Final Report

REVIEW ANALYSIS OF NSAPR II

WOMENS
FOCUSING EMPOWERMENT THROUGH

EDUCATION

For

GPG Gender & PRSP Group

Secretariat: Steps Towards Development

Submitted by

S N Azad
&

Mahbubur Rahman
Consultants,

RDM Consulting
A company of Media-mix Enterprise
Tel: +88-02-8825256, Cell: 01911-393320, 01199-803622 donazadbd@yahoo.com, media-mix@gmail.com
w w w . m e d i a - m i x . o r g

DISCLAIMERS

THE ANALYSIS AND OBSERVATIONS STATED HEREIN

REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF THE CONSULTANTS ONLY

THIS IS NOT AN ACADEMIC & PREDICTIVE STUDY. RATHER AN EXPLORATIRY ONE, REVIEWING EXISTING POLICY DOCUMENT.

THIS STUDY IS NOT DESIGNED TO COMMENT ON THE SEMANTICS OF THE SPECIFIC

CONCEPTS. IT IS RATHER INTERESTED TO CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THE EXTENT OF MEANING PUT INTO THE WORDS BY THE ACTIONS AND POLICIES FOLLOWED AND DESIGNED WITHIN THE SAME DOCUMENT, NAMELY

NSAPR II.

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CONTENTS
PAGE

DISCLAIMERS EXECUTIVE SUMMERY THE STUDY - FRAMEWORK & SPECIFICS What to do? / Objectives of this Study How to do? Review with which tools? / Methodology: Limitations of the Study Claims and Assumptions CONTEXT OVERVIEW: CONCEPTUAL & FACTUAL AUDIT Relationship between Education, Womens Poverty & Empowerment Womens Poverty establishing crucial links Womens Empowerment Education Womens Empowerment through Education NSAPR II Moving Ahead Revised NSAPR II Steps towards Change Implementation of NSAPR II ANALYSIS OF GAPS The way Poverty is Defined Empowerment of Women Setting Indicators to measure Empowerment Specifying Indicators based on the need of education in empowering women The Problem of Data in measurement Inadequacy in the Design of the Strategy Paper Barriers to Progress: Issues crucial to womens empowerment not covered in NSAPR II REVIEWING GAPS IN THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2009 FORWARD THINKING: Recommendations
structure our education system custom made education system for women to enhance their agency design of this strategy paper

2
4 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 16 16 16 17 18 18 20 21 22

Suggestive Readings & References

Reports / Working Papers / Newspaper features / Web addresses Books Policies / Acts / Conventions

24 24 29 29

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EXECUTIVE SUMMERY
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY How Education Is Designed In NSAPR II To Enhance & Establish Womens Empowerment What Impact Has Education Has On Womens Empowerment Through The Existing Policies & Programme Mechanism Laid Out By NSAPR II

METHODOLOGY For content analysis secondary sources of data was used. Almost 300 documents were reviewed including NSAPR-II Moving Ahead, NSAPR II Revised Steps Towards Changes, Reports, articles on NSAPR, MDG Progress Reports produced by o the GoB, o by Civil Society Groups, o by Development Partners like ActionAid International and AAB World Bank publications like 3 volumes of Voices of the Poor Publications by o CAMPE o CPD o DFID UN Documents CEDAW, DAW Papers, UNIFEM, UNDP, UNICEF Papers HDRs BBS Database Education sector reviews by USAID and World Bank, Reports, working papers and other publications on gender empowerment, social protection, agency, resource management, budgeting, absorptive capacity development, etc. For primary source of data consultation with 6 experts was undertaken. Representing academia Representing development partner and activists Representing multilateral donor agency and expert in designing implementing PRSP

and

Limitation of this Review NSAPR II is not the only document laid out as a yardstick to measure the input and output of the education sector. It is a national level strategic document without discussion of dependent and independent variables that might effect achievement or failure of stated target. With so many other relevant documents and goals set out in relevant, complimentary documents / agendas / policy papers it is impossible to distinguish between spill over effects / ramification impact of one programme on another in the same sector. Data, especially stratified data is not available to say with exactitude that NSAPR II has achieved its specific targets.

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Womens Poverty establishing crucial links Womens poverty derives primarily from lack of their ability to choose. To quote NSAPR II Steps towards Changes Women have few rights and choices in taking decision regarding education, marriage, child bearing, family expenditure pattern, and participation in labour market and income generating activities. The relationship between education and womens poverty is critical to the understanding of eradication of poverty and womens empowerment. It all hinges on the idea of choice by women. Two questions at the center are: a) Do women / girls have the ability to choose education for them at different stages in their life cycle? b) Does education help establish ability to choose and freedom of choice? We discuss the related issues and linkages breaking them all up in pieces below: NSAPR II Moving Ahead The second NSAPR, titled Moving ahead: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II is the sequel to the first one and embodies policies and strategies for achieving accelerated poverty reduction during Fiscal Year 2009 to 2011. NSAPR II strives to accelerate poverty reduction through private sector development, concentrated and supportive government efforts, and effective participation of NGOs and the civil society in corruption free democratic society. The NSAPR II also considered in its preparation the promise of Bangladesh to attain the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) and SDGs (South Asian Development Goals). Revised NSAPR II Steps towards Change NSAPR II is now revised under the title: Steps towards Change to reflect the political and election commitments made by the current government formed by the Awami League. The improvements can be seen as a reflection of political catch phrases like: high performance growth, stabilizing commodity prices, minimizing income and poverty gap, securing health and education for all, advancement of women, digital Bangladesh, etc. Both quality and quantity has been focused and worked upon. But no significant change in policy statement has been made. Implementation of NSAPR II NSAPR and NSAPR II have significant recognizable successes. In fact despite global recession and domestic unrest in the political realm with robust economic growth for the last decade Bangladesh has been one of the leading countries in human development indexes, especially in South Asia. ANALYSIS OF GAPS: Following dimensions are covered in gap analysis in this study: The way Poverty is Defined Empowerment of Women Setting Indicators to measure Empowerment Specifying Indicators based on the need of education in empowering women The Problem of Data in measurement Inadequacy in the Design of the Strategy Paper Barriers to Progress: Issues crucial to womens empowerment not covered in NSAPR II REVIEWING GAPS IN THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2009 Forward Thinking Recommendations: Recommendations for the next level of PRS / Five Year Plans are divided into three segments. Focus is on education, focus on education geared to empower women in the long run and finally focusing on designing of PRS.

