Social Advocacy and Knowledge Dissemination Unit
Lack of public awareness on various social and contemporary issues is a major obstacle to sustainable development. To address this challenge, Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) established a full-fledged ‘Social Advocacy and Knowledge Dissemination Unit’ in 2013. It works to create awareness on different critical social issues among marginalized and disadvantaged people with a view to establishing their human dignity.
Currently, the Unit is working in 79 Unions in Bangladesh through the Partner Organizations (POs) of PKSF on different social issues such as preventing child marriage and child labor, violence against women and children, and drug abuse; promoting child education, adolescent health, and inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream economic growth and job market.
To augment rights-based activities and ensure accountability in the community, the Unit has already organized different orientation programs at the Union and the upazila levels involving local elites and decision-makers. Around 4,500 stakeholders and 969 members of Union Parishads have participated in these programs. Apart from that, 2,511 teachers from higher secondary schools received orientation on ‘Prevention of Child Marriage and Violence against Women’. A total of 66,500 students of high schools have participated in separate orientation programs on ‘Negative Impacts of Child Marriage’ and 20,420 students on ‘Nutrition & Reproductive Health’.
Moreover, the Unit operates a dedicated campaign to identify persons with disabilities in the working areas and then include them in various livelihoods and financial service programs.
The Unit also supports community radio programs to disseminate various important social and contemporary messages in diverse regions of Bangladesh. Moreover, the Unit disseminates social awareness-building messages through public announcements (using loudspeakers) and billboards in the hard-to-reach rural areas of Bangladesh.
Important national and international days are also observed under direct support of the Unit in the working areas in collaboration with the POs and local administrations. These days include the National Girl Child Day, the International Day for the Persons with Disability, the National Safe Food Day, the International Women’s Day, the International Anti-Corruption Day and the World No Tobacco Day.
To sensitize communities about the negative impacts of tobacco consumption and substance abuse, the Unit organizes a cultural program titled ‘Pot Song & Street Theatre’ in different remote Unions of Bangladesh. This program also helps the community to take a firm stance against other social ills such as violence against women, child marriage, dowry, harassing women and girls, etc.