Expressions of Interest (EoI)
For
Media partnership for arranging media roundtable.

 Background and Introducing the Project

About 11% of the population of Bangladesh consists of minorities, who face discrimination due to their religion, ethnic, gender identity, and geographical location-based differences. Amongst minority population, the Dalit, plainland Ethnic Minority, Persons with Disabilities (PwD), and Transgender & Hijra communities are most marginalised. The discrimination persists on access to education, healthcare, housing, employment, and legal support continues to be impeded, particularly for individuals with lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Christian Aid is implementing a 42-month project titled “Empowering Left Behind Minority Communities to Effectively Participate in the Development Process of Bangladesh (ELMC)” Co-funded by European Union in partnership with four NGOs – Bandhu, BLAST, Nagorik Uddyog and WAVE Foundation in 08 districts i.e. Rajshahi, Naogoan, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Khulna, Jashore, Satkhira along with Dhaka city. This project aims to directly reach over 6 lakh people from the marginalized communities and over 18 lakh people indirectly. The target groups of this projects are Dalit rights Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and Community Based Organizations (CBO), Transgender & Hijra rights CSOs and CBOs, Ethnic Minority specifically plainland Adivasi rights CSOs and CBOs, Change agents (representative groups from minority communities), Upazila-level advocacy forum members, District-level advocacy forum members, Divisional Leave No One Behind (LNOB) coalition members. The specific objectives of this project are –

1. To build the capacity of local and national minority rights CSOs and networks and ensure a conducive and enabling environment to promote socio-economic rights and structured participation of women and girls, transgender, and people with disability.
2. To increase awareness on minority rights, capabilities, and contributions in society, to combat gender discrimination, stereotypes, prejudices, and harmful practices within and against minority communities. 
3. To promote inclusive policy formulation, implementation, and governance accountability by strengthening advocacy and lobbying influence of minority rights CSOs.

Background and rationale of the event
Over the years, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have continued strong advocacy for enacting Anti-Discrimination Law to preserve the human rights of these groups. In 2014, Law Commission of Bangladesh first drafted a law to eliminate discrimination in discussion with National Human Rights Commission, which was later revised by NHRC in 2018. Several civil society consultations took place during the drafting.

As a continuous part of our advocacy, a media roundtable was organized with a leading print media on the matter right after which, on 05 April 2022, the draft act was placed to the 11th National Parliament as a bill dispatched by the Law and Parliamentarian Affairs Division (LPAD), Ministry of Law. Later The bill was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, GoB for further process. This bill overlooks many important proposed clauses from the draft version. Christian Aid, with its partners identified some gaps between the bill and the draft versions proposed by Law Commission and NHRC. These missing clauses must be included for claiming the rights of the minority population in Bangladesh in the act/law.

Later, Christian Aid organized a television talk show with leading media channel, a national media house, to further discuss this issue on 17 May. The talk show focused on avoiding any clause that could be used as a punishment for discriminating against marginalized groups. In the talk show Mr Md. Shahiduzzaman Sarker, Member of Parliament, Chair of Standing Committee on LAW Chairman of Parliamentary Standing, GoB; Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission Bangladesh (NHRC); Barrister Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust; Zakir Hossain, Chief Executive, Nagorik Uddyog joined to discuss the importance of revision of the bill before going to pass. The next day, on 18 May 2022, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs decided that the bill should be revised before passing as law.

Meanwhile, a year has passed, but the committee has not yet submitted any follow-up review to the Parliament. During the 12th session of the current Parliament in 2022, the Parliament allocated one month to the respective standing committee to submit the bill's revision version to the Parliament, which has not yet been done. In this context, the European Union (EU) co-funded project – Empowering Left Behind Minority Communities to Effectively Participate in the Development Process of Bangladesh, is planning to continue its advocacy and flag this pending issue in front of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs representative members to pass the bill as law.

Objective of the Media Roundtable
The media roundtable on Anti-discrimination Bill 2022, with minority community representative, development partners, pressure groups, journalists, lawyers, etc, will advocate with the government to convene a discussion aimed at raising awareness among journalists, media professionals, and the general public about the importance of passing the bill as the Anti-Discrimination Law with appropriate revision to protect the rights of minority populations in Bangladesh.

Click here to download ToR

How to apply:

Please read the details terms of reference as given. Interested companies/firms are requested to submit their technical proposal and financial proposal along with all legal documents (TIN Certificate, BIN Certificate & Trade Liscence), and one sample of previous work related to this assignment on or before 28 April 2024 by envelop and mentioned the name of the subject Line-

“Media partnership for arranging media roundtable.”

Where to Submit the Application:

A tender box kept in Christian Aid Office, House 42/A, Road 42, Block C WN(A), Floor 1, Gulshan 2, Dhaka - 1212, Bangladesh. Please put the envelop in the tender box and sign the register. A courier will accept but organization will not take the responsibility to acknowledging the documents as there are some ongoing processes run at the time.

Please note, no application through email or soft copy will be accepted.