Browsing by Author "Aziz, Syeda Salina"

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Achieving gender equality through challenging social norms: BRAC’s Polli Shomaj program
(Taylor & Francis, 2023-06-21) Qayum, Nayma; Hassan, Mirza; Aziz, Syeda Salina
Can NGOs implement rights-based gender equality programs when donor focus on the area is shrinking? This paper explores how one development program has made strategic choices incorporating the interests of multiple stakeholders, addressing donor interests while simultaneously addressing the needs of local communities. It examines the evolution of BRAC’s Polli Shomaj, a rural women’s civil society organisation designed to challenge power structures through collective action in rural Bangladesh. It draws on interviews with program staff and existing program literature to find that over time, BRAC leadership has narrowed its program focus to shed its broad transformative agenda to focus solely on gender equality through a combination of service delivery and rights-based approaches. The paper suggests that while it is possible for NGOs to promote gender equality through a combination of rights-based and service-delivery approaches, greater focus is needed on challenging power structures to bring about lasting structural change.
Al Muslim group overview of five major departments
(BRAC University, 2025-11) Islam, Shahedul; Aziz, Syeda Salina
The summary is the reflection of my Industrial Training at Al Muslim Group. I have been working here as an Assistant Merchandiser for the last two years. I was working on my industrial training for the last three months and I acknowledged everything in detail. I got an opportunity to practice and experience my learnings and skills in an efficient way by implementing the knowledge which I have been learning over the last 9 months at PGD-KIM, Brac University. This PGD-KIM course is the projection of the development of the knitwear industry by BKMEA in association with SICIP. Knitwear has a large contribution to the RMG industry for the improvement of our country. Bangladesh has a great impact and also opportunities in this industry. This course made my knowledge vaster about the knitwear industry. So, the projection of this report is practical knowledge and experience in the knitwear industry. I have made the report with detailed and efficient information. This experience is a great help for my future career. This report is on achieving practical knowledge and experience which will help me in my future career. And I have prepared this report with all the necessary information and data and related steps of industrial training.
Being new Poor in Bangladesh: Coping strategies, constraints, and trajectories
(Institute of Development Studies, 2024-02-28) Nazneen, Sohela; Ahamed, Raihan; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Joshi, Anuradha; Loureiro, Miguel; Nampoothiri, Niranjan J.; Nur, Jahid; Sharmila, Nowshin; Ananna, Rabeena; Zaman, Shahaduz
Recent research on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in Bangladesh reveals the struggles of millions who fell into poverty, unable to regain their pre-pandemic economic status. Drawing on qualitative panel data from 39 affected households in Khulna, this study explores the strategies employed by the new poor to recover, such as financial management, diversified livelihoods, and accessing social protections. However, constraints including limited access to loans, social protections, and gender norms hinder their efforts. Governance implications suggest a need for increased state support, reduced reliance on intermediaries, and efforts to build trust in local government to aid in poverty recovery.
CSR practice at energy sector procurement in Bangladesh: a case study on gas transmission pipeline project under Gas Transmission Company Ltd.(GTCL)
(BRAC Univeristy, 2018-04) Faroque, Iqbal Bahar; Aziz, Syeda Salina
The thesis attempted to examine the related issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) like Environmental Responsibility, Human Rights, Equal Opportunities, Diversity, Corporate Governance, Sustainability, Impact on Society, Ethics and Ethical Trading, Biodiversity, Community Involvement are practicing at energy sector project through which goods, works and services are procuring with ‘public fund’ in Bangladesh with reference to gas transmission pipeline project under Gas Transmission Company Ltd. (GTCL). Empirical in nature, the study focused on the CSR practice at various project taken using‘public fund’ at energy sector of Bangladesh, especially under GTCL. The survey took place among Project Director, Manager (Engineering), Manager (Estate & Administration), Deputy Manager, Assistant Engineer of GTCL, material supplier, pipeline construction contractor, EPC contractor& HDD river crossing contractor and suppliers’ employees& contractors’ employees. GTCL has its project all over the Bangladesh. Data were captured from eighty-six (86) stakeholders of project under GTCL. The study divided into three phases, at first phase identified the practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at project under GTCL. The second phase attempted to find out the scope of practicing of CSR at project under GTCL and measured the gap between the two constructs. Finally, the third phase made an effort to suggest some measures to the authority of GTCL to help the project management to improve its practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). To conduct the research questionnaire survey method is used. Forty (40) personsfrom GTCL employees as buyer representatives and Forty-six (46)persons from suppliers, contractors and consultant representatives are interviewed on approximately identical questions to find out the variance of their practice.
Evolution of village social order in rural Bangladesh: a 50-year analysis
(BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, 2025-06) Hassan, Mirza; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Shahan, Asif; Proma, Aishwarya Sanjukta Roy; Nur, Jahid; Tasnim, Sumaiya; Ahamed, Raihan
Villages as a research focus received high priority during the 1970s. This focus waned over time, particularly in the post-2008 period, a time when the country also began to face a serious political setback and came under dominant party rule for the next 15 years. The altered political context had a profound impact on policy, governance, and sociopolitical processes at both national and local levels. In this context, the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) took the initiative in 2023 to study the major changes in the villages of Bangladesh, particularly over the past 25–30 years. The broad Changing Village study encompasses seven thematic areas: culture, migration, climate change and environment, built environment, financial inclusion, agriculture, and social and political order. The detailed context of the Changing Village study, its methodology, sampling, and the description of the sample villages can be found in the paper, গ্রাম পরিবর্তনঃ প্রেক্ষাপট ও গবেষণা কৌশল (Changing Village: Context and Methodology). This working paper is based on research conducted under the social and political order theme.
