Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) has taken an initiative at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) to prevent sexual and gender-based violence and promote a safe, dignified and inclusive campus environment. The initiative is part of a project being implemented at five selected universities in Bangladesh in collaboration with UN Women and funded by the European Union (EU).

The primary objective of the project is to strengthen the institutional capacity of higher education institutions to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence and to take effective measures to transform harmful social and institutional attitudes that contribute to such violence.

As part of this initiative an Inception Meeting titled ‘Preventing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence’ was held at the AIUB campus on 20 August 2026. The meeting was attended by university authorities, faculty members, members of the Sexual Harassment Prevention Committee (SHPC) and other relevant stakeholders. The meeting introduced the project activities to the relevant stakeholders and initiated the process of developing a university-specific action plan for AIUB.

Tahmina Rahman, Executive Director of Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) delivered the welcome speech. She highlighted the growing challenges of misinformation, online harassment and offline violence in today’s technology-driven world. She noted that sexual and gender-based violence in Bangladesh is increasingly taking alarming and multifaceted forms. She emphasised the need for coordinated efforts by individuals, institutions and society to prevent such violence both online and offline.

Tahmina Rahman further stated that as the implementing partner of UN Women, ASK is implementing this initiative across five universities in Bangladesh. The initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of universities to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence while ensuring a safer and more inclusive educational environment for students, teachers and staff.

Professor Dr Saiful Islam, Vice-Chancellor of AIUB, in his remarks noted that the world is going through a rapidly changing and challenging period. As the nature and scale of challenges continue to evolve educational institutions must also adapt their approaches and practices to effectively respond to emerging circumstances.

Srabana Datta, Unit Manager, UN Women, discussed how the Whole-of-School Approach can engage the entire university community in preventing and addressing sexual and gender-based violence. She emphasised the importance of strengthening institutional mechanisms and ensuring the coordinated engagement of stakeholders at different levels of the university.

Professor Farheen Hasan expressed hope that the project would contribute to meaningful changes in the thinking and attitudes of the university community and help create a more positive environment based on mutual respect, dignity and inclusion.

Participants at the meeting emphasised the importance of raising awareness on preventing sexual and gender-based violence, ensuring effective complaint and redress mechanisms and engaging stakeholders at all levels of the university. They also shared their views and recommendations on making the existing institutional mechanisms at AIUB more effective and stronger.