Our culture

Shushilan respects diversified cultures of local, national and international communities; which is why, it observes different cultural events such as Shushilan Day, Bengali New Year (Pohela Boishakh) , Shushilan Annual Picnic, Reception of staff, and so forth in consideration of its’ values and ethics. Moreover, it recognizes special national and international days as per rules of Government of Bangladesh and organizational policy. Some of the cultural and organizational events are to be celebrated by Shushilan are given below:

Staff Reception Ceremony

The reception of a new staff starts from the first day of examination; consequently, before entering the examination hall the candidates are welcomed with a bunch of flowers. According to the Shushilan’s culture, on the day of viva voce, the organization receives the participants with warm welcome and flowers. After the completion of selection procedures, on the day of joining, Shushilan organizes a colorful joining ceremony including candle lighting , listening Rabindra Songeet (আগুনের পরশমনি ছোঁয়াও প্রানে( Aguner porosmoni choyao pranay…. ), and welcoming the new staff with a bunch of flowers, distributing sweets among the staff and so on.

• Oath Taking Ceremony: On the same day (during joining), the new staffs have to take oath leaded by the senior staff. After taking oath, organization believes that the new staff becomes a family member of Shushilan. The organization also strongly believes that this oath taking ceremony strengthens our inner positive feelings, creates ownership and improves dedication to duties.
• Staff Induction: Shushilan has its own induction guideline which is prepared by Human Resource (HR) Cell. This cell organizes a half day session to orientate the new staffs about the organizational norms, procedures, systems, practices, facilities and so on. During this session, Finance, Administration, Gender and other related cells try to give a short overview on different relevant aspects of the organization.

Ground Rule for Holding Meeting and Workshop

According to the Shushilan’s culture, if any meeting or workshop or conference lasts at least an hour or more than an hour, in the beginning of the program, participants must stand up for singing the national anthem and then Shushilan song. During the singing of Shushilan song, all staffs hold their hands each other since the organization believes, we are in the same family and we are all equal.

Annual Picnic

Shushilan firmly believes that a picnic creates a great connection among all staffs as it is an opportunity to meet family members and colleauges. Therefore, all staff spend one day together in an enjoyable manner. Based on the geographical location and number of staff, the annual picnic committee organizes picnic on the same day in special venues. All the staff wear colorful dresses and celebrate the day by participating a vast range of events such as, breaking the mud bowl, cock fighting, singing a song, dance, telling funny jokes, winning lottery etc. A wide range of mouth-watering food makes the participants fully satisfied.

Shushilan Day

Since 2004 Shushilan started to celebrate “Shushilan Day” (previously it was called “Kormi Somabesh”), currently this day has got a fresh dimension. During this day, all Staffs, Executive Committee (EC) members of Shushilan, volunteers , representatives from donor agencies, development partners , associated personnel of Shushilan gather at Tiger point (in Munsigonj Upazila of Satkhira district) to share the progress of the year , future direction and organizational development . We celebrate that day by wearing colorful dresses, making posters from different projects/ cells, having locally made cakes, singing Shushilan song, dancing and so forth in a festive manner. On that day, we select and reward “STAFF OF THE YEAR”, “Best grassroots Level Staff”, “Best Participants” and “Volunteers” which ultimately encourage, motivate and develop team-sprit for accomplishing the commitment and ownership. Generally, the gathering takes place in November and the day starts with candle lighting at 12:01AM ( at night).

Celebrating Bengali New Year (Pohela Boishakh)

Shushilan celebrates almost all Bengali cultural festivals. Among the cultural festivals, bengali new year celebration is significant one. Each office of Shushilan celebrates the Bengali New Year in a festive mood. During this day every staff wears colorful dress and enjoys a lot. Basically, by organizing beautiful rally and discussion session, singing songs and dancing, having Hilsa-rice, and telling funny jokes, we observe this occasion.

New Office Inaugural Ceremony

When project activities start in any new area, Shushilan opens a new office in that location. On the new office opening day, Shushilan organizes an inaugural ceremony. According to the Shushilan’s culture, when any new office starts its’ journey, Shushilan’s staffs decorate the office with flower in a colorful way. The ceremony starts with candle lighting and singing the national anthem and then singing the Shushilan Song.

Day Observation (National & International)

As per rules of the Government of Bangladesh and organizational policy, Shushilan participates and observes different national and international day for raising awareness and developing capacity through organizing rally, drama, discussion, campaign and meeting and so on. Typically Shushilan observes the following day:

World Environment Day International Women’s  Day Human Rights Day Housing & Land Rights Day Victory Day National Primary EducationWeek

Independence Day Int. Mother Language Day Sanitation Month Disaster prevention Day World Hand Wash Day

World Polio Day May Day Breast Feeding Week Bengali New Year World AIDS Day

Shushilan Cultural team

Shushilan has a highly professional cultural team which consists of 22 members (12 men & 10 women). They write script, draw picture, organize picture drama, and sing songs. The team is fully equipped with all necessary instruments and able to mange two picture dramas at a time in any part of the country. The cultural team not only draws picture drama, but also performs folk song, such as Jari, Gombira and so forth. Due to the high quality performance, Shushilan picture drama is well-known in Bangladesh and has shown different national level events including Honorable Prime Minister’s program. Each year, on an average Shushilan Cultural Team performs almost 156 picture dramas. This number may increase considering the demand of the projects.

It is worth to be mentioned that picture Drama is a popular and successful means of developing and disseminating messages among the broader community for raising awareness on different issues. In this process, the messages are disseminated through the pictures and songs (local songs, customs, language, interests, etc). A group of team member presents the messages by using relevant picture with different types of musical instruments and colorful dresses. In general, people enjoy the drama with high level of attention and satisfaction.