Research Projects

Quazi Shahabuddin
Director General

Operationalizing Pro-poor Growth in Bangladesh (OPPG)

Date of Initiation: February 2004
Date of Completion: December 2004

Project Director: Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin

Team Members:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. Binayak Sen,
Dr. M.K. Mujeri

Funding Agency: DFID
Operationalizing Pro-poor Growth work program aims to provide better advice to government on policies that facilitate the participation of poor people in the growth process. More specifically, the work aims to gain a better under-standing of the pathways by which poor people contribute to and benefit from growth, the role of country conditions in affecting the impact of policies on growth and poverty outcomes, and the extent to which specific policies are good for growth and bad for poverty (at least in the short run) or vice versa. A seminal component of the work program is a series of country case studies and the present research project is one of them. These studies will contribute to under-stand better how country contexts affect the ability of poor people to participate in economic growth and to benefit from it. More specifically, they will shed further light on a range of key questions, such as:

• Which factors explain the varied impact of growth on poverty alleviation?
• What are the individual policies and initial conditions that increase the rate of poverty reduction for a given level of growth?
• How can we increase the partici-pation of the poor in the growth process?
• Do poverty reduction policies re-inforce or undermine growth in the short or long run and vice versa?

Program for Research on Chronic Poverty in Bangladesh (PRCPB)

Date of Initiation: 01 April 2002
Date of Completion: 30 April 2006

Project Director:
Dr. Binayak Sen
(01 April 2002 – 31 July 2004)
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
(01 August 2004 onward)

Funding Agency:
DFID-Bangladesh through CPRC, University of Manchester, UK

The program seeks to make efforts to reduce poverty in Bangladesh more effective by deepening the understanding of those who are chronically poor, of the processes that keep them in poverty and of the policy measures that will help them to overcome poverty and vulnerability. This goal is to be achieved by the production and dissemination of policy relevant research findings to government agencies, donors and civil society and by developing the capacity of Bangladeshi research institutions to undertake research on chronic poverty. A particular feature is the publication of the Bangladesh Chronic Poverty Report.

The program which is being imple-mented in collaboration with CPRC is based at BIDS and draws upon highly reputed researchers as well as develop-ment practitioners from BIDS and other research institutes and NGOs.

Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Bangladesh (DAIB)

Date of Initiation: May 2006
Date of Completion: September 2006

Project Director:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin

Team Members:
Dr. Zaid Bakht
Dr. Nazneen Ahmed

Funding Agency: The World Bank

The vast majority of the world’s poorest households depend on farming for their livelihood. In the past, their earnings were often depressed by pro-urban and anti-agricultural biases of their own country’s policies. While progress has been made over the past two decades by numerous developing countries in reducing those policy biases, many trade-reducing price distortions remain inter-sectorally as well as within the agricultural sector of low-income countries. A multi-country study, “Poverty Alleviation through Reducing Distortions to Agricultural Incentives” has been designed to understand the extent of and reasons behind that trans-formation. This study examines questions such as: where is there still a policy bias against agricultural production? To what extent has there been “overshooting” in the sense that some developing country food producers are now being protected from import competition, following the examples of earlier industrializing Europe, then Japan and then Korea and Taiwan? What are the political economy forces behind the more successful reformers and how do they compare with those in less successful countries where distortions to agricultural incentives remain? How important have inter-national forces been relative to domestic political forces in bringing about reforms during the past two decades, as compared with the earlier decades analyzed by Krueger, Schiff and Valdes (and others) in the 1980s? What can be done to accelerate reductions in the agricultural protectionist policies of rich countries that are harmful to poor farmers in developing countries? What policy lessons can be drawn from developing countries from those differing experiences to ensure better growth enhancing and poverty reducing out-comes from own-country reforms in the future too, including less “over-shooting” to a protectionist regime? As part of the overall project, a series of national country studies in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe/CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean are planned. Bangladesh is included in this new cross-country study. The work on Bangladesh includes esti-mations of the changing extent of dis-tortions through calculations of various measures of assistance for major agricultural commodities and analysis of the effects of these changes on production incentives in Bangladesh agriculture.

Food Management and Research Support Project (FMRSP)
Date of Initiation : October 1997
Date of Completion : February 2001
Project Director : Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Team Members :
Dr.Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. Omar Haider Chowdhury
Dr. K.A.S. Murshid
Funding Agency: IFPRI, USAID
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) provided advisory services, research and analytical support, policy prescriptions and information dissemination in the areas of food policy and human resources development for the Ministry of Food, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The study largely covered the following areas.

1. Macro/Food Policy and Assistance Program Research Area:
(i) Impact of Macroconomic Policies on Food System,
(ii) Macro Prices and the Food Sector.

2. Targeted Assistance Programs, Consumption and Nutrition Area:
(i) Development of Effective Food and Nutrition Intervention Program;
(ii) Food Consumption and Nutrition Analysis
(iii) Long-run Food Security and Poverty Alleviation
(iv) Nutrient Analysis and Develop- ment of Low-Cost Nutrition Package.

3. Food Supply, Management, Operation and Food Markets Area:
(i) Government Policy and Market
(ii) Food Market: Participatory Environment, Performance and Structural Changes
(iii) Production and Market Supply
(iv) Development of Food Marketing and Delivery System.

Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic and Adjustment Policies in Bangladesh
(MIMAP-Bangladesh)
Date of Initiation: March 2001
Date of Completion: July 2003
Project Director: Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Team Leader: Dr. M.K. Mujeri
Team Members:
Dr. Ismail Hussain
Dr. Bazlul Hoque Khondaker
Dr. M.A. Razzaque
Mr. M. Yunus
Ms. Nazneen Ahmed
Funding Agency: International Development Research Centre, Canada

The overall objective of the research project was to further enhance the policy effectiveness of poverty analysis and consolidate the capabilities of relevant national institutions to undertake these activities on a regular basis and provide feedback to planners and policymakers to create a pro-poor and growth-accelerating environment in Bangladesh.

The specific objectives of the Project were as follows:
(a) Increase the policy relevance and effectiveness of poverty monitoring by developing a pilot local-level poverty monitoring system;
(b) Expand the analytical capability of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model through extension of the “core” model including the incorporation of micro-simulation techniques and supplementing the framework with a macro-econometric model to provide policy implications and develop BIDS' capacities to use them in policy analysis and in generating periodic economic assessments and forecasts;
(c) Conduct focus studies on macro and sector specific issues related to poverty and on analyzing poverty data, to supplement the poverty monitoring and modeling efforts and generate policy-relevant outputs.
(d) Generate and disseminate, using the computerized information system and GIS-related technologies, relevant information to help the policy makers design effective poverty alleviation and sustainable growth promoting policies.
(e) Strengthen the institutional arrange-ments of the national institutions to consolidate the capabilities of relevant national institutions to undertake these activities on a regular basis and provide feedback to planners and policymakers to create a pro-poor and growth-accelerating environment in Bangladesh.

The specific objectives of the Project were as follows:
(a) Increase the policy relevance and effectiveness of poverty monitoring by developing a pilot local-level poverty monitoring system;
(b) Expand the analytical capability of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model through extension of the “core” model including the incorporation of micro-simulation techniques and supplementing the framework with a macro-econometric model to provide policy implications and develop BIDS' capacities to use them in policy analysis and in generating periodic economic assessments and forecasts;
(c) Conduct focus studies on macro and sector specific issues related to poverty and on analyzing poverty data, to supplement the poverty monitoring and modeling efforts and generate policy-relevant outputs.
(d) Generate and disseminate, using the computerized information system and GIS-related technologies, relevant information to help the policy makers design effective poverty alleviation and sustainable growth promoting policies.
(e) Strengthen the institutional arrange-ments of the national institutions to continue the activities on a regular basis after the Project is completed.