Exploring the feasibility of private micro flood insurance provision in Bangladesh
(© 2011 Overseas Development Institute.) Akter, Sonia; Brouwer, Roy; Beukering, Pieter J.H. van; Laura, French; Silver, Efrath; Choudhury, Saria; Aziz, Syeda Salina
This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of the provision of micro flood insurance as an effective tool for spreading disaster risks in developing countries and examines the role of the institutional-organisational framework in assisting the design and implementation of such a micro flood insurance market. In Bangladesh, a private insurance market for property damage and livelihood risk due to natural disasters does not exist. Private insurance companies are reluctant to embark on an evidently unprofitable venture. Testing two different institutional-organisational models, this research reveals that the administration costs of micro-insurance play an important part in determining the long-term viability of micro flood insurance schemes. A government-facilitated process to overcome the differences observed in this study between the nonprofit micro-credit providers and profit-oriented private insurance companies is needed, building on the particular competence each party brings to the development of a viable micro flood insurance market through a public-private partnership.
Giving youth a voice: Bangladesh youth survey 2011
(BRAC University, 2012-10) Graner, Elvira; Yasmin, Fatema Samina; Aziz, Syeda Salina
Based on national level data, children and youth have accounted for approximately 65.7 per cent of the population in 2001. Among those, 26.3 per cent are youth between the age group 15 and 30 (based on GOB/ 10 BANGLADESH YOUTH SURVEY 2011 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2003). The Bangladesh Youth Survey (BYS) was conducted among 6,575 young persons across all 64 districts and on a representational basis. The gender proportion was nearly half and half (3296 men and 3279 women) and a rural - urban proportion was 70 to 30. Among the latter, 4.7 per cent of the sample was conducted in city corporations, as we thought that this might provide interesting insights into social change at these localities. Our analyses of the BYS data base is mainly based on gender, locality (and district), age groups, and on income groups, following self-reported income (see below). The core demographic data indicate that among the youth, the majority of the women have already been married (64 per cent), as opposed to only 28 per cent among the men. Women marry much earlier, while the majority of the 19/20 year old women were already married, this proportion was only reached among the 25/26 year old men. Similarly, more than half of the 18 year old women already had their first child, while this proportion was only 18 per cent among men. At the same time, these ages differ significantly from what youth consider as ideal (see below). Their monthly household incomes range from 2500 to 150,000 Taka. When forming quintiles for our analysis, the lowest income group has monthly incomes of less than 5,000 Taka, the second lowest group of 5000 to 7,500 Taka, and the middle income group of 7,500 to 10,000 Taka. For the two highest income groups we have selected 15,000 Taka as the demarcation line between higher and highest income groups. In regard to education, currently 42 per cent of the men and 27.8 of the women were still enrolled. On the other hand, 5.6 per cent have never been to school, and an additional 5 per cent have not reached class V. Among all youth, 27 per cent have not studied in class 8 and more than 40 per cent have not reached class 10. Locational disparities for those who never attended school are astonishingly low and are only slightly lower in rural areas (5.8 per cent, as compared to 5.3 per cent in urban areas and 5.5 per cent in city corporations). There is a promising trend that rates of non-attendance have declined considerably over the past decade within primary education, from more than 10 per cent among the older group to about 5 per cent among the youngest group. Similarly, while only 60 per cent among the older group had reached class VIII this proportion has increased significantly over the past 15 years, to more than 80 per cent. Yet, while annual rates of about 1.3 per cent are promisingly high, these rates are not likely to increase in a linear mode. Overall, a considerably high share of youth from lower income groups (and hard to reach ones) has remained out of school, until today. Thus, a social analysis based on (self reported) incomes gives rise to serious concerns. Among the lowest two income quintiles rates of ‘never-attendance’ stood at 10.4 and 8.1 per cent, respectively. Integration into the labour market is quite low, and characterised by vast gender disparities. Overall, only 32.4 per cent of all youth in the BYS sample have any experience of work, whether paid or unpaid. Currently, only 27.6 per cent are engaged in paid work or employment (a total of 1,820 persons). At the same time, only 3 per cent classified themselves as unemployed (in addition to 5 per cent where no answer was given). Gender disparities are highly pronounced, while it is about 4 per cent among men it is merely 2 per cent among women. Among the latter, an extremely large group has classified themselves as housewives. As marriage takes place at a rather early age this is also the case among women of younger age groups. At the same time, disparities at different localities are low, but there is, as expected, a strong pattern according to age groups. Among the youngest age group (15 to 20) less than 20 per cent are currently engaged in regular work or employment but rates increase to nearly 45 per cent for the oldest age group (25-30). At the same time, integration into the labour market takes place at extremely early ages for many youth. In a few districts 35 to 50 per cent have started work before reaching the age of 15. When asked for job preferences, the public Giving Youth A Voice - Bangladesh Youth Survey 2011 11 sector has an extremely high attraction (for more than 50 per cent). At the same time, this decreases quite substantially along age groups, from more than 60 per cent to less than 30 per