The River Camp 2018 was launched to encourage youth to boost their knowledge on trans-boundary river basins, conservation and management of rivers in Bangladesh. This historical event was held on 18-21 January 2018. Riverine People and Center for Natural Resource Studies (CNRS) jointly organized the River Camp. The camp was held under Trans-boundary Rivers for Our Sustainable Advancement (TROSA) program which is executed by Oxfam in Bangladesh. The project is funded by the Government of Sweden.
The camp aimed at creating young river leaders to fight back the menace against rivers in coming days. During the camps, sessions on river related issues were run by academics and distinguished experts to inspire them to gather riverine knowledge and to come forward to save rivers. It is also targeting to enhance academic and field working capacity of the youth.
The river camp was held in the capital city of Dhaka with participation of 35 university students across the country. Participants were selected from different public and private universities across the country through a call for participation. All the campers attended several theoretical and practical sessions during the camp. A field visit to Raj Rajeshwar Island in Chandpur district was also offered during the camp to give the campers an opportunity to witnesses the real river-based life as well as the culture on the bank of River Meghna. In this four-day camp, the participants shared their experiences, river stories as well as their analysis upon the camp participation.
Chief guest of the inauguration programme was Professor Emeritus at Brac University Dr. Ainun Nishat and the programme was concluded by the chief guest and former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Mr. Atiur Rahman.