Preparation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP)
Date of Initiation: February 2004
Date of Completion: June 2004
Project Director: Dr.Quazi Shahabuddin
Team Members:
Dr.M Asaduzzaman
Dr. Omar Haider Chowdhury
Dr. Zaid Bakht
Dr. Rushidan I. Rahman
Dr. M.A. Mannan
Ms. Simeen Mahmud
Dr. Binayak Sen
Dr. Sharifa Begum
Dr. Chowdhury Anwaruzzaman
Dr. Abdul Hye Mondal
Dr. Rita Afsar
Mr. Md. Sohail
Dr. Bimal Kumar Saha
Dr. Pratima Paul Majumder
Dr. Salma Chaudhuri Zohir
Dr. Nabiul Islam
Mr. Karimullah Bhuiyan
Dr. Anwara Begum
Dr. S.M. Zulfiqar Ali
Mr. Subrata Sarker

Funding Agency: General Economics Division, Planning Commission
BIDS has been involved in the preparation of most (eight out of twelve) Thematic Group Reports to serve as background papers for drafting of full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) by National Poverty Focal Point, GED, Planning Commission. The Reports encompassed the following Thematic Groups:
• Macroeconomic stability and pro-poor growth
• Domestic resources mobilization
• Reforms in governance
• Health, population planning, nutrition and sanitation
• Women and children advancement and rights
• Rural development including food security, disaster management, safety net programs, microcredit and rural non-farm activities
• Agriculture (crops, fishery, livestock), environment including forestry, land reform, land use, safe water supply, and water resources management
• Private sector development

Operationalising Pro-poor Growth in Bangladesh (OPPG)
Date of Initiation: February 2004
Date of Completion: December 2004
Project Director: Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Funding Agency: DFID
Team Members:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. Binayak Sen
Dr. M.K. Mujeri
Operationalising Pro-poor Growth work program aims to provide better advice to government on policies that facilitate the participation of poor people in the growth process. More specifically, the work aims to gain a better understanding of the pathways by which poor people contribute to and benefit from growth, the role of country conditions in affecting the impact of policies on growth and poverty.outcomes, and the extent to which specific policies are good for growth and bad for poverty (at least in the short run) or vice versa. A seminal component of the work program is a series of country case studies and the present research project is one of them. These studies will contribute to understand better how country contexts affects the ability of poor people to participate in economic growth and to benefit from it. More specifically, they will shed further light on a range of key questions, such as:
• Which factors explain the varied impact of growth on poverty alleviation?
• What are the individual policies and initial conditions that increase the rate of poverty reduction for a given level of growth?
• How can we increase the participation of the poor in the growth process?
• Do poverty-reduction policies reinforce or undermine growth in the short or long run and vice-versa?

Food Management and Research Support Project (FMRSP)

Date of Initiation: October 1997
Due Date of Completion: February 2001
Project Director: Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Team Member:
Mr. A.A. Abdullah
Dr. Omar Haider Chowdhury
Dr. K.A.S. Murshid
Dr. M.K. Mujeri

Funding Agency: IFPRI, USAID.
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) is expected to provide advisory services, research and analytical support, policy prescriptions and information dissemination in the areas of food policy and human resources development for the Ministry of Food, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The study would largely cover the following areas.
1.Macro/Food Policy and Assistance Programme Research Area:
(i) Impact of Macro Economic Policies on Food System,
(ii) Macro Prices and the Food Sector.
2.Targetted Assistance Programmes, Consumption and Nutrition Area:
(i) Development of Effective Food and Nutrition Intervention Programme,
(ii) Food Consumption and Nutrition Analysis,
(iii) Long-run Food Security and Poverty Alleviation,
(iv) Nutrient Analysis and Development of Low-Cost Nutrition Package.
3.Food Supply, Management, Operation and Food Markets Area:
(i) Government Policy and Market,
(ii) Food Market: Participatory Environment, Performance and Structural Changes,
(iii) Production and Market Supply,
(iv) Development of Food Marketing and Delivery System.

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Agriculture & Rural Development Division

Study on Environmental Policy Analysis

Date of Initiation: October 1998
Date of Completion: December 2005

Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Funding Agency: UNDP

Environmental Policy Studies is a component of Sustainable Environment Management Program under UNDP financial assistance. Under this component the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) carried out and disse-minated the findings of studies on important environmental policy issues and organized workshops and seminars in order to disseminate the findings of these studies to policymakers, administrators, aca-demics, journalists, and members of the public.

Formulation of the Bangladesh Program of Action for Adaptation to Climate Change (NAPA)

Date of Initiation: October 2004
Date of Completion: June 2005

Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Team Member:
Mr. S.M. Zahedul Islam Chowdhury
Funding Agency: UNDP, Dhaka

This study was unique in the sense that this was probably one of the few attempts to integrate livelihood issues in adaptation to climate change. The study looked at spatial aspects of livelihood issues including gender dimensions wherever possible and also the food security problems that may be faced by Bangladesh in coming years. It has predicted that under the assumptions of specific climate change in Bangladesh, the country may have to import an additional 15-16 percent of food to meet shortfalls in food supply.

Environmental Economy Planning Integration

Date of Initiation: February 2005
Date of Completion: December 2005
Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Team Member:
Mr. M. Mudabbir Hussain
Funding Agency: UNDP, Dhaka

This study is trying to find out how far environmental issues have been integrated with the planning process, at the sectoral and national level. This is a sub-contract study under the Envi-ronmental Policy Analysis.

Sustainable Development Network
Date of Initiation: October 1998
Date of Completion: September 2003
Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Funding Agency: UNDP

Sustainable Development Networking Program (SDNP) is a component of Sustainable Environment Management Program under UNDP financial assistance. This study proposed that under this component the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) would coordinate and organize Sustainable Development Networking Program related activities. A national steering committee for SDNP was formed with participation of GOB, NGOs,civil society, media agencies, academic/research institutions, UN System and existing internet service provider organisations. The findings of all study components of Sustainable Environment Management Program (SEMP) have been disseminated.
This study also institutionalised SDNP with the participation of government, NGOs, civil society, media agencies, academic/research institutions, hold workshops and seminars to disseminate the findings of these studies to policymakers, administrators, academics, journalists, and members of the public, established a monitoring and evaluation system and provided quarterly reports on the performance of the SEMP activities with support from sub-implementing agencies, disseminate the findings of the project to research/academic institutions, NGOs, and the private sector.

Study on Environmental Policy Analysis
Date of Initiation: October 1998
Date of Completion: September 2003
Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Funding Agency: UNDP

Environmental Policy Studies is a component of Sustainable Environment Management Program under UNDP financial assistance. Under this component the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) carried out and disseminated the findings of studies on important environmental policy issues and organized workshops and seminars in order to disseminate the findings of these studies to policymakers, administrators, academics, journalists, and members of the public.

BAW
Date of Initiation: October 2001
Date of Completion: December 2003
Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Team Members:
Dr. Sajjad Zohir
Ms. Nazneen Ahmed
Mr. Subrata Sarker
Funding Agency: IFPRI/DFID/Netherlands

This project, funded by DFID and the government of the Netherlands, was a two year project including research training and dissemination activities related to implications of WTO and trade policy on poverty, agricultural and economic growth in Bangladesh. The project proposes to undertake indepth simulation exercises on the basis of a detail CGE Modeling for the Bangladesh economy. For this purpose a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of the Bangladesh economy was updated. To strengthen the institutional capacity to do policy oriented modelling, both short and long term training were undertaken for Bangladeshi researchers at different phases in Bangladesh and abroad. The project also included a series of presentations and discussions to inform and involve a wide variety of GOB officials, NGO representatives and other development partners about the WTO and its implications for various crucial sectors.

Rural Energy Strategy Project
Date of Initiation: January 2003
Date of Completion: February 2004
Project Director: Dr.M.Asaduzzaman
Team Member: Dr.Md.Abdul Latif
Funding Agency: The World Bank

The study conducted a large rural household and village enterprise survey to understand the present rural energy situation in Bangladesh and the constraints and prospects of the sector.

Trade and Environment
Date of Initiation: April 2003
Date of Completion: September 2003
Project Director: Dr. M.Asaduzzaman
Funding Agency: BIDS/UNDP
The study analyzed the issues intertwining trade and environment in Bangladesh.