cent. For getting a job, families play a crucial role, particularly for younger groups, whereas friends as mediators are more important among older youth and in city corporations. Labour migration is also an option for many, both men and women. Destinations are partly Dhaka or elsewhere in Bangladesh, and for men, the Arab region is a vital option. Participation in vocational training has remained quite low, at an average of 7 per cent only. This share is considerably higher among men (at 8.3 versus 5.6 per cent) and in city corporations (10.9 per cent, versus 8.5 and 6.1 per cent in other urban and rural areas). Vocational training is highest among the 20-25 age group (9.1 per cent), and this primarily reflects that average ages of participating in these trainings are 17 to 22. Among lower income groups, vocational training is less frequent (5.3 per cent). Yet, this might be a circular conclusion, as those who have undergone vocational trainings are likely to fall into higher income groups. When assessing vocational training policies, a strong feed back was the need to integrate vocational training and placements in companies. When defining democracy, a wide majority stated that elections are a core parameter. At the same time, there are substantial gaps in getting registered as voters. Overall, a majority of more than 70 per cent of all eligible youth (18-30) was registered as voters, and registration was even higher among women (nearly 74 versus 69 per cent, respectively). Among the 18 to 20 year-olds the majority was not yet registered, and even among those aged 21 only about two thirds were registered, although they could have participated in the last election. While gender disparities are quite low, regional disparities are much more pronounced. When assessing the performance of core public “institutions”, there is strong support for the military and local government institutions, whereas dissatisfaction is highest with the police and Members of Parliament (MPs). In regard to corruption perception, again the police and the judiciary are perceived as the two most corrupt entities. Regarding crime, the top five crimes are murder, drug and alcohol abuse, dowry and personal property crimes, and all of these are reported as “very severe” by more than 80 per cent. The perception of crime also has a strong gender pattern. Crimes such as eve-teasing, dowry, and sexual violence are more important for women. When asked about the major sources of information regarding the state, youth have pointed out the importance of newspaper and TV news. When asked about their satisfaction with the performance of the current and previous governments, the two politically elected governments, both the current Awami League and the past BNP, were ranked lower than the last care taker government (CTG). In regard to the recent developments for “Digital Bangladesh” there is quite a mixed picture. On the one hand, there are rather promising developments in regard to the availability of mobile phones. This has spread quite rapidly to about 85 per cent of all youth, a substantial increase even when compared to our last year’s Governance Barometer Survey (at 70 per cent) or the British Council’s “Next Generation” (73 per cent). Regional disparities, as well as social ones, have considerably declined. At the same time, actual utilisation is extremely low, and many young people re-charge their phones with less than 150 Taka per month. In addition, mobile phones are often mainly used for giving each other “missed calls”. At the same time, computer utilisation and internet utilisation have remained dismally low, and highly socially exclusive as they are mainly used by higher income groups only. As only less than 10 per cent of youth utilise these means, we would overall strongly question the notion of a “digital generation”, and rather characterise them as “disconnected youth”. Bangladeshi youth have a strong connectivity to their families and communities. Families are in charge of deciding about most aspects of life, including the selection of a spouse. When in need, families rather than friends or anyone else are approached. When asked about life cycle planning, there are vast disparities 12 BANGLADESH YOUTH SURVEY 2011 between actual ages and what youth consider as ideal. For completing their education and getting married, both are given at about 25, and slightly lower for women. For asking about their leisure activities, we provided a list of fourteen activities, including reading books and newspapers, as well as “religious activities”. While many activities, other than sports, had a high level of agreement the ranking that was done as a second step showed a highly concentrated pattern. Religion and reading novels had an amasingly high level of priority, irrespective of gender and other parameters. For a better understanding of young people’s ideas about social change, we have asked them about the acceptance of a few controversial issues. While gender equality, working women, friendship with the opposite gender, and family planning seem to have a general consensus, some others face an extremely strong opposition. The latter include divorce and marriage without the consent of the parents. This was also confirmed when asking them how independent they felt in terms of decision making. Most young people felt quite independent in regard to decisions about choosing employment, how to spend money, choosing friends or exercising mobility. On the other hand, choosing their future spouse showed the highest level of dependence. When asked about the major challenges for young people, a large number of answers from the open ended question concentrated on unemployment, illiteracy, and lack of money and poverty. At the same time, the ranking of challenges has confirmed this, in addition to concerns about maintaing good health and getting quality education. From this perspective it is of no surprise that when asked about what the state could do to support young people, a large majority (of more than 5,000 among the 6,575 respondents) opted for “improve the quality of education” as a first priority. Other aspects were to create more job opportunites for the youth, although this was mainly given as a second priority.
