After a hectic week, I’m back from the Grassroots Women’s Political Forum in Chittagong.
It was an amazing experience, and given the multiple languages being spoken, quite a communications challenge. But, with Urdu, Hindi, Dari, Bangla, Nepalese and English flying around the room, it also highlighted the importance of women moving forward together and discussing how to address common problems. The first few days focused mainly on skill building – public speaking, communications, advocacy and coalition building – and the next on topical areas such as fighting violence and trafficking and electoral challenges. It was a feisty group and a group that was also thinking about follow-up and next steps. I was glad to be there and look forward to following them over the months and years to come.
