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| Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC) |
| © 2012 Bangladesh Development Research Center Inc. (BDRC) Text and graphics may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes, provided that credit is given to the source. High definition pixel copies of any photo displayed on the BDRC website are available upon request. |
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| Call for Abstracts for First National Conference on CBA to Climate Change Action Research for Community Adaptation in Bangladesh (ARCAB), which is a long term research program on Community Based Adaptation (CBA) to climate change, jointly managed by Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), is looking for abstracts for its first national conference on CBA to climate change. Abstract should be submitted by 31st January 2012. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ January 3, 2012: Bangladesh Development Bibliography reaches over 18,000 entries The BDRC’s fully searchable Bangladesh Development Bibliography, which is the world’s largest list of books, journal articles, working papers, reports, etc. relevant for Bangladesh’s development published in this Millennium (since January 1, 2000) has surpassed 18,000 entries. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ December 10, 2011: Human Rights Day Recognizing Human Rights Day 2011, the BDRC provides new publications related to human rights in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Bangladesh in the 21st century: Democracy, Education and Economy University Press Ltd. (UPL), Bangladesh’s premier book publisher, published three volumes of papers written for and presented at two conferences organized at Harvard University: “Bangladesh in the 21st Century” held on June 13-14, 2008, and “Ideas and Innovations for the Development of Bangladesh: The Next Decade” held on October 9-10, 2009. The three books cover a broad range of issues authored by many of Bangladesh’s top scholars on Bangladesh’s future with regards to democracy, education, and economy. Respectively, the three volumes are entitled as “Democracy in Bangladesh: Political Dimensions of National Development”, “Education and National Development”, and “Bangladesh Economy in the 21st Century”. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ HDI 2011: Despite progress, falling behind in relative terms Bangladesh’s Human Development Index (HDI) has increased significantly from 0.496 in UNDP’s Human Development Report (HDR) 2010, to 0.500 in the HDR 2011. However, largely due to the inclusion of many more advanced countries in this year’s HDI, Bangladesh fell behind in relative terms (from being ranked 129th among 169 countries in the HDR 2010, to being ranked 146th among 187 countries in the HDR 2011). Furthermore, Bangladesh also fell further behind India, as India’s HDI increased from 0.542 in 2010 to 0.547 in 2011. However, as a more detailed analysis shows, this falling behind India is due to a lower increase in Bangladesh’s gross national income (GNI) per capita relative to that of India’s increase in GNI per capita. Indeed, looking at the non-income HDI, Bangladesh has basically caught up with India as Bangladesh’s non-income HDI increased from 0.543 in 2010 to 0.566 in 2011, while India’s non-income HDI increased from 0.549 in 2010 to 0.568 in 2011. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ December 1, 2011: Bangladesh makes progress with reducing corruption According to Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), released today, Bangladesh made some progress with reducing corruption, and especially if comparing Bangladesh with other countries. While Bangladesh was ranked 134th among 179 countries in the 2010 CPI, it now ranks 120th among 183 countries. Bangladesh shares the 120th position with 8 other countries (Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Mozambique, and the Solomon Islands). Still, corruption continues to hamper Bangladesh’s development prospects. For example, the World Bank suspended its US$1.2 billion financing for the Padma bridge project on October 10, 2011 (based on charges of corruption in river dredging, the appointment of consultants and the selection of preliminary contractors in the project). Following the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also deferred their loans for the project. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ December 01, 2011: World AIDS Day Recognizing World AIDS Day 2011, the BDRC provides new publications related to HIV/AIDS in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ November 30, 2011: Germany wants stronger relations with Bangladesh Visiting German President Christian Wulff said yesterday his country would explore new areas of cooperation with Bangladesh in trade, investment and power. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ November 25, 2011: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Recognizing International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the BDRC provides new publications related to violence against women in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ November 20, 2011: Universal Children’s Day Recognizing November 20, 2011 as Universal Children’s Day, the BDRC provides a list of new publications related to children in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ November 14, 2011: World Diabetes Day Recognizing November 14, 2011 as World Diabetes Day, the BDRC provides a list of recent publications related to diabetes in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ October 17, 2011: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Recognizing October 17, 2010 as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the BDRC provides a list of new publications related to poverty eradication in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ October 16, 2011: World Food Day Recognizing October 16, 2011 as World Food Day, the BDRC provides a list of recent