Waterkeepers Bangladesh (WKB) consortium launched an anti-pollution advocacy project to monitor and advocate for the improvement of water, air, and noise quality in Dhaka city on Thursday, May 6, 2021, on an online platform. WKB is leading the consortium formed with the Department of Geography and Environment of Jahangirnagar University and the Department of Environmental Science of Stamford University Bangladesh. WKB Consortium is implementing the project called Promoting democratic governance and Collective Advocacy for Environmental Protection in Dhaka City in collaboration with USAID, FCDO, and Counterpart International (CPI) under the Promoting Advocacy and Rights (PAR) activities.  This two-year project is jointly funded by approx. US$ 297,000 by USAID and FCDO and apx. US$ 47,000 by the WKB Consortium. CPI is giving the technical support to implement the project.

Professor Dr. Gowher Rizvi, honorable Advisor on International Relations Affairs to the Prime Minister was the chief guest of the launching event. Special guests of the event were the Honorable Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation Mr. Md. Atiqul Islam, Honorable Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh Ms. Habib Un Nahar MP;  Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Dhaka her excellency Ms. Jo Anne Wagner; Director of Development, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Ms. Judith Herbertson; Vice Chancellor, Stamford University Professor Mohammad Ali Naqi; Executive Director of Waterkeeper Alliance Marc Yaggi, and Superintending Engineer, Climate and Disaster Management Circle, Dhaka North City Corporation Dr. Tariq Bin Yusuf. The event was presided over by Sultana Kamal, Chairperson of Blue Planet Initiative (BPI) and former advisor to a non-party Caretaker Government of Bangladesh. The meeting was moderated by Mr. Sharif Jamil, lead of the consortium and Executive Director of BPI, while Prof. Dr. Nurul Islam of Jahangirnagar University gave the Vote of Thanks and Mr. Mainuddin Ahmed, Chief of Party PAR gave the Welcome Speech. Mr. Mobarak Hossain Sajid, project coordinator, and Prof. Dr. Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumder, Director of CAPS and Dean of the Environmental Science Department at Stamford University presented a short briefing about the project during the launching.