DFK International is supporting a charity which champions diversity and gender equality in Bangladeshi schools to mark International Women’s Day.

HerStory Foundation, which was set up by Zareen Mahmud Hosein - a partner of member firm Snehasish Mahmud & Co, has been selected as the DFK International Women in Leadership (I-WIL) Executive Committee’s chosen charity for 2019.

The Foundation was launched to empower women and girls and show that opportunities are not constrained by gender.

It creates books telling the stories of successful and empowering women which it then uses in schools to break down gender stereotypes and start discussions around equality.

The DFK I-WIL Executive Committee was launched one year ago to help accelerate the achievement of gender parity both across the association and the profession at large.

The committee is helping to champion women leaders as well as the benefits of gender balance in the workplace, and has arranged for breakfast events and speakers at DFK conferences.

HerStory Foundation is the committee’s very first chosen charity, and DFK International firms are being encouraged to hold coffee mornings and other fundraising events to raise money for the cause around International Women’s Day, which is taking place on March 8.

Firms will also be able to make donations through the DFK International website.

The funds raised will be put towards a number of projects including the charity’s third book, ‘HerStories: Book of Rights’, which will be used in schools to teach children about their rights from an early age.

It will also be used to develop the ‘HerStory Reading Fellowship’ where university students will be trained to teach children about career options, gender empowerment, diversity and respect in classrooms.

The final project will be publishing a book of the photographs taken by Bangladesh’s first female photo journalist Saida Khanam to promote the history of women in the country on the global stage and inspire women.

Zareen will gave a presentation on the charity at the 2019 DFK EMEA Annual Conference, which was held in Prague from February 21 to 23.

She said: “It is a huge honour to be selected as the DFK I-WIL Executive Committee’s very first chosen charity.

“We are a very young organisation having been founded two years ago, and this will be the first time we have received international donations which is extremely exciting.

“The funding will enable us to launch three separate projects and also provide us with a platform to promote what we do on an international scale which is a very big opportunity for us.”

Anne Brady, Chair of the DFK International Women in Leadership (I-WIL) Executive Committee, said: “DFK’s I-WIL Executive Committee has been running for a year, and we are very pleased to announce our first chosen charity. I’m even more delighted that we have chosen one set up by a partner at one of our own member firms.

“We hope that DFK members show their support for the campaign and hold fundraising events in aid of HerStory. We will select a new charity annually, choosing one from a different DFK region every year.”

Click here to view the HerStory Foundation website.