Nobonita Chowdhury

Nobonita Chowdhury is the Director of Preventing Violence Against Women Initiative and Gender Justice & Diversity at BRAC.

Ms Chowdhury holds over two decades of outstanding experience in journalism,media and communications. Prior to joining BRAC, she was the Editor of DBC News. As a journalist, she has worked for leading electronic and print media organisations at home and abroad, including the BBC in the UK and Ekattor Television in Bangladesh. She became a household name as a presenter of radio and television talk shows and rose to nationwide prominence hosting her own primetime talk show “Rajkahon- Nobonita Chowdhuryr Shathe”. These experiences have helped her master a strong ability to identify, absorb and prioritise complex information and present it to the target audience in the most effective manner to achieve the highest possible impact.

As a member of the communications team at mobile operator Robi, she had the rare opportunity to strategize and execute the external communications for the first and biggest ever merger in Bangladesh’s telecom sector between Robi and Airtel in 2016. She had played a pivotal role in developing the messages and communication materials for UNICEF’s nationwide ‘Quality Education for All’ campaign in her early twenties as a social communication executive of Bitopi Advertising agency.

Ms Chowdhury started her career as a Sub Editor in the Daily Bhorer Kagoj, when she was only 18 after being a regular writer/contributor for few years already. After joining Ekushey Television as a researcher during her university days, she had travelled all over Bangladesh to find out real life stories from the grassroots- from Teknaf to Tetulia, Sundarbans to Chittagong Hill Tracts, including the Chars and Haors. Her travel exposure to rural Bangladesh and the world has given her an unparalleled ability to analyse and understand the obstacles and progression of various societies.

Ms Chowdhury has received the prestigious ‘Anannya Top Ten Award’ in 2017 as a leading woman of her time. She had the honour to seat as a member of the Jury Board for the ‘Nasreen Smrity Padak’ given annually by Action Aid- Bangladesh. Ms Chowdhury has been invited to speak at the Plenary Session of the World Press Freedom Day Global Conference in Addis Ababa, organised by the UNESCO in 2019.

Ms Chowdhury holds an MA in Human Rights Law from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and an LLB (Hons) from University of Dhaka.