About us
Who we are
Films 4 Peace Foundation (F4P) is a leading national peacebuilding organization based in Bangladesh, committed to fostering a peaceful society through innovative and artistic programs, strategic communications, and research. At F4P, we empower artists, youth, and the community to create an inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful community that can overcome different forms of conflict and violence.
Our approach is grounded in local realities and reflects our deep and long-term commitment to building peace through artistic activism and innovation. As a locally-led organization, we are uniquely equipped to tackle the root causes of violence and rebuild communities after conflict and violence have torn them apart. We believe that peace is a practical and achievable option, and we are committed to providing local people with the skills and resources they need to make it a reality.
We are driven by our passion for non-violence and our unwavering belief in the power of local action. We recognize that local people are central to the resolution of their own conflicts and that sustainable peace cannot be imposed from the outside. By working with local communities, artists, and youth, we aim to create a society that is more peaceful, inclusive, sustainable, and free from violence.
We are proud to have a strong track record of success in our peacebuilding efforts, and we are committed to continuing to work towards our mission. With your support, we can continue to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of people affected by violence and conflict in Bangladesh
Our mission
Our Mission is
To help create a world that is inclusive, sustainable and peaceful.
Our Vision
We envision a world where every person, regardless of their background or circumstances, has the chance to live in peace and prosperity.
Through our innovative use of artistic activism, research, and strategic communication, we strive to build a society where violence and conflict are replaced with understanding, cooperation, and sustainable solutions
Our Mandate
Our mandate at Films 4 Peace Foundation is
To promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
To strengthen the capacities of societies to manage conflicts and build peace by promoting youth leadership, community empowerment, responsible citizenship and tolerance.
To end abuse, exploitation, labour trafficking and all forms of violence.
Our Values
We believe that peace can only be achieved through non-violent conflict resolution.
We respect and celebrate diversity, and believe in the power of local culture, capacity, and creativity.
We prioritize building trust and collaboration as essential components of sustainable peacebuilding.
We uphold the highest standards of integrity and transparency in all our work.
These values guide our approach to building a peaceful and inclusive world, and inspire us to create innovative and effective programs that empower individuals and communities to take ownership of their own peacebuilding efforts.
Thematic areas for Films 4 Peace Foundation:
Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding: Fostering peaceful and inclusive societies through the prevention of violent conflicts and the building of sustainable peace.
Social Justice and Human Rights: Advancing social justice, human dignity, and the protection of human rights through innovative programs and advocacy.
Sustainable Development and Economic Empowerment: Supporting economic well-being and sustainable development through community-based initiatives, entrepreneurship, and inclusive growth.
Youth and Community Empowerment: Empowering youth, women, and marginalized communities through education, leadership development, and capacity-building.
Environmental Peace: Promoting environmental protection and conservation as a critical component of building peaceful and resilient communities.
Migration and Human Trafficking: Combating human trafficking, promoting safe migration, and protecting the rights of migrants and refugees through advocacy, support, and partnerships.
Our Experience
Films 4 Peace (F4P) has been at the forefront of building peace, promoting social cohesion, and advancing economic wellbeing in Bangladesh since 2017. Our innovative and artistic activism, combined with world-class research and strategic communications, has enabled us to tackle complex challenges such as extremism, human trafficking, and climate change.
Through partnerships with organizations such as the Center for Social Integrity and USAID’s Road to Tolerance program, F4P has successfully implemented several projects, including Community Elders for Social Tolerance, Promoting Inclusive Governance through Youth Peace Films, and Community Empowerment to Build Resilience.
Our community-based approach has been instrumental in engaging 250 active members of the Community Tolerance Promotion Group (CTGP) and training over 50 youth volunteer leaders who are now addressing local conflicts, violence, abuse, and exploitation in their communities.
At F4P, we believe that evidence-based video advocacy is a powerful tool for promoting peace and social cohesion. We have trained 100 youth in participatory filmmaking, storytelling, and leadership, empowering them to address cultural and structural violence in their communities.
Our work has been widely recognized, with F4P organizing photo exhibitions and launching a television program to foster safe and orderly legal migration and ensure migrants’ access to information and services. We have also started legal assistance services for Bangladeshi migrants who are victims of labor trafficking or fraud by middlemen intermediaries.
Our program monitoring and evaluation show evidence of increased volunteerism, youth engagement, responsible citizenship, and empowerment of girls and women. F4P is committed to delivering the expected output of any project on time, breaking stereotypes, and promoting greater tolerance in Bangladesh.
