The Campaigner

PROGGA (Knowledge for Progress) is a non-profit organization for socio-economic research, training and advocacy in Bangladesh. Tobacco Control program is one of its core areas and PROGGA undertakes and executes a good number of tobacco control initiatives regularly to gear up the current tobacco control movement across Bangladesh.

As part of the tobacco control movement, PROGGA has been involved in monitoring and countering tobacco industry activities in Bangladesh for the last couple of years using Anti Tobacco Media Alliance – ATMA, a solid network of over 300 journalists across Bangladesh. The campaign aims at exposing various tobacco industry tactics to undermine initiatives of formulating stronger tobacco control policies and promotion of tobacco products. Some of the highlighted tasks of the campaign include exposing tobacco industry interferences in the process of amendment of tobacco control act using earned media; exposing and countering tobacco industry’ strategies to weaken strong tobacco taxation policies and to raise taxation on tobacco products, particularly on bidi; creating awareness on policy level and in general about tobacco industry’s interferences and promotional tactics through video documentation; supporting investigative journalism for exposing various tactics by tobacco industry, and more. These activities greatly helped for successful advocacy of the tobacco control groups to amend the TC law that passed in April, 2013.

Although the TC law amendment was meant to be, plots will be made to hamper the enforcement passage by the industry. Besides, the industry will interfere in tobacco taxation policies and will expand tobacco cultivation by applying cunning tricks. Considering the real grounds, PROGGA has undertaken the campaign solely aiming to promote and protect the amended tobacco control policies and its implementation from the vested interests of the tobacco industry by exposing and discrediting industry tactics and interference at both policy and grassroots level.