User:Rifat Ahmed Khan/sandbox

Leaping Boundaries is a non profit organization, that aims to increase the visibility of female madrasah students on platforms such as national debate competitions, the Spelling Bee, etc. They provide madrasah students with a comprehensive set of skills and access to platforms to help integrate them into the mainstream society.

History
Initially it was a language and leadership development programme that focused on building English Language skills of Alia madrasah students. It was then that it was identified that the challenge faced by the sector was not a lack of English language skills but a lack of platforms where they were not able to represent themselves. Hence it was redesigned and relaunched in February 2014 with a new goal, a new set of volunteers and two new madrasahs. The project has successfully represented students on three platforms since then and is still ongoing.

Shagufe Hossain


Shagufe Hossain started Leaping Boundaries at the age of 24 in an attempt to break into the madrasah community to increase visibility of girls in the madrasah sector who lack access to mainstream platforms as a result of stigma associated with the sector. As a trailblazer venturing into a very difficult community, Shagufe has been featured on many national dailies including the Daily Star's Generation Hope Issue. She was also awarded multiple fellowships, as a Young Connector of the Future under the Swedish Institute, the Dalai Lama Fellowship, the Dutch Visitors Programme Fellowship, membership of the Dhaka Hub of Global Shapers of the World Economic Forum and has been a speaker at TEDXAIUB. She was also awarded the Community Engagement Award of the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University for her groundbreaking work with madrasahs in Bangladesh.

Leaping Boundaries' Activities
Leaping Boundaries combines capacity building components in English Language, Soft Skills i.e. emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence and communication skills, and Computer Programming, with psycho-social support to female students in madrasahs or Islamic schools in Bangladesh. After the training, the students are connected to various platforms such as- youth leadership programs, Global Dignity Day, Shorno Kishoree, art exhibitions, coding hackathons, poetry and essay workshops where female students from this medium lack access.

Leaping Boundaries has worked with around 555 girls studying in 6 Alia Madrasahs in Dhaka city to build their capacity in English Language, life skills, information communication technology and psycho-education to help them develop a coping mechanism to counter being labelled as "different". 16-19 year old girls are being taught about taming their inner shadows, defining boundaries, gender, power and body language, managing multiple dimensions of identities and leading peacefully. They aim to continue their work in the community with focus on psycho-social issues, training the girls on managing stress, depression and anger.