More attention needed for quality education, social dev, gender equality & decent employment : CPD

Dhaka August 14 2022:

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organized a congress on Citizen Dialogue titled ‘Promises of National Development: Education, Decent Employment and Gender Equity: What is the Progress?’ at a city hotel on Saturday.

The key note was presented by Dr Kahandakar Golam Moazzem, Research Director, CPD where the expert pointed out that the electoral promises made by the government was implemented to the local level. But due to corruption, mismanagement and lack of visionary leadership did not result promised development to the grass roots level.

Besides, it was highlighted that the electoral promises were designed and oriented from top to bottom rather to be done from bottom to top oriented.

People during survey pointed out that they were unable to project their problems to the local Member of Parliament and leaders.

They also lamented that there are lack of educational facility, quality education, decent employment and inequality among genders in terms of social status, economic condition and employment.

So, according the study there are scope of improvement to implement electoral promises and development of the country.

There are scopes of people’s incorporation into the electoral process and development progress.

People demanded quality educational facilities, agricultural centers, electricity and energy supply, day care centers, health facilities, employment opportunities, industrialization, infrastructures,  gender equality, and incorporation in development process.

In view of the above, the CPD had launched a project titled “Advancing Responsiveness and Accountability through Citizen Engagement in Bangladesh”, supported by the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).

The programme was implemented by Dr. Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director, CPD, Dr Kahandakar Golam Moazzem, Research Director, CPD, Avra Bhattacharjee, Joint Director, CPD, Muntasir Kamal, Research Fellow, CPD, Sayed Yousuf Sadat, Research Fellow, CPD, Tamim Ahmed, Reseach Associate, CPD, Fakruddin Al Kabir, Reseach Associate, CPD, Ratia Rehnuma, Reseach Associate, CPD, S.M Khalid, Programme Associate, CPD, Irtaza Mahbub Akanda, Ex Dialogue Associate, CPD.

Electoral promises made by political parties before the national elections in Bangladesh hold little value as those in many instances are not followed up through concrete actions.

Citizens also do not give due importance to electoral pledges and holding elected representatives accountable for implementation.

Since the government comes with super-majority in Bangladesh it is important that implementation process monitoring of the commitments is done based on a bottom up approach involving the participation of the broader stakeholders including the vulnerable and marginalized people: women, youth, aged, people with disability, religious minority, and indigenous people.

In the current context, while the electoral pledges of the newly elected government do reflect consistent national aspirations, its accountability in the delivery process is hardly guaranteed.

This project provided a platform to the citizens for claiming delivery of the election pledges of the incumbent government through evidence-based research and sub-national and national dialogues. The objective of the project is to achieve enhanced civic participation in the democratic process within the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 16 to ensure delivery of electoral pledges of the government.

Target beneficiaries had included CSOs, member of marginalized community, entrepreneurs, academia, media, politicians, international development partners, and members of parliaments and policy makers.

In delivering the outputs CPD partnered with the Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, to involve citizens from all over the country since the Platform has 100 CSO members.

Planning Minister M.A Mannan was Chief Guest in the inaugural session.

Special Guest was Professor Dr Md Abdus Shahid, President of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Internal Accounts. Dr Tofayel Ahmed, Expert on Local Governance.

The inaugural session was presided by Dr. Fahmida khatun, Executive Director, CPD while Dr Kahandakar Golam Moazzem, Research Director, CPD presented the key note paper during the session.   

The first session titled ‘Gender Equality’ of the programme was presided by Khushi Kabir, Member, Board of Trustee, CPD and Coordinator, Nijera Kori.

Special Guests of the first session were Professor Dr. Md. Abdul Aziz, MP, Member of Standing Committee on Ministry of Women and Children Welfare and Arma Dutta, MP, Member Standing Committee on Social Welfare.

During the session, Dr. Maleka Banu, General Secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad was discussant and Mosfeka Razzak, Women Leader of Rangpur was special discussant.

The key note of the session was presented by Yusuf Sadat, Research Fellow, CPD.

The second session of the programme titled ‘Decent Employment’ was presided by Dr Kahandakar Golam Moazzem, Research Director, CPD.

Special Guests were Shirin Akhter, MP, Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Primary and Mass Education, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP, Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shamim Haider Patoyari, Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law, Legislative and Parliament.

In the second session, discussant was Dr. Mohammad Shahudujjaman, Founder and Executive Director, Eco Social Development Organization, Special Discussant was Shamima Sultana Shilu, Department Head, Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Khulna.

Ratiya Rehnuma, Research Associate, CPD, presented the key note paper during the session.

The Third session titled ‘Education’ was presided by Rasheda K Chowdhury, Member, Board of Trustee, CPD.

Special Guests were Nurul Islam Nahid, MP, Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Fazle Hossain Badsha, MP, Member, Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Education.

Special Discussants were Professor M. Nazmul Haque, Director, Teacher Development Institute, Sheikh Mohammad Rafiqul Islam, Head Teacher, Pllimangal High School, Khulna and key note paper was presented by Muntasir Kamal, Research Fellow, CPD.

The session was taken part by different experts, economists, social activists and media. 

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