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Drishtipat is a non-profit, non-partisan volunteer organization, composed of students and young professionals worldwide, committed to safeguarding human rights in Bangladesh through action-oriented projects that provide direct assistance to those individuals whose voices remain unheard today.
Drishtipat News Update
1. DRISHTIPAT LAUNCHES BUSINESS CHALLENGE
PRESS RELEASE

DHAKA, BANGLADESH, February 18, 2008 - Drishtipat, a volunteer nonprofit organization working on promoting human rights and social development in Bangladesh, today announced the launch of the Drishtipat Challenge 2008. Drishtipat believes that a robust economy is an essential factor in promoting human rights and social development. Accordingly, through this business development Challenge, now entering its second year, Drishtipat seeks to create employment opportunities by funding promising small businesses.

The Drishtipat Challenge invites the general public to submit innovative proposals on business projects for the opportunity to receive a loan of up to US$5,000 per project. While it is preferable that the project serve a social development objective, the primary objective is to create economically viable businesses that can quickly stand on their own and grow. Successful proposals will demonstrate economic viability, the ability to repay the loan within 2 years, growth potential as well as social benefits. The entrepreneur's experience or track record and ability to bring co-investment funds to the table will be important considerations.

Social entrepreneurship programs in Bangladesh have the tremendous potential to provide the social services needed for balanced socio-economic growth through business and commerce. One common constraint to their growth has been a lack of access to commercial sources of finance. The goal of the Drishtipat Challenge is to help these valuable partners in the development process overcome this constraint and participate further.

For more information about the Drishtipat Challenge and on how to participate, please visit www.drishtipat.org/dpchallenge , email dpchallenge@drishtipat.org , or contact your local Drishtipat chapter.
2. Drishtipat launches new Bangla blog

Over the last 3 years, Unheard Voice (http://www.drishtipat.org/blog) has become a popular medium for people to visit. The blog has given birth to a writers' collective that is regularly publishing articles in the print media in home and abroad. At the same time this blog, with tremendous contribution from its readers, has covered news and analysis that has been otherwise missing in the regular media. Still, we always felt, the medium of the discussion which is primarily English, restricted a lot of average citizens from Bangladesh to take part. Not any more.

On this day of Ekushey, we are starting a new chapter in the arena of citizen journalism by launching a new Bangla blog — 'Na Bola Kotha'. 'Na Bola Kotha' (Unspoken words) will talk about issues of younger generation — their dreams, their problems and their inspirations It will talk about economy and progress and at the same time it will speak about the unheard voices and raise the profie of the unseen faces. The Bangla blog will be maintained by mostly a separate group of writers with a bulk of them being from Bangladesh. This will not be a Bangla translation of our English blog. On the contrary, we hope to create a vibrant community via Na Bola kotha with a hope that the discussions will lead to meaningful projects and ideas.

Please join NBK users' group at Facebook by clicking here.

Visit Na Bola Kotha at http://bangla.drishtipat.org

3. Drishtipat DC to celebrate international language day
Celebrate UN International Mother Language Day with Us!

The Bangladesh Embassy and Drishtipat DC are putting together an open-air event to commemorate UN International Mother Language day. This event is aimed at celebrating the world's nearly 7,000 languages and the cultures they embody. We seek to join forces with the UN to promote linguistic diversity, protect the right of individuals to communicate in their mother language and encourage multilingual education. Nearly half of the world's languages have less than 10,000 speakers and face the risk of extinction. Through this event, we seek to highlight the importance of protecting languages.

Officials from various embassies, high school and university students and the general public will be invited to join the event. Participants will be requested to dress up in their national attire and bring flags, posters/banners in their language and native musical instruments. The program will include cultural performances from various parts of the world. In addition, there will be an open mike segment, where partakers will be invited to sing in their native language.

Date:
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Time:
12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location:
DuPont Circle
City/Town:
Washington, DC
4. Sidr Relief Update:
Drishtipat helped with various fundraising of cyclone Sidr survivors. Drishtipat New York raised $3000 for NGO Uttaran, a local NGO working in south-western Bangladesh. Uttaran is using these funds for relief and rehabiliation activities in 2 upazilas of Bagerhat district. Drishtipat donated money to BRAC USA for immediate relief. However, the most significant contribution was to UnitedBangladesh Appeal where Drishtpat Canada and Drishtipat Chicago contributed along with Cisco employees of USA. Also a large amount was raised through Drishtipat's online campaign. http://www.unitedbangladeshappeal.org is continuing disbursing the compensation fund to the victim's family of Sidr. The details of the implementation can be found at http://www.unitedbangladeshappeal.org/donations/
5. Drishtipat writers' collective Update
Drishtipat Writers' Collective was formed as an alternate younger voice to talk about Bangladeshi issues in the press. Over the last 10 months, DPWC has produced over 40 articles on Bangladesh's economy, politics, society among other things and has been able to establish itself as a new group of opinion leaders. Their write ups can be found at http://dpwriters.wordpress.com
6. Drishtipat ED visits Bangladesh with Amnesty
Drishtipat Executive Director Asif Saleh visited Bangladesh as part of the High level mission of Amnesty led by its Secretary General Irene Khan in January. At the end of the mission, a report and a set of recommendation was presented to the government of Bangladesh. The report can be found at http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/one-year-human-rights-bangladesh-under-state-emergency-20080110. A more personal view Irene Khan was discussed in the blog here http://www.drishtipat.org/blog/2008/02/05/irene-bd-trip/
We wish you all the best and also hope that you will join us actively in our campaigns. Lastly, attached is the flyer for the dpchallenge. I hope you can send it out

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