Towards Developing a Better Counter Terrorism Regime in Bangladesh, Phase III

 For further information, please contact Mr. Ashish Banik, Research Assistant, BEI at ashish@bei-bd.org, Phone:+88 02 9892662-3, Extn. 116

Imaging Water: Understanding the Political Economy of South Asia’s Rivers

To Facilitate Greater Transparency and Accountability in Bangladesh by strengthening the oversight capacities of the Information Commission (IC), the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG), and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)

Local Government Audit and Accountability Systems

The objective of this project is to undertake a research study to gain an insight into the dysfunctional points in the process/system of allocation and spending of funds by the Local Government Bodies such as the Union, Municipal (Pourachava) and Upazilla Parishads and recommending measures for rectifying them for ensuring accountability and transparency in Local Goverment spending.

Building partnership between the Parliamentarians and the Private Sector to modernize and update regulatory mechanism in Bangladesh (PRODIP)

The two objectives of PRODIP are to strengthen the Bangladesh Parliament and to enhance the role of civil society in political governance. In line with the objectives of PRODIP, BEI is undertaking a comprehensive program on Advocacy Program for Building partnership between the Parliamentarians and the Private Sector to modernize and update regulatory mechanism in Bangladesh in collaboration with the Asia Foundation. The objectives of the program are to:

• Improve parliamentary lawmaking and oversight capacity

• An effective parliamentary system

• Increased institutional capacity of CSOs to advance public participation in democratic governance.

Bangladesh-India Security Dialogue

A Public Perceptions Survey of Law and Order in Bangladesh’s South-East Border Area

For further information, please contact Mr. Ashish Banik, Research Assistant, BEI at ashish@bei-bd.org, Phone:+88 02 9892662-3, Extn. 116

The Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (PROGATI) Project, Phase V

Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) is currently implementing the year five activities of The Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (PROGATI) project. The objective of the project is to strengthen public institution oversight capacity with specific emphasis on the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh, PROGATI Partner Ministries, the Anti-Corruption Commission and Information Commission.

Year 5 of PROGATI builds on the successes by supporting the institutional strengthening and policy reforms sought by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG), the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Information Commission (IC), key ministries, and the parliament. Year 5 activities connect the downward reach of national-level public institution oversight bodies to the bottom-up approach employed by corruption-fighting CSOs under the first four years of the PROGATI project.

Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency, & Integrity Phase III (PROGATI 3)

Objective: To strengthen public institution oversight capacity with specific emphasis on the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (OCAG) of Bangladesh, Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and two partner Ministries namely Food Division and Local Government Division.

Financial Literacy Project

For further details, Please contact Mr. Md. Ezadus Salam, Research Associate, BEI at ezad@bei-bd.org

United Nations Global Compact

Civil Military Relations Workshop

Community Security in North Bengal of Bangladesh and Options for the Future:A Youth Perception Survey

Workshop on Entrepreneurship and Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Sector in Bangladesh

Cooperation on Civil Military Relations

Administrative Barriers Review: Process Mapping of Six Key Target Issues

Executive Core Group Program

Civil Service Training Programme

Global Development Learning Network (GDLN)

Core Group Alumni Program

Corporate Governance Strengthening Project (CGSP)

Corporate Governance is the system by which organizations are directed and controlled. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in the organization, such as, the board, managers, shareholders, and spells out the rules and procedures for making decisions on the company’s affairs. By doing this, it also provides the structure through which the company objectives and set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance.

BEI is committed to establishing sound practice of corporate governance in Bangladesh, through its continuous research, training, discussions and dialogues with key practitioners of governance, and to send a strong message to investors and observers in the international arena that Bangladesh has recognized the importance of corporate governance and is taking definite steps to improve its corporate governance performance in the private, public, and the non-governmental sector.

The strategic goal of BEI’s CGSP is to build the operating capacity to apply good corporate governance practices for economic and social development of Bangladesh, and thus make significant contribution toward encouraging investment, strengthening the capital market, boosting economic growth and reducing corruption.