We believe that these thematic areas align with our vision and mission, and will enable us to make a meaningful impact towards creating a more peaceful and just world.
OUR PARTNERS
Films 4 Peace Foundation is proud to partner with renowned organizations such as Management System International, Internews, Centre for Social Integrity (CSI), and Manusher Jonno Foundation. These partnerships have enabled us to build a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels. In the past, we have also collaborated with the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), RUPANTOR, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), Bangladesh Television, Toronto Film Forum (TFF), USAID, and BASUG to achieve our mission of creating a world that is inclusive, sustainable, and peaceful. We are grateful to all our partners for their continued support in making a positive impact on society.
Our Partners
Our numbers that speak
Our Story
Our journey began in 2010 with a vision of building a peaceful society through evidence-based video advocacy. Since then, Films 4 Peace has evolved into a passionate, dedicated national organization that brings together the country’s unparalleled experts and practitioners to build a sustainable and inclusive world. Our team consists of experienced development professionals, over half of whom are women, with over 15 years of experience in national and international development organizations.
We started our journey under the name WITNESS, advocating for the rights of migrants and refugees, climate change, and human rights protection. In 2017, we brought global attention to Rohingya rights through research, photography, and evidence-based video advocacy.
To further our impact, we established the Films 4 Peace Foundation as a non-profit organization in 2017. Since then, we have launched national and global outreach through evidence-based and innovative programs, strategic communications, and world-class research. With the support of USAID, we began working at the community level in 2018 to build a peaceful society by empowering the community and youth.
We have trained over 120 young people in participatory filmmaking to become responsible citizens and to create videos on hate crime, rumors, misinformation, social harmony, pluralism, and diversity. Our efforts have paid off, as many of these young people have taken video making as a profession and are earning a substantial amount.
In 2019, we organized the first Bangladesh Peace Film Festival to promote pluralism, tolerance, and diversity through films and to build a peaceful society. We are proud to have received NGO Affairs Registration Certificate from NGO Affairs Bureau Bangladesh in 2021.
With the support of the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), we launched our first campaign, the Inspiring Women Award 2022, in 2022. This year, in 2023, we have established two cultural centers and libraries for the Rohingya and host community in Cox’s Bazar, with the support of CSI-USA.
We are committed to our cause and have already made a significant impact, but our work is not done. In 2023, we will organize the second Peace Film Festival in Bangladesh. We invite you to join us in our efforts to build a peaceful and inclusive society by supporting Films 4 Peace. Your contribution will help us empower more young people, reach more communities, and bring about positive change
Our Structure
Films 4 Peace Foundation is led by a dedicated and experienced team, committed to building a peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable society. Our governance structure includes a Governing Board, comprised of seven members with diverse backgrounds in university, development, media, and business sectors. The Board actively provides legal, technical, and strategic guidance to the organization’s management, engaging in fundraising, advocacy, and policymaking in line with F4P’s mission and mandate.
The Management Team, led by the Executive Director, is responsible for overall steering, monitoring, and management of F4P, with a good balance of knowledge, experience, and skills in project cycle management. The team includes five members, two of whom are female.
F4P’s departments include Programme, Monitoring, Communication, Documentation & Knowledge Management, Finance & Accounts, Administration and Human Resource, and Internal Audit. Each department plays a critical role in advancing F4P’s mission, with a focus on peacebuilding, empowerment, migrant and refugee rights, youth development, economic empowerment, human rights and justice, media advocacy, and networking.
With offices in Dhaka, Chittagong, and Cox’s Bazar, F4P has a dedicated and diverse staff of 10 core members and 15 project staff, working together to create a peaceful and inclusive society through evidence-based programs and innovative approaches.
Our organizational structure is aligned with our mission and vision, enabling us to work efficiently and effectively towards our goal of building a peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable world.
Our Finance
Films 4 Peace Foundation has a dedicated bank account to manage its finances, ensuring proper record-keeping and transparency. The organization has a team of staff members responsible for financial management, with distributed responsibilities for record-keeping, authorization, custody, and execution. This system ensures accountability and minimizes the risk of errors or irregularities.
To facilitate proper documentation and accountability of financial transactions and procurements, F4P uses a dedicated accounting software. The organization’s accounting system is designed to identify, analyze, classify, record, and report financial transactions, ensuring accountability for related assets and liabilities. F4P also maintains an inventory of assets, appropriately labeled for easy identification.