Performance of the Economy
Date of Initiation : July 2001
Date of Completion: December 2003
Project Director :
Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman
Team Members :
Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Dr. Q. Shahabuddin
Dr. M.A. Quasem
Dr. Atiur Rahman
Dr. Mustafa K. Mujeri
Dr. Pratima Paul-Majumder
Dr. Abdul Hye Mandal
Dr. S. M. Zulfiqar Ali
Funding Agency: SRDF, BIDS

A number of aspects of the growth of the Bangladesh economy have been examined in this study. The subjects covered include the performance of GDP growth and its sustainability, agricultural and industrial growth, the external sector, education and gender dimensions. The project has been sponsored by SRDF. A special BIDS workshop was held in March 2002 to disseminate the findings. Output of the project has been published in the form of a book titled ‘Performance of the Bangladesh Economy: Selected Issues’, edited by Rushidan Islam Rahman.

Employment Poverty Linkage
Date of Initiation: July 2002
Date of Completion: July 2003
Project Director:
Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman
Team Member:
Dr. K. M. Nabiul Islam
Funding Agency: ILO, Dhaka

The multidirectional interface between GDP growth, human poverty and income poverty has been analyzed on the basis of macro scenario as well as household level data. Rural non-farm activity (RNA) is expected to contribute to growth of the rural economy as well as to poverty alleviation. Therefore, the labor produc-tivity in RNA received attention. Trends of real wage rate received attention in the analysis of employment-poverty linkage.

At the micro level, employment poverty linkage operates in both directions. Labor force and employment related characteristics of a household influence the probability that it is poor. The poverty status, in turn, can influence the possibility of being engaged in employment with higher productivity. This question has been addressed in the study.

Employment Route to Poverty Alleviation: Role of Wage Employment and self-Employment
Date of Initiation: January 2004
Date of Completion: December 2004
Project Director:
Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman
Team Member:
SM Zahedul Islam Chowdhury
Funding Agency: ILO

The study examined the determinants of the type of employment, and the factors contributing to the success of self-employment for poverty-reduction. It also focused on how education and skill development can help in improving the ability of the poor to better integrate themselves into the growing economy.

It makes policy suggestions for targeted interventions for various sections of the labor market.

The questions addressed by the study include the following:
What determines the choice of the type of employment (i.e., wage-employment vs. self-employment)?
What contributes to the success of self-employment that is poverty-reducing? In other words, why cannot the poor get into more remunerative self-employment of the type in which the non-poor people are engaged?
How can education and skill development help in improving the ability of the poor to better integrate themselves into the growing economy?
The study provides detailed empirical analysis of the issues mentioned above. In doing so, the paper goes beyond an examination of data pertaining to the poor as a whole, and provides gender-disaggregated analysis.

Parents’ and Children’s Responses in the National Child Labour Survey
Date of Initiation: July 2003
Date of Completion: October 2003
Project Director:
Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman
Funding Agency: ILO, Dhaka

The purpose of the study is to assess the sources of discrepancy between the parents’ and children’s responses in the National Child Labour Survey (CLS) of Bangladesh. Such an assessment can help improve the methodology of future surveys and the study provides suggestions for such improvement. The study is based on:
A re-enactment of CLS survey to a small sample of households.
Focus group discussions with the parents and the working children of the selected households.
Survey of enumerators: Fourty enumerators of BBS were interviewed.

Major findings of the study show that push factors in the form of poverty are important reasons of children’s partici-pation in labor force. Economic activities in which children are engaged involve risks and health hazards. These may adversely affect their physical and mental development. Interviews of only parents may not correctly reveal these problems because parents try to hide facts about children’s work.

Monitoring and Evaluation System of PKSF (PKSF)
Date of Initiation: July 1997
Date of Completion: September 2001
Project Director: Dr. Sajjad Zohir
Team Members:
Mr. A.A. Abdullah
Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Dr. M.A. Quasem
Dr. R.F. Rahman
Ms. Simeen Mahmud
Dr. Binayak Sen
Mr. Jahirul Islam
Nazneen Ahmed
Funding Agency: Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Dhaka

Palli-Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) is a financial intermediary that provides loans to NGOs and other grassroots organizations which in turn provide microcredit to the poor. In order to efficiently handle its volume of lending, PKSF wanted to strengthen its institutional capabilities and establish a Monitoring and Evaluation System with respect to the impact of the operation of the PKSF.

The main objective of M&E study was to monitor and evaluate poverty reduction effects as well as the cost effectiveness of targeted microfinance programs financed by PKSF. Since poverty reduction is the stated objective of PKSF's financing, it's impact on borrowers as well as non borrowers needs to be monitored and evaluated on continued basis to quantify whether the project has desirable development impacts.

The M&E study had the following objectives:
1. Review previous and ongoing impact studies on microcredit financed programs in Bangladesh and critically examine the methodologies of the studies to identify their strengths and weaknesses;
2. Determine and define income and non income indicators for monitoring and evaluating the performance of microcredit financed poverty alleviation programs and projects;
3. Assess economic (income generated from self employment and other activities, wage, employment, savings, assets, net worth, investment, wage and employment by types and gender) effects of microfinance;
4. Determine other development impacts of other different alternative programmes of POs on such indicators as fertility, contraceptive use, health and nutrition, literacy, school enrollment of children, etc;
5. Ascertain if exposures of target population to contingencies, insecurities and risks have been reduced; their ability to adapt, cope and to choose has increased; and their dependency on the traditional patrons and the rural powerful has diminished;
6. Assess and quantify the costs including subsidy of alternative microcredit program intervention (e.g. credit and credit plus) and their role for poverty reduction;
7. Compare poverty reduction and cost effectiveness of microfinance to alternative programs for poverty alleviation undertaken by the selected POs;
8. Determine a mechanism to study the process of graduation of targeted groups out of poverty resulting from the microcredit operations;
9. Administer case studies on 6 POs with a view to assessing issues relating to strategic and financial management, and organizational and incentive structures of the selected POs;
10. Recommend measures to further improve and sustain the performance of microcredit financed program and to indicate development interven-tions including those for generating income;
11. Document the process of implementation of the M&E study and prepare a manual containing a composite M&E methodology to be used by PKSF and its POs.

Food Policy and Agricultural Technology to Improve Diet Quality and Nutrition (FPAT)

Date of Initiation: March 1996
Due Date of Completion: December 1998
Project Director: Dr. Sajjad Zohir
Funding Agency: USAID Washington, D.C., IFPRI.

This research is concentrated on three issues, namely: production and marketing issues, gender and intra-household resource allocation issues, and nutrition issues. The research is to collect detailed household level and individual level information on income, production, consumption, time allocation, morbidity and nutritional status for households which adopt and do not adopt newly developed fishpond and vegetable technologies; to identify to what extent households allocate their resources differently as a result of adoption, and to determine how these allocations effect nutritional status. The research will generate specific policy recommendations : (i) to relieve constraints to adoption of new fish and vegetable production technologies, so that, households may receive maximum benefit in terms of income; and (ii) suggest complementary programmes to maximise the nutritional benefits out of these technologies.

Asia Least-Cost Greenhouse-gas Abatement Strategy (ALGAS)

Date of Initiation: June 1996
Due Date of completion: August 1997

Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Funding Agency: ADB/AED.

Realising the fact that more than half of the global population live in just twelve countries of Asia, namely: China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mayanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Republic and the Democratic Republic of Korea, Vietnam and Mongolia, who are now reportedly emitting together about 3.8 billion tones of carbon dioxide per year (i.e. about 17% of the world's total Carbon-dioxide emission), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), backed up by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has co founded, initiated and administered a Regional Technical Assistance (T A) Program for these twelve countries. A Study on Asia Least Cost Greenhouse Gas Abatement/Reduction Strategy (abbreviated: ALGAS Study), would look into least cost options for Greenhouse Gas (GHG), abatement, appropriate to their socioeconomic structures, without hindering, in any substantial manner, their economic growth targets and development objectives/goals.

The basic objectives of the ALGAS Project are briefly described below:

1. Develop and improve the national and regional capacity to prepare baseline Inventories of GHG Emissions, as well as the refinement of such Inventories, their sources and links to meet the standards and requirements of UNFCCC.

2. More effectively assess, based on common and verifiable methodologies, the various options for reducing sources and enhancing the sinks and adapting to the possible climate change and its consequential effects.

3. Identify, plan and implement the Least cost GHG Abatement Options through preparation of bankable Project Portfolios with Economic/Financial analysis.

Land Market Study (LMS)

Date of Initiation: 1998
Due Date of Completion: 1999

Project Director: Mr. A.A. Abdullah

Team Members: Dr. Binayak Sen and Dr. Sajjad Zohir

Funding Agency: The World Bank.

