Design Thinking, Innovation and Gender Lab holds workshop on preventing GBV on campuses

The workshop titled "Preventing Gender-Based Violence in University Campuses: Developing a Holistic Approach" was held on November 4, 2025, at the British Council Auditorium. It was organised by the Design Thinking, Innovation and Gender Lab of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, Dhaka University (DU), funded by the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) project under the World Bank (WB). This is in collaboration with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and DU's Design Thinking, Innovation, and Gender Lab. 

Prof. Dr Mamun Ahmed, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic), attended as Chief Guest, while Prof. Dr Taiabur Rahman, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, was present as Special Guest. The event brought together 20 student photovoice contributors, additional student volunteers, two visiting students, scholars from academia, facilitators from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the WB, journalists, members of the United Nations Youth and Students Association of Bangladesh (UNYSAB) and faculty members from different departments. Faculty of the Department of Women and Gender Studies, including the Chairperson, Dr Sabiha Yeasmin Rosy, were also present. The main facilitator of the workshop was Dr Sayed Md Saikh Imtiaz. 

This was the first in a planned series of 40 sessions aimed at developing a practical campus safety manual and indicator-based evaluation scale. The workshop followed a design thinking structure. It began with a photovoice exhibition, where 20 students each submitted five photographs from the DU campus that depicted places they felt were unsafe. Each student was assigned a number that linked them to their photographs, which allowed scholars and facilitators to hold one-to-one conversations while maintaining anonymity. 

In these conversations, students shared their own experiences and those of friends, describing harassment, fear of certain routes and corners, lack of lighting, crowding by unknown men, and hesitation to report incidents due to victim blaming and lack of trust in the system. After returning to the main auditorium, participants moved into an individual and group mind mapping exercise, using radar or dartboard-style sheets to identify key problems and translate them into potential indicators for a future campus safety and violence against women and girls (VAWG) survey. 

Their suggestions ranged from campus security groups, clear codes of conduct, and gender and safeguarding policies to accessible complaint channels, counselling and legal support, disability-friendly and well-lit infrastructure, regulation of mobile vendors, gender focal committees in departments, and gender-sensitive training for staff and students.

In the final prototype phase, the participants took part in a dollar allocation segment that helped them prioritise the most urgent interventions. Each person received notional tokens worth 100 dollars and used them to "buy" indicators grouped under physical safety and security, reporting and response systems, prevention education, and student support. Confidential and anonymous reporting mechanisms, survivor committee response systems, regular monitoring of cases, terms of reference and codes of conduct for all, staff training, peer support, safeguarding protocols, safe spaces, a female student union platform, self-defence workshops, trauma counselling, crisis lines, climate surveys, and mandatory curriculum on gender and safety emerged as the most highly valued measures. 

Tools such as safety apps, security audits, expanded CCTV coverage, emergency phones, and environmental safety improvements also received notable support. By centring students' lived experiences and allowing them to co-create measurable indicators alongside academics, development partners, and institutional leaders, the workshop marked an important step toward building a student-driven, evidence-based, and survivor-sensitive framework for campus safety that can inform future policy and practice in higher education.