Syeda Samara Mortada is a feminist activist and expert in sexual and reproductive health and rights. She currently works as the partner coordinator for Bonhishkha, a feminist organization in Bangladesh.  Bonhishkha works towards achieving the equality of genders across the spectrum by removing gender-based stereotypes and creates a platform for youth to share their gendered experiences, using arts as the main form to interact. Samara is an advocate of equal rights and bodily autonomy, and she contributes regularly to national and international dailies on those topics. She is a core organizer of the RageAgainstRape movement in Bangladesh and a core member of the coalition Feminists Across Generations. Samara is an IVLP Alum and a 2021 Acumen Fellow.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Capture Community-led Climate Solutions from Sylhet Region, Bangladesh

The project intends to collect and highlight innovative, community-led solutions to climate change in the Sylhet Region of Bangladesh. The featured solutions and stories will come from local women and deal with issues of sexual, reproductive and health rights that are related to the climate crisis. The stories will be developed using an audio-visual medium, which will then be used for advocacy purposes.

 

Watch on YouTube

"I hope to showcase stories from my community and solutions they have developed themselves, for themselves, in the wake of the climate crisis . . . and present them to global audiences in the hope that they can be replicated elsewhere." - Syeda Samara Mortada

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Samara was a participant in the IVLP Project A Global Moment in Time - Peace and Justice, organized by the U.S. Department of State and the Institute of International Education.

Samara's exchange experience led to the development of her IVLP Impact Award Project: "The IVLP experience was one of a kind. [It] helped me connect and witness firsthand the work of community-led organizations, networks and government organizations working to achieve peace and justice and to reach out to the most marginalized segments of society."

U.S. Communities Visited

Denver, CO; Washington, DC; Miami, FL

Country: Bangladesh

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