Introduction

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993 by Professor Rehman Sobhan with support
from leading civil society institutions in Bangladesh, is mandated by its Deed of Trust to service the
growing demand that originates from the emerging civil society of Bangladesh for a more participatory
and accountable development process. CPD seeks to address this felt need by way of organising
multistakeholder consultations, by conducting research on issues of critical national and regional
interests, through dissemination of knowledge and information on key developmental issues, and by
influencing the policy making process in the country.
In the process, CPD strives to bridge the gap between empirical research and policy advocacy through a
sustained effort in public policy analysis. CPD endeavours to create a national environment conducive to
open public discussion on important policy issues with a view to ensuring domestic ownership over the
policy agenda and also building a broad-based support for such policies.
Over the past twenty years, CPD has emerged as Bangladeshs premier think-tank and has established
its credibility as one of the very few places in Bangladesh where the government and opposition political
parties agree to sit around the dialogue table and conduct an informed discussion with the civil society.
CPDs civil activitism in policy-related areas is operationalised through various means which are
implemented through concrete initiatives. These include:

Knowledge generation through research and analysis, creation and management of data and

information base.
Policy awareness raising through dialogues, networking, information dissemination and mobilising

support of the civil society.

Policy influencing, at both national, regional and international levels, by involving policymakers in

the dialogue process and by contributing to preparation of global policy documents and national policy
briefs.
Capacity building, by way of organising policy appreciation workshops for policy-makers and
other important stakeholder groups.
The Background
The revealed wisdom stemming from recent development experiences of many countries amply
demonstrate that unless policy changes originate from domestic discourse and are designed with
stakeholder participation, it is hardly possible to establish domestic ownership over the development
agenda and ensure successful implementation of the developmental policies. Besides, the absence of
informed policy discussion on important public issues severely jeopardize the credibility of public policies,
limit their acceptability and undermine their efficacy. In order for policies to be democratically sustainable,
it is important to recognise the need for making the process of policy formulation more inclusive. To
ensure accountability and participation, it is essential to initiate a process of public consultation based on
a more objective assessment of policy designs, their implementation and outcome, which is independent
of the donors as well as the Government of Bangladesh (GOB). Such an exercise provides a basis for
encouraging civil society as stakeholder to identify policy alternatives and to build up support for particular
policy options. Such a process will serve to establish a degree of ownership over the policy agenda by
involving representatives of the stakeholders along with policymakers in the design of public policy.
Policies which originate from such a consultative process are likely to be more acceptable to the people of

Bangladesh and are, thereby, likely to be more implementable. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)
holds that an agenda of focused policy dialogues, organised in a non-confrontational environment is likely
to bring to the surface a more consensual perspective to policy-making and would contribute towards
good governance in the country.
Objectives
It is of paramount importance to the sustainability of any programme of policy reforms in Bangladesh and
indeed integral to the process of good governance to develop institutional mechanisms for educating the
public on the significance of specific policy issues through a process of informed public debate. The
principal objectives guiding the work of the Centre for Policy Dialogue is to contribute towards peoples
awareness about policy issues affecting their lives and the future of their country, and to create a national
climate for public discussion of important policy issues with a view to building up broad-based support for
such policies. In order to achieve its objective, CPD has set itself the task to attain the following goals:

To create a platform for public discussion of important national policy issues with a view to

building up a broad-based support for such policies.

To organise regular policy dialogues with participation from major stakeholders including policy

makers, academics, experts, civil society, representative from business community, NGOs and other
civil society groups and stimulate a culture of dialogue and discussion on various important
development issues.
To conduct in-depth research on critical development issues which could service the needs of an

informed public debate.

To raise policy awareness of young people in Bangladesh by conducting internship programme

by creating opportunities to share their views, and by organising policy appreciation courses for them.
To provide policy inputs to the principal decision-makers on the basis of research and dialogue

outputs.
To enhance and stimulate endogenous capacity to design and implement domestic policy

agendas with a view to generate a sense of ownership by encouraging research activities through
grants and fellowships.
To disseminate the revealed wisdom stemming from the dialogue discussion to a broad spectrum

of civil society through active dissemination and networking activities.

To undertake in depth case studies, including investigative journalism, in order to generate first

hand information on state of governance in particular sectors of the economy and bring the results of
such investigation to public notice and subject these to public scrutiny and accountability.
To generate information on public perception on issues of national, economic and social interest
and on state of governance by conducting periodical public perception polls.
In the process of addressing the above objectives CPD has emerged as Bangladeshs premier think-tank
and is generally looked upon by civil society to provide a space where issues of national concern can be
exposed to interactive discussion within an enlightened environment. CPD has established its credibility
as one of the very few places in Bangladesh where the government and opposition political parties are
agreeable to sit around a dialogue table and also to interact with civil society. Dialogue reports published
by the CPD on a regular basis capture the outcome of such dialogues and have in the past served a
useful purpose in bringing into sharp focus the critical and relevant issues of the day.
Focus

CPD focuses on frontier issues which are critical to the development process of Bangladesh in the
present context, and which are expected to shape and influence the countrys development prospect in
the mid-term.
CPDs current programme portfolio includes research activities, holding of dialogues, publication and
dissemination as well as networking related initiatives.

