A round-table discussion was held on 25 March, 2013 in celebration of the women’s history month at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB).  The program holding the theme “A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women” was organized by US Agency for International Development (USAID) Bangladesh in collaboration with the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) of IUB.

Having a motto of building awareness among the students of IUB, the program ended up with some definite actions and commitments. The Director of CSSR, Dr. ZakirHossainRaju, delivered the welcome speech. Richard Greene, Mission Director, USAID Bangladesh and Prof. M. Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor, IUB, were the special guests in the session.Theystroke the youth-minds introducing the issue of Violence against Women (VAW) as one of the globally existing deep problems. The depth of the problem and its concentration on South-Asia were further understood by the documentary shown at the program. The video contains many untold stories of women who were the victims of women trafficking.

Later, in the second part of the round-table, six panelists further clarified different aspects of VAW among the youth of IUB. The panelists are Alexious Butler, Director, Office of Democracy & Governance, USAID Bangladesh, Shamima Begum, Deputy Commissioner, Head of Victim Support Unit, Government of Bangladesh, Zakia Hassan, Development Analyst and Researcher, and Executive Director, DIPTO- A Foundation for Gender and Development, SriyaSharbojoya, Station-in-charge, Radio Shadhin, NobonitaChowdhury, Presenter, Ekattor Television, and Sabrina Fatma Ahmad, Junior Lecturer, Department of Media & Communication, IUB. The panelists commonly focused on the necessity of youth’s realization of the problem and actions they take for its elimination. They agreed that promises without actions are like shades without forms.