On the occasion of International Women’s Day, CONTEXT invites you to a special webinar to celebrate the mothers, mentors and mentees in our lives. In the presence of three invited guests, this webinar titled ‘From Mother to Mentor’ will look at both traditional and non-traditional roles of women in society, the ways they overlap and how they are taken for granted.

Date: 24th March 2022

Time: 7 PM, Bangladesh time

Duration: 1 hour

Watch live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/contextbd

Event Convenor: Rumana Kabir, Architect and Development Practitioner

Event Coordinator: Farhat Afzal, Assoicate Academic Coordinator, Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements

Organized by: CONTEXT (www.contextbd.com)

Invited Guests:

Homaira Zaman:

Homaira Zaman is an architect, who graduated with a B.Arch degree from BUET in 1986. In 1992, she started her own practice as a partner architect in Environmates: Studio of Architecture, where she remained till 2014. From 2004 to 2014, she campaigned for the preservation of “Shakhari Bazaar”, the oldest neighborhood of Puran Dhaka, as one of the founding members of Urban Study Group. This campaign grew with time and evolved into “Save Puran Dhaka” for which she worked as the Coordinator. She participated in the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) in 2011, for her activism.

From 2016 to 2018 she worked as a Senior Architect for J.A. Architects Ltd. In 2018, she joined the Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University as a Sr. Lecturer and had been carrying the responsibility of the Acting Head of the department from 2019. Only recently in February 2022, she resigned from her post. Besides her interest in preservation, placemaking and community engagements, she enjoys traveling, cycling and music.

Laila Khondkar:

Laila Khondkar has been working in international development for almost two decades. As a development practitioner and researcher, she has worked on Child Protection, Child Rights Governance, Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS etc. Laila has contributed to international NGOs in various technical, management and leadership positions in Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Australia and England. She has conducted public health research at Centre for International Development (Harvard University), Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies (South Africa), and Institute of Population and Social Research (Mahidol University, Thailand). Laila is a passionate advocate on ending violence against children and writes regularly on child rights, child-sensitive society and development-related issues.

Farhana Rashid:

With the vision to end the public toilet crisis in Bangladesh, Farhana Rashid initiated her start-up ‘Bhumijo’. Bhumijo is a social enterprise, which is working to ensure hygienic and secured public toilets for all. Farhana holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from BUET and completed her master’s degree in Sustainable Urban Planning and Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden with the Swedish Institute scholarship. Her areas of research interests are in gender-sensitive planning, placemaking, public health and sanitation. She is also an Acumen fellow from Bangladesh.