Author: Dr. Afroza Akhter
Title: Psychologist and Social Researcher
Bio: Afroza Akhter, Ph.D. in Psychology, currently acting Executive Director of the Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services (BCS).  Since her arrival in Canada, she has been involved in a wide range of activities for community agencies serving mostly South Asian immigrants and newcomers in the greater Toronto area (GTA) in the province of Ontario, Canada.  One of her notable work is a research program commissioned by the Heritage Canada through the Council of Agencies Serving South Asians to review the Bridge training program for the Internationally Educated Immigrant Professionals in Ontario. This report drew attention at the policy level and duly covered by the news media. She also developed an Advocacy Toolkit for the south Asian seniors. Dr. Akhter is actively involved with an advocacy group working for the South Asian community in Canada to prevent family violence. She sits in the Toronto Women’s City Alliance (TWCA) an organization dedicated to create a women’s equality office in the City Council, the Community Advisory Council of the Toronto East General Hospital and is a former Board member of Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services, a leading community agency serving the immigrants in the GTA. 

Dr. Akhter has been actively engaged in the social services sector for 20 years in a variety of settings and roles – everything from grass root outreach to policy advocacy. She brings leadership and expertise, involvement in community-based research, and many years of experience in the field of social work practices. She worked both in program execution and academic settings. A significant part of her work provides community development services in the field of access to justice; violence against women, trafficking, local governance; health, water and sanitation; education; and gender including shelters for abused and/or homeless women and children, family resource programs, and the Combined Women’s Movement/ Alliance in Bangladesh. She served organizations like CARE, the Asia Foundation, ILO and offered expert services as consultant to Action Aid, European Commission, Swedish Development Cooperation (SDC), UNFPA and many other organizations in Bangladesh. 

Other than her social service role, Dr. Akhter is a practicing Psychologist and provides counseling to people in areas of individual, couple and/or family counseling.

On the academic setting, Dr. Akhter taught Social Psychology to the M.Phil students in the department of Psychology, Dhaka University as a guest lecturer in 2002-03. She also lectured on gender, development and women’s issues in two other departments in the same university and at the National Institute of Mass Communication (NIMCO) in Bangladesh between 2000-2005.

In 1993 & 1994, Dr. Akhter has been finalist for two consecutive years for the Dorothy M. Senesh Fellowship for Peace Research awarded by the University of Colorado, USA for her demonstrated excellence and commitment to social change. 

In addition, Dr. Akhter has been extensively engaged in research exploring systemic as well as socio-cultural barriers facing women and ethno-racial minority in mainstream society in Bangladesh and Canada. She has publications on gender, women and law, and other socio-psychological issues (published and unpublished) in her pouch.

Dr. Akhter is a widely traveled person; visited many countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle east and North America; and presented several papers in seminar and conferences.