If we want our governments to do a better job at promoting health, we need to get better at working with them and convincing them to resist lobbying from the tobacco, junk food, oil, car, and road-building industries, to name a few. We need a lot of tools in our kit and we need to get better at forming alliances and presenting a united front in our demands to value health and the environment more than corporate profits.

In order to develop stronger skills among advocates, Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust, along with a number of other organizations and universities including HealthBridge, held a workshop on 3 Jan. In the workshop, people from all over Bangladesh learned to strengthen their skills in research, networking, and advocacy. As an added special benefit, the main presenter in each session was a person with a disability (white cane user).

We hope that not only will our network members gain greater confidence and skill in their work, but they will also gain greater understanding of the benefits of a more inclusive society.