Taslima from Dhaka, a youth club member in her locality who works for girls’ rights, gender equality, climate change, and resilience building, took over the British High Commission in Bangladesh for a day on Tuesday to advocate for girls’ rights and foster change in their community through activism, accountability, and resourcing with the aim of partnering with the Girl Takeover campaign.

As the global community marks International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, Plan International Bangladesh is hosting a series of takeover events to promote the abundant opportunities for girls' rights. Plan International intends to provide a platform for girls and young women to take over leadership roles and challenge stereotypes around girls and leadership.

Every year, Plan rolls out this activity all over the world, including Bangladesh, marking the International Day of Girls on October 11 under its Girls Get Equal campaign, which calls for increased investment in girls’ power, activism, and leadership.

This year, throughout the month of October, Plan International Bangladesh is going to mobilize Girls Takeover in leading roles within governance, diplomacy, corporate, etc. all over the country to advocate gender equality, freedom, and representation for girls and young women.

Taslima, the British High Commissioner for the day, mentioned that “this opportunity has opened the door of possibilities for me to become a role model to the girls of my community to inspire them to establish a firm position of themselves in society. It has increased my confidence level immensely.”

The British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Sarah Cooke, stated, “I believe that if you have a dream, then aim for the dream. Because anything is possible. If you work hard, you get your education, and you can do whatever you want. So please keep dreaming. I think focusing on education, focusing on child marriage, and focusing on how women and girls can make strong contributions to the community and to society is very important”.