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In terms of structure our education system needs to: - Address and incorporate the issues discussed in this paper, especially in the previous section, as and when appropriate within different stages in the life cycle of a woman starting from a girl child to adolescent girl to adult women to aged women. This is directly related to gender sensitive budgeting related to design of the PRSPs as a strategy papers related to background analysis on a national scale and vigorous public discussions on those issues. - Enrollment is focused. We need to work on & reduce the drop out rate of girls at the primary and higher secondary level. - In order to enhance the impact of education in terms of empowerment of women, both quality and quantity needs to be focused. Infrastructural support & Faculty/teaching staff should be hired with care to ensure quality. - Boys / male need gender sensitive education in a gender sensitive environment, i.e., need to focus on co-education - In education sector, investment must be measured through indicators. Feasibility analysis must be done to develop and test indicators. - The education system should have inbuilt flexibility to accommodate affirmative actions to empower girls/women in the long run. - During a development process, women need to develop absorption capacity that will enable them to handle expenditure more prudently and with long term thinking. - Teaching of indigenous knowledge, regional need based knowledge is now needed to effectively develop all regions in the country. - Timely market orientation, skill orientation is very important. - Schools need (especially in case of ECDP) to be distributed according to population distribution of the country. To this end a study was done by CAMPE supported by SIDA & UNESCO. Those findings need to be implemented immediately to make access to literacy and childhood development programs possible. For a more custom made education system for women to enhance their agency in the long run, following should be included in curricula targeting different age brackets: inheritance rights, land ownership, asset ownership and direct control over that, marital rape, womens work and involvement in public sphere, grooming of local level political leadership from women. There are significant gaps in the design of this strategy paper. Following measures could be considered to overcome those: Prioritization of Issues & Interventions Discuss and outline dependent and independent variables in the Policy Matrix Empowerment process needs to treated as a dynamic one Details of the dynamics of issue linkages needs to be included, especially when and where gender is a cross cutting issue Analyze the positive and negative aspects of different sociological phenomena that may affect the achievement of the goals of the Policy paper. This will help device a contingency strategy and plan Important milestones need to be set in the process of achieving results. So that markers can be set and achievements pegged periodically A bit of detail on the background analysis of the strategy paper needs to be added so that it reveals the process/criteria of arriving at any target or benchmark set in the document Women in NSAPR II are being treated as recipients or even victims. This approach needs to be changed

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Gender sensitive budgeting (its not only about allocation) is vital. Guideline to that end must be incorporated in this document womens associations needs to be seen as part of an interlinked network and linkages amongst associations established (horizontal & vertical) We need political will of and commitment from the government to make progress on these entrenched issues. Reservation in ratifying CEDAW on article 2 has to go. Reservations on Article 16 need to be withdrawn and the article implemented without delay A Uniform Family Code to resolve these issues and deal with entrenched mentalities working for discrimination

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THE STUDY - FRAMEWORK & SPECIFICS

What to do? / Objectives of this Study This study aims to produce a content analysis of the NSAPR II. The specifics of the analysis centers around identifying how education is designed in NSAPR II to enhance and establish womens empowerment in short and long term how far NSAPR II was implemented in co-ordinance with MDG goals for and in Bangladesh what impact education has on womens empowerment through the existing policy and program mechanisms How to do? Any changes or improvements in womens empowerment through Education have to be thought as a long term impact. But immediate reflections to be seen in i) ii) iii) iv) v) development of their skills (market orientation / life skill orientation) ability of organizing at the individual level, i.e., through exposure to info, articulation, and communication ability of organizing at the collective level, i.e., through initiation of income generating activities, organizing market linkages, etc. understanding the education structure of the country teaching staff / faculty capability and capacity building

Review with which tools? / Methodology: As a content analysis this study will utilize secondary literature review as the main stay of research. 300 documents were reviewed that included reports, articles on NSAPR, NSAPR-II, MDG Progress Reports produced by the GoB, by Civil Society Groups, by Development Partners like ActionAid International and AAB (produced by Media-mix Enterprise), World Bank publications like 3 volumes of Voices of the Poor, Publications by DFID, UNIFEM, UNDP, HDRs, UNICEF, CAMPE, BBS Database, Education sector reviews by USAID and World Bank, reports, working papers and other publications on gender empowerment, social protection, agency, resource management, budgeting, absorptive capacity development, etc. 10 existing cases in relation to MDG, Gender empowerment, women empowerment, education were collected and analysed. Until now three consultations were held with 6 experts: representing academia (Dhaka University Faculty member and Consultant, BRAC Research Center specialist in women empowerment, gender and NGO accountability and economist); representing development partner and activists (Gender empowerment officer of leading INGO Oxfam) representing leading policy and development intervention expert, specialising on ECDP (head of education program, INGO Save the Children USA) representing multilateral donor agency and the pioneer in designing and implementing PRSP (Senior Education specialist, World Bank) national level activist and policy expert on womens empowerment and education for more than last 35 years (one of the five founding members of Women for Women) National level development and policy activist working on specifically education (national lead NGO on education CAMPE)

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In addition, despite efforts of the study team could not make appointment with national level educationist Professor Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, former advisor to the last care taker government and eminent expert on education policy Rashida K Chowdhury and consultant and education expert at CPD, National Education Policy Reform Commission Co-chair Dr. Q K Ahmad due to time constraint. However, their works were consulted. Limitations of the Study NSAPR II is not the only document laid out as a yardstick to measure the input and output of the education sector. It is a national level strategic document without discussion of dependent and independent variables that might effect achievement or failure of stated target. With so many other relevant documents and goals set out in relevant, complimentary documents / agendas / policy papers it is impossible to distinguish between spill over effects / ramification impact of one programme on another in the same sector. Data, especially stratified data is not available to say with exactitude that NSAPR II has achieved its specific targets.