Governance Barometer Survey Bangladesh 2010
(BRAC University, 2011) Aziz, Syeda Salina; Graner, Elvira
Logistics & Trade Finance in ZXY International: Payment Terms in Bangladesh RMG
(BRAC University, 2021-05) Hasan, Md. Mahamudul; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Rahman, Mizanur
ZXY is one of the leading European based garments sourcing company operating business in Bangladesh since 2000. We are working for around 100 customer all over the world and we are sourcing product from almost 200 Bangladeshi manufacturers. To handle such big logistics operation, we have total three team. Our main goal to make the goods available at customer warehouse within agreed schedule. We are involving every stage of operation. At the time of order placement, we are providing shipping cost and transit time for import raw material as well as final product reached at customer warehouse. After order placement we start importing raw material and make sure to in house raw material within planned schedule. For exporting final product, we place booking to customer nominated forwarder and follow up with customer to approval of booking. We make sure to handover the goods to forwarder within cutoff date and loaded to the carrier as per approved schedule. We track vessel until reached at destination. In case of any delay in transit we try to solve so that our customer can get the goods on time. We are responsible to collect payment from customer following agreed terms. We are working for various customer with multiple payment terms. Out of them letter of credit, TT, open account is most uses terms. We need to prepare various documents following local rules and customer requirement to get the payment. During the total process we are facing lots of difficulties and we must overcome those problem. Sometime our manufacturer failed to make the goods ready within schedule due to production issue, raw material shortage or faulty raw material. In such cases production will be delayed but to reach the final goods available at customer warehouse within agreed schedule we are finding faster transport service like Air, Sea & Air, Sea & Road so that we can meet the customer schedule.
Report on DADA Dhaka ltd.: a pioneer headwear manufacturer in Bangladesh
(BRAC University, 2025-11) Vhuyan, Md. Mustakim Billah; Aziz, Syeda Salina
I have done my internship program from August 2025 to November 2025, covering 66 working days, which is around 578 hours. In this period, I learned more technical knowledge in different areas such as human resouces, production, supply chain, merchandising & quality. I closely monitored the production process from raw material to finished products. During my internship I had the opportunity to work with different types of personnel. Because of their support and guidance, I was able to complete and submit the report. As we all know, DADA Dhaka Ltd. is the pioneer of headwear manufacturing & their goal is to keep the global quality standard so that customer could rely on them without any doubt. As a result, we will have control all over the manufacturing processes. We are committed to providing the best quality goods on time. As I am a planning person, my task is very important for production operation. So my learning from this course will be very helpful for my upcoming days, where I can implement my learning and apply it to take decisions that help me to develop my professional growth as well.
Report on operational processes and practical exposure during internship at Epyllion knitwears industry-HW
(BRAC University, 2025-11) Rumky, Shornali Akter; Aziz, Syeda Salina
This report presents the findings and learning outcomes of my industrial internship at Epyllion Knitwears Limited – HW, undertaken as part of the Post Graduate Diploma program at BRAC University. The internship aimed to provide practical exposure to the operational systems of a modern knitwear industry and to enhance my understanding of real- world factory practices beyond classroom-based theoretical learning. During the internship period, I had the opportunity to observe the overall functions of the factory, including HR, Admin & Compliance, Planning, Quality, Maintenance, MCD, PDC, Embroidery. While the report provides detailed discussion on five core departments — Merchandising, Industrial Engineering (IE), Cutting, Sewing, and Printing — my observations extend to the broader workflow of the entire manufacturing unit. This holistic exposure helped me understand how different departments are interconnected and how coordinated operations contribute to timely production and shipment. The executive sections of the report highlight the key tasks I followed up in each major department, practical differences from theoretical concepts, and the operational challenges commonly encountered in a large-scale apparel manufacturing setup. A critical assessment is included to reflect how academic knowledge from generic and industry-specific courses supported my understanding during the internship. Additionally, several constructive suggestions have been proposed for process improvement based on in-field observations. The internship significantly strengthened my analytical skills, technical understanding, communication ability, and problem-solving mindset. Overall, the experience at Epyllion Knitwears Limited – HW provided meaningful professional exposure and deepened my understanding of integrated knitwear manufacturing operations, preparing me for future responsibilities within the RMG sector.
Rizvi Fashions Ltd.
(BRAC University, 2021-06) Hossain, Md. Kamal; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Majumdar, Sarojit Kumar
Knitwear industry provides a great contribution to economy of Bangladesh by increasing export earnings through empowering women in the formal sector. This report is based on internship activities at Rizvi Fashions limited for Post Graduate Diploma in Knitwear Industry Management. Introductory part of this report is consisted with the overview of the company ‘Rizvi Fashions limited’ which 100% export-oriented knit garments manufacturing company. A brief history of the company, vision, mission, goals and objectives, organizational structure, description of department, products and services are included in the first chapter of this report. Description about task accomplishment during internship period has included in the second chapter of this report and it is also the main part of this report. As our internship period is for three months so this chapter is described on monthly tasks accomplished. In the first month I worked in knitting, store and cutting section; in the second month I worked in sewing and finishing section; in the last month I have worked in industrial engineering and planning department. In the third chapter a critical assessment of internship work regarding the application of generic and industry specific courses during internship has been included. There also some suggestions for the improvement of the industry have been added in this chapter. Finally, I have concluded the report.
