous along with nine other individuals.The 24-year-old president of Volunteer for Bangladesh, Chittagong and senior programme assistant at UNHCR received the honour along with the other winners from US Assistant Secretary Marie Royce in a public ceremony at the department May 2.Ferdous has organised successful events through her organisation and engaged hundreds of youths in volunteerism. She believes such efforts will deter them from engaging in extremist activities.She has also been active in working with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and has helped develop a safe space for 500 refugee children at the camps through JAAGO Foundation.In a statement to the State Department, she said her goal is to “empower adolescent girls and women, to bring them to leadership positions through capacity building and strengthening them to become the leaders of tomorrow”.The Emerging Young Leaders Award and Exchange Programme recognises 10 youth leaders (18-24 years of age) around the world every year for their efforts to enact positive social change.The recipients of the Emerging Young Leaders Award are visiting the United States for a two-week programme to recognise and support their efforts.The honourees are visiting Washington, DC first to meet with US government and non-government officials. They would then travel to Austin, Texas to engage in professional meetings with their American counterparts before reconvening in Washington, DC to share project plans.Once back home, the awardees will be able to apply for grants to support their work.