The objective of the land market study is to understand the sources of land market imperfections and their likely impact on agricultural productivity and investment, and what steps can be taken to correct these imperfections. Since imperfections exist in both asset and rental markets of land, the study would focus on sources of imperfections in both markets.

The study will involve:
1. A survey design and its implementation both at the household and field level, taking into account the agro-ecological and other local physical characteristics (a survey is needed because there seems to be no recent data on the nature, extent and source of imperfections).

2. An economic analysis of the sources and extent of land market imperfections and their impact on agricultural productivity and investment; and
3. Policy and programme recommendations to address land market imperfections.

Monitoring and Evaluation System of PKSF (PKSF)

Date of Initiation: July 1997
Due Date of Completion: September 2001

Project Director: Dr. Sajjad Zohir

Team Member: Mr. A.A. Abdullah, Dr. M. Asaduzzaman, Dr. M.A. Quasem, Dr. Rushidan Islam Rahman, Ms. Simeen Mahmud, Dr. Binayak Sen, Mr. Jahirul Islam and Nazneen Ahmed

Funding Agency: Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), Dhaka.

Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) is a financial intermediary that provides loans to NGOs and other grassroots organisations which in turn provide microcredit to the poor. In order to efficiently handle its volume of lending, PKSF seeks to strengthen its institutional capabilities and establish a Monitoring and Evaluation System with respect to the impact of the operation of the PKSF.

The main objective of M&E is to monitor and evaluate poverty reduction effects as well as the cost effectiveness of targeted microfinance programmes financed by PKSF. Since poverty reduction is the stated objective of PKSF's financing, it's impact on borrowers as well as non borrowers needs to be monitored and evaluated on continued basis in order to quantify whether the project has desirable development impacts. The M&E study will have the following objectives:

1.Review previous and on going impact studies on microcredit financed programmes in Bangladesh and critically examine the methodologies of the studies to identify their strength and weaknesses;
2.Determine and define income and non income indicators for monitoring and evaluating the performance of microcredit financed poverty alleviation programmes and projects;
3.Assess economic (income generated from self employment and other activities, wage, employment, savings, assets, net worth, investment, wage and employment by types and gender) effects of microfinance;
4.Determine other development impacts of other different alternative programmes of POs on such indicators as fertility, contraceptive use, health and nutrition, literacy, school enrollment of children, etc;
5.Ascertain if exposures of target population to contingencies, insecurities and risks have been reduced; their ability to adapt, cope and to choose has increased; and their dependency on the traditional patrons and the rural powerful has diminished;
6.Assess and quantify the costs including subsidy of alternative microcredit programme intervention (e.g. credit and credit plus) and their role for poverty reduction;
7.Compare 'poverty reduction and cost effectiveness of microfinance to alternative programmes for poverty alleviation undertaken by the selected POs;
8.Determine a mechanism to study the process of graduation of targeted groups out of poverty resulting from the microcredit operations;
9.Administer case studies on 6 POs with a view to assessing issues relating to strategic and financial management, and organisational and incentive structures of the selected POs;
10.Recommend measures to further improve and sustain the performance of microcredit financed programme and to indicate development interventions including those for generating income;
11.Document the process of implementation of the M&E study and prepare a manual containing a composite M&E methodology to be used by PKSF and its POs.

Sustainable Development Network (SEMP-SDNP component # 4.4.5)

Date of Initiation: October 1998
Due Date of Completion: September 2003

Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Funding Agency: UNDP

Sustainable Development Network Programme (SDNP) is a component of Sustainable Environment Management Programme under UNDP financial assistance.
This study proposes that under this component the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) will coordinate and organise Sustainable Development Network Programme related activities. A national steering committee for SDNP will be formed with participation of GOB, NGO, civil society, media agencies, academic/research institutions, UN System and existing internet service provider organisations and disseminate the findings of studies of all components of Sustainable Environment Management Programme (SEMP).
This study also proposes to institutionalise SDNP with the participation of government, NGOs, civil society, media agencies, academic/research institutions, hold workshops and seminars to disseminate the findings of these studies to policymakers, administrators, academics, journalists, and members of the public, establish a monitoring and evaluation system and provide quarterly reports on the performance of the SEMP activities with support from sub-implementing agencies, disseminate the findings of the project to research/academic institutions, NGOs, and the private sector.

Study on Environmental Policy Analysis (component 1.1.4 of SEMP)

Date of Initiation: October 1998
Due Date of Completion: September 2003

Project Director: Dr. M. Asaduzzaman

Funding Agency: UNDP

Environmental Policy Studies is a component of Sustainable Environment Management Programme under UNDP financial assistance. This study proposes that under this component the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) will carry out and disseminate the findings of studies on important environmental policy issues and organise workshops and seminars in order to disseminate the findings of these studies to policy makers, administrators, academics, journalists, and members of the public.

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General Economics Division

Trade Cooperation and Economic Policy Reform (TRACE)
Date of Initiation: February 2002
Date of Completion: March 2003
Project Director:
Dr. Omar Haider Chowdhury
Funding Agency: European Union
Team Members:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. Zaid Bakht
Dr. Chowdhury Anwaruzzaman
Dr. Dilip Kumar Roy
Dr. Narayan Chandra Nath
Dr. Abdul Hye Mondal
Dr. Md. Salimullah
Dr. K.M. Nabiul Islam
Dr. Salma Chaudhuri Zohir
Mr. Karimullah Bhuiyan
Mr. Wajid Hasan Shah

The project, TRACE - Trade Cooperation and Economic Policy Reform in South Asia, was financed by a grant from the European Community and was carried out by BIDS in collaboration with other research institutes in South Asia. It involved about a dozen BIDS researchers and a number of expatriate consultants of international repute with expertise in analyzing various aspects of trade and economic cooperation. The core activity of the TRACE project involved an extensive policy oriented research program on trade and economic policy reform in the region. There were also resources within the project for upgrading the research capability of BIDS on international trade and regional economic integration and making the research results public in various ways, including the setting up of a website (www.tracebd.org ).

The project’s main objectives were: i) to raise the level of informed policy debate on economic reform and regional economic integration among policy makers, private entrepreneurs and the general public, ii) to facilitate implementation of appropriate economic reforms and thereby leading to improved opportunities for trade and investment from global sources including the EU; and iii) to contribute towards forging greater regional economic cooperation and thereby accelerating the pace of social and economic development in the region.

Remittance Inflow and Use (RIU)
Date of Initiation: February 2000
Date of Completion: January 2001
Project Director: Dr. K.A.S. Murshid
Team Members:
Mr. Kazi Iqbal
Ms. Mehrun Ahmed

Funding Agency: International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
The study attempted to examine the manner in which migrants send money back to Bangladesh, its volume, periodicity, formal and informal channels, and the costs involved. It also focused on the uses of this money and implications for productivity and well-being. A macro-micro linkage was developed by initially modeling the relationship between remittance flows and various macro variables like growth and investment, which served as a point of departure for the subsequent micro-level discussion.

National Human Development Report of Bangladesh, 1999 (NHDR)
Date of Initiation: November 1998
Date of Completion: December 2001
Project Director: Dr. Binayak Sen
Team Members:
Mr. A.A. Abdullah
Dr. O.H. Chowdhury
Dr. Mahmudul Alam
Dr. Atiur Rahman
Ms. Simeen Mahmud
Dr. Sharifa Begum
Mr. S.I. Laskar
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali
Mr. Abul Bashar
Funding Agency: Planning Commission, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, UNDP

The key objective of the study (entitled “Fighting Human Poverty: Bangladesh Human Development Report 2000”) was to prepare a national human development report (NHDR) within a collaborative framework between the Planning Commission (as the executive agency) and the BIDS (as the implementing agency). Such framework ensures broader participation, technical rigor, and national ownership. The study took a longer-term look at the major successes achieved by the country in the wide-ranging areas of human development. It also captured the key development challenges facing the country in promoting faster poverty reduction and social progress. The broad areas covered in the study are trends in income-poverty and income-inequality, income-poverty profile and regional differentiation (including poverty mapping), nutrition, health, education, population changes and migration, environment, policy and institutional determinants of income-poverty and human-poverty. Both household and district level data have been used to map and analyze progress in poverty reduction and human development.

