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Starting in 2012, young people in Bangladesh joined the millions of young people across the world to participate in surveys and dialogues amongst themselves but also with decision makers to highlighting their priorities.

The UN climate talks in Paris (CoP 21) are an important moment. Climate change is a global problem that needs a global solution – one that recognises the crisis inextricably linked to inequality and poverty, as Pope Francis so eloquently stressed in his recent encyclical. Climate change impacts on the ground are reversing the development gains like never before for the 7.3 billion people of the globe. The achievement of MDGs would have seen much more substantial achievements and would have brought greater positive results without the negative impacts of climate change.

Faridpur city centre, a narrow alleyway draped by a jute curtain separates the normal world from what’s inside. It’s like a portal to another dimension, another world where everything is different. Imagine dark alleyways crowded with men looking to satisfy their libido, and girls and women of all ages standing with heavy makeup making them pale and ghastly as if they died many years ago. No, this is not a brothel from a movie you’ve watched, with all those glitz and glamour, but an eerie network of poorly lit multi-storeyed buildings with small rooms in them. Women stand in front of the doors to greet clients.

Shah Alam comes from the south of Bangladesh, where he fixed river boats for a living. He lived on the banks of a healthy vibrant river. But the waters kept rising and his home collapsed into the river due to erosion. His hope was that the opposite bank of the river would rise and enable him to rebuild across the river – but 25 years later he still can’t return to rebuild his home. He still lives and works by a river. But instead of the clean, fresh water of his home, he now repairs boats on the Buriganga river – a biologically “dead” river in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka. A river with a bed of 10 feet of plastic.

As ActionAid, we work towards a world free of poverty and injustice, and strive to ensure resilience for the most marginalised – particularly for the poor, women and girls – in a disaster-affected world. The World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction currently being held in Sendai, Japan, has a special implication globally in this regard. An ActionAid delegation is here, in Japan, doing all we can to influence the agenda and the outcomes of the conference to ensure adequate support for women’s resilience.

I recently attended a dialogue on Tax Redistribution and Education Financing. The outcome of the dialogue was pretty inspirational. The National Front of Teachers and Employees (NFTE) and Initiative for Human Development jointly organised the dialogue session on September 17at the National Press Club marking the Education Day supported by few other organisations including ActionAid Bangladesh.

The multi country initiative on Water Commons to strengthen people’s perspective just concluded in Kathmandu on 31st. It was looking for the rights of the river and humans, the stories of people living in and around the river basin. We aspire to bring the human touch and make the reality understood by ourselves and all those around us. It was an attempt to perhaps re-imagine rivers beyond industrial development and growth lenses and view it from the social, cultural, political dimension along with the economic growth

Credit Line: Hasan Mahmud and Asmaul Hosna Supporting Editor: Martin Brehm Christensen Standing in a crossroad We stand in the middle one of the biggest and busiest crossroads in Dhaka city with crowed traffic all around us. We are able to induce the liable police officers to grant us 30 seconds to perform our tax power flash mob. The pressure is on, and we are ready to strike. The cars, the CNGs, the rickshaws and the busses are lined up in all four directions like Olympics like predators ready to attack.

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), first introduced the proposal for a youth standalone goal at the International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) in October 2013 focusing on the need for investment in the capabilities of adolescents and youth for a greater return in the sustainable development of nations.