Nilufa Sultana, Program Coordinator Wahidul Islam, Communication Assistant Liton Kumar Roy, Trustee and Finance Officer. The WPC manual was also developed through teamwork involving the research team, implementers, beneficiaries and others involved in the process. This work would not have been possible without the warm support and cooperation of UN Women and the Center for Peace and Justice. I am happy to share the credit for this achievement with the people directly or indirectly involved in this process from the above mentioned organizations as well as with the students, mentors and authorities of Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR) and Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University (JKKNIU) , Mymensingh.
I would like to express my greetings and thanks to Shoko Ishikawa, Country Representative of UN Women in Bangladesh, for all her sincere support and guidance in the process of this documentation. I am very honored by the intellectual, informational, technical and organizational support offered by the Center for Peace and Justice of the University of Brac to make this manual a real work. Zia Uddin, Research Associate and Project Manager, CPJ for their valuable support of all kinds.
The Chief Mentors and Mentors provided all their support to organize meetings with the respondents in a free and open environment. CEDAW: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. CPJ: Center for Peace and Justice.
Background
Long back in history, the role of women as peacemakers was equivalent to the role of royal or noble women in politics. Women's major initiative regarding peace began in 1915 with the founding of the Women's Peace Party (WPP) and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). In 1946, the Commission on the Status of Women was established to promote women's participation in development to maintain peace and stability (Carey, 2001).
Finally, with the introduction of CEDAW in 1979, women's rights received the most comprehensive recognition by the international community in history (Englehart and Miller, 2014). UN Security Council Resolution 1325 called for the urgent needs of women's participation in peace and UN Women is an outcome of the resolution (UN Security Council, 2000). The establishment of UN Women in 2011 became a milestone achievement for promoting women's role in promoting peace.
By strengthening women's leadership, UN Women paves another way for women to participate in peace (Pratt and Richter-Devroe, 2011). The policy also insists on the safety and security of young women's movement in society and their participation in all aspects of sport (Ministry of Youth and Sport, 2017). 11 As these political priorities imply women's education and involvement in all aspects of social life, young women are significantly related.
Looking through this concern, UN Women has shed light on an optimistic scenario that depicts the multifaceted role of women in preventing violent extremism. This program has not only increased women's understanding of extremism, but also established community-level women's leadership in Asia-Pacific countries with a view to promoting women-led community mobilization for PVE initiatives. Moreover, a gender-disaggregated analysis shows a growing trend of women's participation in militant groups in Bangladesh (Mohsina, 2017).
In this context, the relevance of the UN Women project 'Empowered Women, Peaceful Communities' in this country was beyond dispute. They suggested removing the word "women" from the name to increase its acceptance among both male and female students. Using their leverage in the current patriarchal system, they will solve problems that demonstrate their capacity and the actual limitations of women.
However, most of the male volunteers understood the unique question of female leadership in WPC and agreed that a minimal representation of male students in EC and female reservation in the key leadership can be accepted to build leadership among women along with the greater scope of male students to contribute. All these documents helped the research team to develop a global as well as a national point of view regarding women's involvement in the establishment of peace.
The Handbook
Students are the primary target group for WPC members as well as beneficiaries. The idea of WPC is not only to work for the empowerment of women, but also to purposefully prepare them to build a peaceful society. WPC strategies are designed to achieve their vision and mission through the implementation of programs.
Collaboration with other student organizations (eg debating club, photography club) for capacity building of WPC members. 3 Under this program, members who have specific skills (ie, computer operations) will train other interested WPC members. The focal person is the key position with the responsibility to monitor and supervise the activities of the WPC.
A university appoints a group of mentors to directly monitor and support WPC's regular activities and progress. Support EC members in fundraising, communication and advocacy of WPC activities Executive Committee. The fund is raised from the contribution of the university and fundraising interventions of WPC.
Such a project can also contribute to the enrichment of the WPC fund or simply spend it. WPC monitoring will be mainly of two types; monitoring human resources and monitoring activities. Mentors, executive committee members and associated WPC members will be subject to HR monitoring.
Participatory monitoring will be applied to monitor WPC's regular and project-based activities. The President of WPC will complete the assessment forms of all EC members and the Secretary General will complete the assessment forms of all Associate Members of WPC. Educating WPC's members is a key to preparing a team capable of holding an organization to its programs and leading it toward achieving its established vision.
This manual aims to guide the implementation of WPC in newer universities across the country based on the experience of BRUR and JKKNIU. It is expected to act as a tool to facilitate the scaling up of WPC good practices and the inculcation of the values and norms they developed through a passionate journey of young women in the aforementioned countries.
Work Plan and Budget
Personnel Appraisal Form