Assessing Awareness about Voter Education Programme
Date of Initiation: February 2001
Date of Completion: March 2001
Project Director: Dr. Binayak Sen
Funding Agency: UNDP
The project proposed to assess the relevance and effectiveness of the brochure “Gonotantrer Sarkatha” (The Essence of Democracy) published by the Election Commission as voter education material. The study, in addition, focused on the evolving political/electoral culture in rural Bangladesh.

Programme for Research on Chronic Poverty in Bangladesh (PRCPB)
Date of Initiation: April 2002
Date of Completion: April 2006
Project Directors:
Dr. Binayak Sen (01 April 2002 – 31 July 2004)
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin (01 August 2004 on ward)
Funding Agency:

DFID-Bangladesh through CPRC, University of Manchester, UK
The program seeks to make efforts to reduce poverty in Bangladesh more effective by deepening the understanding of those who are chronically poor, of the processes that keep them in poverty and of the policy measures that will help them to overcome poverty and vulnerability. This goal is to be achieved by the production and dissemination of policy relevant research findings to government agencies, donors and civil society and by developing the capacity of Bangladeshi research institutions to undertake research on chronic poverty. A particular feature is the publication of the Bangladesh Chronic Poverty Report every two years.

The program is based at BIDS and draws upon highly reputed researchers and advocates from BIDS and other academic/research institutes and NGOs. The programme is a sub-centre of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) - a partnership of southern and northern research institutes and development advocacy organizations led by IDPM at the University of Manchester, UK. As part of CPRC it gains from access to theoretical and methodological work and interaction with an internationally reputed group of researchers. This program spearheads CPRC work in Bangladesh and also contributes more broadly to the strengthening of CPRC through its theoretical and methodological insights.

Livelihood Diversification in South Asia (LDSA)
Date of Initiation: June 2001
Date of Completion: December 2002
Project Director: Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique
Funding Agency: Overseas Development Institute 111 West Minister Bridge Road
London SE1 7JD,UK

This research aimed to understand economic mobility and the role of microfinance in Bangladesh. Drawing upon and building on the findings of an earlier study conducted in collaboration with Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK, the BIDS/ODI study proposed to:

(i) document socio-economic differen-tiation that aims to determine whether and to what extent the poorest of the poor are excluded (or self-excluded) from microfinance services;
(ii) generate conclusions and policy prescriptions about how to better provide microfinance services for the poorest of the poor;
(iii) investigate and explain the conditions under which poor people are able to “graduate” out of endemic poverty. This will involve an analysis of the constraints that prevent poor people from obtaining access to new and productive opportunities in the rural economy.

Rural Livelihoods in Bangladesh Book (RLBB)
Date of Initiation: November 2001
Date of Completion: March 2002
Project Director: Dr. Kazi Ali Toufique
Funding Agency: DFIDB

The book addressed various aspects of changes in rural livelihoods. It dealt with a wide range of issues – from gender to poverty dynamics. It is noted that new livelihood opportunities are emerging often in the non-farm sector. The number of small shops, tailoring and other craft enterprises, rickshaw pullers, petty traders in villages and local bazaar centres has grown substantially. Remittances now form a critical part of the rural economy. However, change is happening faster in some places than in others and for some people more than for others. For many of the poor, who have little or no access to land, their primary asset remains their labor - a healthy pair of hands is critical to their livelihoods. But whether they are engaged in agricultural laboring or in the non-farm sector they continue to be marginalized from the development process. The book is relevant for students, researchers, development practitioners and the government.

BIDS-IFAD Poverty Conference (BPIC)

Date of Initiation: August 1998
Due Date of Completion: May 2000

Project Director: Dr. K.A.S. Murshid

Funding Agency: IFAD.

Main subjects to be discussed in the seminar would be: (i) the appropriateness and reliability of the poverty mapping exercise in view of the need to select regional priorities for project interventions; (ii) experiences in the implementation of poverty alleviation through government agencies and private sector organisations such as NGOs; (iii) lessons to be drawn from experience in terms of targeting the rural poor and activities required to reach the rural poor; (iv) major project interventions to reduce poverty of the target group; and (v) modalities to be considered for the implementation of proposed activities. Participants in the workshop would include people representing all shades of opinion, development thinkers, public representatives, government officials, representatives of major donors, civil society/NGO representatives and stakeholders. The outcome of the workshop should be a strategic framework for future IFAD poverty-alleviation programmes in Bangladesh, including proposals for location, interventions and institutional arrangements for project implementation.

National Human Development Report of Bangladesh, 1999 (NHDR)

Date of Initiation: November 1998
Due Date of Completion: December 2001

Project Director: Dr. Binayak Sen

Team Member: Mr. A.A. Abdullah, Dr. O.H. Chowdhury, Dr. Mahmudul Alam, Dr. Atiur Rahman, Ms. Simeen Mahmud, Dr. Sharifa Begum, Mr. S.I. Laskar, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali , Mr. Abul Bashar.

Funding Agency: Planning Commission, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, UNDP.

The key objective of the study (entitled “Fighting Human Poverty: Bangladesh Human Development Report 2000”) is to prepare a national human development report (NHDR) within a collaborative framework between the Planning Commission (as the executive agency) and the BIDS (as the implementing agency). Such framework ensures broader participation, technical rigor, and national ownership. The study takes a longerterm look at the major successes achieved by the country in the wide-ranging areas of human development. It also captures the key development challenges facing the country in promoting faster poverty reduction and social progress. The broad areas covered in the study are trends in income-poverty and income-inequality, income-poverty profile and regional differentiation (including poverty mapping), nutrition, health, education, population changes and migration, environment, policy and institutional determinants of income-poverty and human-poverty. Both household and district level data have been used to map and analyse progress in poverty reduction and human development.

Evaluation of Special Area Development Programme for Ethnic Minorities (ESDPEM)

Date of Initiation: July 1999
Due Date of Completion: October 1999

Project Director: Dr. K.A.S. Murshid

Team Member: Mr. Md. Yunus

Funding Agency: Prime Minister’s Office (GOB).

The objective of the project was examine the impact of the programme on the welfare of ethnic minorities in Bangladesh. While an overall positive impact was found, it became clear that the “special” programme was essentially formulated to provide political patronage out of “vote bank” considerations.

Remittance Inflow and Use (RIU)

Date of Initiation: February 2000
Due Date of Completion: January 2001

Project Director: Dr. K.A.S. Murshid

Team Member: Mr. Kazi Iqbal and Ms. Mehrun Ahmed

Funding Agency: International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The study tries to examine the manner in which migrants send money back to Bangladesh, its volume, periodicity, formal and informal channels, and the costs involved. It also focuses on the uses of this money and implications for productivity and well-being. A macro-micro linkage is developed by initially modeling the relationship between remittance flows and various macro variables, like growth and investment, which serves as a point of departure for the subsequent micro-level discussion.

Sustainable Livelihoods Project

Date of Initiation: May 1997
Date of Completion: September 1999

Project Director: Kazi Ali Toufique

Funding Agency: Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK.

The objective of the study was to look at institutions that do or do not promote the three African countries of Ethiopia, Mali, and Zimbabwe. Extensive field work was carried out in four villages in Madhupur, Tangail and another four villages in Chandina, Comilla. The research focussed on the livelihood strategies of agricultural intensification, livelihood diversification, and migration. In Bangladesh, particular emphasis was given to understanding the institutional process related to migration and access to common property resources.

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Human Resources Development Division

Researching Well-being in Developing Countries – Bangladesh (WeD-Bangladesh)

Date of Initiation: October 2002
Date of Completion: September 2007
Project Director: Dr. Zulfiqar Ali

Funding Agency: ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD), University of Bath, UK
The objective of WeD is to develop a conceptual and methodological approach for understanding the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in developing countries. The distinctiveness of WeD lies in its focus on three key dimensions: Subjective and Objective; Universal and Local; and Process and Outcomes. WeD brings together the subjective, cultural and objective to investigate how people's own perceptions relate to objective indicators of their welfare. It explores how universal models of human welfare and quality of life relate to local priorities. WeD also goes beyond mapping poverty, inequality and quality of life as conditions or states, to analyze how patterns of benefit and disadvantage are established or reversed over time. The WeD program offers important contributions to the policy thinking. It builds on the growing recognition that development cannot only be measured in terms of income and economic growth, but must consider how people draw on a wide variety of resources in constructing their liveli-hoods. WeD also aims to address the tension between universal and local models in particular contexts which have become a persistent fault-line in international development.

