World Health Organization (WHO), has disabilities as a result of natural catastrophes, traffic accidents, violence, hunger, a lack of immunization, and/or birth defects. Despite the significant number of people with disabilities, disability inclusion remains a major challenge in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has taken various steps to promote disability inclusion, including the development of the Persons with Disabilities Rights and Protection Act in 2013 and the National Disability Development Strategy in 2017. As a result, promising progress has been seen in some areas, but still the success of Bangladesh in the world index is not as expected. Mass Media can play a vital role in creating a disability-inclusive Bangladesh as it has the potential to influence societal attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors towards disability inclusion.

The National Institute of Mass Communication (NIMC), Bangladesh and the Social Security Policy Support Programme (SSPS) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are strongly committed to develop capacity of media professionals on disability inclusive reporting, content creation and dissemination through partnership.

As a part of this Partnership, a Guideline Development Workshop for “Media Professionals’ Capacity Building on Disability Inclusive Reporting” has been initiated to develop a guideline for the media professionals. This workshop is Jointly Organized by National Institute of Mass Communication (NIMC) and Social Security Policy Support (SSPS) Programme, UNDP. Social Security Policy Support (SSPS) Programme is a joint Project of Cabinet Division and General Economics Division (GED) of Bangladesh Planning Commission, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh under Technical Assistance support of UNDP and DFAT.

Representatives from Sightsavers Bangladesh, Access Bangladesh Foundation, SoMaSHTe, National Council of Disabled Women, Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO), a2i, Dhaka Tribune, Department of Mass Communication & Journalism of Dhaka University, UNDP and NIMC are participating in this workshop. The event will be chaired by Md. Kawser Ahammed, Director General (Additional Charge), NIMC and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.