Claims and Assumptions

1. Across the globe, it can safely be assumed that from the Donors perspective PRSP is a mere tool to help the Governments implement the agenda of development envisioned by the Donors in collaboration with the respective Governments. In Bangladesh PRSP has been put forward on the table under the name of NSAPR with the same and coordinated global development agenda. For example, according to World Bank sources in Dhaka, NSAPR in Bangladesh is a result of 30 years of accumulated knowledge in the development intervention practice implemented across the developing world. And Bangladesh Government and experts are supposed to internalize these ideals and practices to develop its lot if it has to avail continued support from the developed world. 2. From the Government perspective this is a tool to enhance chances of implementation of its development agenda which is shaped and determined by its concerned political and economic constituencies and interest groups from within and outside the country. 3. From the Civil Society perspective NSAPR is a tool that may provide a platform or mechanism for speedy and accelerated changes in the socio-economic and politico-economic arenas that are needed to significantly further rights of and advancements in quality of life of the general mass. 4. The NGOs/CBOs and other not for profit and for profit development partners have their own program agenda which is rather a blend of all three mentioned above. By default and in many cases with no other options left they have to practice accommodation of claims and supervisory/authoritative demands from all three stakeholders identified above. 5. The ensuing tensions and frictions arising from all the above agendas and players shapes the way PRSPs are envisioned, implemented, followed up, measured, and evaluated in different country contexts. This study is actually a description of the status or situation report of the fifth type mentioned above.

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CONTEXT OVERVIEW: CONCEPTUAL & FACTUAL AUDIT

Education, Womens Poverty & Womens Empowerment

Relationship between

Womens Poverty establishing crucial links Womens poverty derives primarily from lack of their ability to choose. To quote NSAPR II Steps towards Changes Women have few rights and choices in taking decision regarding education, marriage, child bearing, family expenditure pattern, and participation in labour market and income generating activities. The relationship between education and womens poverty is critical to the understanding of eradication of poverty and womens empowerment. It all hinges on the idea of choice by women. Two questions at the center are: c) Do women / girls have the ability to choose education for them at different stages in their life cycle? d) Does education help establish ability to choose and freedom of choice? We discuss the related issues and linkages breaking them all up in pieces below: Womens Empowerment Womens empowerment should lead to the liberation of both men and women from patriarchal world view. It should lead to a situation where each one can become a whole being regardless of gender, and use their fullest potential to construct a more humane society for all (Akhtar 1992 quoted in Batliwala 1994: 131). The current popularity of the term empowerment in development discourse coincides with recent questioning of the efficacy of central planning and the role of the state, and moves by donor governments and multilateral funding agencies to embrace NGOs as partners in development. Political and institutional problems have gained prominence on the development agenda with a focus on human rights, good governance and participation. (Razavi and Miller, 1995). Women's empowerment is central to overall human development. Human development, as a process of enlarging peoples choices, cannot occur when the choices of half of humanity or the fifty percent are restricted. Targeted actions aimed at empowering women and righting gender inequities in the social and economic sphere, as well as in terms of civil and political rights, must be taken alongside efforts to en-gender the development process. In line with affirmative action strategies followed worldwide for the last fifty years or more, gender mainstreaming means being deliberate in giving visibility and support to womens contributions rather than making the assumption that women will benefit equally from gender-neutral development interventions. Policies and programmes that ignore differential impact on gender groups are often gender-blind or insensitive, i.e., potentially harmful for ultimate human development. Gender mainstreaming requires a focus on results to improve the well-being of women. In the context of the developing world and for a country like Bangladesh it has to be more geared to focus the poor women.

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Education The present education system of Bangladesh may be broadly divided into three major stages, i.e., primary, secondary and tertiary education. Primary level institutions impart primary education basically. Junior secondary/secondary and higher secondary level institutions impart secondary education. Degree pass, degree honours, masters and other higher-level institutions or equivalent section of other related institutions impart tertiary education. The education system is operationally categorized into two streams: primary education (Grade I-V) managed by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME)) and the other system is the post-primary education which covers all other levels from junior secondary to higher education under the administration of the Ministry of Education (MOE). The post-primary stream of education is further classified into four types in terms of curriculum: general education, madrasah education, technical-vocational education and professional education.

THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE OF BANGLADESH

Age 26+ 25+ 24+ 23+ 22+ XX XIX XVIII XVII Ph. D M.Phil MA/MSc/MCom/MSS/MBA PostMBBS Dipl M.Phil(Medical LLM M B B S BDS LLB(Hons) Ph. D(Engr) Ph.D(Medical) Ph. D (Education) MSc.(Agr) MB A BSc (Tech.Edn) BB A M.Ed & M A(Edn) B.Ed &Dip.Ed BP ED MA(LSc) Grade

MSc(Engr)

21+ 20+ 19+ 18+ 17+ 16+ 15+ 14+ 13+ 12+ 11+ 10+ 9+ 8+ 7+ 6+ 5+ 4+ 3+

XVI XV XIV XIII XII XI X IX VIII VII VI V IV III II I

Bachelor (Hons)

Masters (Prel) Bachelor (Pass)

BSc.Eng BSc.Agr BSc.Text BSc.Leath

BSc.Eng

Dip.(LSc)

Kami

Diploma (Engineering) HSC Vocational C in Edu. C in Agri Diploma in Comm

Diploma in Nursing

Fazil Alim

Secondary

Examination HSC HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION Examination SSC SECONDARY EDUCATION

TRADE ARTISAN COURSE e.g. CERAMICS Certificate/ SSC Vocational JUNIOR SECONDARY EDUCATION