Macroeconomic Performance Analysis

CPD has been implementing the programme on Macroeconomic Performance Analysis through its
flagship programme, i.e. IRBD which originated from the idea of producing a home-grown perspective on
Bangladeshs economic performance, on an ongoing basis.
The core objectives of the IRBDs are to provide the stakeholders with perspectives on both strategic and
policy issues and current developments. The idea is to provide a civil society report card on performance
of key macroeconomic parameters that would be distinct from the exercises carried out by donors and the
government.
View more about Independent Review of Bangladeshs Development (IRBD)
It was decided at the very beginning that the underlying vision, design and execution of the IRBD would
remain, from beginning to end, a home-grown effort. CPD prepared the proposal for the IRBD programme
and explored support from potential sources. The Like Minded Group (LMG) of countries comprising of
Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden came forward to support the IRBD programme.
The first IRBD report was prepared in 1995. Since then, CPD has been continuing this flagship
programme by way of preparing IRBD volumes every year. Studies conducted under the IRBD
programme are of three distinct natures:

Macro Component provides an analysis of the state of the Bangladesh economy by tracing the
performance of major macroeconomic indicators during a fiscal year. This part has several interim
outputs: a six-monthly review in January, state of the economy prior to budget in May, CPD budget
proposals, review of the budget immediately after budget is placed, and a comprehensive analysis
of the economy during the past fiscal year in September.
Thematic Component deals with strategic issues of long-term importance by looking at the
identified theme from various perspectives. Past themes have included governance, labour market,
globalisation and regional cooperation in South Asia.
Special Issues focus on particular issues and developments that require immediate attention.
Such volumes brought out in the past included flood cost estimation, analysis of the poverty
reduction strategy paper (PRSP), etc.

Resource Mobilisation and Fiscal Policies

Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice

Addressing issues of poverty in the South Asia region has been one of the key focuses of CPDs research
activities over the years. It was in this context that CPD, in partnership with the South Asia Centre for
Policy Studies (SACEPS), initiated a programme titled Eradication of Poverty in South Asia Through the
Empowerment of the Poor in 2004. Core support for the programme was received by SACEPS from the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. The programme was designed to address
poverty across South Asia. Activities under this programme included country studies in five countries
(Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) of the region as well as regional dialogues and
consultations which included discussions with slum dwellers, landless labour, political leaders, civil society
leaders, etc. The dialogue process which informed this programme culminated in a South Asian regional
Seminar organised by CPD-SACEPS, in Dhaka on 12-13 October 2008, where a draft of the overview
report of the research study and reports of the country studies were presented to a gathering of regional
and national experts. Based on comments from this regional Seminar, a final report was prepared and
presented at an International Conference organised by SACEPS-CPD in partnership with Poverty
Practice, Bureau of Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York, in
New Delhi on 17-18 December 2008.

The programme was completed towards the end of 2009; however, review and editing work concerning a
number of country studies were carried out in 2010. These included three research monographs
titledApproach of the International Development Community towards Poverty Eradiation in
Bangladesh; Poverty and Access to Education in Bangladesh; and Poverty, Power and Education Growth.
The final report under the project, Challenging the Injustice of Poverty: Agendas for Inclusive
Development in South Asia, was published in 2010 by the SAGE publications, India. Authored
by Professor Rehman Sobhan, Chairman CPD, the book identifies specific policy and institutional
measures which are expected to serve to challenge the injustice of poverty in the region. A major
departure of this work has been its central focus on structural dimensions of poverty and on correcting the
injustice inherence in the dominant prevailing system of ownership and management of resources.

Agriculture and Rural Development

Agriculture has assumed central position in the policy discourse of present times particularly in view of the
urgency of ensuring national food security of the country. Bangladeshs development with equity and
justice hinges critically on development of agriculture and revitalisation of the rural economy. Over the last
many years, CPD conducted several studies under this programme including the ones related to food
production and food security, prices of food items, crop diversification and spatial pattern of Bangladesh
agriculture.