State of service delivery in Dhaka city: an overview of drinking water supply
(BRAC University, 2012-07) Aziz, Syeda Salina
Sustainable procurement in textile & apparel Industry
(BRAC University, 2024-01) Ahmed, Md. Mahedi; Aziz, Syeda Salina
The area's latest and greatest composite mill is found at Beximco Ltd., a reputable apparel producer that operates under the Textiles & Apparel Division and has a 100% export-focused business model. Using state-of-the-art technology, the biggest supply chain facility, and an exceptionally talented workforce, it manufactures an extensive array of superior products, embracing yarn, fabric, and knitted garments for adults, children, and teens, such as t-shirts, sweaters, polo shirts, and pants. The goal of this study is to understand how the textile and apparel industries go about sustainable sourcing. During my Dissertation at Beximco Ltd, I had the chance to work in Supply chain and warehousing, logistic, finance & banking departments. I was able to pinpoint some important operational discoveries for the organization by drawing on my expertise working in these many divisions. The essential strength here is the presence of skilled and certified professionals as team leaders and members, as well as strong relationships with suppliers and customers. The supply chain department's lack of demand and forecast information is severe, and the production department's inadequate integration with timely goods delivery is also evident. Based on these conclusions, I advise Beximco Ltd. to reengineer demand and forecasting in order to decrease inventory, enhance sustainable supply chain policies, assess the company's financial performance, and install new machinery in order to lower overhead costs and boost productivity. Beximco Ltd. will be positioned for long-term growth and success in the textile sector by using these strategies.
The political economy of the landscape of trade unions in Bangladesh: The case of the RMG sector
(BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, 2022-07) Hassan, Mirza M; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Rahemin, Raeesa; Khan, Insiya; Hoque, Rafsanul
The paper explores the political economy landscape of trade unionism in Bangladesh. The focus is on the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector, where trade unions (TU) are highly salient and relatively more operational because of the sector’s economic importance, numerical strength of the labour, high degree of concentration of the industries, and TU’s global network, among other factors. Relying predominantly on primary data, we look at both the formal and informal dimensions of industrial relations and their implications for the state-capital-labour interactions as well as governance of TUs. Literature on RMG-related TUs in Bangladesh generally examines it from a social movement perspective. We take a slightly different approach in this paper by making a modest attempt to fulfil the knowledge gaps in TU research. We do this by exploring the formal and informal aspects of relations between the regulatory institutions and the TUs and, more importantly, the internal governance of the TUs themselves as noted above. Additionally, we explore the two-way relational dynamics of TU leaders and the garment workers. These areas have not received much attention in the extant literature. By adopting a politico-sociological perspective, the paper reflects on the collective action dynamics of industrial labour in the context of the global south.
The State of Governance Bangladesh 2014-2015: institutions, outcomes, accountability
(BRAC University, 2015) Rahman, Sultan Hafeez; Ahmed, Kazi Niaz; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Mannan, Sadiat; Rahman, Muhammad Ashikur; Rashid, Md. Harun-Or-; Razzaque, Farhana; Uddin, Mohammed Misbah; Zillur, Kaneta; Chowdhury, Liaquat Ali
The current report, i.e. SOG 2014-2015 uses a set of simply constructed quantitative indicators supplemented by qualitative assessments to 'gauge' governance performance of Bangladesh around three broad analytical categories, i.e., political, economic and social sectors. It is a pioneering study in that, it is the first attempt to investigate governance performance using quantitative indicators across a wide range of sectors, to the best of our knowledge. The research underpinning the report was challenged by both complex methodological and empirical issues. 'Governance' is not an easy term to define, let alone 'measure.' Not surprisingly therefore, there are an impressive array of methods which specialists have used to address governance performance, depending on the definition used and the particular context in question. The current report chooses to deploy indicators of governance performance which are outcome or output based and do not consider the processes at work which produce the outcomes, with some exceptions. The indicators may not represent governance variables directly but rather may be inferred from them. Hence the claim in the report is not that the set of indicators bear a causal relationship with governance outcomes, but rather that they represent credible association with the underlying status of governance in each area being considered. In cases such as these, the choice of indicators is critical to the analysis. Measuring the complex processes at work which, perhaps more accurately represent governance variables, would be far more difficult to measure, resource intensive and at least equally challenged by availability of data. To be credible such methods would involve large scale perception surveys which are well beyond the scope of the current investigation. Given the pioneering nature of the current report, the method of analysis used is adequate, except that the benefit of a longer set of comparable data is a major limitation. The findings and conclusions thus come with caveats. Nevertheless, the report yields interesting results and we intended to spark greater public debate on an issue of seminal contemporary concern for Bangladesh' political and economic future. Chapter two investigates some important dimensions of democratic governance such as voice and accountability by analysing the legislative productivity, freedom of expression measured by media freedom, the rule of law by as reflected in the judicial work and activities of law enforcing agencies of Bangladesh as well as an assessment of the national elections. The section on legislative productivity assesses the three universal parliamentary functions: representation, legislation and oversight. A striking finding with regards to representation in parliament, is the sharp increase in the share of MPs from among the business community in course of four parliamentary elections. Their representation rose from 38.4 percent in the fifth Parliament to 61.3 percent in the ninth Parliament. Although there has been an increase, it is not meaningful as it is still very low. Less than 10 women were directly elected in the fifth, seventh and eighth Parliaments, though the ninth Parliament registered some progress with 19 directly elected women members. Minority representation has also increased in the last (ninth) Parliament compared to the previous Parliaments. While the youth have a large share in the country's population, the percentage of youth MPs (below the age of 30) has been low as may be expected. Due to political inexperience, they are less likely to win party nomination. Thus their under representation in the Parliament excludes the 'voice' of a a large segment of the country's population in the legislative process. Reflecting youth aspirations in legislation is important to protect their right and address their specific needs, i.e. advance their welfare. Another feature to note is that persistent boycott of the main opposition party in every national Parliament to date has seriously undermined the quality of representation in Parliament and hence its effectiveness. In Bangladesh, though the number of bills passed in the Parliament has increased gradually in the successive Parliaments, the session wise and yearly legislative outputs is lower than other countries. Additionally, most legislation has been introduced as amendments while new bills constitute only onethird of the total. The executive dominance in the legislative process is also prominent in the country's parliamentary functions. The effectiveness of parliamentary oversight in Bangladesh has been limited due to a series of factors, including limited independence of parliamentary committees, the capacity of parliamentary staff and the lack of responsiveness of ministries to parliamentary recommendations. The majority of the committees have failed to report to the House on a regular basis; one-third nver submitted any reports on the workings of ministries. In some cases, a remarkably large number of reports were prepared; even then, however very few of the recommendations are accepted. The lack of effective scrutiny by the standing committees remains a matter of concern despite an active democratic process which has lasted over 2 decades. Over the last decade, both print and broadcast media have increased remarkably in terms of numbers. Significantly, media growth has also been characterised by close links between the business community and the political parties. However, it must be recognised that freedom of expression however is undermined by personal security concerns exemplified in the statistics on physical assaults on journalists. In this context, it may be noted that the recently passed National Broadcasting Policy 2014 also raised concerns among national and international civil society organisations on specific aspects of it. Apart from policy related impediments, actions of law enforcement agencies on journalists is a major deterrent for journalists in doing their work. The section on rule of law analyses the performance, efficiency and integrity of the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies of Bangladesh. Regarding judicial governance in Bangladesh, it is observed that, the case disposal rate is generally low. Shortage of judges is also a major reason for the case backlog in Bangladesh. Currently there are 104 Judges in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, of which 97 judges serve in the High Court Division and only seven judges are allocated to the Appellate Division. Moreover, the number of benches in the High Court Division is also inadequate to deal with the huge number of pending and newly filed cases. Grossly inadequate infrastructure facilities also remain a major constraint to progress in speeding up disposal of cases and hence offer quicker dispensation of justice. About four to five judges at a duty station have to use one court or chamber room on rotation basis which is also a limitation as these judges cannot utilise their working hours properly. Besides, lawyers' tendency to prolong case proceedings is another major reason for the delay in disposing off litigations. About the law and order situation, the number of criminal cases in Bangladesh is on the rise. The lowest number of criminal cases was recorded in 2004 with 119,323 cases, whereas the highest was reported in 2014. There has been an alarming increase in the number of murder cases, above three thousand every year, with the highest number at 4514 being recorded in 2014. The rise of disappearances is a recent phenomenon in the law and order scene of the country, with serious implications for the overall status of the rule of law in the country. Credible electoral management is a pre-condition for sustainable democracy which stands on the democratic principles of universal suffrage and political equality. In order to do a meaningful assessment of the electoral system of Bangladesh, there is a need to observe it through multiple lenses, each of which allows a deeper look into the intricacies of the nation's political context. Four major indicators are used for this purpose- integrity, participation, representation and competition to understand the state of the electoral system. Both the constitution and the Representation of the People Order (RPO) of 1972 (amended 2008) includes enough provisions for holding a credible election. Despite the many issues cited and allegations made by the losing opposition parties since the beginning of the democratic process in 1991, the successive national parliamentary elections were deemed to have been held in a free and fair manner, with acceptable standards of accountability and transparency. Bangladesh' transitional caretaker system of government which oversaw the elections from 1991 to 2008 had won credibility locally and won acclaim internationally. There was widespread acceptance among the intellengsia and civil society institutions that the democratic process was being consolidated as a result of the successful administration of elections. However, the experience of the elections to the tenth Parliament has been very different. The major opposition party boycotted the polls, and as consequence a large number of candidates won their seats uncontested. The political event was criticised by several influential analysts locally and internationally, and raised concerns about the democratic gains made till then through competitive elections and the exercise of the rights of franchise, as well as the seminal institution of democracy in this regard—the Election Commission. Chapter three assesses the economic governance of the country by considering three key sectors of the economy, i.e. financial institutions, infrastructure and macroeconomic stability. The section on financial institutions includes both banks and non-bank financial institutions. The findings show that all the key indicators of banking sector performance have improved over the years, though the rate of improvement has slowed in recent years. The share of non-performing loans (NPLs) in total loans was about 40 percent in 1998-99 which declined to about 10 percent in 2014. The NPL values do not indicate any improvement if looked at the absolute values, rather the fluctuation depends on how the supervisory regulations are enforced. The capital adequacy ratio also increased from 7 percent in 2001 to around 11 percent in 2014. The overall trend in profitability measured in terms of rate of return on equity and rate of return on