Dakhil

PRIMARY EDUCATION

Ebtedayee

PRE-PRIMARY

EDUCATION

Source: http://www.banbeis.gov.bd/es_bd.htm

Participation The school participation rate is defined as the percentage of individuals who have ever been in school. In Bangladesh 58 percent of male attended school whereas only 41 percent of female attended school. However, the recent commitment of the government and non-government agencies to decrease the gap between genders is working very well. Today for those under 20, about 64 percent of males and 57 percent of women have attended school. This is a 10 percent increase for men and a 39 percent increase for women. At the postsecondary level, the transition rate, from secondary school towards higher education, is generally higher among girls than among boys. In fact, at the country level, some 23 percent of females of all ages, who complete the secondary level, move on to the postsecondary level, compared with only 25 percent of males. The transition level gap for the younger generation is even wider where 28 percent of female go on to higher studies compared to merely nine percent of boys. The reasons why women are seldom as well educated as men lie outside the education system. Ideas about the appropriate roles for women in the labor market or

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in society, about the biological unsuitability of women for science, and about the gender-based division of work in the household and on the farm influence decisions about schooling. Teachers Teachers are central to the quality improvement in education. The competitive recruitment procedure of teachers for government primary and secondary schools run by concerned directorate ensures reasonable standard in quality of teachers in Bangladesh. The present 60% female teacher quota imposition has improved the participation (33.9 percent in 2000) of women in teaching at primary level. Where as in secondary level, where 93 percent of the teachers belong to the private sector, only about 17 percent are female. Womens Empowerment through Education The 3rd MDG has rightly acknowledged that the key to this goal lies in educating women: "Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and at all levels by 2015". Though the timeframe is arguably too strict, the goal is legitimate. Furthermore, Article 10 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) specifically provides that women shall not be discriminated against and shall have equal opportunities in the field of education. Despite this recognition, education for women continues to be a low priority and remains under-funded in most countries in the South. Women and girls tend to receive fewer resources, less encouragement and little assistance in accessing their right to an education. Despite great emphasis among the intelligentsia and policy makers on the education of women, progress towards equal opportunities for the education for women is still dismal. Gender inequality in education leads to a bias in skill accumulation and therefore earnings in favor of men. Thus returns to skilled labor have increased primarily to the benefit of men amid international trade and outsourcing since most women in both countries are still uneducated and marketable skills are still male-dominated. The problem is that traditionally the trend in developing countries has been for policies to be pro-growth and market-oriented. Though at present most developing countries are channeling resources towards poverty alleviation, the old trends still prevail and undermine the wider developmental agenda. Though the widening inequalities between various sections of the population in the contemporary global economic system has been widely accepted by proponents of the free market paradigm, they still believe in the efficacy of a trickle-down effect from the rich to the poor if a significant development strategy is in place. This is the essence of the PRSPs and the MDGs. The way forward with respect to gender is not only considering rights but also choice. To get high quality education is the right of every individual, irrespective of gender, and it should be the free choice of women either to stay in the household or to work outside or to retain some combination of both. Research has shown that higher education among women leads to significant decreases in child mortality and fertility rates, mainstream economics still talks about education in terms of market skill value, which accrues higher monetary dividends. This means that a woman who gains higher skills through education has only one option if she wants to gain monetary returns from her education and that is to enter the labor force. If she decides to stay at home, her choice would bring no monetary value, as there is no value added associated with household work. This paradigm is the prime cause of the apparent neglect of womens education in the South where most women work in the household.

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Prioritizing the education of women is critical to Growth strategies. Finding direct linkages between womens education and processes of growth can do this. In other words, if shown that countries may benefit more from trade if their female populations are educated, policy makers would be more inclined to focus on womens education.

NSAPR II Moving Ahead The second NSAPR, titled Moving ahead: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II is the sequel to the first one and embodies policies and strategies for achieving accelerated poverty reduction during Fiscal Year 2009 to 2011. NSAPR II strives to accelerate poverty reduction through private sector development, concentrated and supportive government efforts, and effective participation of NGOs and the civil society in corruption free democratic society. The NSAPR II also considered in its preparation the promise of Bangladesh to attain the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) and SDGs (South Asian Development Goals). The NSAPR II was formulated through a participatory process. Two national level consultations were held involving academics, researchers, NGOs, CBOs, media and government officials. The structure mainly indicated the goal of this document, which was poverty reduction. The framework included five strategic blocks including Enhancing pro-poor growth, boosting critical sectors for pro-poor growth, essential infrastructure for pro-poor economic growth, social protection for vulnerable people and ensuring human development. The NSAPR II also took into account the special aspect of women in poverty situation. According to statistical fact the number of poor women is higher than that of poor men. Various micro studies show that the hardcore poor are largely women. Therefore the requirement of gender perspective was significantly involved in the pro-poor growth strategy. The NSAPR II elaborated the causes and nature womens poverty in following outlines: Intra-household inequalities and bias against women and girls Female headed households and extreme poverty Higher risk of becoming poor Higher social vulnerability Lower opportunities to overcome poverty The NSAPR II indicated that the prevalent lack of access to knowledge and resources creates a vicious circle, which intensifies poverty and makes the process of overcoming poverty difficult. Therefore the need of education and training for empowering people was emphasized to create a knowledge-based society. It is expected that the whole gamut of primary, secondary, tertiary, and non-formal education activities will establish a truly empowered knowledge-based society to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The discussion on education is presented in seven sections consisting of five sub sectors. The crosscutting issues are education governance and finance. Principles underlying the PRSP approach: Country-driven Results-oriented Comprehensive Partnerships Long-term Perspective

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Revised NSAPR II Steps towards Change NSAPR II is revised under the title: Steps towards Change to reflect the political and election commitments made by the current government formed by the Awami League. The improvements can be seen as a reflection of political catch phrases like: high performance growth, stabilizing commodity prices, minimizing income and poverty gap, securing health and education for all, advancement of women, digital Bangladesh, etc.
Revisions brought in education sector: reviewing Policy Matrix 12

A time frame is added in the target of the 3rd point increasing access to primary education. 100 percent rate in net primary school enrolment is set as target to be achieved by 2010.

