YOUTH EMPOWERMENT IN AN UNCERTAIN WORLD
More than 50% of the Bangladesh population of 158 million is under the age of 24. Youth is the hope of the Nation for the future. Young people are the most energetic and productive segment of the total population. Youth is certainly a most crucial and critical phase of life. A vast majority of this section unfortunately remains unreached, but it is a matter of fact that young people need a great amount of concentration to become the driving force of a Nation. They are facing lots of challenges in Bangladesh. They don’t receive specific direction, guidance and motivation for their future development. They are unable to take decisions about their lives, communities and workplaces. Their families demand from them to earn money and to contribute to the family income. However, those young people and especially the girls and young women don’t have enough options for skills development training and in the same way encounter quite substantial difficulties in finding work and employment. This means, that a new social generation needs to be integrated into society as responsible citizens, knowing about their rights and duties.
In Bangladesh women are confined to the domestic domain, that includes homestead unpaid jobs. Women’s involvement is mainly in the non-productive and non-monetized sector while men’s involvement is in the formal, productive and monetized sector. Girls and young women typically earn less and work in more unstable jobs and have neither access to resources nor market driven skills, a situation that prevents them to develop entrepreneurial skills or to have a decent job. Key issues like violence, sexual harassment, discrimination, early marriage, malnutrition, health crises, drop out from education add to the unequal access to economic structures. Women hardly have a voice in the decision-making process. Parents often are not willing to let girls travel long distances to go to school and to work, fearing for them being harmed. Opportunities for skills development to become self-reliant are scarce.Lack of employment opportunities, market driven education and access to resources prevent young women from participating in the economic development process and to contribute to alleviate poverty.Considering the above circumstances, it’s really hard for the young people of this generation to become a valuable workforce contributor.
Here begins the story of a fighter, a survivor, a soul that never accepts defeat, Faujia Gaffar. Yes, she is a girl who completed her BBA from Daffodil University 3 years back. 2 days before her Graduation Ceremony she lost her father. She had two sisters. One of them was just a kid aged 3 and the other was going to school. As no one earned in her family other then her father the family sunk in the deep depression of wants because no one came to aid her poor family.
Faujia couldn’t stop her tear as she was taking about her days of struggle. She was totally at a loss. As Faujia’s father taught her driving at a very young age and as she had a license, she then had an idea. She thought before she gets a good job, she can drive her father’s car and earn to support her family.
Her eyes sparkled as she started telling her journey with “Pathao”. She said that, “I was losing my hope of living as I saw my mom cry every day cursing her fate”. She started driving for Pathao as a part time driver. But eventually she got to earn around 3000 to 4000 taka every day. This boosted her enthusiasm. The struggling days of her family was gone within 3 months’ time. She added that, “Not only I was earning money to support my family but also I had enough to save every month after all the day to day life expenditure.
After a year Faujia had enough money to buy another car. So, she bought a second-hand Toyota Starlet with her saved money. She rented the car to another driver who agreed to pay her 25,000 per month by driving as a Patho driver.Faujia added that, “Things weren’t so easy when I first started driving for Pathao, I was a female driver and a lot of people took it negatively. But I never gave up on myself. I started my car every morning with new hopes and dreams, and Pathao is letting me fulfil all my dreams now.”
Almost 3 years have passed. Now Faujia have 3 cars. She’s a student of BUP completing her MBA as an EMBA student. Drives for Pathao whenever she gets time. Her family is doing well too.
When I asked her about her future plans she said that, “Platforms like Pathao is helping the young dreamers like me to achieve their dreams, I really want to work at an administrative post in the Pathao family in future and support the hard work of the youth of my beloved country. And I also want to ensure that more female get interested to come to this section of entrepreneurship.”
The last question to her was how did she managed all this at such a young age. Faujia answered with a dazzling smile that, “A concrete determination and a lot of hard work can make anything possible.