"In the past decade, Bangladesh has witnessed severe erosion of democratic practices and weakening of democratic institutions. Incumbent has demonstrated its penchant for executive aggrandizement. These have transformed Bangladesh into a hybrid regime, which is marked with various characteristics in
...
cluding the limited freedom of expression. International human rights organizations and organizations for press freedom have noted the continuous decline of freedom of expression in Bangladesh. The decline is due to both legal and extra-legal measures adopted by the incumbent Awami League since 2011. This chapter seeks to understand how journalists and media organizations operate in a hybrid regime. How do journalist and editors in Bangladesh negotiate between journalistic obligations and restricted freedom of press freedom by the state? What strategies do journalists undertake in their everyday professional duties to safeguard freedom? By utilizing an ethnographic approach, this chapter highlights personal and professional challenges faced by the editors and journalist in a hybrid regime." (Abstract)
more
"This paper is about newspaper journalism practices under the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Based on two separate theories - Communication Competence Theory, and Risk and Crisis Communication Management Theory -, this study intends to understand the challenges that newspaper journalists faced whi
...
le discharging their professional responsibilities and governing the newsroom operations during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. In addition, this paper explores the strategies that journalists followed to adapt to the changed working environments and engage themselves in the processes of news production and publication. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 12 journalists including three news managers from three national dailies - daily Prothom Alo, daily Samakal, and The Daily Star. Standing on findings, the discussion progressed around six areas – governance of newsroom operations, preparations, communication, newsgathering, restrictions, insecurity and protection. The key findings are: i) the COVID19 crisis appeared as a blow before the newspaper journalists of Bangladesh due to a policy-level shortcoming in terms of formulating plans beforehand to govern the newsroom operations in the face of the challenges that emerged along with the pandemic; ii) the journalists were not comfortable in adapting themselves to the working from home strategy as they struggled in gathering and verifying information, and doing required communions using the virtual communication methods while working from distance; and iii) the journalists experienced psychological pressures because of multiple factors that included -- limited access to protective gear and fear of infection; protection of family members; adapting themselves to the changed working environments; and tension of losing the job in the pandemic crisis." (Abstract)
more
"How did that impact the media's ability to tell this story? Did this period of protest have coverage that centred on survivors and the rights of women, or did the media fixate on voyeuristic representations of violence? Did the reports challenge rape myths and the culture of shame that demonstrator
...
s spoke up against, or did they repeat sexist stereotypes that end up reinforcing gender inequality? And finally, how can media coverage of sexual violence be made more gender-sensitive and trauma-informed? These are some of the questions that the author attempted to answer in this paper." (Introduction)
more
"This Handbook on Online Education in Commonwealth Asia aims to provide a snapshot of online education in the Commonwealth countries that CEMCA serves. It examines the country and institutional policy for online education and assesses online education strategies in the respective countries. It inclu
...
des country case studies of Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, and Singapore." (Publisher description)
more
"The pandemic made inequality, discrimination, exclusion and structural inequity more palpable, and rather than stagnating in indignation, it reactivated a sense of rebellion and contestation. The strength and sharpness with which we connect social justice, gender justice, environmental justice, eco
...
nomic justice and racial justice with the potentials and limitations of digital technologies is undeniable. Using this intersectional lens, we need to document and build our own narratives about the challenges that we face related to the impacts of the pandemic and reflect on how our advocacy priorities as well as the ways we do advocacy are changing and keep being modified and adjusted. At APC we have strengthened capacity to design and implement collective and contextual community responses to the multiple challenges and crises that we face, while having a greater awareness of the kind of global responses that should be prioritised, based on shared but differentiated responsibilities [...] GISWatch 2021-2022 focuses on responses to some of the fundamental questions brought by the pandemic to inform civil society’s advocacy around digital technology issues and their potential to shape future horizons. As illustrated on our cover, a sustained struggle will be necessary in the years ahead, but not only in the public spaces. A nuanced approach to advocacy will be essential to open multiple ways to bring about positive change." (Preface, page 6)
more
"Beyond Access was the first major global attempt to connect the international development and public library worlds. Taking the form of a series of projects in a dozen countries meant to help catalyze library development around national goals, the program operated from 2011 to 2018. Starting from a
...