In increasing access to secondary education the revised NSAPR II stipulates two things in policy agenda: Bring new educational institutions under MPO system Establish more secondary schools in capital city In improving quality of education at secondary level, the provision of introduction of accreditation system for the MPO schools for creating a competitive environment that might ultimately lead to improvement of the MPO schools, have been withdrawn. Three new provisions have been added: Establish separate service commission for teachers Establish model secondary schools at all Upazillas Establish permanent pay commission for teachers In point 14 under secondary education previous target of setting up a committee has been improved upon by the idea of setting up a commission for re-orientation of madrasha education. Moreover this re-orientation of madrasha education has not been tagged with the idea of keeping consistency with theological content. This departure must be seen as a significant qualitative and timely improvement in the approach of going about this commission. Point 17 under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) section, PRSP Policy Agenda, now incorporates the target of setting up of technical institutes in each Upazilla. In point 22 under Tertiary Education the Strategic Goal has been changed from ensuring regional balance in higher education opportunity into a more vague statement: increase opportunities and facilities of higher education. Interestingly key target has changed from a vague establish universities in the lagging regions into naming specific localities: establish universities in Barisal, Rangamati and Gopalganj. As in earlier version of the NSAPR II the actions taken/underway column it is stated that setting up of a university in Barisal was underway, the new and revised NSAPR II states that universities in Jessore, Pabna and Rangpur are already operational. Policy agenda under the same point states three new ones: Enhance infrastructural facilities in established universities Provide free education up to degree level
Revisions brought in gender mainstreaming: reviewing Policy Matrix 14

Under Point 1 strategic goal: Policy & Legal Framework to achieve equal rights for women, Women Development Policy 1997 is reinstated but National Women Development Policy 2008 is still seen in use in other points under the same policy matrix.

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Implementation of NSAPR II
NSAPR and NSAPR II have significant recognizable successes. In fact despite global recession and domestic unrest in the political realm with robust economic growth for the last decade Bangladesh has been one of the leading countries in human development indexes, especially in South Asia. Although the NSAPR II describes the progresses as measurable, some would argue that in terms of achieving MDG goals successes in some of the issue areas are remarkable (see MDG Progress Reports 2005, 2007). Significantly Bangladesh
has been successful in achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education. It is on track to achieve the targets of halving the proportion of people living below poverty line and suffer from hunger, net enrollment ratio in primary education, and reduce child mortality.

According to NSAPR II, however, Bangladesh still

lags behind in some indicators like primary school completion (67 percent) and adult literacy rate (54 percent), access to safe drinking water by rural people (79 percent), and maternal mortality ratio (290 per 100,000 live births). Similarly, participation of women in wage employment is far from the desired level and access to tenurial security, essential drugs, and PCs and Internet services has been quite limited.

Cross country Studies has shown very clearly that when women are managing the household it has direct bearing on the increase in nutrition intake of HH members, schooling, savings, financial planning and growth. While there has been good investment through World Bank in education in absolute terms during the NSAPR I, which neared US$ 700 (approx. distribution = US$ 300 mln. restructuring, 150 mln. primary education, 131 mln. secondary education, 82 mln. higher education, 51 mln. reaching out of school children). There has been a significant success in teacher recruitment process during NSAPR II. Two successful programs IDEAL and ESTEEM has been launched better manage and decentralize and spread education. Because of restructuring, now the centralized system of recruitment will allow standardization of teacher recruitment and will have direct impact on the overall improvement of the quality of education in the country. This is a direct result of NSAPR II planning and implementation. In regard to including women in power and decision making process Bangladesh has a decent 8 percent representation of total female legislators, senior officials and managers. A figure better than that of Sri Lanka (4 percent) but lower than Bhutan (9.3 percent), Maldives (15 percent) and Bhutan (9.3 percent). But in terms of seats in the Parliament held by women in 2004 Bangladesh has a higher percentile of 9.7. Whereas Bhutan (9.3 percent), India (8.8 percent), Nepal (5.9 percent), Maldives (6.0), Sri Lanka (4.4), only after Pakistan (21.6). Similarly UNIFEM Reports of 2005 and 2008/09 show significant achievement of Bangladesh in: Estimated earned income between men and women Total fertility rate Female economic activity rate Women in Power and Decision Making positions Ratification, Accession and Succession of Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW Life expectancy at Birth Promoting Gender Equity and Empowerment Women Universal access to improved water (almost 75 percent)

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ANALYSIS OF GAPS:
Understanding Strength & Weakness in the design of NSAPR II

The way Poverty is Defined What is there in the NSAPR II? The approach of defining poverty in NSAPR II clearly focuses on the welfare aspect Poverty is usually defined as a situation in which a household or a person is unable to achieve a certain minimum level of welfare based on an a priori yardstick. (see NSAPR II, p.17)

What is not there in the NSAPR II? This study finds it extremely difficult to define poverty of women only in terms of welfare considerations. That neglects the agency of women without which empowerment is impossible. And without empowerment poverty eradication is never possible. In order to include and give importance to womens agency we have to look into wellbeing issues. A visit to Sen will perhaps help fill in the missing link. Empowerment of Women What is there in the NSAPR II? NSAPR defines empowerment of women in terms of their achievements in the traditionally women related issues like maternal health, household violence, reduction of income gap, structural gaps that may allow women to fast slip into extreme poverty, accessibility to employment, inclusion in programs and projects, institutional strengthening for processes of womens participation in the public sphere, etc. (see
NSAPR Policy Matrix - 14).