assets show considerable improvement from 2000 till 2011 which deteriorates thereafter. In all the indicators, state owned commercial banks (SCBs) are lagging behind. The government's decision to recapitalise the SCBs has not been free from criticism. It has increased its fiscal pressure while easing liquidity and enhancing capital adequacy of the banks. More significantly it has reduced their NPLs and pushed down the sector NPL average as well. However, there is a palliative- the situation will worsen unless the SCBs undertake serious reforms. The overall bank governance index shows an improvement by seven percent in last ten years. However, this must be viewed in the back drop of the rescheduling. From December 2013 to September 2014, 100 billion taka was rescheduled without which NPL would have been more than Taka 82 billion for the last quarter of 2013. Compared to banks, the non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) account for a relatively smaller share of the financial sector. The classified loan ratio fluctuates around seven percent on average. Over a 10-year period, nonbank financial institutions have succeeded in managing their quality of loans, which records an improvement of 26 percent as reflected in their classified loan ratio. Their profitability and earnings decreased by 42 percent and 54 percent decline compared to the base year. Access to and coverage of electricity in Bangladesh has improved significantly in the last ten years. The percentage of population with electricity increased from 36 to 68 percent from 2004 to 2014 and per capita power consumption increased from 150 to 250 kWh. At the same time, the average cost of supply more than doubled in value. Subsidy in the power sector has increased to bridge the gap between production cost and the income generated from electricity. In spite of this increase, load shedding remains a major problem affecting service quality, and both aggregate demand and supply in the economy. System loss has decreased but it is still higher than the internationally accepted rate of seven to eight percent. The expenditure-income ratio of the power development board is still very high, implying high losses. The electricity governance index shows that in 2014 there has been an overall improvement of 19 percent. Even though Bangladesh has high land to road ratio, if road availability is viewed in terms of population, it shows that road (kilometres) per thousand people improved marginally. The data also reveal that the increase is largely due to improvements in local road network (LGED roads), and per capita highways and zila roads actually decreased in the last ten years. Quality of roads has generally decreased over the years. One estimate, suggests that the country lost almost USD 400 million in asset value per year due to lack of maintenance; without maintenance the road network would be largely unusable in 20 years. BRTA revenue collection target was at 90 percent on average annually, though in most years the revenue collection rate was below the target rate. The aggregate road indicator registers a decline of 11 percent from 2004 to 2014. The section on macroeconomic review shows that private investment shows a steady increase over the years in last two decades though the rate of progress was slow. Public investment was at around six percent or more until 2000, but decreased to four to five percent after 2005 and then improved in the last three years. is noted that to achieve a growth rate of over 7.5 percent, the required share of investment in GDP should be 28 to 32 percent whereas the current rate is on average 22 percent which “given the present political situation, even the most optimistic do not see happening in the near future”(ibid). A similar trend is also observed with respect to foreign investment. The contribution of remittance to GDP has increased steadily over the years. However, in 2013 and 2014, the number of migrant workers dropped compared to the previous two years, following problems in labour market in housing and agricultural sectors in Saudi Arabia and some some other Middle Eastern countries. Problems with legal documentation Bangladesh workers remain unresolved despite efforts by Bangladesh. Bangladesh experienced a rapid increase in trade in terms of volume and as a percentage of GDP. The worldwide recession led to declining trade as a share of GDP from 2008 to 2010 and recovery in recent years has been modest. However, it is important to note that besides RMG no other industry has exhibited similar growth and the excessive reliance on one industry for export earnings carries risks to the economy. The external economic governance indicator is 1.36 meaning that compared to 2004 the external economic performance, measured in terms of remittance inflow, number of expartiate workers and trade openness increased by 36 percent. The chapter also shows that tax revenue as a share of total revenue increased and the tax-GDP share also registered steady improvement 2008 though the rate of growth fluctuates. ADP utilisation has improved over the years though 10 percent of the budget still remains unspent every year. Aggregation of fiscal management variables (including tax-GDP ratio, budget deficit and ADP utilisation show overall performance marginally improved by four percent in 2014 from 2004. The contribution is positive mostly because of improvements in the tax-GDP ratio by 13 percent. In ten years, the trade- GDP ratio records the maximum improvement of 13 percent. Budget deficit went down five percent and utilisation rate of ADP improved marginally. Chapter four comprises an assessment of governance in the education sector taking into consideration some important dimensions of education in primary, secondary and higher secondary education. The findings of the study confirm that the performance indicators of education at different levels have improved rapidly over time, in terms of increasing pass rate, enrolment, higher scores in public examinations and lower dropout rates, and class repetition rates. For instance, the pass rates in both SSC and in HSC which was 48 per cent in 2004 increased markedly to 89 per cent and to 71 percent respectively in 2014. At the primary level, the pass rate increased from 92in 2010 which increased to about 99 percent in 2013. As expected, the chapter found a positive correlation between the pass rates of SSC and HSC in the period 2003— 2013. The dropout rate and number of repeaters at primary and secondary level also decreased. The training of teachers and student -teacher ratio are two important indicators of education quality. The analysis in this chapter also shows that the share of trained teachers in primary and secondary education increased over time. However, the student-teacher ratio still shows a serious in adequacy in the number of teachers. This, despite a doubling of the ADP allocation (budget outlay) between FY 2013-2014 compared with FY 2006-2007. On the demand side, The utilisation of ADP allocations at all levels was highest in last month (June) of FY, ie, the spending peaks at the end of the fiscal year due to a rush to use the budget outlays to prevent it from