point at which libraries in most low – and middle-income countries were neglected, disused and staffed by librarians with outdated skills, it effectively launched public libraries into national dialogue in some countries and failed to do so in others. This article explores the conditions and actions that led to effective projects and what lessons for future library development efforts might be gleaned from the program’s work. In Myanmar and Georgia, the program attracted new investment into public libraries aligned with central government digital strategies. In Bangladesh and the Philippines, the program integrated public libraries into education efforts where they had been previously ignored. With more than a quarter million public libraries in low – and middle-income countries, there remains vast potential for library systems to reinforce their relevancy in the 21st century, attract new resources, and provide vital services. Library leaders around the world can build on the experience of Beyond Access to help inform initiatives to revive libraries around modern needs." (Abstract)
more
"This publication is a collection of a variety of outlooks, recommendations, and input from the participants of the 2020 workshop [for fellows of the CrossCulture Programme (CCP) of the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen] and others. On the subject of digital access, CCP alumnus Camilo Olea speaks ab
...
out the digital divide in Mexico and how his organisation is providing access to indigenous rural communities. The German NGO Superrr demands an open digital infrastructure and more open-source software for a more inclusive digital sphere. Ali (name changed), a Bangladeshi journalist and CCP alumnus, gives an overview of the current state of free speech in Bangladesh. CCP alumna Hend Kheiralla from Sudan shares her view on the role of social media during the Sudanese Revolution and the impact of the internet shutdown. Having experienced severe discrimination online herself, a CCP alumna from Jordan talks about her experiences and the impact of attacks as well as strategies for dealing with them. Love Storm, a German NGO that focuses on countering hatred online, suggests specific measures we can start using directly to create a safe and inclusive online space for everyone." (Editorial, page 3)
more
"Salali and Uysal (2020) found in their study that vaccine acceptance significantly increased when people believe in the natural origin of the virus. Therefore, mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories about how the virus started need to be debunked, especially in countries having high vaccine hes
...
itancy rates. Fact-checking agencies and independent fact-checkers have a major role to play. Banerjee et al. (2010) found in their study that providing incentives boosted immunization rates. This strategy is currently being applied in the COVID-19 vaccination drive [...] Government and health authorities should be aware of anti-vaccine campaigns and take necessary actions. Necessary services should be provided in areas with high illiteracy rates or poverty to help those people get vaccinated. Media needs to get better at reportage. Spreading the truth about the harmful effects of not taking COVID-19 vaccine can help in lowering vaccine hesitancy. Balance needs to be maintained in reporting incidents like deaths or side effects which might not be related to vaccines. Mis/disinformation spread on national media outlets about the virus or vaccine should be condemned. Boosting transparency and the spread of accurate and sufficient information related to the virus and vaccines can help in mitigating the peoples’ fears and doubts. Therefore, government needs to be more upfront in providing latest information about COVID-19 vaccines. Public concerns should be handled by public health authorities. Communication helpline should be developed where people can explain their fears and doubts about vaccines and gain insights on the situation. Religious and opinion leaders can help encourage their followers to get vaccinated. Policymakers and public health officials need to come up with targeted health communication strategies for subgroups with high vaccine hesitancy." (Conclusion, page 318)
more
"This book lays out the history of entertainment-education and discusses the boundaries of what counts as entertainment-education and narrative persuasion, includes both authors who work within academia and authors who are practitioners, and chapters focusing on developed and developing countries; d
...
raws upon communication principles and theory but prioritizes actionable lessons for how entertainment-education actually works." (Publisher description)
more
"Those working in media face plenty of challenges when it comes to handling issues around conflict more sensitively. In some countries, these difficulties could include forced or unsolicited loyalty, a lack of information, or physical and psychological threats. In others, challenges could arise from
...