What is not there in the NSAPR II? Interestingly as mentioned above, empowerment is not without active agency of a person, which is again directly related to matters of wellbeing. It is rather a cycle where one needs the structural facilities, supports and cushions to trigger wellbeing and that in turn ensures flourishing of agency of a person. A person with agency can become empowered which is again a dynamic process and not a given state of being for a life time. Setting Indicators to measure Empowerment It is very important to be able to measure empowerment. Because through whatever prism we see, all our development efforts including envisioning and implementing tools like PRSP, we are ultimately trying to fight against inequality and injustice.

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What is there in the NSAPR II? Importance of setting indicators of empowerment is undeniable. A possible approach of categorization is given below. General and perhaps universal set of indicators of empowerment are the following: Welfare Access Participation Control In relation to education of girls / women and empowerment NSAPR II has covered a few sub themes in the list of indicators that can be worked upon. These are: Support structure infrastructural Enrollment number and proportion Mobility location, transportation, etc. Access to resources and benefits provided by the GoB / Development partners Participation in public sphere employment, access to market, etc. in terms of number and proportion What is not there in the NSAPR II? This study team has tried to identify a few more specific indicators that can and should be treated as a subset of the above mentioned four primary categories and as extension ideas of other sub categories of indicators. Please note that these indicators are set keeping in mind the need to see the design, implementation and impact of measures in education that will promote womens empowerment as incorporated in the NSAPR II, in light of our focus on wellbeing issues. These are: Exercising choice - Agency Support structure - family and society Exposure to technology, knowledge, know-how Collective bargaining Expectation of outcome completion of education, etc. Self esteem Psychological wellbeing
Changes in gender relationship (extremely important)

Decision making and leadership

Specifying Indicators based on the need of education in empowering women When we talk about the impact of education on empowering women we need to discuss new set of indicators that will help us track their empowerment in specific issue areas. For example, if we are designing education to help equip the women to claim their legal rights then the education system / curricula should include: topics of legal protection, legal justifications of womens entitlements, introduction to protection providers authorities, legal awareness meaning of justice, intro on justice system, steps involved in starting a legal procedures, adjudication perception of justice system as a victim or complainant, perception of effectiveness of justice system in preventing recurrence in crime, mediation methods, dispute resolution scopes The appropriate government agency needs to decide in which layer of the life cycle of a person they will incorporate these issues.

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The Problem of Data in measurement This study of course acknowledges the fact that Lack of gender-disaggregated data on income and other welfare measures makes empirical assessment of poverty trends and incidence by gender impossible. (see NSAPR II, p.18) When a quantitative data is not available for measuring welfare it is even harder to work on wellbeing issues and measure those. The Document does hint at considering the non-income aspects of poverty but it never defines sufficiently what it means by the phrase non-income. But then the lack of data should not stop us from finding alternative sources for qualified data like different qualitative stratified statistics collated using diverse methods and tools in different life cycles. This data will help us prepare indicators suitable for measuring poverty agency empowerment. Inadequacy in the Design of the Strategy Paper Defining a strategy paper is not very hard. The crux of the matter is that it has to contain strategy to do or achieve something. What is there in the NSAPR II? Implementing PRS through NSAPR II means the strategies to achieve goals and objectives are to be laid out clearly. As a strategy paper this document has: Political economy of the Problem The goal/target of the strategy (descriptive) Background - legal and/or sociological (descriptive) The actual problems/barriers to achieve the goal/target (descriptive) Analysis of the problems (not technically organized for recognition of policy makers) Conclusion The Action Plan Main activities in the action plan Time frame with dead lines Responsible parties / stakeholders Public accountability through disclosure timeline Plan for a measurable review of the activities What is not there in the NSAPR II?
There are significant gaps in the lay out of the strategy. Following could be considered:

Even for promoting womens rights and empowerment of women relevant issues and intervention areas were not prioritized hence proper phasing has not been done before going into implementation. It costs management and lost opportunity costs. The log frames in policy matrices do not include dependent and independent variables The whole empowerment process is not treated as a process rather it is treated as a goal

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No detail of the dynamics of issue linkages is given. For example, education as a cross cutting issue cannot be measured against its contribution establishing direct correlation to outcomes in the matrix of womens empowerment. It seems this strategy paper is based on a crude idea of input output framework of analysis. Even then within those frameworks, feedback loops are very important for any strategy to function well and helps in identifying critical threshold levels. Does not analyze the positive and negative aspects of different sociological phenomena that will potentially and obviously arise out of the implementation process of NSAPR II. For example, the following table can be instructive in this regard:
Effects/consequences Functions (positive effects) of the proposed elements of the strategy Dysfunctions (negative effects) of the proposed elements of the strategy Expected (manifest) Manifest functions Manifest dysfunctions Latent (hidden/non expected) Latent functions Latent dysfunctions

Design inspiration: American sociologist Robert K. Merton Source: Christensen, L B and Johansen, M W, (2005), Guidance on how to elaborate a Strategy Paper

Very vague description at the outset of the paper does not have detailed, specific and direct reflection in the policy matrix. Interestingly, it has been observed by this team that the policy matrix instead of clarifying the milestones in the process of achieving results discusses program or project details which is perhaps a bit of overdoing and unnecessary for a national strategy document. NSAPR II does not reveal the process/criteria of arriving at any target or benchmark and the milestones on the way to achieving those benchmarks. Although a World Bank, Dhaka office source commented that there are more than 6000 pages of background analysis behind the preparation of this strategy document. The strategy paper does not stipulate the absorptive capacity building process through which a beneficiary segment elevated from one poverty rung to the next level will have the know-how to adjust with and adapt to the new realities it will face in its life cycle and hierarchical relational setting of the society. As if that segment will vanish from the development framework once they are in the next stage. Lastly, women in NSAPR II are being treated as recipients or even victims. Their agency is not recognized even in this national document. While social protection will not mean creation of dependency of women on the structure and system, they have to be seen as change agents who can make differences within and beyond their community.

