Exploring the opportunities in freelancing world can enhance the possibility of women economic empowerment along with achieving their career goals. In this regard, Bangladesh Open Source Network and BDApps are going to collaboratively take some initiatives to increase women participation in the world of developer community. With a firm determination to involve women from all walks of life in the digital scene of Bangladesh, this women engagement initiatives come as a breakthrough for women empowerment.

From this concept, on 14 July 2020, an introductory session was held under this partnership. This main objective of this session was to interact with girls to know their needs and demands and to disseminate the information among them about the facilities and opportunities this partnership offers. The session was conducted by Md. Altamis Nabil, Rifat Fariha and Noshin Nawal from the BDApps team with an aim to introduce the impact potential BDApps holds to empower the youth of the community, which now strongly demands the footsteps of women. This two-and-a-half-hour interactive session saw the enthusiastic participation of 60+ BdOSN members which can easily be regarded as one of the most highly engaged digital programs in recent times.

The session commenced with Mr. Nabil introducing BDApps to the eager audience in the meeting and an announcement for the launching of the Women Leadership Program under The #bdappsforher Initiative, followed by Ms. Nawal addressing the members for their introduction. Jahanara Amir, the Head of Operations of BdOSN, then urged the women to persist with this program regarding it a “groundbreaking opportunity for women.” After the initiation, Ms. Fariha presented the ins and outs of being a developer on BDApps, followed by a very fruitful BDApps app creation demonstration by Ms. Nawal. The outpouring of questions and feedback from the participants only proved how eager everyone was to work with BDApps and partake in the Women Leadership Program.

The session was also joined by Shifat Ul Hoque, Shahed Saad Ullah, Arif Haider, Md. Arif Hasan and Mir Reaz Uddin from the BDApps team, along with Jahanara Amir, Shakhira Afroz and Jesmin Akter from the BdOSN team.