SDG-16 Outreach Programme with Kanchan Local Community at Kanchan Pauroshava

The Department of Law, with the support of the Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), has successfully completed its SDG-aligned outreach programme on SDG-16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions with the Kanchan Local Community at Kanchan Pauroshava.

As part of this initiative, a team led by Dr. Md. Arifuzzaman, Chairman of the Department of Law, visited the community. The team included distinguished faculty members- Ms. Mehenaj Binte Amin, Md. Mutasim Billah Kandaker, and Md. Faysal Abdullah, along with a group of 12 enthusiastic and dedicated students.

Together, the team engaged in meaningful dialogues to understand community perspectives on justice, peacebuilding, institutional trust, and dowry-related challenges. The discussion also highlighted how fraudulent dowry-related claims can create mistrust, cause harassment, and undermine social harmony within families and society.

During the visit, the team conducted an interactive awareness session with local community members focusing on dowry prohibition and strengthening legal awareness. Importantly, the community members actively participated in the dialogue and raised several critical concerns, including institutional capacity limitations, procedural complexities, social stigma, and the emotional and financial burden associated with fake or malicious dowry cases. They emphasized the need for stronger institutional responsiveness, community-oriented legal support, and continuous awareness-building initiatives to ensure fair, just, and accessible justice mechanisms.

The community members expressed their sincere appreciation to Green University of Bangladesh for organizing such a meaningful programme. They shared that initiatives like this have broadened their legal understanding, enhanced confidence, and created hope for more just and informed community practices. They've also expressed their desire to see more programmes of this nature in the future, as continued engagement can help enlighten community perspectives and gradually transform harmful social norms.

Through this initiative, we envision a future that goes beyond only protective legal responses by empowering future generations of lawyers and policymakers, while simultaneously strengthening preventive community awareness so that harmful practices like dowry can be eliminated from their very roots.

We express our sincere gratitude to the University authorities and all contributors whose support made this SDG-driven initiative possible. The Department of Law remains committed to fostering meaningful community engagement and contributing to national and global development goals.