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Barriers to Progress: Issues crucial to womens empowerment not covered in NSAPR II This document is silent on the softer in-house relationship issues that often adversely affect self esteem and psychological condition of women and becomes a barrier to exercising agency and achieving empowerment. As far as education to offset gender bias is concerned the curricula should incorporate the following issues in different stages of the life cycle of a person: These softer issues are sometimes in religious line: women in the Hindu minority communities in Bangladesh do not have right to divorce their husbands. At times these softer issues cut across religious divides. For example: marital rape, inheritance rights, land ownership, asset ownership and direct control over that, etc. Other important issues that are not discussed in the NSAPR II directly and most importantly in the Womens advancement section are: recognizing the fact that women face discrimination in accessing economic rights grooming of local level political leadership from women is absent, gender sensitive budgeting sector, sex, life cycle and region focus and gender sensitive budgeting does not mean specific increases in allocation only education curricula is not geared to market, skill and entrepreneurship

Other issues not found in the document are: awareness programs run from within (BCC campaigns, social mobilizations) and outside (as part of CSR campaign of commercial enterprises) the development sector are never considered as part of non-formal education. Whereas this it provides a vital link to accessibility to diverse range of information on social and individual issues raising the level of knowledge, know-how and life skills of the poor women. Although NSAPR II hints at (p.136) introducing awareness programs in the education system on womens rights and mens responsibilities in the family. It remains to be seen if this is implemented at all. It is already lost from the relevant policy matrix. Public expenditure process which is still incremental and hence prone to arbitrary decisions Lack of substantive investment (it was 2.7 percent of GDP, one of the lowest in the region) in education is holding the country back Lack of linkages (vertical) between civil society at the capital and grass roots associations and linkage (horizontal) amongst the different regional and local movements, associations.

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REVIEWING GAPS IN THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2009

The proposed National Education Policy 2009 has a chapter dedicated to Womens education. It includes: Separate budgetary allocation Decrease dropout rate Emphasis on vocational education Inclusion of Progressive image of women in the syllabus Inclusion of Gender studies & Reproductive health in the Secondary level syllabus Emphasis on mobility, etc.

Issues crucial to womens empowerment not discussed in regard to curricula and womens education: This document failed to harp on the softer in-house relationship issues that often adversely affect self esteem and psychological condition of women and even becomes a barrier to continuing their education. Hence women do not learn to exercise agency and cannot achieve empowerment. As far as education is concerned in offsetting gender bias, the curricula should incorporate the following issues in different stages of the life cycle of a person. For example a soft issue in religious line is: women in the Hindu minority communities in Bangladesh do not have right to divorce their husbands. At times these softer issues cut across religious divides. For example: marital rape, inheritance rights, land ownership, asset ownership and direct control over that, grooming of local level political leadership from women, education curricula is not geared to market, skill and entrepreneurship, women face discrimination in accessing economic rights, etc. Reviewing the document the study observes the following: The proposed Education Policy, from Women empowerment perspective, is an ambitious one and less specific in places Entrenched social interests and structure may not allow this Policy to be fully implemented to promote agency of women (e.g., incorporation of reproductive health in the syllabus, encouraging vocational education for women, etc.) Earlier commissions and good papers did not bear any fruit as they were not implemented with political will Commitment is not automatic; it must be generated through a programme that is exciting, achievable, rewarding, demonstrates clear benefits, involves the stakeholders, and is measurable

These issues need to be addressed while setting the curricula.

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Recommendations for the next level of PRS / Five Year Plans Our recommendations will follow in three segments. Focus is on education, focus on education geared to empower women in the long run and finally focusing on designing of PRS. In terms of structure our education system needs to: Address and incorporate the issues discussed in this paper, especially in the previous section, as and when appropriate within different stages in the life cycle of a woman starting from a girl child to adolescent girl to adult women to aged women. This is directly related to gender sensitive budgeting related to design of the PRSPs as a strategy papers related to background analysis on a national scale and vigorous public discussions on those issues. Enrollment is focused. We need to work on & reduce the drop out rate of girls at the primary and higher secondary level. In order to enhance the impact of education in terms of empowerment of women, both quality and quantity needs to be focused. Infrastructural support & Faculty/teaching staff should be hired with care to ensure quality. Boys / male need gender sensitive education in a gender sensitive environment, i.e., need to focus on co-education In education sector, investment must be measured through indicators. Feasibility analysis must be aimed at developing and testing indicators to achieve that end. The education system should have inbuilt flexibility to accommodate affirmative actions to empower girls/women in the long run. During a development process, women need to develop absorption capacity that will enable them to handle expenditure more prudently and with long term thinking. Teaching of indigenous knowledge, regional need based knowledge is now needed to effectively develop all regions in the country. Timely market orientation, skill orientation is very important. Schools need (especially in case of ECDP) to be distributed according to population distribution of the country. To this end a study was done by CAMPE supported by SIDA & UNESCO. Those findings need to be implemented immediately to make access to literacy and childhood development programs possible.

FORWARD THINKING:

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For a more custom made education system for women to enhance their agency in the long run, following should be included in curricula targeting different age brackets: inheritance rights, land ownership, asset ownership and direct control over that, marital rape, womens work and involvement in public sphere, grooming of local level political leadership from women.

There are significant gaps in the design of this strategy paper. Following measures could be considered to overcome those: Prioritization of Issues & Interventions Discuss and outline dependent and independent variables in the Policy Matrix Empowerment process needs to treated as a dynamic one Details of the dynamics of issue linkages needs to be included, especially when and where gender is a cross cutting issue Analyze the positive and negative aspects of different sociological phenomena that may affect the achievement of the goals of the Policy paper. This will help device a contingency strategy and plan Important milestones need to be set in the process of achieving results. So that markers can be set and achievements pegged periodically A bit of detail on the background analysis of the strategy paper needs to be added so that it reveals the process/criteria of arriving at any target or benchmark set in the document Women in NSAPR II are being treated as recipients or even victims. This approach needs to be changed Gender sensitive budgeting (its not only about allocation) is vital. Guideline to that end must be incorporated in this document womens associations needs to be seen as part of an interlinked network and linkages amongst associations established (horizontal & vertical) We need political will of and commitment from the government to make progress on these entrenched issues. Reservation in ratifying CEDAW on article 2 has to go. Reservations on Article 16 need to be withdrawn and the article implemented without delay A Uniform Family Code to resolve these issues and deal with entrenched mentalities working for discrimination

