CQS-ULAB and British Council Conclude Facilitator Development Workshop to Empower Youth Against Misinformation
The Center for Critical and Qualitative Studies (CQS) at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), in partnership with the British Council, has successfully concluded a five-day Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW) under the project “Youth Connect: Digital Citizenship and Misinformation Resilience.” The workshop was held at Hotel Sarina, Banani, Dhaka, and marks a major milestone in advancing digital literacy and misinformation resilience across Bangladesh.
The FDW brought together 20 faculty members from nine partner universities including the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, Daffodil International University, Jahangirnagar University, Rajshahi University, Varendra University, Chittagong University, Port City International University, BGC Trust University Bangladesh, and Comilla University. Experts from CQS-ULAB, FactWatch, and ForensIQ led interactive sessions throughout the workshop.
Over the five days, participants were trained in advanced pedagogy and a contextualized 40-hour hybrid curriculum covering critical topics such as Critical Thinking, Fact-Checking, Digital Security, and Community Action Planning. These newly trained facilitators are now equipped to deliver 20 hybrid training sessions to 600 youths across Bangladesh and mentor 40 youth-led Community Action Projects (CAPs) reaching over 2,000 community members directly and 5,000 indirectly.
Funded and supervised by the British Council, this seven-month national initiative aims to build resilience against misinformation and disinformation by promoting Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and Digital Citizenship among young people. The project also upholds Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles, ensuring meaningful participation from women, girls, and minority genders, and addressing issues such as online harassment.
The Facilitator Development Workshop marks the beginning of the project’s implementation phase. A series of youth training seminars will be launched across nine universities nationwide starting in November 2025.
