Sadia Rahman wins Gates Institute’s 2021 Ingenuity Fund

Sadia Rahman, Program Director of Light to Life, was the only Bangladeshi among the six voted winners of the 2021 Ingenuity Fund, developed by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health's Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health(Gates Institute), and supported by Pathfinder International and Bayer.

Each winner received $10,000 to lead innovative projects on reproductive health. All applicants to the Ingenuity Fund, including the six award winners, are part of the 120 Under 40: New Generation of Family Planning Leaders programme.

Light to Life is a youth-led organisation leading different programmes around reproductive health, mental health, and climate change. Sadia merged the ideas to focus on how women are physically impacted by climate change, targeting Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram, and Cox's Bazar.

She aims to initiate an online platform titled, "School of (Im)Possible", where teachers will teach different art techniques, connecting climate change and environment.

Focusing on behavioural change efforts and awareness on SRHR issues within climate change, her initiative will promote inclusive SRHR and climate education through play-based learning and participatory experience. It will reach adolescents and youths aged between 13 to 30 years from all over Bangladesh. Sadia recently initiated courses on climate education for around 14 institutions and 700 students.

Furthermore, Light to Life organised an art festival, where government policymakers and researchers were in attendance alongside youngsters, to create a synergically engaged dialogue.

During the festival, participants conjured up their discussions or thoughts via mediums of art. Last year, Light to Life organised a hybrid festival for their pilot project, which was well-received.

 "I received advice from professors of Johns Hopkins University on how to garner more traffic and engagement online," said Sadia.

Presently, Sadia is working on mental health first aid to help young people identify whether they or the people they are close to, need professional help for their mental health.

Ingenuity Fund winners and their projects will be spotlighted during  the 2022 World Contraception Day and the 6th International Conference on Family Planning, taking place in Thailand in November 2022.

The author is a freelance journalist. Email: nawarzareen@gmail.com.