WeD-Bangladesh is a sub-group of the ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) at the University of Bath, UK. As part of WeD, it gains from access to theoretical and methodological work and interaction with an internationally reputed group of interdisciplinary researchers.

End Decade Review of the World Summit for Children (WSC) 1990-2000
Date of Initiation: August 2000
Date of Completion: December 2001
Project Director: Mahmudul Alam
Team Members: Dr.M.A.Mannan
Dr. Anwara Begum
Funding Agency: UNICEF (Dhaka Office)

The study proposed to prepare the End Decade Review Report for the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, GOB, for presentation in the UN General Assembly Special Session. It was decided by the General Assembly's Resolution 54/93 “Special Session of the General Assembly for Follow-up to the World Summit for Children in 2001”, adopted in December 1999, that the Governments and relevant UN agencies, particularly UNICEF, would coordinate preparation of an “End of Decade Review” report to assess progress made during 1990-2000 following the World Summit for Children in September 1990. The results from this review were reported to a Special Session of the General Assembly in September 2001, by the United Nations Secretary General.

National Water Management Plan (NWMP)
Date of Initiation: November 1998
Date of Completion: March 2002
Project Director: Dr. Atiur Rahman
Team Members:
Dr. K M Nabiul Islam
Dr. Bimal Kumar Saha
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali
Mr. M. M. Shafiqur Rahman
Funding Agency: Halcrow/WARPO Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd.

Bangladesh is one of the flood-prone countries in the world. The devastating floods of 1988 and 1998 have already demonstrated convincingly that water is a crucial natural resource impacting on many other interrelated socio-economic features of life in Bangladesh. It has also been adequately documented that inundation, scarcity and logging of water can have important implication for the livelihoods of the ordinary people of Bangladesh. Given this background, there was a serious re-thinking among the relevant policymakers for a greater levels of peoples’ (stakeholders’) participation in planning of the water resources. The National Water Management Policy has provided a stronger background for the same. As a result, the present peoples’ participatory activities leading to national water management plan have been carried out in this study.

A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Working Abroad (CBAWA)
Date of Initiation: February 2000
Date of Completion: June 2001
Project Director: Dr. Rita Afsar
Team Members:
Mr. Mohammad Yunus
Mr. A.B.M. Shamsul Islam

Funding Agency: International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
The objective of the study was to analyze cost-effectiveness of interna-tional migration by unskilled and semi-skilled labors from Bangladesh to assess whether temporary migration to the Gulf countries is chasing after the perilous illusion. The study also addressed what policies could be taken to make it more beneficial for migrants, their families and the country as a whole.
Dynamics of Livelihood Systems in Rural Bangladesh (DoLSys)
Date of Initiation: April 2002
Date of Completion: June 2004
Project Director: Rita Afsar
Team Member: Dr. Alia Ahmed
Funding Agency: IRRI-PETRRA

The objectives of this study were:
1. to map the distribution of social capital in villages that are endowed with better infrastructure and those which remained backward, as well as across different socio-economic groups, NGO versus non-NGO members;
2. to relate social capital to outcome variables mainly household level incomes, access to services and other development parameters; and
3. to explore the plausible conditions those are conducive for collective action both from qualitative and quantitative analyzes.

Gender Impact of Growth of Export Oriented Industrialisation in Bangladesh - Ready made Garments Industry (GIEOM)
Date of Initiation: March 1999
Date of Completion: October 2001
Project Director: Dr. Pratima Paul-Majumder
Team Member: Dr. Anwara Begum
Funding Agency: The World Bank.

The export oriented readymade garmet industry (RMG) occupies the dominant position in the export manufacturing sector of Bangladesh. Majority of the workers employed in this industry is women. Women are employed in this industry mainly to exploit the comparative advantages of their disadvantages like low price of their labor, their lower bargaining power, their docility, etc. As such, it is quite natural that gender imbalances will arise from export-oriented garment manufac-turing in Bangladesh. Hence, the main objective of this study was to identify the gender differentiated socioeconomic impact of export-oriented industrialization (EOI) as well as identify the research gaps in the garment sector. In addition, answers to the following questions have been sought through this study:
1. Do the combination of new economic and social circumstances and the living arrangements associated with employment in the export manufacturing sector results in new risks for either male or female workers?
2. Has it made female working in this sector more vulnerable to violence and rape?
3. Is the prevalence of sexual violence in this sector is less, more, or the same as in other sectors of the Bangladesh economy?

The Old Age Allowance Programme for Elderly Poor in Bangladesh: A Review
Date of Initiation: May 2001
Date of Completion: February 2002
Project Director: Dr. Pratima Paul-Majumder
Team Member: Dr. Sharifa Begum
Funding Agency: The Ministry of Social Welfare, GOB

Funding Agency: The primary objective of this study was to carry out an evaluation of the performance of Old Age Pension Scheme to provide socio-economic security to the elderly poor. Findings of this evaluation were intended to help the GOB to formulate future course of action so that the objectives of the “Old Age Allowance Programme” can best be achieved. Moreover, the findings of this evaluation would help the GOB to undertake necessary actions to develop a strong and sustainable institutional framework for this scheme.

Increasing Awareness and Knowledge about Gender Analysis of National Budget: An Analysis from the Perspective of Gender Equality
Date of Initiation: June 2001
Date of Completion: February 2002
Project Director: Dr. Atiur Rahman
Team Members:
Dr. Atiur Rahman
Dr. Pratima Paul-Majumder
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali
Funding Agency: The Ministry of Social Welfare, GOB

The main objective of this study was to estimate women’s share in the national budget and to raise awareness and knowledge of both GOB and civil society about meager share of women in the national budget of Bangladesh. Another objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness of development budget in empowering women both socially and economically.

Well-being in Developing Countries – Bangladesh (WeD-Bangladesh)
Date of Initiation: October 2002
Date of Completion: September 2007
Project Director: Dr. Zulfiqar Ali
Funding Agency: ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD), University of Bath, UK
The objective of WeD is to develop a conceptual and methodological approach for understanding the social and cultural construction of wellbeing in developing countries. The distinctiveness of WeD lies in its focus on three key dimensions: Subjective and Objective; Universal and Local; and Process and Outcomes. WeD brings together the subjective, cultural and objective to investigate how people own perceptions relate to objective indicators of their welfare. It explores how universal models of human welfare and quality of life relate to local priorities. WeD also goes beyond mapping poverty, inequality and quality of life as conditions or states, to analyze how patterns of benefit and disadvantage are established or reversed over time. The WeD programme offers important contributions to the policy thinking. It builds on the growing recognition that development cannot only be measured in terms of income and economic growth, but must consider how people draw on a wide variety of resources in constructing their livelihoods. WeD also aims to address the tension between universal and local models in particular contexts which have become a persistent fault-line in international development.

WeD-Bangladesh is a sub-group of the ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD) at the University of Bath, UK. As part of WeD it gains from access to theoretical and methodological work and interaction with an internationally reputed group of interdisciplinary researchers.

Environmental Consequences of Shrimp Culture in Coastal Bangla-desh: An Estimation of Losses to the Paddy Farms
Date of Initiation: July 2002
Date of Completion: December 2004
Project Director: Dr. Zulfiqar Ali
Funding Agency: South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE)

The study tries to estimate the negative externality created by the shrimp farms to its neighboring paddy farms due to increase in soil salinity. Shrimp culture has become an important part of Bangladesh economy. It is, however, often claimed that there exist negative environmental consequences associated with it. Keeping this in mind, the objective of the study is to estimate the loss of profit in the paddy farms next to the shrimp farms compare to the control paddy farms (i.e. the paddy farms not close to the shrimp farms).

Bangladesh Poverty Monitor and South Asia Poverty Monitor (SAMP)

Date of Initiation: May 1997
Date of Completion: March 2001

Project Director: Dr. Atiur Rahman

Team Members: Dr. Binayak Sen, Dr. Fahmida Akhter Khatun,
Dr. Bazlul Haque Khandaker, Mr. M M Shafiqur Rahman

Funding Agency: UNDP/UNOPS.

