Krishan, a digital market platform created by iPAGE & Partners, started with a vision to help farmers sell their produce through e-commerce. Led by Mashrur H Shurid, Mohammad Saifullah Mithu, and Labib Tarafdar, this social welfare initiative was launched on May 1, 2020.

Proborton, a social welfare organisation founded by Sabbir Khan Saim, ensures education and food security among underprivileged communities. Amid the coronavirus crisis, the organisation is distributing food, groceries and other relief materials to several vulnerable families across Dhaka. They have so far conducted two distribution events in the city, feeding over 350 people. In addition, they have also distributed groceries to 100 families.

Niloufer Manzur, the founding principal of Sunbeams School, played an instrumental role in the success of the institute. She always encouraged her students to not only focus on grades, but also on etiquette and extra-curricular activities.

The 1991 batch of Government Science College (GSC) recently provided foot to around 200 lower-middle income families and groups in different parts of Dhaka, including Mirpur, Uttara, Rayer Bazar, Badda, Basabo and Banasree.

Niloufer Manzur started Sunbeams School in 1974 in her own residence at Indira Road, with only a handful of students. In over four decades, the institution has grown into a household name, entirely to the credit of the educator’s vision.

A couple of weeks back, Shabab, one of our classmates from the 2006 batch of Sunbeams School, passed away, leaving us in shock. We got together on a WhatsApp group after fourteen years and eventually, decided to donate some money in our friend's name to the support staff at Sunbeams. From across several continents, we raised a reasonable amount. I volunteered to hand over the donation to the school, after which we sent an email to our ‘Mrs Manzur’, explaining the cause.

Farhana Shahnaz began her journey in the development sector soon after she completed her BSc in Economics. She went on to pursue her masters in development studies from BRAC University, and has also worked in resource mobilisation, developed programmes and effective fundraising applications in response to calls for proposals from small government and institutional donors. She currently serves as a Communications Officer at UNDP Bangladesh, where she addresses the communication needs of a project that is helping to prevent violent extremism. She was a part of UNLEASH, a global innovation lab that equips global top talents with the vision required to disrupt conventional solutions and create a better world by achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with her solution on SDG 4 – Quality Education track. In a candid chat with The Daily Star, Farhana shares her journey so far.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, a large number of young professionals and university students are spending their time at home. Many are using this time to look for opportunities.

To keep kids engaged during the coronavirus pandemic, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched an online book reading challenge for school children. Over 3000 children from across Bangladesh participated in this initiative through quizzes.

To ensure that farmers get fair prices for their products and consumers get quality products through fair deals amid the pandemic, paikarisale.com (http://www. paikarisale.com/), a sustainable, social welfare e-commerce platform, was launched recently.

Charity Right is an international social welfare organisation based in the United Kingdom. They are working closely with the UN and WHO to eradicate hunger and poverty worldwide. They are a prestigious member of the UNGC from Bangladesh, whose work is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. The organisation operates their programmes in six different countries, including Greece, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Indonesia.

Mahhfuz Rahmaan’s book Gooltoo was one of the most popular books for children at the Ekushey Boi Mela 2020. Written and illustrated by the writer, the colourful book is a collection of seventeen short rhymes. Mahhfuz, who is currently working as a journalist with Prothom Alo, received the Panjeree Chhotakaku Shishu Sahittyo Puroshkar, recently.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the youth-led organisation, MASTUL Foundation, took an initiative to support middle-class families who feel embarrassed to ask for financial help.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, All For One Foundation distributed food among 4,000 lower-middle income families in different parts of Dhaka, and 21 other districts of the country, recently.

TransEnd is a social welfare organisation that empowers the transgender community through education, training, employment and entrepreneurship. Founded by Lamea Tanjin Tanha in 2019, the organisation primarily arranges social awareness campaigns and programmes, educating people on the gender spectrum.

Interactive Cares is a youth-based organisation founded as a cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) based platform. Their initiatives cater to the youth of the nation, contributing in e-learning, telemedicine, mental and physical health and legal services via real-time communication. The users can directly have voice and video calls, chats with the authorised industry experts, with automated prescription and virtual whiteboard facilities. The website allows its registered users to avail resources such as books, solutions, notes and creative illustrations among other things for free. "E-learning and telemedicine are few of the crucial demands during this pandemic. Interactive Cares will soon launch user-based cloud and artificial intelligence services in the USA. In the upcoming months, we will try to upgrade the services nationwide in full swing,” said Rare Al Samir, CEO.

Youth Op for 11/5/20

BRAC University Mongol Tori, a next-generation Mars rover, has ranked 3rd in University Rover Challenge (URC). The rover, which tends to walk alongside human explorers on the red planet someday, has the ability to retrieve objects, complete autonomous traversal missions, collect visual data, perform planetary analysis, detect the presence of life by conducting biosignature tests and help astronauts with equipment servicing.

To raise awareness on coronavirus, Lal Sabuj Society (LSS) has initiated multiple campaigns and projects all around the country.

To address the necessity and accessibility of verified information on COVID-19, four friends living in four different parts of Dhaka developed and launched ‘Corona in Bangladesh’, an online platform featuring a compilation of local and international from reliable resources, on March 21. Assembling updates through news reports and articles from World Health Organisation (WHO), Worldometer, Johns Hopkins University, IEDCR, and other such dependable news sources, this platform aims at raising awareness and reducing panic in Coronavirus pandemic.