Youth across the country have played a vital and selfless role in bringing national attention to the urgent need to address deep-rooted structural imbalances in Bangladesh’s development journey. While urban issues often dominate headlines, the everyday challenges faced by rural communities remain underrepresented — largely because local people are often unaware of their rights, needs, and the systemic barriers they face.
To bridge this gap, Youth for Policy (YfP) initiated the Social Audit Research Project, aiming to meaningfully engage youth in identifying and analyzing critical community challenges at the grassroots level.
The project focused on five key sectors: Education, Climate Change, Skills & Employment, Government Services, and Women’s Rights. Using the Problem Tree Analysis model, young researchers explored the root causes and long-term impacts of these local issues. To understand the seasonal intensity of the challenges, they applied the Seasonal Calendar method through a structured and participatory process.
A total of eight youth teams from seven districts — Satkhira, Pabna, Khulna, Dinajpur, Bogura, Barguna, and Moulvibazar — were selected through a competitive application process to take part in a month-long training program. Following the training, participants gathered critical insights directly from community members and local stakeholders. Each district identified distinct core problems.
For example, in Satkhira, a disaster-prone district, Tala Upazila was found to be heavily affected by flooding. The root causes included waterlogging, poor drainage management, and a lack of effective policies for the protection of water bodies. According to a local resident,
“In the past 10 years, due to the filling up of rivers and canals in this area, it has been flooded at least twice a year.”
In Pabna, Dogachi Union reported unemployment as a major concern. College lecturer Md. Abdul Rouf stated,
“There is a significant lack of technical education in the area. There used to be a technical institute here, but it is now closed. Moreover, government allocations for the development of technical education are also insufficient, which is depriving students of access to this important form of education.”
Drawing from their findings, participants developed actionable plans aimed at promoting social accountability and advancing data-driven community solutions, in collaboration with community stakeholders and relevant government officials.
This initiative not only highlights the capacity of youth to participate actively in democratic processes but also emphasizes the growing momentum of citizen-led reform efforts. By focusing on rural voices and grassroots realities, the project contributes to the development of a more inclusive, responsive, and accountable governance structure in Bangladesh.