The strong mother, the loving sister, and the resilient woman pursuing her dreams - women worldwide from every background are breaking the bias through their contributions in their respective fields. These powerful women are shattering the stereotypes and hindrances of the patriarchal society with their firm determination and iron resolve. So, to celebrate these incredible women, we- the group of young souls from the YouthMappers at Eastern University, Bangladesh - organized a training session on the overview of YouthMappers and how YouthMappers works on 8th March 2022 on Tuesday. The trainer was none other than Ms. Airin Akter - Everywhere She Maps Regional Ambassador - a former research fellow of the YouthMappers Research Fellowship program hosted in the USA. Professor Dr. Mahfuzur Rahman – honorable dean and our respected faculty advisor- gave his utmost support for the event. Our communications officer Mr. Md. Atikuzzaman Limon was present in the workshop; he played an integral part in making the event successful, and every executive officer and member of the chapter participated in the session.
As the president of the chapter, I had the wonderful opportunity to be a witness and, more importantly, responsible for materializing the event from ground zero. Because the chapter was inactive since 2017, it was a challenging process for a completely new team like us, but incredible teamwork and dedication from each member did the magic! Also, expert advice from both our trainer and communications officer made everything a whole lot easier. Countless hours spent at the student affairs office, brainstorming, planning and several strategic meetings ensured that the first significant move in the chess of rebuilding process was made successfully.
Informative, insightful, and inspiring - the training session can be defined with these 3 I's. Our fantastic trainer, Ms. Airin Akter, helped us get a precise understanding of YouthMappers -its functions, and Everywhere She Maps. She also cleared our doubts about OSM, HOT, etc. We gained insights into all the vast opportunities we can get while working with YouthMappers - research fellowship, leadership fellowship, and connecting with mappers worldwide. It's like a door opened with all the possibilities; we only need to explore and dig deeper to find them!
There was a Q&A session at the later part of the training. Our questions and doubt about geospatial mapping and YouthMappers were resolved. Our secretary gave a fantastic speech on creating a sustainable and safe future for the women in our community.
It was a perfect ode to celebrate women's day. It also gave us a bolstering start in the rebuilding process. I believe this group will expand exponentially in the coming days and contribute to solving the ever-increasing challenges in today's world like gender inequality, climate change, etc., thus making this planet a better place to live. This is just the beginning of our journey, and with team effort and determination, we will go very far.
About the Author:
I am Mahjabin Binte Mannan, a third-year CSE student from Eastern University, Bangladesh. I first learned about YouthMappers at the end of 2021 and, along with a few of my peers, started rebuilding the chapter at our campus with a new team. I am the current president at the chapter in my campus.
Personal Instagram account: @mahjabin_08
Facebook account link: https://www.facebook.com/mahjabin.era.92
Chapter Instagram account: @euyouthmappers
Chapter Facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/youthmapperseu
Our beloved president
Cheers!