prejudice fostered by excessive homogeneity in newsrooms, or a lack of consciousness for the limits of certain views. In DW Akademie’s publication, authors from around the world approach the question of how media workers can cover conflict better. This includes reflections on how to cope with the deluge of hatred online and on how to deal with trauma. Rather than academic, analytical texts, the publication is made up of thoughtfully written, carefully illustrated and often personal pieces." (Publisher description)
more
"In recent years, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) has invested time and resources to better understand the results of the support it provides to journalists and media outlets. EJN already uses a suite of methods to gauge the impact of its efforts to improve environmental media, such as e
...
valuating individual training and capacity development activities. In 2020, it commissioned a study that aimed to go a step further and support deeper learning on whether, how and why EJN’s work contributes to changes in the policies and practices of different actors. This report summarizes the study’s main findings, insights and recommendations [...] Key findings within EJN's control: EJN’s financial and mentoring support enables journalists with varied levels of experience to undertake reporting that they would otherwise find difficult. As a result, they can produce newsworthy stories on environmental issues. Research challenges mentioned earlier resulted in incomplete data, but it appears that stories supported by EJN are likely to achieve higher levels of engagement when published in local languages. Many stories published with EJN’s support are republished and shared through other news outlets and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Levels of engagement appear to vary considerably across countries and distribution channels, however data explored by the study indicates they may be higher for local language media, particularly video." (Executive summary, page 9-10)
more
"Beyond Access was the first major global attempt to connect the international development and public library worlds. Taking the form of a series of projects in a dozen countries meant to help catalyze library development around national goals, the program operated from 2011 to 2018. Starting from a
...
point at which libraries in most low – and middle-income countries were neglected, disused and staffed by librarians with outdated skills, it effectively launched public libraries into national dialogue in some countries and failed to do so in others. This article explores the conditions and actions that led to effective projects and what lessons for future library development efforts might be gleaned from the program’s work. In Myanmar and Georgia, the program attracted new investment into public libraries aligned with central government digital strategies. In Bangladesh and the Philippines, the program integrated public libraries into education efforts where they had been previously ignored. With more than a quarter million public libraries in low – and middle-income countries, there remains vast potential for library systems to reinforce their relevancy in the 21st century, attract new resources, and provide vital services. Library leaders around the world can build on the experience of Beyond Access to help inform initiatives to revivew libraries around modern needs." (https://www.ictworks.org, 2021/6/31)
more
"Mental health in workplaces is a global concern today, and Bangladesh is not an exception to that. It is a big concern in journalism as good journalism depends on healthy journalists and news organizations. Most of the scholarships on the topic have been done from the perspective of western and dev
...
eloped countries. Little is known about it from the context of developing countries like Bangladesh. As such, the present study aimed at assessing mental health and well-being of professional journalists in Bangladesh. Data were collected through a survey using a semi-structured questionnaire from 191 Dhaka-based journalists reached with the aid of snowball sampling method. Psychometric instruments such as improvised depression scale, the perceived stress scale, Beck hopelessness scale (BHS), and satisfaction with life scale were used to collect data. The results show that most of the journalists perceive their job as highly stressful, suffer from depression up to some extent, are extremely dissatisfied with their life, and severely hopeless about their life and future." (Abstract)
more
"The online harassment of female journalists is a rising concern around the world and also in South Asia. Bangladesh, a South Asian country, recently, has experienced an increasing number of harassments against female journalists online. Various studies explored the online harassment, mostly from th
...
e Western perspectives. Scholars have argued that the online harassments may negatively affect the freedom of expression. But little is known about Bangladesh. Drawing upon feminist theory, this study investigated the experiences of online journalists in Bangladesh. The objectives were to explore the nature and forms of online harassment and to find how this experiences of harassments affect the freedom of expression of the victims. Data were collected through content analysis, semiotic analysis of the uncivil comments available in the online news feedback and in-depth interviews. Results of the study indicate that online harassment is a frequent phenomenon where the victim journalists feel vulnerable in the ‘unsafe' online ‘patriarchal' environment." (Abstract)
more
"Since October 2017, the Common Service for Community Engagement and Accountability (‘the Common Service’) has been funded as a dedicated project providing key services and support to help humanitarian organisations engage effectively with Rohingya communities and Bangladeshis living near Rohing
...
