Arif NezamiI was invited by Facebook to speak in the “Facebook South Asia Safety Summit, India”. A delegation of 6 professionals from Bangladesh participated in the summit in New Delhi on Tuesday, November 5th. Facebook organised this Summit to bring all the players and ecosystem members from South Asian countries together to discuss online safety challenges. The event is also designed to train them and show them the latest products that Facebook is developing to make a safer online.
Online safety experts from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan participated in the Summit. The Summit was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Ministry of Women and Child Development. She mentioned why it is very important to keep the online safe, especially for women and children and how the government of India is working to make a safer online. Shelley Thakral, Head of Programs for Facebook (India, South and Central Asia) and Ankhi Das, Director, Public Policy for Facebook (India, South and Central Asia) led the summit on behalf of Facebook.
Facebook launched a digital safety curriculum in the Summit. The curriculum is focused to provide digital literacy for all classes of people including kids and youth and parents. I (Arif Nezami, CEO of Preneur Lab Youth and Innovation Trust) and Shidartho Goushami, Project Officer, UNDP were invited as speakers from Bangladesh who participated in the Summit talked about the current scenario of online literacy in Bangladesh. They also mentioned how the government, civil society and development organisations are working to make a safer online in Bangladesh. Rafiath Rashid Mithila (Actress), Head of Early Childhood Development Programme, Brac, Nobonita Chowdhury, Director, Preventing Violence Against Women Initiative, Brac, Din Sumon Rahman, Professor, ULAB, Tausif Shahab, Lawyer, SIA&A also participated from Bangladesh.