SAVE Members Take Action: Promoting and Cultivating a Culture of Peace

The Summer of 2024, marked by mass protests, brought significant changes to the social and political landscape in Bangladesh, including the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Responding to the outbreak of violent skirmishes, community-level instability, and uncertainty, young leaders from the Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) network jumped into action to promote nonviolence and a spirit of positive social cohesion.

In celebration of this year's International Day of Peace, a day that recognizes the contributions peacebuilders around the world make to create a more peaceful world, IFES acknowledges the work SAVE members do to "cultivate a culture of peace" and encourage inclusion and peaceful civic engagement in Bangladesh's ongoing period of transition. In newly gathered stories and messages, SAVE members reflect on the role young leaders play in promoting democratic rights in their communities.

The following stories, shared by SAVE members, represent the diverse areas of support young leaders from across the country have contributed to:

Social Harmony and Fostering Peace. In the wake of the nationwide protest movement, some religious minority communities experienced an uptick in violence, including having places of worship vandalized. In response, one SAVE member mobilized a team of 40 students to protect religious temples in two communities, deploying students to safeguard different temples and to prevent escalations of violence from escalating and protect innocent people.

Supporting Law and Order. A noticeably reduced police presence resulted in a need for citizens to step in and support maintaining order - a need that SAVE members reported filling in their communities. One SAVE member, for example, organized family and friends to support traffic management in his community. Calling for additional support over social media, the young leader convened over 40 volunteers to help with traffic, keeping school children away from highways and ensuring the safety of community members.

Cleaning and Garbage Disposal. Seeing the property damage and vandalism left by the protests, SAVE members led efforts to clean up public spaces. One such young leader connected with a local social worker to raise money and purchase cleaning supplies to clean up her campus and a local army office, both of which sustained extensive damage. She also planted 200 trees and worked to repair damaged trees in the area.

Artwork for Unity and Inclusion. Public art became a platform through which SAVE members promoted messages of peace, cohesion, and inclusion. One SAVE leader, who is also an Indigenous person, engaged her community through wall paintings to advocate for Indigenous rights, unity, and justice. Public artwork proliferated across university campuses and cities as a means of encouraging nonviolence and national rebuilding.

Social Media and Digital Campaigns. Connectivity across the SAVE network, and among young leaders, has been critical in promoting peace. One young leader engaged a group of 30 SAVE leaders to strategize promoting nonviolence, including sharing posters on social media emphasizing peaceful community engagement and the importance of protesting without causing harm or damage to the rest of the community. When protests became violent, the team responded to an increase in disinformation by verifying news and combatting false narratives around the protests, providing accurate information to their networks.

SAVE members have remained steadfastly committed to peace and to actively leading social cohesion efforts in their communities. Below, they share the ways in which they continue to cultivate a culture of peace in their country:

Since 2018, IFES and its partner Microgovernance Research Initiative has engaged students across universities in Bangladesh to support young people as peaceful democratic leaders in their communities. To date, the SAVE network consists of over 2,700 young people across 17 universities.

This article is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Award No. 72038822LA00001. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID of the United States Government.

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