Trade, Regional Cooperation and Global Integration

In 1999, CPD designed a programme titled Trade Policy Analysis (TPA) with a view to carrying out
research in areas related to Bangladeshs regional and global integration and to support Bangladeshs
negotiations in the WTO. Major areas of focus of the TPA programme are: (a) trade-related research, (b)

preparation of Policy Briefs in support of trade policy making, (c) organisation of dialogues, (d) holding of
workshops and trainings, (e) strengthening of trade-related documentation, and (f) trade-related
publication and networking. The programme has received support from the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA). Key objectives of the programme are as follows:
Strengthening Bangladeshs capacity to address trade-related policy issues.
Raising awareness on trade issues among major stakeholder groups.
Strengthening capacity to formulate and implement appropriate trade policies in the context of the
WTO-governed trade regime.

Enhancing Bangladeshs capacity to conduct trade-related negotiations.

CPD perceives Bangladeshs development to be critically dependent on effective regional and global
integration of the countrys economy. A large part of CPDs research activities has thus, been devoted to
exploring effective ways and means to further Bangladeshs interests and address Bangladeshs concerns
from regional and global perspectives. In the past, CPD has undertaken a number of research works to
examine various aspects of bilateral economic relations with India, preferential market access under
South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and Asia- Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), regional connectivity, trade
facilitation in South Asia, and sub-regional cooperation in South Asia and among BCIM (Bangladesh,
China, India and Myanmar) countries.

Investment Promotion, Infrastructure and Enterprise

Development
The focus of this research component is to track the investment scenario in Bangladesh and analyse
various incentives and policy measures that inform business environment in Bangladesh. Analysing the
impact of public sector reforms also remains a focus of continuing interest under this programme.

As part of the aforesaid programme, since 2001, CPD has been conducting Executive Opinion Surveys
as inputs to the Global Competitiveness Report (GCR), an annual publication brought out by the World
Economic Forum (WEF) (better known as the Davos Forum). A structured questionnaire that covers
various aspects of business, commerce and investment in Bangladesh is administered among major
entrepreneurs and key business people of the country to elicit the required information. Findings from the
surveys were regularly presented to the media through press briefings.

Climate Change and Environment

In view of the worldwide concern over climate change, CPD is giving increasingly more emphasis on
environmental issues in its research work. It is in this context that CPD is engaged in conducting a
number of studies for last several years analyzing the impact of climate change on various sectors of
Bangladesh. One of the major initiatives taken in this regard was research undertaken in related areas as

part of a three-year long research project on climate change in partnership with the International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) with support from the Asian Development Bank
(ADB). CPD has also carried out a study on climate change and rice production in Bangladesh in 2008.
The study presented a synthesis of projection on impact of climate change on agricultural production in
Bangladesh and underscored the importance of strengthening research on drought, flood and salinetolerant rice varieties to facilitate crop adaptation in future. In 2010, CPD completed two studies under
the project focusing on the adaptation strategies in Bangladesh agriculture to combat negative
consequences of climate change. These studies analysed changes in climate conditions in Bangladesh
over the last four decades with special focus on flood-prone and drought-prone ecological conditions.
Documenting the changes and patterns of the rural economic life and livelihood activities in four districts
during 1990-91 to 2004-05, the studies analysed the changes in cropping pattern, livelihoods and poverty
situation in these areas.

Human Development and Social Protection

Human development and social protection remain a core focus in CPDs research portfolio. CPD has
been undertaking research on these themes both independently and in collaboration with other relevant
organisations and development partners. Some of the recent studies carried out by CPD in this area
focused on such issues as gender dimension of trade liberalisation in Bangladesh, measuring economic
impact of spousal violence, macroeconomic implications of social safety nets, and allocation of national
budget for children.

Development Governance, Policies and Institutions

Governance and policy reforms have been major areas of research as well as dialogue activities at the
CPD. CPD views the related issues to be of critical importance from the perspective of strengthening
democracy as well as equitable development in the context of Bangladesh. CPD has previously
conducted a number of in-depth researches on such issues as macroeconomic policy reforms, quality of
governance in various sectors, reforms of the tax administration, industrial policy reforms and electoral
reforms. In this connection, CPD carried out extensive research on policy reforms related to development
of agriculture and distribution of agricultural inputs, jute sector restructuring, addressing regional disparity
and quality of macroeconomic governance in view of the ongoing global economic crisis. Indeed, CPDs
IRBD programme is designed in a manner that state of economic governance and major policy reforms
are monitored and examined on an ongoing basis. As a mechanism of devising strategies to cushion the
economy from possible after-shocks of the global financial crisis, CPD conducted a research on Inventory
of Policy Responses to the Global Financial Crisis: Implications for Bangladesh. Carried out in association
with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the study compiled information on various policy
measures related to macroeconomics, export and domestic market-oriented issues of Bangladesh under
four broad aspects of employment, social protection, international labour standards and social dialogue.
The study was part of ILO global initiative to examine policy response in employment and social sectors in
view of the global financial crisis and its impact on the labour market.