being downsized in the following year. Such acceleration in a short period of time repeated almost every year reflects inefficient management of scarce resources and almost certainly risks the quality of expenditures. The study also assessed the training of SMCs as a 'process' indicator of education sector governance and found limited impact of such such training over time. The data shows that percentage of schools with at least 3 members of the SMC who received training moderately increased. However, for government primary schools it decreased compared to registered non-government primary schools. Finally, this chapter constructed a composite indicator based on seven variables including resource, process and output of education. The indicator shows that governance of the education improved 6 percent in terms of resource and process and 72 percent for output over the last 10 years. Despite the improvement in various aspects of education sector in Bangladesh, quality of education remains a concern. Further, the education sector shows frequent changes in many areas, including books, curricula, examination system and grading systems. Such high frequency of changes is likely to affect the quality and school performance adversely, while at the same time it makes measuring performance more difficult. Data and interviews conducted for this research show that even though grades have improved significantly, the performance of the students (who achieved high grades) in subsequent public university examinations are very disappointing. Many educationists expressed their disappointment about the overall education system, curricula, retention rates especially of female students beyond primary school, grading standards, examination methods, physical facilities and government policy. On the other hand, the chapter also shows that frequent question paper leakage in public examinations has become a serious concern for the education sector in Bangladesh. These observations reflect poorly on the sector's governance, and remain challenges which public policy must address in the coming years. In brief, judged by numbers alone, the picture on many dimensions of education sector performance in Bangladesh appears bright. Admittedly Bangladesh has made commendable strides in some areas of education such as access, enrolment, gender gaps in school education, etc. in the past two decades. The research in the present report, suggests that assessed by several other qualitative indicators, the performance of the sector seems less bright. If Bangladesh is to attain higher and sustainable growth and to realise its dream of becoming a middle-income country by 2021, it must address the governance challenges of the sector by channelling more resources and improving both policy and its implementation. Chapter five concerns health sector governance by considering maternal health, child health, health financing and the availability of health sector professionals which require specialised skills (e.g. doctors, nurses, technicians, etc) in the health sector. The analysis in the chapter suggests that over the last two decades maternal mortality rate has declined by more than 66 percent i.e. at the rate of 5.5 per cent each year. The percentage of women receiving antenatal care and those availing of services from skilled birth attendants have increased gradually over the last decade. However, the adolescent fertility rate still remains a major concern for Bangladesh. One important finding is that though the trend in contraceptive use is improving, the gender parity and women/girls' autonomy is yet to become a grass roots level reality in decisions regarding use of contraception. Despite substantial improvement in a number of maternal health indicators noted above, other important indicators such as adolescent fertility rate, rural-urban inequalities in access to maternal health services, etc. remain challenging areas in Bangladesh. In terms of child health performance, the combined trend in the indicators (infant and under-five mortality rates) shows that under-five mortality rate have improved more compared to infant mortality rate. Significantly, the decline in infant mortality rates has been higher for males than females. Anthropometric measures suggest that the number of children with lower weight and height measurements in relation to their age is increasing. Bangladesh suffers from one of the highest levels of malnutrition (42 and 31.9 for stunting and weight respectively for children under 5 years). The prevalence of malnutrition is greater in terms of height as opposed to weight and malnutrition prevalence rate (weight for age) has affected female children more than males in the last decade. Regarding human resources for health, the overall trend is positive—the aggregate human resource indicator shows an increase of 28 per cent in 2013 relative to the base year of 2004. However, the 'story' is more complex. The findings also suggest thatthe number of nurses per 1,000 persons in Bangladesh is the lowest in the world. The density of physicians (number of doctors per square kilometre) still remains highly inadequate and the trend shows that the improvement rate is slow and less noticeable in recent years. Similarly, increase in the number of community health workers has not shown significant improvement compared to the base year, ie, 2004. Though the health sector is considered a high government priority, the statistics on health financing shows a declining trend in budget allocations in recent years. The present health sector expenditure level is nominal compared to that of a number of other developing nations in the region. The data also shows that the gap between public healthcare expenditure and per capita expenditure increased over the last decade. The finding of this section confirms that currently in Bangladesh, the major share of health expenses are covered from individual savings or borrowings. In summary, the financing of health care in Bangladesh is dominated by out of pocket payments. This means that the poor are often forced to pay while seeking health services even if their ability to pay is at its lowest. Chapter six of the SOG 2014-2015 concludes that this report is a first step towards preparing a much more comprehensive and meaningful set of 'governance indicators' which would enable a more solid 'guage' of the country's progress in governance outcomes in key areas. Efforts to improve the methodology and and empirical analysis (quantitative and qualitative) using both secondary and primary data will continue to this end. The findings of the current report suggest that despite progress in several indicators of governance performance, there remain key vulnerabilities and challenges to be addressed by public policy in the future, and that, the much needed public action ought to be more broad based through involvement of civil society institutions as well as other important stakeholders. The analysis also suggests that while quantitative indicators are crucially important, it is important to complement these with qualitative assessment to yield a richer and more comprehensive understanding of governance performance.