publications related to food security in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ October 12, 2011: Bangladesh makes large progress in reducing hunger According to the just released 2011 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Bangladesh is among the seven countries that made the largest absolute progress between the 1990 GHI and the 2011 GHI, with scores falling by 13 points or more. Despite this progress, the hunger situation in Bangladesh is still alarming (the worst category after extremely alarming). For example, Bangladesh, India, and Timor-Leste have the highest prevalence of underweight in children younger than five–more than 40 percent in all three countries. LEARN MORE ---> (pdf) ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do more girls survive in Bangladesh than India? In India, old forms of discrimination have been exacerbated by the advent of new technologies that permit female- selective abortion so that not only do more girl children die in the early years of life but fewer are born. The picture in neighbouring Bangladesh seems to be rather different. There, the survival chances of girls have improved and there is little evidence of sex selective abortion. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ September 25, 2011: 45 researchers join rank of Researcher of the Millennium The BDRC’s list of Bangladesh Development Researchers of the Millennium reaches 45 researchers (each researcher has published at least 25 publications since 2000). LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ September 8, 2011: BDRC recognizes International Literacy Day Recognizing September 8, 2011 as International Literacy Day, the BDRC provides a list of recent publications related to literacy in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ August 25, 2011: World Bank approved a US$300 million credit for PEDP III The World Bank approved today a US$300 million credit for the Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDP III) to support primary education in Bangladesh. Despite significant progress with school enrollment, only 60 percent of children enrolled complete grades 1-5 in five years and only 44 percent of these go onto secondary school. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ August 9, 2011: International Day of the World’s Indigenous People Recognizing August 9, 2011 as International Day of the World’s Indigenous People the BDRC provides a list of recent publications related to indigenous people in Bangladesh and some additional information. LEARN MORE ---> _________________________________________________________________________________________ July 25, 2011: BDRC launches fully searchable Bibliography After half a year of testing, the BDRC has now moved its whole Bangladesh Development Bibliography (which is the world’s largest bibliography on development issues of Bangladesh) to a fully searchable web-based application. The new website allows anybody to easily search currently more than 13,000 records completely free. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Easy Like Water / Bangladesh’s solar powered floating schools “EASY LIKE WATER” is a feature documentary film, currently in production, on Bangladesh’s solar powered floating schools and the fate of the earth more generally. For a trailer and more information about the documentary film, please click here. For more general information, please see the BDRC’s task on solar powered floating schools. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ June 5, 2011: World Environment Day 2011 Recognizing World Environment Day (June 5, 2011), the BDRC provides a list of recent publications related to key environmental issues in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Tell Walmart: Intervene Before Labor Activists Are Sentenced to Death Change.org (which is an online activism platform for social change that raises awareness about important causes) has posted a petition to sign to “Tell Walmart: Intervene Before Labor Activists Are Sentenced to Death”. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ May 3, 2011: World Press Freedom Day 2011 Recognizing World Press Freedom Day (May 3, 2011), the BDRC provides a list of recent developmental publications related to press freedom in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Domestic prices for rice grew by 21 percent since June 2010 An April 2011 report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows that Bangladesh’s increase in domestic retail prices of rice has outpaced the increase in international prices. As shown in Figure 5 of the ADB report, between June 2010 and February 2011, global rice prices increased by 16.8 percent. However, domestic rice prices since June 2010 went up by 21.4 percent in Bangladesh. During the same period, the domestic wheat prices in Bangladesh grew by 50 percent (which is about half of the international price increase). These sharp food price increases have negative impacts on poverty reduction as well as efforts to reduce inflation. LEARN MORE ---> (PDF) ____________________________________________________________________________________________ April 25, 2011: World Malaria Day 2011 Recognizing World Malaria Day (April 25, 2011), the BDRC provides a list of recent developmental publications related to malaria in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Bangladesh can teach us how best to adapt to rising sea levels “The people of Bangladesh have much to teach us about how a crowded planet can best adapt to rising sea levels. For them, that future is now.” This is the abstract of an outstanding photo story published in the May 2011 issue of the National Geographic (Vol. 219, No. 5, pp. 58-83). Recognizing that the world’s population will reach 7 billion later this year, the highly informative article by Don Belt (enhanced by Jonas Bendiksen’s photographs) is part of a series on what it will take to feed nine billion people in 2045. