XUNICEF Bangladesh meets UNICEF Bangladesh : A.K. Masood

A number of the UNICEF Retirees in Bangladesh met the UNICEF Representative, Mr. Seldon Yett on 25 April 2022 at the James P. Grant Conference Room of UNICEF's newly-built country office building in Dhaka.  The XUNICEF focal point for Bangladesh and former GSA Chairperson, Masood Ahmed, thanked the Representative for inviting the retired staff. Mr.Azizur Rahman, Chairperson of UNICEF Bangladesh Staff Association (UBSA) also addressed the gathering.

Several ex-UNICEF staff spoke during the occasion and recounted their days in BCO.  In their remarks the former staff highlighted various UNICEF innovations that were developed in Bangladesh, including, Meena, Tilapia cultivation, and peanut cultivation.  They also spoke of the strides achieved during their time in UNICEF Bangladesh on issues such as education curriculum development, polio immunization, women's empowerment, peanut cultivation, and disaster management.

Shamsul Farooq, ex Director of UNICEF's Supply Division in Copenhagen, praised the Representative for exchanging views with UNICEF Retirees. He mentioned the forthcoming publication of the book "We Were There", a history of UNICEF to which many ex BCO staff had contributed their personal recollections and reflections of their work with UNICEF. 

Sheldon showed keen interest and would like to have a copy of the book. He admired the good work done by the ex-BCO staff. He also stressed the need for current staff members to keep open communications channels with their retired colleagues in order to take forward UNICEF's work in the country.  He noted the many ways in which UNICEF's past work had helped to establish the rights of the child in Bangladesh and outside the country. He said how pleased he had been to work with other Bangladeshi staff in his previous posts in Fiji, New York, Central Asia and Copenhagen.

Nawshad Ahmed presented his two books to the Representative , titled "The Children of Bangladesh '' and "Monitoring and Evaluation for Effective Social Development''. 

The event ended with the taking of a group photo and a tour of the new UNICEF office premises. 

Earlier in the month, on 2 April, the UNICEF retirees in Bangladesh met for their first luncheon event in two years. This used to be a regular event, but had stopped due to the pandemic of COVID

Best regards.
Masood