Browsing by Author "Ahmed, Hasan Shareef"

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BRAC University Annual Report 2002
(BRAC University, 2003-10) BRAC University; Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Siddiqui, Husna Mehnaz
Proceedings of the seminar on situation of the elderly in Bangladesh: what do we know?
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1996-08) lslam, Md Nazrul; Ahmed, Hasan Shareef
There is a growing tendency of world's elderly (60 years and above) population and concentrating in the developing countries. By the year 2025, 72% of the world's elderly (858 million) population will be living in the developing countries. In 1980, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh were the five top ranking countries in terms of population lives in Asian and Pacific region. By the year 2025, these five countries will account for 44% of the world's elderly population. In Bangladesh, there are 6 million elderly population. This number will be 10 million by the year 2000 and 24 million by 2025. Bangladesh is one of the 20 countries with the largest elderly population. Traditionally, in Bangladesh, the responsibility for the welfare of the elderly lies with their children and the state has virtually no obligation to provide care for its elderly. Culturally a son, preferably the eldest one looks after their elderly parents. The daughters have no direct opportunity to look after her parents in old age due to two main reasons: there may be objections from her husband and her in-laws, and may view it as a shameful situation. What happens when there are no sons or when the sons are not available to look after the parents? Some elderly live on their own or have a poor relative stay with them to take care of them, while economic provision may be arranged by any children. Traditionally son provides food and shelter and his wife to takes personal care of her elderly parentsin- laws. Obviously, in case of a married elderly man, the primary caregiver is his wife if she is able. The riverse situation, husband caring for his wife, almost never occurs. However, majority of elderly people continue to live within extended family settings both in urban and rural areas, because social changes have not occurred significantly in the extended family. Moreover, the status of old people was not uniformly high in the past. It is also observed that there was a strong correlation between level of status of elderly and their economic power.
Readership survey: the case of a research compendium in Bangla
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1999-01) Ullah, AKM Ahsan; Ahmed, Hasan Shareef
Nirjash, a research compendium in Bangla, is published primarily for BRAC field staff. After three years of its publication it was felt essential to conduct a readership survey on its usefulness, accessibility and readability. The study assessed the readership of this compendium among the BRAC field staff. Data were collected from 1 ,698 field staff of 1 03 BRAC area offices in 18 districts. Of the 1, 698 respondents, 497 were interviewed and information from the rest (1,201) was obtained through postal questionnaires. Findings of the study revealed that 45% of the respondents were aware of Nirjash and of them 79% (604) had read it. A higher proportion of the field managers were aware of Nirjash (90%) while it was much lower (40%) for the programme organizers (PO). Among those who read it 48% found its language easy while only 7% found hard, and 93% reported to be benefited. On the contrary, nearly 2% did net like it while 40% and 58% viewed it as a very good and good to read respectively. Over the three years, readership increased by 26% compared to the survey of 1995. No field offices were found to have got all issues of the Nirjash. The study shows that there was a communication gap among the field managers and their staff and there was a problem in the distribution system.
Rice-based oral rehydration
(1987) Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Molla, A.M.
Sustainability of scientific journals in developing world with special reference to Bangladesh
(Journal of Applied Communications, 1999) Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Khan, M. Shamsul Islam; Ullah, A. K. M. Ahsan; Chowdhury, A.M..R.
Sustainability of Scientific Journals in the developing world with special reference to Bangladesh
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1999-03) Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Chowdhury, A Mushtaque R.; Khan, M Shamsul Islam; Ullah, AKM Ahsan
The study aimed to explore the sustainability issues of journal publication in Bangladesh. Forty-three journal editors were interviewed, and 66 current journals were scanned. Findings reveal that 68~1o of the journals were published late, 30°/o had inconsistencies in typesetting, and 14% were indexed. Most journals were found either excellent or of good quality in terms of printing (85~'0), binding (77~'0), paper (92%), and graphic reproduction (76~'0). Most journals were not available in major libraries. Of the 43 editors, 28 reported to have cost-recovery of 1-45% from subscription, advertisement, and sales. About 74.4% of the editors did not consider their journals at stake. Although 86% of the editors were confident that their journals would sustain in the long run, 37 .3~'0 could not cite any logic in support of their statement. Major problems include lack of finance and quality articles, skilled staff, institutional support; and lengthy peer review process. Only one claimed to be a full-time editor having training on editing and publication. Half (51%) of the editors reported to have training on editing, while four had publication training. Most editors (79%) showed keen interest in editing and publication training. Some suggestions are made to ensure sustainability of local journals.
Sustainability of scientific journals in the developing world with special reference to Bangladesh
(1999) Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Chowdhury, A. Mushtaque R.; Khan, M. Shamsul Islam; Ullah, A.K.M. Ahsan
Taking research to non-researchers: the case of a research compendium of BRAC
(BRAC Research and Evaluation Division (RED), 1999-11) Ahmed, Hasan Shareef; Ullah, AKM Ahsan; Chowdhury, AMR
The study assessed the readership of Nirjash, a vernacular research compendium of BRAC. Since its inception in 1995, five issues have been produced. In 1998 we conducted a readership survey on its usefulness, accessibility, awareness, and readability. Data were collected from 1,698 field staff of 103 BRAC area offices in 18 districts. Of the respondents, 497 were interviewed directly with a questionnaire, but for the rests (1,201) it was self-administered. Findings revealed that 45% of the respondents were aware of Nirjash, and of them 79% had read it. Field managers were more aware of Nirjash (87%) than their junior colleagues (40%) . Among those who have read it, 48% found it easy to read, 7% found it difficult, and 93% reported that they benefited from reading Nirjash. Only four respondents did not like Nirjash at all. Over the first three years, readership increased by 26%. No field office had collection of all the issues of Nirjash reflecting problem in distribution system.