A women leadership training was organized by ECDO during 10th -12th December 2011 in Sylhet. Twenty five women representatives from different indigenous Community Based Organizations (CBO) for women participated in the training. The main objective of this training was to develop their capacity to ensure women empowerment in the society. Advocate Sayeda Shirin Akhter, Divisional head of Sylhet Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA) was present as the chief facilitator in the training. Advocate Zakia Jalal lawyer of Sylhet district Judge Court was also present as a facilitator of this three day long training. In this training session topics on women’s leadership, concept of development, present status of women on the context of Bangladesh, a brief discussion on violence against women, CEDAW, negative impact of early marriage etc were widely discussed before the participants. Two video clips related to women’s rights & violence against women was also shown as part of training session. At the last day, as part of the closing session, S. Rina Devi, President, Bangladesh Manipuri Mahila Samity, shared her experience how indigenous people fight for their rights and as woman how much struggle is to ensure rights. In his concluding speech, Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh Executive Director of ECDO, requested all participants to ensure proper utilization of knowledge and skills what they have learnt in the training for establish women rights in their respective societies for stopping violence against women and for ensuring their rights. This training program was organized by ECDO under its Support to Indigenous Peoples in Plain Land- SIPPL project funded by Oxfam GB.

The Human Rights Day is observed on the 10th December every year. On this day in 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). To mark the Human Rights Day, Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECDO) organized a program on the 10th December, 2010 in Sylhet. This year the Human Rights Day is dedicated to the Human Rights Defenders who play a vital in the fight against discrimination. The theme of this year’s international celebration is Human Rights Defenders Taking Action to End Discrimination.

In the Sylhet region, ECDO is the only organization working with indigenous communities. As a result of this a lot of expectation has been put on the organization to solve their most pressing problems.

Due to these pressures, ECDO has since 2007 been involved in helping the indigenous people with legal problems by linking them with various organizations and agencies. Organizations such as Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Bangladesh National Women Lawyer Association (BNWLA) and other legal and civil societies have been approached to help solve these issues. Today, ECDO enjoys good relations with these organizations and they have become a major resource for the community, solving all the issues delivered to them. Presently ECDO is providing legal assistance regarding land, fake case and violence against women issues with the help of BLAST. Among the beneficiaries, three are female and four are male.

ECDO realizes the difficulty in the development of the Indigenous People without resolving their internal conflicts and therefore the organization tries to mitigate internal conflicts among indigenous communities. ECDO therefore organizes conflict mediation meetings presided by local Union Parishad (UP) Chairman to resolve these issues. Recently, on 23rd Oct, 2008 a land conflict resolution meeting at Goabari, Jaintapur Upozella was held and disputes were resolved. This initiative by ECDO is greatly appreciated by the community members and local government representatives.