Meta and BRAC continue to support the economic and digital empowerment of women
Meta, formerly known as Facebook Company, is working with partners to support training programs aimed at economic and digital empowerment of women in Bangladesh.
On the occasion of International Women's Day, META and BRAC organized an event titled ‘Empowering Women and Youth in Digital Spaces’ on March 9, 2023. Last year, the joint initiatives taken to create awareness on the digital platform and the achievements of digital awareness were discussed in the program. Their program is helping women to become familiar with the digital realm and use it safely.
The program started with the opening speech by Nabanita Chowdhury, Gender Justice and Diversity Program Director, BRAC. "We need to ensure equity in digital access, as the gap between men and women in the use of modern technology is wide," she stressed making digital services universal.
The program run by Meta and its partner, BRAC, has so far trained over 5 lakh participants in online safety, privacy tools and countering misinformation. 75 percent of the trainees were women. With the help of the social media campaign, around 1 crore women and youth have been educated about the safe and proper use of social media. Effectiveness-reviews show that before the start of the training program, where 62% of participants knew how to maintain a positive digital footprint, 98% of participants now say they know how to maintain a positive digital footprint.
Apart from this, META has undertaken overall activities to develop Bangladeshi women as conscious and responsible digital citizens. With this, women entrepreneurs can also use digital tools to create online communities, which will help them build and expand their businesses.
"Bangladesh's digital transformation has increased women's participation online and is helping to empower them," said Beth Ann Lim, META's director of policy programs for the Asia Pacific region. Hopefully, with partners, we can advance the organization of workshops on digital skills necessary to ensure online safety and financial independence. As we know, many women still shoulder a disproportionate amount of responsibilities in their homes. Online platforms will help bring business opportunities to these women.'
Last year, META brought their SheMeansBusiness program to Bangladesh in collaboration with ICT Division's Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program, Bangladesh Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry and LightCastle Partners. Through this, women entrepreneurs are provided with the necessary skills and connections to grow their businesses using digital tools and platforms. The initiative aims to help more than 10,000 small traders in the country connect better with their customers through training.
For details on Meta's #ShemeansBusiness program visit: https://shemeansbusiness.fb.com/
To know how to navigate safely in the digital world, visit: https://wethinkdigital.fb.com/bd/bd-bd/
