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Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC) is the first leadership institution in Bangladesh, founded with the vision of creating a more inclusive, tolerant and just society by locally training the next generation of leaders. Originally developed at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2008, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center was established in 2009. The Center conducts its signature youth leadership program, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT) along with executive programs and workshops for university students as well as clients in the private, public, and non-profit sector. BYLC is a strong advocate for active citizenship and many of its program alumni are actively engaged in community service and grassroots leadership.

Formation
The concept of a youth leadership center was originally developed at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in January 2008. The proposal for a month-long leadership program, Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT), was jointly developed by Ejaj Ahmad, then a graduate student at Harvard University, and Shammi S. Quddus, then an undergraduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The proposal won the 2008 Kathryn Davis Projects for Peace Prize in March 2008.

Ahmad and Quddus ran the pilot phase of BBLT in Chittagong in the summer of 2008, with technical and financial support from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Public Service Center. Building on the success and lessons learned from the pilot, the BBLT program was encapsulated within the framework of a non-profit organization, the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC).

In October 2008, BYLC formed its Governing Board. With Ejaj Ahmad, the Founder of BYLC, as the President, the seven-member Board of Governors of BYLC consists of leading professionals from the educational, legal, corporate and media sectors in Bangladesh. BYLC also has an International Advisory Board comprising of members including renowned Harvard professors and Bangladeshi intellectuals.

In early 2009, BYLC was registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms in Bangladesh as a non-partisan social venture committed to creating an inclusive, tolerant and just society by training the next generation of leaders.

The signature program of BYLC, BBLT, expanded into a four month program for BBLT 4 on July 2010. The first month consists of intensive classroom training in leadership skills after school. In the next three months, students work in teams to implement their leadership training by designing and conducting community projects in local slums.

Vision
BYLC's vision is to create a poverty-free Bangladesh driven by the next generation of home-grown leaders.

Mission
BYLC works to bridge gaps in society by uniting youth from diverse backgrounds, equipping them with leadership, problem solving and teamwork skills, and engaging them in community service and active citizenship.

Values

 * Respect for the individual
 * Patriotism
 * Tolerance
 * Gender equality
 * Transparency

Innovation
BYLC is the first organization in Bangladesh that brings together students from three different educational systems in the country – namely English medium, Bengali medium and Madrassa. In the context of the national curriculum that relies heavily on rote memorization, BYLC’s pioneering multidisciplinary youth leadership program, which uses real-time case analysis and reflection as tools to equip participants with strong leadership diagnostic skills, has already received appreciation from diverse stakeholders in Bangladesh.

Building Bridges
The capacity to embrace diversity and to respect diverse viewpoints is pivotal for effective leadership. A root cause of the divisiveness in Bangladesh today is the divided educational system, which has fragmented the young generation and impedes progress in Bangladesh. To this end, BYLC programs are designed to unite youth from the three different educational systems in Bangladesh – English medium, Bengali medium and Madrassa.

Leadership Training
BYLC works with the nation’s bright youth to instill value-driven leadership ideas within them. Participants develop diagnostic skills and discuss the characteristics of a leader through large class discussions and small group case analysis. BYLC’s leadership programs push the students out of their comfort zones, teach them to appreciate diverse viewpoints and establish an open channel of communication.

Community Service
The difference between the wealthy and impoverished is a stark reality in Bangladesh. Therefore, BYLC promotes active citizenship among its young participants so they are prepared to address the developmental challenges of Bangladesh. The program facilitates community service projects, in which they apply their creativity and leadership skills gained in the classroom.

Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT)
Building Bridges through Leadership Training (BBLT) is BYLC's signature leadership training program offered twice a year to college and first year university students from Madrassa, English and Bengali medium schools. The goal of the four-month long program is to train young people and equip them with necessary communication and leadership skills to make a positive impact on society. After undergoing a rigorous admission process, selected applicants are granted a full scholarship. Participants are awarded a certificate from BYLC after successfully completing the program. The BBLT program has two components:


 * Leadership Training: During the first month, students attend intensive classroom lectures on leadership skills. The curriculum for this component is highly interactive and draws heavily on leadership courses taught at Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership and modeled after the ‘case-in-point’ teaching methodology of Harvard Professor Heifetz. This approach utilizes program participants’ own experiences and the classroom environment itself as a “learning laboratory” for understanding the different concepts of leadership, such as:
 * Public speaking and presentation skills
 * Self assessment and development
 * Goal setting
 * Group dynamics and teamwork
 * Community service
 * Real world problem solving
 * Creativity
 * Ethics


 * Community Service: During the next three months, students conduct independent community service projects in the slums. The projects allow participants to apply their skills and knowledge gained through the classroom discussions in a real world setting by serving their local community.

BBLT Junior
The BBLT Junior (BBLT-J) program, launched in 2010, has the same vision as the regular BBLT program but is aimed for secondary school students. BBLT graduates work with BYLC mentors to organize a month-long after-school program for grade 6-10 students from diverse educational backgrounds. The BBLT-J training on leadership also instills in students a sense of patriotism, civic duty and an understanding of social justice and tolerance.

Workshops and Executive Programs
BYLC runs customized leadership workshops for university students and leadership executive programs for clients in the private, public and non-profit sectors in Bangladesh. Over the past year and half, BYLC has conducted several workshops and executive programs for capacity building of students, executives, senior managers, civil servants and top-level decision-makers in the following organizations:


 * Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka
 * Department of Management, University of Dhaka
 * Independent University, Bangladesh
 * North South University
 * BRAC University
 * Renata Pharmaceuticals Limited
 * BRAC University’s Institute of Educational Development
 * Prime Minister’s Office

Patrons
BYLC has been supported by the MIT Public Service Center, Katherine Davis Peace Prize, US State Department, British High Commission, World Bank Group, the Bangladeshi private sector and through in kind support by the International Youth Foundation. BYLC is working toward a self-sufficient business model.

Awards and Recognition
In 2009, Ejaj Ahmad was profiled as one of Asia’s most promising young leaders and awarded the 2009-2010 Paragon Fellowship by the Foundation of Youth Social Enterprise. Ejaj Ahmad He was also among 20 outstanding young social entrepreneurs recognized by the International Youth Foundation (IYF) for the 2010 YouthActionNet® Fellowship. The 2010 fellows came from 18 different countries across five continents. Recently he was featured in The Washington Post on a special program titled 'On Leadership: Ejaj Ahmad, bringing Obama to Bangladesh' Assistant secretary Robert O. Blake, Jr. of the Bureau of South and Central Asia Affairs in the US government mentioned the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center as one of “South Asia’s Unheralded Stories” at the 2010 San Diego World Affairs Council. Ejaj Ahmad was selected as one of the 150 delegates from Asia and the US in the 2010 Asia 21 Young Leaders Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. Additionally, BYLC has received considerable media attention in Bangladesh via newspapers, radio and press conferences.

Governing Board Members

 * Zafar Sobhan, Op-Ed Editor and Columnist, The Daily Star
 * Ejaj Ahmad, President, BYLC
 * Syed M. Sajjad, Business Development Manager, Majumder Group
 * Manzoor Hasan OBE, Director, Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University
 * Sara Hossain, Senior Associate, Dr. Kamal Hossain & Associates
 * Homayara Ahmed, Assistant Professor, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka
 * Pial Islam, Founder and Managing Partner, pi Strategy Consulting

International Advisory Board Members

 * Gowher Rizvi, Honorable Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
 * Ronald Heifetz, King Hussein bin Talal Senior Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
 * Barbara Kellerman, James McGregor Burns Lecturer in Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School
 * Mijarul Quayes, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh
 * Max Klau, Director of Leadership Development, City Year
 * Sultana Afroz, Economic Counselor, Bangladesh Embassy in Rome