The platform is expected to facilitate collaboration and conversations among humanitarian practitioners, as well as incorporate their diverse content, resources, training materials, and knowledge products that would be easily accessible to users currently working in the sector or are interested to work in it. The platform will be developed and facilitated by BetterStories initially, and then handed over to development organisations involved in the humanitarian spectrum.
On that note, two focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted at Mukti Cox’s Bazar on 30 Jan 2024. The aim of the FGDs was to seek opinions from local humanitarian actors who would also be the potential beneficiaries of the platform. A morning FGD session was held from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM with Mukti officials, where they shared their insights on the advantages and challenges of existing knowledge hubs, credibility of information, data security, and technical aspects of running a platform. A second FGD session was held from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM with founders and executive directors from humanitarian organisations, including HELP Cox’s Bazar, Humanitarian Enhancement Aid for Resilient Transformation (HEART), International Rescue Committee (IRC), NGO Platform Cox's Bazar (Hosted by Save the Children), Nongor, Ornab, PHALS, Pulse Bangladesh Society, Suzala Mahila Samiti, Swapnajaal, and Society for Health Extension and Development (SHED). The discussion ended with warm greetings among the audiences, who have expressed interest in further discussions in the future.
As Bangladesh graduates to a trillion dollar country by 2035 and a developed nation by 2041, collaboration, confluence and convergence among all stakeholders is more essential than ever for a truly dynamic transformation. At the heart of this transformation are NGOs, SMEs, and startups. However, these organisations require future-proofing in order to embrace the transformation with adequate preparedness. As a future building agency BetterStories Ltd. has been working for the past fifteen years to ensure this preparedness. The NGOs in Bangladesh have a remarkable role to play in this transformation as well, in which Cox’s Bazar has a distinct role. In order to support their humanitarian efforts, BetterStories Ltd. created the TekSHOI (Technology in Social, Humanitarian, and Open Innovation) Convening Lab in Cox's Bazar that brings local actors back to the centre stage where they rightfully belong. An assessment from TekSHOI activities displayed the need for a collective knowledge platform on the humanitarian activities in Cox’s Bazar and subsequently the entire country where humanitarian practitioners can share valuable information.