The organization has written formal policies on financial management, procurement, and human resources, which are followed for all related activities. These policies ensure compliance with established guidelines and procedures, promoting transparency and accountability.
Overall, Films 4 Peace Foundation’s financial management system is designed to ensure transparency, accountability, and proper documentation of all financial transactions, while also promoting compliance with established policies and procedures.
Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
Films 4 Peace Foundation (F4P) is committed to ensuring that our programs have a measurable impact on promoting peace and justice in communities. To achieve this, we follow a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework that adheres to international standards and best practices. Our M&E plan includes the following components:
- M&E Framework: We will continue to follow an input-output-outcome-impact framework to design and run our M&E system. This framework will help us track progress, identify gaps and weaknesses, measure effectiveness, and evaluate impact.
- Indicators: We will identify appropriate indicators for each of our projects’ goals, objectives, outputs, and outcomes. We will collect data for these indicators on a regular basis, depending on the frequency of the indicator.
- Monitoring: Regular project monitoring will be conducted by the assigned project staff and management team, while the F4P Monitoring Department will engage periodically in internal monitoring. This will ensure timely identification of challenges and the implementation of corrective actions.
- Baseline, Research, and Evaluation: F4P will conduct baseline studies, research, and evaluations as per the project schedule. These activities will help us assess the project’s progress, identify areas for improvement, and measure the project’s impact.
- Financial Audits: We will conduct financial audits by both F4P’s internal audit team and external auditors annually. This will ensure transparency and accountability in our financial management.
- Knowledge Management: We will maintain a knowledge management system that includes a range of strategies and practices used to fully utilize information and data to improve the effectiveness of our programs.
We are committed to continuously improving our M&E plan to ensure that our programs have a lasting impact on the communities we serve. By following these best practices, we will demonstrate our accountability, transparency, and effectiveness to our donors and stakeholders.
Collaboration
Films for Peace has a proven track record of successful collaboration with both local and national government entities. We have established excellent relationships with various ministries, including the Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner. Through our joint policy dialogues and collaborative programs with government officials, we have contributed to building peaceful and inclusive communities, promoting access to justice, and enhancing accountability and transparency at all levels.
In addition, our partnership with Bangladesh Television has been crucial in facilitating our advocacy efforts and ensuring that our message reaches a wider audience. By leveraging video and broadcasting technology, we have successfully engaged high-level government officials and relevant departments in our initiatives.
Moving forward, Films for Peace is committed to strengthening our collaborations and networking with government agencies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to achieve our shared goals of promoting peace and social justice. We will continue to build on our strong relationships and leverage our media and advocacy tools to drive positive change and build a more inclusive and peaceful society.
Networking
F4P strongly believes in partnership for social change, and our core strategy for advocacy is to collaborate with civil society organizations (CSOs) through networking and coalition building. We have organized a series of issue-based national consultations and dialogues with local CSOs and youth-led organizations. At the national level, F4P is actively involved with several coalitions, platforms, and forums, including the Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants (BCSM), National Humanitarian Advocacy Platform, and National Network on PVE for promoting peace. We value the opinions of our partners and believe in jointly making decisions and playing an active role in the decision-making process. By building strong partnerships and coalitions, F4P is able to maximize our impact and achieve our mission of building a peaceful and inclusive society for sustainable development.
F4P has a strong track record of partnering with international organizations and actively engaging in regional advocacy. We are proud to be an active network partner of Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism (APRCEM) and the Asia Pacific CSO Forum of SDGs. We work closely with Asia-Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) and regularly exchange information with regional and international human rights organizations such as International Migrant Alliance (IMA) and Migrants Forum in Asia.
F4P has collaborated with Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) in Australia to provide training sessions on Universal Periodic Review (UPR). We have initiated joint projects with Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, USAID, BASUG, and Toronto Film Forum.
At the local level, F4P has established its secretariat in Cox’s Bazar Probashi Forum, an association of migrants from Cox’s Bazar. We are involved with Youth Peace Forum and Youth Express in Cox’s Bazar and provide support, advice, and motivation for peace. We are also active members of Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants (BCSM), National Alliance for Migrants Rights, PEACE consortium, National Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) Network, National Platform for preventing human trafficking in Bangladesh. We join other organizations’ issue-based collaborative initiatives and protests, and we also initiate such actions in response to any human rights violations.