Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) is the first leadership institute in Bangladesh with a mission of bridging gaps in society by uniting youth from diverse backgrounds, equipping them with leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork skills and engaging them in community service and active citizenship. The signature program of BYLC is a four-month long leadership course, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT). This program unites students from different backgrounds of education namely Bangla, English, and Madrassa. This study considered both quantitative and qualitative method. Both the treatment and comparison groups were considered for this study. Qualitative findings conclude that there is a lack of integration among the treatment group. Nonetheless, there is a substantial difference between the treatment group and the comparison group in each of the three components of Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center namely; 1) Building Bridges, 2) Leadership Training and 3) Community Services. The members of the treatment group are more expressive, confident, have more networking skills, clear knowledge of leadership and authority, and are much more involved in community service projects. Quantitative findings in terms of knowledge, attitude and practice in relation to leadership among the comparison group of BRAC staffs are similar practice in comparison to the treatment group. However, this may be partly because of ‘response bias’, i.e. persons with good leadership characteristics may have been more likely to respond to this online survey. Recommendations for the future consideration of BYLC have been made, based on the findings.
Authors: Islam, Zainu Sadia; Khatoon, Fathema Zhura; Jenkins, Andrew
Type: Monograph
Year: 2017
