September 06, 2015 – A team of twelve Japanese students have recently completed their research activities in Bangladesh under the International Students’ Research Program (ISRP) conducted by Global Communication Center (GCC) of Grameen Communications (GC). The program was held through August 26 – September 03, 2015. This time, the areas of their research interest were Waste Management, Developing Future and Career Design.

On the first day, an Orientation Ceremony was held at Gramen Trust Conference Hall to give the participants an idea about the activities of GCC and to discuss about the necessary information required for village research.

On the next day, the team moved to the village Ekhlaspur in Chandpur to carry out their four days long filed research activities. The teams basically worked on raising awareness about waste disposal habits among the villagers and tried to quantify the volume of different categories of wastes generated from a village which is required to develop an effective waste disposal system. The team had several meetings with the Union Chairman and members, the Headmaster and teachers of the local high school and the members of local market committee regarding the waste management initiatives. They also collected garbage samples from the local market, school and few households to figure out the volume and categories of wastes. A video presentation ceremony was held showing the Japanese school students cleaning their own school to the local school children which was very inspiring to them. The team also held an interview with few farmers about the demand and usage of compost fertilizer. On the final day, the Japanese team carried out a cleaning (garbage picking) program at the high school with participation all the students and teachers of the school.

On the final day, the teams have presented their research activities and findings at the Presentation Ceremony held at Grameen Bank auditorium. The active participation of external guests including Md. Saiful Islam Shamim (Alok Jatra), Mr. Md. Ahmedul Ajam and Ms. Faria Haque from (Program Officer, Grameen Trust) and the internal members Dr. Kazi Rafiqul Islam Maruf (Consultant, GCC), Mr. Ataur Rahman (Senior Manager, GC) and Mr. Zahidul Hossein Ripon (System Analyst, GCC) made the question-answer session more interactive. Finally, a certificate of participation was handed over to each of the participants with the presence of GC-GCC officials and external guests.