Dove Day, an initiative of Unilever’s Dove Self-Esteem Project (DSEP), was observed over the last week in schools across Dhaka and Chattogram, a press release said Sunday.
Over 40 Unilever Bangladesh employees conducted engaging workshops with 1,000 school children in Teach For Bangladesh (TFB) classrooms to promote values of self-esteem and body confidence. Teach For Bangladesh, a non-profit organisation with the mission of providing quality education for every child in Bangladesh, was the implementing partner for this event.
For Dove Day, Unilever Bangladesh employees had to go through a training session facilitated by TFB in-house program specialists to conduct the workshops in schools. The training session was focused on the ‘Confident Me’ module jointly created and contextualised by Unilever and TFB in 2021.
In the workshops conducted across the two regions, students were informed about the societal pressure on physical appearance and the impact it can have on self-esteem. They also discussed the impact of social media on the perception of beauty, which often makes people look artificially beautiful. Through dialogues and insight sharing, students understood that focusing on their own talent and uniqueness rather than comparing themselves with others would help to build their confidence and self-esteem.
Afzal Hassan Khan, marketing director, beauty & wellbeing and Personal Care at Unilever Bangladesh, said, “8 out of 10 girls are so concerned with the way they look that they opt out of important activities.”
Ijma Rahman, Acting CEO of Teach For Bangladesh, said, “At TFB, we believe that every child is worthy of love, dignity and belonging.”
