Bhubaneswar Slum Girl In Nairobi Summit

Bhubaneswar: Deepanjali Swain (19) is representing Odisha in the 25th International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) at Nairobi.

This girl from a slum in Odisha capital was picked for ICPD25, also known as Nairobi Summit, for being a true leader in her community and her dedication to social work.

Deepanjali works as a peer leader (Pragati Sathi) under the Socially Smart Project of the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). She educates local community on various issue and imparts leadership training to the children and youth in the slum.

She had also proven her leadership capabilities under Humara Bachpan as the latter is working as a partner NGO under the Socially Smart Project of BSCL.

The 19-year-old is currently studying OT Technician course under para-medical disciplines for operation theatre professionals as a skill development curriculum at the Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM).

“I am happy that being a girl and having such a challenging economic condition in my family I could achieve this. I am grateful to the authorities of BSCL and also HBT for which I could get this exposure,” Deepanjali said.

BMC Commissioner and BSCL CEO Prem Chandra Chaudhary, who also joined the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 as a delegate, said the Socially Smart Project of BSCL and BMC carried out with support from UNFPA is a mechanism of social change and equity that strives to give a better life and opportunity to slum dwellers.

Notably, the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 is the 25th anniversary of the first International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in which 179 governments adopted a landmark Programme of Action which set out to empower women and girls.