The idea of poverty report on South Asia is to distill and synthesize the key messages coming out from a review of the national contexts, pin-point the areas of common concern, take note of the specific moments pertaining to each country, and finally, charter an agenda which could reflect a South Asian perspective on elimination of poverty. Thus, a regional poverty monitor should not only review the past experience, but also be looking into a vision of a poverty free South Asia in a shortest possible, to at least tentatively outline certain directions along which the poverty alleviation efforts in this region must continue in the coming years. This, however, requires a critical re-consideration of the way poverty is defined as a policy-problem, and of the solutions that are routinely offered under poverty alleviation. Analysis of poverty, viewed both as state and as policy, rests on several key ideas mooted in the literature which also help to define an approach to poverty underlying the above study, the hallmarks of five such influential ideas are captured in the study.

Changes and Determinants of Urban-Poverty and Standard of Living: A Case Study of Dhaka City, 1991-97 (CDUP)

Date of Initiation: October 1997
Date of Completion: June 2000

Project Director: Dr. Rita Afsar

Funding Agency: Grameen Trust.

Re-survey of the same areas surveyed in 1991 and the similar cross-sections of the slum and non-slum households in Dhaka city to generate understanding on the dynamics urbanisation and urban poverty by measuring changes in economic and social conditions of the recent and old migrants. It also includes recommendation of policy measures to maximising economic gains of urbanization in harmony with human and environmental needs, while mitigating the undesirable effects.

Bangladesh Poverty Monitor and South Asia Poverty Monitor (SAMP)

Date of Initiation: May 1998
Due Date of Completion: December 2000

Project Director: Dr. Atiur Rahman

Team Member: Dr. Binayak Sen, Dr. Mahbub Hossain and Mr. Zohirul Islam

Funding Agency: UNDP.

The UNDP is planning to publish a monitor periodically to assess the poverty situation both at the national grassroots level through the existing national expertise in South Asia. With this end the UNDP needs the assignments to be done by the BIDS in twofold, (namely, part A and Part B).
Part A include updating of core indicators of poverty/deprivations, such as identifying sources of data both from service records and national surveys conducted by the central statistical office, independent surveys, studies and reports, evaluations of macro-economic policies having impact on the poor and measuring poverty line including qualitative assessments of poverty.
Part B will provide a country report, based on the above material at Part A. which will include (a) conceptual and measurement issues relating to poverty, (b) people’s own perception and assessment, (c) evolution of national programs, (d) current national policies, strategies and programs and (e) country specific future action.

National Water Management Plan (NWMP)

Date of Initiation: November 1998
Date of Completion: March 2002

Project Director: Dr. Atiur Rahman

Team Members: Dr. K M Nabiul Islam, Dr. Bimal Kumar Saha
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali, Mr. M .M. Shafiqur Rahman

Funding Agency: Halcrow/WARPO Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd.

Bangladesh is one of the flood-prone countries in the world. The devastating floods of 1988 and 1998 have already demonstrated convincingly that water is a crucial natural resource impacting on many other interrelated socio-economic features of life in Bangladesh. It has also been adequately documented that inundation, scarcity and logging of water can have important implication for the livelihoods of the ordinary people of Bangladesh. Given this background there was a serious re-thinking among the relevant policy makers for a greater levels of peoples’ (stakeholders’) participation in planning of the water resources. The National Water Management Policy has provided a stronger background for the same. As a result, the present peoples’ participatory activities leading to national water management plan have been carried out in the present study.

Gender Impact of Growth of Export Oriented Industrialisation in Bangladesh- Readymade Case Study: Garments Industry (GIEOM)

Date of Initiation: March 1999
Date of Completion: October 2001

Project Director: Dr. Pratima Paul-Majumder
Team Member: Dr. Anwara Begum

Funding Agency: The World Bank.

The export oriented Readymade Garment Industry (RMG) occupies the dominant position in the export manufacturing sector of Bangladesh. Majority of the workers employed in this industry are women. Women are employed in this industry mainly to exploit the ‘comparative advantages of their disadvantages, like low price of their labour, their lower bargaining power, their docility, etc. As such it is quite natural that gender imbalances will arise from export oriented garment manufacturing in Bangladesh. Hence, the main objective of this study is to identify the gender differentiated socioeconomic impact of export-oriented industrialisation (EOI). In addition, answers to the following questions has been sought through this study:
1. Do the combination of new economic and social circumstances and the living arrangements associated with employment in the export manufacturing sector result in new risks for either male or female workers?
2. Has it made female working in this sector more vulnerable to violence and rape?
3. Is the prevalence of sexual violence in this sector is less, more, or the same as in other sectors of the Bangladesh economy?
Another objective of this study is to identify the research gaps in the garment sector.

Interactions Between Rural Area and Rural Towns in Bangladesh (IRRT)

Date of Initiation: May 1999
Date of Completion: September 1999

Project Director: Dr. Rita Afsar

Team Members: Dr. Jonathan Baker, Mr. Q.M.A.H. Saqui and Mr. Shakir Ahmed

Funding Agency: The Embassy of Sweden, Dhaka.

The objective of the study is to investigate the prerequisites for a future Swedish decentralised support to rural towns by studying interactions between villages and rural town and with a focus on reducing poverty among urban poor people with special emphasis on women’s employment and other opportunities. It also aimed to study local government institutions in urban and rural areas and their role in poverty alleviation. Family Geographic Information System (GIS) was also used to examine land cover and environmental change in the study towns and connectivity among the study areas.

A Cost/Benefit Analysis of Working Abroad (CBAWA)

Date of Initiation: February 2000
Date of Completion: June 2001

Project Director: Dr. Rita Afsar

Team Members: Mr. Mohammad Yunus and Mr. A.B.M. Shamsul Islam

Funding Agency: International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The objective of the study is to analyse cost-effectiveness of international migration by unskilled and semi-skilled labours from Bangladesh to assess whether temporary migration to the Gulf countries is ‘chasing after the perilous illusion’ and what policies could be taken to make it more beneficial for migrants, their families and the country as a whole.

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Industry and Physical Infrastructure Division

Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation of Small Scale Water Resources Sector Project – II (SSWRDSP-II)

Date of Initiation: August 2006
Probable date of Completion: September 2008

Project Director: Dr. K.M. Nabiul Islam

Team Members:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. M. Asaduzzaman
Dr. M. Salim Ullah
Dr. Pratimal Paul Mazumder
Prof. Quamrul Ahsan Chowdhury
Dr. Md. Abul Quasem
Mr. Mohamed Nuruzzaman
Mr. Mirza M. Shafiqur Rahman
Mr. Md. Karimullah Bhuyan
Ms. Nehraz mahmud

Funding Agency: Asian Development Bank (ADB)

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) implemented 280 small scale water resources management subprojects under the first Small Scale Water Resources Development Sector Project (SSWRDSP-1 during its first phase. Another 300 subprojects are currently under the implementation of SSWRDSP-II, LGED during its second phase The purpose of the subprojects is to improve water management, flood management, drainage improvement, water conservation and command area development, benefiting a net area of up to 1,000 ha with a view to increasing production in agriculture and fishery resources, generating more income and employment, thereby contributing to an overall reduction in poverty.

In order to examine the performance of the projects a Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation (BME) Study is in place, to be carried out covering 40 subprojects. The BME study involves a benchmark study of 30 subprojects of the second phase, to be carried out before their implementation. The impact assessment study involves carrying out evaluation for 10 subprojects of SSWRDSP-1, for which a baseline study was already carried out back in 2002.

Long-term Socio-economic Impact Study of Rural Roads and Markets Improvement and Maintenance Project (RRMIMP) – II (Phase 3)

Date of Initiation: February 2005
Date of Completion: June 2006
Team Leader: Dr. Zaid Bakht
Project Director: Dr. Md. Abdul Latif
Funding Agency: World Bank and GOB

BIDS carried out Phase I of the study during 1997-98 and collected benchmark data prior to the implementation of the RRMIMP-II by the LGED. The second phase of the study was carried out by BIDS during 2000–2001, which aimed at analyzing the short term impact of the project. Phase-II study was constrained by the fact that not all study roads were fully developed when field survey for the second phase was undertaken. The present phase of the study is based on full coverage of the study roads and focuses on long-term impact assessment of rural infrastructure development carried out under the project. In particular, the study attempts to capture the long run impact of the road and market development on productivity and efficiency in various production and service sectors of the rural economy including transport, trade, agriculture, manufacturing, health, education, etc. The study also examines the ultimate impact of all these improvements on the poverty situation in the study area.