ya camps (host communities) in Cox’s Bazar. A sub-national working group on communicating with communities (CwC) already existed in Bangladesh and was activated in response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. The Common Service project operates alongside the working group carrying out a diverse range of activities including creating and sharing audio and visual content in the Rohingya language; supporting and training humanitarian agencies on language, communication, community engagement and accountability; and operating a collective feedback analysis service, collating and analysing community feedback and complaints data from different sources and producing a fortnightly bulletin" (Preface, page 4). –- "There is strong evidence to suggest that community members have improved access to coordinated, timely and responsive two-way community engagement as a result of the Common Service. The evaluation has found causal evidence to suggest that support the Common Service has provided to the humanitarian sector, through provision of communication materials and training has led to humanitarian agencies being better equipped to communicate with communities and in turn community members having access to key, useful information which has prompted them to take action." (Conclusions, page 50)
more
"The opportunity for further growth in the ICT sector by leveraging the sizeable youth workforce, including females, is immense. The Skills to Succeed program in Bangladesh helps vulnerable youth (ages 15-24), living in slum communities, develop employability, ICT technical and entrepreneurship skil
...
ls, and provides job linkage services to prepare them to obtain decent work in the ICT & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) value chain, from which marginalized youth have traditionally been excluded. Since 2017, 10,800 youth have received employability skills training (41% female). Additionally, 6,810 youth have received vocational training in ICT and 2,730 entrepreneurship training. Of these, 3,117 youth have been placed in jobs and 504 in self-employment.
One of the key learnings from the S2S program in Bangladesh is that, in order for youth to be more likely to advance in the ICT sector, where technology leaps forward at a fast pace, they need to become lifelong learners and, ideally, develop technology skills at an earlier age. This is why the S2S program is expanding to reach marginalized in-school and out-of-school very young adolescents (ages 10 to 14) to build their life skills, growth mindset and digital skills so they are able to continuously learn, adapt and be prepared to take advantage of the jobs of the future.
An innovative approach for providing access to the internet and build the digital skills of to the most marginalized adolescents and youth in Bangladesh, particularly girls, is the use of a Mobile Training Center (MTC). The MTC moves around Chattogram to provide skills training to adolescent girls and boys at their doorsteps. The MTC has one technical instructor and two life skills trainers. These instructors facilitate a 24-hour training on life skills and growth mindset, and a 24-hour training on digital literacy and citizenship. The MTC is set up in a large bus, it is equipped with 15 laptop computers, internet connection, and furniture to facilitate trainings. Internet access is provided through 3G/4G portable Router Access Points. Service is procured from high quality mobile network service providers in Bangladesh, such as Grameen Phone or Robi, with whom the program has corporate agreements.
By meeting adolescents close to their homes and communities, the MTC will overcome common participation barriers for marginalized and vulnerable adolescents, such as personal safety and the time and cost of traveling to training centers. These barriers frequently prevent girls from pursuing or completing trainings." (Pages 1-2)
more
"[...] in this article, we present the results of a collective self-assessment exercise for a panel of eight case studies (covering four continents) [Amazon rainforest, Brazil; Colombia; India; Bangaldesh; Egypt; Lake Manyara Basin, Tanzania; Baltic Sea, Germany; Isles of Scilly, UK] ] of communicat
...
ions between project teams and local communities within the context of climate change or biodiversity loss. Our analysis develops eight indicators of good stakeholder communication, which we construct from the literature, in addition to Verran (2002) 's concept of postcolonial moments as a communicative utopia. Our study contributes to the (analytical) understanding of such communications, while also providing tangible insights for field work and policy recommendations. We demonstrate that applying our indicators can foster a more successful communication, although we find an apparent divergence between timing, complexity, and (introspective) effort of the project teams. While three case studies qualify for postcolonial moments, our findings show that especially the scrutiny of power relations and genuine knowledge co-production are still rare. We verify the potency of various instruments for deconstructing science; however, we also show that their sophistication cannot substitute other crucial factors. Instead, simple deconstruction efforts may suffice, while trust-building, proper time management, and an advanced awareness of the scientists are crucial. Lastly, we consider that reforming rigid and inadequate funding policies will help overcome significant barriers and improve the work in and with local communities." (Abstract)
more