30 January 2020
Meet activist Pallab Chakma from Bangladesh. Pallab, a former Australia Awards student completed his Master of Mediation and Conflict Resolution at UniSA and is currently the Executive Director of Kapaeeng Foundation, a leading indigenous peoples’ organisation in Bangladesh that promotes and protects the rights of indigenous peoples.
Pallab and a group of activitists implemented a project to stop illegal stone extraction that was affecting the primary natural water source of an indigenous community.
“When we started this project, the learnings I received during the Australia Awards Scholarship helped me to analyse the scale of the conflict. We were able to determine the main actors and how we can negotiate with them,” explains Pallab.
Pallab and the project team were overall winners of the Australia Awards South and West Asia Regional Alumni Workshop 2018, which saw them travel to Brisbane, Australia to attend the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training conducted by former US Vice President Al Gore.