Impact Evaluation of the Social Investment Program Project (SIPP)

Date of Initiation: July 2004
Date of Completion: December 2005
Project Director: Dr. Zaid Bakht
Team Members:
Dr. Md. Salimullah
Mr. Omar Faruque
Funding Agency:

Social Development Foundation (SDF)

The broad objective of SIPP is to cater to the unmet demand of the poor people in rural areas for basic infrastructures and social services by scaling up proven models of social assistance services and by testing and supporting alternative methods of service provision and financing.
The present study aims at generating baseline data with a view to assessing the impact of SIPP with respect to the following:
• Examine the effectiveness of rural institutions in terms of participation of poor.
• Evaluate the performance of these institutions in planning, implemen-tation and maintenance of the social and economic infrastructure from the perspective of technical quality, cost effectiveness and beneficiary satisfaction.
• Assess the sustainability of rural institutions.
• Examine the impact on social awareness and community em-powerment.
• Assess developments and improve-ments brought about in the existing social and economic infrastructure.
• Determine the improvement in the access of poor to the various service delivery systems
• Assess the resulting benefit in employment and income as well as in human development.

Policy Research on the Socially Disadvantaged Women (Commercial Sex Workers) and their Children in Bangladesh (PRSDWB)

Date of Initiation: November 2005
Date of Completion: July 2006
Project Director: Dr. Abdul Hye Mondal
Team Member: Mr. Asadul Islam
Funding Agency: Department of Social Services, Ministry of Social Welfare, GoB

The objective of the study was twofold: (i) to assess and analyze the existing condition of the commercial sex workers and their children in the light of the concerns and crucial issues involved in empowering and mainstreaming them; and (ii) to suggest appropriate strategies and policy measures for empowering and mainstreaming them into the society.

Aquaculture Development Project (AQDP)

Date of Initiation: February 2006
Date of Completion: July 2006
Project Director:
Dr. Narayan Chandra Nath
Funding Agency: IFAD and DOF

The objective of the study is to monitor performance and make impact evaluation of Aquaculture Development Project. Detailed objectives are to see whether the beneficiaries belong to the target group, to see whether supports to the benefits are adequate to their needs and whether the project could bring positive outcome to the beneficiaries and community as a whole. The study covered eight central western districts of Bangladesh where the project was in operation. The districts covered by the study and project operation are Faridpur, Magura, Rajbari, Jessore, Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, and Jhenaidah. The Aquaculture Development Project is an example of tripartite arrangement of cooperation between international development Agency (IFAD), govern-ment agency and non-government organizations. Though emphatic on fish culture development, the project is a broad based one covering infrastructure, aquaculture development and community mobilization for poverty alleviation.

The study aimed at seeing whether goal of the project was accomplished in terms of improving the standard of living and the conditions of village life for communities with a strong presence of fishers and fish farmers in the eight project districts. The study aimed at examining the development of the capability of sustainable increase in the fish production of baors and ponds and ultimately improvement of socio econo-mic condition of the rural people.
The detailed objectives of the study were to see whether the project could:
• Boost fisheries/aquaculture pro-duction and the incomes of the people living in poverty;
• Establish and strengthen community organizations to ensure access to the institutions through which technical and social services can be provided to the target groups on a sustainable basis;
• Improve the status of women by including them in the project mainstream activity of pond aqua-culture and by providing support for other income generating activities;
• Improve the resource base through the rehabilitation of suitable large water bodies and fish ponds;
• Improve access, hence product marketing, to and from rural communities through the im-provement of rural roads and growth centres.

Instruments of Questionnaire Based Survey, Focused Group Discussion and Case Studies were used for data generation. Sets of quantitative as well as qualitative socioeconomic indicators have been used for performance monitoring and impact study.

WTO Doha Round and South Asia: Linking Civil Society with Trade Negotiation (SAFIT)

Date of Initiation: January 2005
Date of Completion: March 2006
Project Director:
Dr. Salma Chaudhuri Zohir
Team Member:
Dr. Narayan Chandra Nath
Funding Agency: Novib (Oxfam, The Netherlands) and coordinated by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), India

Multilateral trade negotiation under Doha Development Agenda (DDA) which resumed after the collapse of the fifth Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancun in September 2003, culminated in the General Council meeting in July 2004 that adopted “July Package.” The July Package sets the stage for negotiations among members during the run-up to the Hong Kong Ministerial and beyond it. It identified five priority areas for further negotiations: Agriculture, Non-Agriculture Market Access (NAMA), Services, Trade Facilitation and Development Dimensions. While the first four areas have annexes in the July Package, the fifth area i.e. development dimension, which includes effective market access; special and differential treatment towards achieving enhanced flexibility in WTO rules; implementation issues addressing consistency with a multilateral rules-based system; enhanced capacity-building programs; and concerns of the LDCs, is a cross-cutting issue. Under this project on each of these issue, the position of a particular South Asian country and perceptions of civil society that included trade union, business bodies, women’s group working on trade and gender linkages will be placed with those of other South Asian countries, in order to work out a common position on each of the five issues. Five research organizations from five South Asian countries viz. Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, participated in this study and each would highlight the concerns of South Asian countries and LDCs per se on the five key issues. BIDS was entrusted with Development Dimension of the July Framework agreement.

The objective of the BIDS study was:
• To provide a brief discussion on the integration in the multinational trading system;
• To define development dimension of the Doha Ministerial Declaration;
• To give an overview of the outcome on development dimension, especially since the Doha Minis-terial Conference;
• To provide the perspectives on negotiation strategy of South Asian countries;
• To provide stakeholders perceptions of development dimension. The outcome of the study was to be discussed in five consultation workshop in five countries and to be published in a book.

Evaluation of DYD Programs in Socio-Economic Development and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh

Date of Initiation: May 2004
Date of Completion: August 2004
Project Director: Dr. K.M. Nabiul Islam
Team Member: Mr. Karimullah Bhuiyan
Funding Agency: Youth Development Directorate, Government of Bangladesh

The major objective was to assess the outcome of the Department of Youth Development (DYD) programs in respect of socioeconomic development and poverty reduction of the project beneficiaries. The income distribution of the beneficiaries has shown significant and positive change due to the DYD programs. However, a substantial number of the not-so-hard core poor youths have been served through these programs.

Household Survey – Benefit Impact Monitoring, Fourth Fisheries Project (HHS-BIM)

Date of Initiation: July 2004
Date of Completion: September 2004
Project Director: Dr. K.M. Nabiul Islam
Team Member:
Mr. Mark Aeron-Thomas
Funding Agency:
ULG Northumbrian Ltd., UK

The major objective of the study was to assess the socio-economic effects brought about by the Fourth Fisheries Project, which seeks to improve upon small-scale producers through sustainable, community based insti-tutional development in their access to aquatic resources. The outcomes are largely positive on the fishers, professional and subsistence. However, a sound concept is to be implemented by relevant institutions that understand their roles and have both the resources and commitment. The study outlined a set of lessons for any future interventions in terms of conceptualisations, planning, resourcing and implementations.

Stakeholder Consultation on Inter- national and Partnership Issues in a Sea facing Coastal Districts under Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (WARPO–ICZMP)

Date of Initiation: December 2004
Date of Completion: October 2005
Project Director: Dr. K.M. Nabiul Islam
Team Members:
Dr. Quazi Shahabuddin
Dr. M Asaduzzaman
Mr. Masroor-ul Haq Siddiqi
Mr. M. M. Shafiqur Rahman
Mr. Faruque Chowdhury
Funding Agency: Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO)

The objective of undertaking the consultation process was to contribute to laying out a set of development strategies and programs by way of feeding required information into the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP) process, especially the Coastal Develop-ment Strategy (CDS). Mainly two outputs were intended from the consultation process. Firstly, a document based on the proceedings of