About WAYDO

WAYDO began as the journey of a group of young women from Cox's Bazar who wanted to plan and lead development in their own communities: building women's leadership, supporting the creativity and talents of children and adolescents, and helping young women become skilled and self-reliant.

Teknaf, the border upazila where we were founded, carries some of the heaviest burdens in the country. Since the arrival of Rohingya refugees in 2017, host communities have lived with intense pressure on land, work and services, alongside drugs, trafficking of women and children, cyclones and a changing climate. Young people and women in remote villages are hit hardest.

Our founder, Jobair Mahmud, brought together 35 like-minded young women to answer that with a single organisation for women's empowerment and youth development. Those 35 women form our General Board today. They elect a 9-member Executive Panel, and every member of our committee is a woman.

We work across Cox's Bazar District in education, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender equality, climate justice, livelihoods and social inclusion. We focus on people who are often left out: Dalit and Indigenous communities, persons with disabilities, sex workers, transgender people, children, adolescents and young people without opportunity.