Giving Youth A Voice: Bangladesh Youth Survey 2011

Giving Youth a Voice, the first ever nationwide survey on youth, was started in 2011. The main findings of the report were released to the media in mid August, prior to the International Youth Day. The final version, as contained in this report, provides an in-depth understanding of young people’s perception and experience of politics and society in Bangladesh. The nationwide survey, with a sample size of 6,575, related to such core policies as education, skill development, labour market, information technology. The survey also explored the role of youth within the state, society, community and family. The IGS team has undertaken a thorough and diligent analysis of the data, and this report presents the findings and analysis. I am confident that this report can positively contribute to the future designing and implementing of youth-related policies in Bangladesh. It is incontrovertible that the present demography of Bangladesh is heavily ‘tilted’ towards youth, and the next couple of decades will witness an opening of a ‘window of opportunity’ for Bangladesh. I hope it will not be an exaggeration to state that the future of Bangladesh will very much depend on how successfully we, as a nation, engage our young men and women in the different spheres of nation building. The report is also explicitly sending out a strong warning to our present leadership – failure to engage the youth will bring unforeseen crisis to the state of Bangladesh. It is time for all of us to act.