Diversity is the beauty of a community, where differences in ethnicity, gender, race, color, and customs coexist. However, it is essential for the state to ensure that everyone is included in its development journey, leaving no one behind in the progress.
On September 10, 2024, Team Diversity from the Policy Hackathon organized an online consultation session with 15 transgender youths in Dhaka to address employment challenges faced by their community. The session aimed to identify obstacles to job market integration, necessary skills for employment, and potential solutions to improve opportunities. Participants shared personal experiences of exclusion, lack of access to education, and societal discomfort with their identities, emphasizing the need for skill-based training, inclusive education, and government support.
The political instability following Bangladesh’s recent transition heightened vulnerabilities, leading to the session being shifted online to ensure safety. Social media promotions used culturally accepted terminology to minimize risks. While these measures ensured security, participants noted reduced interactivity and expressed concerns over diluted representation of their identity.
The session successfully highlighted critical barriers to employment and generated recommendations, later presented at a national consultation by IID. Despite challenges, the initiative advanced the dialogue on inclusion and employment, reflecting the e!quality project’s goals of promoting social and gender equity within fragile contexts.