Towards Developing a Better Counter Terrorism Regime in Bangladesh

For further information, please contact Mr. Ashish Banik, Research Assistant, BEI at ashish@bei-bd.org, Phone:+88 02 9892662-3, Extn. 116

Establishment of an Effective Bangladeshi Diaspora Network for Economic Transformation of Bangladesh (The DIASPORA Project)

To identify the potential of the Bangladeshi Diaspora in the economic Transformation of Bangladesh through leveraging its Diaspora in terms of knowledge and skills transfers and improving its global commercial interface. The Project will also promote the establishment of an effective Diaspora Knowledge Network (DKN) of British Citizens of Bangladeshi origin and organizations and individuals in Bangladesh. A special effort will be made to involve young professionals in the financial, legal, academic sectors as well as those involved in community work and promoting innovative ideas, champions of reform and ‘change makers’ in this initiative.

For additional information please contact Ms. Lopa Rahman, Project Director, BEI (lopa@bei-bd.org), Mr. Md. Rashedur Rahman, Senior Research Associate, BEI (rashed@bei-bd.org) and Mr. Asif Ayub, Programme Manager, BEI (asif@bei-bd.org) and Ms. Farzana Hoque, AT Capital (farzana.hoque@at-capital.com)

Towards Developing a Better Counter Terrorism Regime in Bangladesh

For further information, please contact Mr. Ashish Banik, Research Assistant, BEI at ashish@bei-bd.org, Phone:+88 02 9892662-3, Extn. 116

Assistance to Benchmark Bangladesh’s Trade Facilitation System and Processes

The project aims to enhance the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s business environment through improvements to its trade logistics systems and processes. The main objective of the project is to carry out a trade facilitation benchmarking study that will assist the Government of Bangladesh to assess its trade facilitation efforts against best practice countries and international standards, and develop a strategy to address gaps identified in the consultancy report. It is proposed that the project will be conducted in joint collaboration with the concerned stakeholders both from public and private sector.

 Realizing the Vision of Digital Bangladesh through e-Government

E-Government is one of the most important factors in “Digital Bangladesh” since it involves citizen’s access to crucial services and the government’s ability to make quick, timely and informed decisions regarding resources allocation. There is often an effort to put disproportionate emphasis on communication infrastructure, such as computers and Internet, and not as much on its strategic use, when it comes to issues of Digital Bangladesh. E-Government is increasingly becoming an issue that would require different stakeholders to come together to find solutions – particularly the government, the private sector, the financial institutes and donors. This project focuses to bring all the concerned stakeholders to a common platform to discuss the issues to turn Bangladesh into a information based society and thus in turn implementing the idea of Digital Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Social Enterprise Project (BSEP)

The Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) in association with the Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC) based in Australia and Libra Advisory Group based in UK has initiated the Bangladesh Social Enterprise Project (BSEP), supported by the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID). This project aims to utilize key strengths of the private sector to address some of the poverty related issues of our country.

The project purpose is to identify and build innovative partnerships within the private sector to undertake projects and programmes which are commercially viable and directly benefit the poor in alleviating poverty and at the same time, meet the development objectives of Bangladesh.

Charting a Roadmap for Transition to Business-to-Business e-Commerce

This study produced a comprehensive research-based report with the objective of providing a solid foundation for e-Commerce policy dialogues and concrete strategic steps to be taken by different stakeholders, such as the private sector, the government, law-makers, and academia. The study primarily aimed to bring into focus:

• quantifiable benefits of the private sector in moving towards e-Commerce,
• specific steps and initiatives that may be undertaken by private companies,
• support required from the government in terms of infrastructure, legal framework, policies, and incentives,
• preparedness of the IT industry and technical human resource for e-Commerce, and
• the need for international standard business curricula in Bangladesh.

Comparative Analysis of Corporate Governance in South Asia – Charting a Roadmap for Bangladesh (Stage1, Stage 2 & stage 3)

The roadmap was a diagnostic assessment of the corporate governance regulations and practices in Bangladesh compared to its neighbors: India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The assessment was measured against international norms and current practices as recognized by the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance. The report identified critical areas where institutions, regulations, or other economic factors in the corporate sector could be strengthened to improve Corporate Governance (CG). This report identified that the relatively low level of international investment in Bangladesh does not provide a sufficient motivation for improving CG, nor are there many traditional domestic motivations for improvement in CG practices in Bangladesh. As Bangladesh begins to focus on the development of the private sector, strong corporate governance is a key part of increasing economic efficiency and efficiently utilizing domestic investment to achieve greater economic development. Good corporate governance practices will help develop and stimulate better business management, strategic management, and risk management. In the long term this will make Bangladeshi businesses more competitive.