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ April 7, 2011: World Health Day 2011 Recognizing World Health Day (April 7, 2011), the BDRC provides a list of recent developmental publications related to health issues in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ March 25, 2011: Bangladesh judiciary is the top most corrupted sector Dr. Md. Saidul Islam writes in an editorial of the “Holiday” that Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) recently made a sector -wise survey and found that the Bangladesh judiciary is the top most corrupted sector, followed by the law enforcement agency and the land administration. The precarious state of the Bangladesh judiciary has also been depicted in the July 2010 issue of Asian Culture and History, where Dr. Md. Abdul Jalil and Dr. Md. Saidul Islam write (p. 64): “The common practice in Bangladesh is not to take any legal action against the criminals of ruling party or alliance, while often harsh legal actions are taken against the opposition leaders and activists though sometimes there might have no evidence of corruption against them. The legal apparatus in Bangladesh therefore largely serves the interest of the ruling elites, and provides a powerful tool for them to abate and crush the political opponents.” LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ March 22, 2011: World Water Day 2011 Recognizing World Water Day (March 22, 2011), the BDRC provides a list of recent developmental publications related to water issues in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ March 13, 2011: Microfinance helped to reduce poverty in Bangladesh In a Daily Star op-ed, Dr. Shahid Khandker and Dr. Hassan Zaman write that poverty among micro-credit borrowers has been reduced by 1.6 percentage points per year due to microfinance. Furthermore, due to spillover effects of microfinance programs, poverty levels of non-borrowers have gone down by 0.3 percentage points a year. It is clear that microfinance can protect households from shocks, contribute to changing societal norms about the role of women in society and lead to some households moving out of poverty. Overall, it has played its part in the impressive progress Bangladesh has made in poverty reduction over the past two decades. Clearly, not everyone utilizes loans productively, and there is a risk of falling into over-indebtedness. So, the role of microfinance should be strengthened through further innovations which take into account these pitfalls. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ March 8, 2011: International Women’s Day 2011 Recognizing International Women’s Day (March 8, 2011), the BDRC provides 1) links to two recent videos telling stories of women in Bangladesh and 2) a list of recent developmental publications related to women and gender issues in Bangladesh. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ February 24, 2011: World Bank approved a US$1.2 billion IDA credit for Padma Bridge In order to improve connectivity and boost opportunities for people in Southwest Bangladesh, the World Bank approved a US$1.2 billion concessional IDA credit to Bangladesh for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project. Spanning the Padma River (the world’s third largest), the 6.1 km long bridge will connect nearly 30 million people in the Southwest region to the rest of country, enhancing their access to markets and services while accelerating growth in the country as a whole. The bridge is the largest IDA credit ever. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ February 21, 2011: Bangladeshi Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day Recognizing Bangladeshi Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day (February 21, 2011) the BDRC provides recent developmental publications related to Bangladesh’s Mother Language. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ February 12, 2011: Bangladesh on track with MDG5 Based on the nationwide Maternal Mortality Survey 2011, maternal deaths fell from 322 per 100,000 in 2001 to 194 in 2010, which is consistent with the target of the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG5) to reduce the maternal mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015 by three quarters. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ January 22, 2011: Opening of Banglabandha Land Port Bangladesh and India started today their long-awaited trade through Banglabandha port in Bangladesh’s most northern part. From now, goods from both countries can pass through the land port. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Energy experts vouched for alternative energy solutions in Bangladesh On January 8th, 2011, The Daily Star (Bangladesh's most prominent English newspaper) organized a Leadership Colloquium to bring together major stakeholders from government, industry, academia, and resident and non-resident Bangladeshi experts to discuss new ideas for the energy sector and practical innovative solutions to the country's energy crisis. LEARN MORE ---> ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Search the BDRC’s Bangladesh Development Bibliography across years To allow searching the BDRC’s Bangladesh Development Bibliography across years, we are in the process of moving the whole bibliography to a new searchable web-application. At this point, you can freely access and search all the publications published since January 1, 2010 (that is all publications of 2010, 2011, and forthcoming) at: http://creator. zoho.com/bgunter/bibliography_selected_years Update of July 25, 2011:The BDRC now moved the whole bibliography to a searchable web-application, available at: http://creator.zoho.com/bdrcproject/bibliography LEARN MORE ---> _________________________________________________________________________________________ Please click here for hot topics / features before January 1, 2011 |
| Hot Topics / Features (in reverse chronological order) Features are a task of the Bangladesh Development Research Center (BDRC) BDRC tasks are a combination of BDRC research and BDRC projects |
