Source: Courtesy

'Even a Smile is Charity'- with this unique slogan, a unique young woman founded a philosophy driven training organisation called Community Action that helps our society on a micro as well as a macro level. Holding a Master's degree with distinction in Social Policy from UK's University of York, Nabila Idris is currently on a scholarship from the Chinese government to pursue a Master's degree in Int'l Journalism and Communication at the Communication University of China. “My parents gave enormous importance to spirituality, family, education and social service and I think that pretty much sums up my worldview. My husband has an identical philosophy in life,” says Nabila.

Source: Courtesy

Community Action (CA), which was founded in December 2008 now has hundreds of volunteers known as 'Actioneers' who are mostly students from private, public, national and international schools and universities. “I am one of the founders of Community Action; CA's story would be incomplete without the enormous contributions of founders Sohaila Ridwan and Syeda Tashfia Roubayet,” says Nabila. “The story of how CA started is almost identical to most such organisations in Bangladesh where the founders encounter a heartbreaking event and then make an attempt to solve the problem. I feel what sets us apart though is what we have become today, rather than why we began.”
Recent research suggests that countries like Bangladesh are developing a dependency on NGO-administered services, which, although undoubtedly beneficial, are sometimes palliative in nature. “For example, if an area doesn't have adequate healthcare, we typically respond by opening up medical facilities ourselves, instead of convincing the state to do its duty. In the long run, this can be unsustainable, and development takes place in a piecemeal manner,” explains Nabila. “Our focus is fixed on, helping Actioneers become "moral", "influential" and "professional" (these are CA's vision, mission and value); and ensuring our Actions have long term impact.”
Over the years, CA has worked on many projects, from distributing over 30,000 pieces have clothes throughout the country, focusing on rural areas hit by cold waves, to sharing food with over 15,000 street people. “As for long term projects, we have built Bangladesh's first text-book based library for the visually impaired -- it's an audio library (all the material is stored at Dhaka University's Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired) of the most essential text books used in seven DU departments where the visually impaired students predominantly study,” says Nabila. “We have also built around seventy tube wells in remote areas of Bangladesh to tackle the fresh water crisis they faced, especially post-Cyclone Aila.”
Nabila Idris and her fellow founders continue to work tirelessly to make a difference in the community as well as in the lives of it's volunteers.  “We feel if we can train enough Actioneers to be moral-influential-professional, our Actioneers will have a constructive impact in whichever profession they pursue, which can hopefully change trends. So CA is a 'training ground' for the future reform Actioneers will attempt in their own sectors.”