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Suggestive Readings & References

Reports / Working Papers / Newspaper features / Web addresses: (12th July, 2009). Draft policy suggests 8 years primary schooling in www.Bdnews24.com (February 2008). Ease lending system for SMEs run by women entrepreneurs in The Daily Star. (February 2008). Govt. unveils plans for the North in The Daily Star. (July-September 2007). Quarterly Newsletter of Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Government of Bangladesh. A review of Womens Advancement and Rights Issues in National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (NSAPR) their Implementation and Monitoring. ActionAid Bangladesh. (2005). The Road Towards Achieving MDGs: Peoples Voice on their Own Well-being Status. Actionaid Bangladesh. Quality Education for Girl Child: Beyond Accessibility. Booklet. Actionaid Bangladesh. School Safety Approach and the Scaling Up Strategy. Newsletter. ActionAid International. (September 2005). Freedom Lost? Peoples Voice on MDGs. Afsar, R. (2008). Review Analysis of three Stand-Alone Issues in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper: Tall Promises and Little Achievements. A study prepared under GPG Project Secretariat: Steps Towards Development, Dhaka. Ahmed, Q. M (2005). Implementation the PRSP Agenda for the next three Years. Paper presented at PRS Implementation Forum 2005. Andaleeb, S. S. (20th April, 2009). Bangladeshs new education policy must consider 7Cs in The Daily Star. Dhaka. Ashjadul Kibria. Education Rights Reference Handbook. Actionaid Bangladesh. Background brief: Poverty Reduction Strategies. June 2001. Collected from internet. Bangladesh Development Series: Bangladesh 2020. World Bank & BCAS. (2003). A Long-Run Perspective Study. The University Press Limited. Basic Education and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity. USAID. (2002). Bangladesh Education Sector Review. Report No.01. Overview of the Basic Education Sector. Basic Education and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity. USAID. (2002). Bangladesh Education Sector Review. Report No.02. The Status of Gender Equity.

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Basic Education and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity. USAID. (2002). Bangladesh Education Sector Review. Report No.04. Teachers and Teachers Training (Formal and Nonformal). Basic Education and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity. USAID. (2002). Bangladesh Education Sector Review. Report No.05. Working with Government Agencies in Education. Basic Education Statistics - 2003/04. Collected from internet. Braunstein, E. (2008). Womens Employment, Empowerment and Globalization: An Economic Perspective in http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw. New York: United Nations. Brock, K. (1999). Its not only wealth that matters- its peace of mind too: a review of participatory work on poverty and ill being. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK. CDF Secretariat. (2007). Getting Serious About Meeting the Millennium Development Goals. A Comprehensive Development Framework Progress Report. Chowdhury, Matiur Rahman. (April 9, 2009). Bangladesh Prepares Education Policy in The Daily Prothom Alo. CPD Dialogue Report. Report No. 16. (September 1999). Population, Development and Urbanization: The Emerging Issues. CPD Policy Brief. (2001). Education Policy. Election 2001: National Policy Review Forum. CPD Task Force Report. CPD Policy Brief. (2003). Education Policy. National Policy Review Forum. CPD Task Force Report. CPD Policy Brief. (2003). Womens Empowerment & Todays Realities: From the Point of View of Accountability. Election 2001: National Policy Review Forum. CPD Task Force Report. Directory of NGOs with Education Programme. (2006). Bangladesh. Vol.I. CAMPE. Directory of NGOs with Education Programme. (2006). Bangladesh. Vol.II. CAMPE. Education Watch & Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) (2009). Prioritized Recommendations to The National Education Policy Formulation Committee 2009. e-Update. (February 2008). Local Poverty Reduction Cluster. Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Team in Bangladesh. (February 2005). Millennium Development Goals: Bangladesh Progress Report. Hasan, L. (April 2003). Demystifying Non-Discrimination & Gender: For Effective Child Rights Programming. Dhaka: Save the Children Sweden Denmark. Hossain, A. (October 2004). Country Presentation Bangladesh. Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.

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Hossain, J. (July 2005). Bangladesh: Poverty and Employment, Lost in the Queue. Presented at the Workshop on Civil Society Organizations, Evidence and Policy Influence. Hunt, J. (June 2006). Indicators and gender audits. IWDA Symposium on Gender Indicators. ILO. ESS Paper no. 16. (2003). Gender Equality and the Extension of Social Protection. IMF Country Report No. 06/53, (February 2006). Bangladesh: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. Institute of Development Studies. (1997). Its not only wealth that matter-its peace of mind too a review of participatory work on poverty. Jahan, H. E. I. (February 2008). Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century. Follow-up to the Forth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special of the General Assembly. JBIC. (2002). Bangladesh Education Sector Overview. JBIC Sector Study. Kamol, E. (July 3, 2009). Closing the Gaps cover story in The Daily Star Weekend Magazine. Kapitsa, L. M. (2008). Womens Economic Empowerment in http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw. Division for the Advancement of Women. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. New York: United Nations. Khan.Z. Closing the Gap: Putting EU and UK Gender Policy into Practice- South Africa, Nicaragua and Bangladesh. One World Action. www.oneworldaction.org Mass-Line Media Centre. (2002). A Gender perspective analysis on the role of elected representatives of Union Parishad. Moser, A. (July 2007). Gender and Indicators: Overview Report. BRIDGE development gender, UNDP. Narayan, D., Chambers, R., Shah, M. and Petesch, P. (1999). Global Synthesis: Consultations with the Poor. Parikh, Jyoti. (2007). Gender and Climate Change Framework for Analysis, Policy & Action. India: UNDP. Peoples Forum on MDGs (PFM), Bangladesh. (2008). Not Yet Free of Bondage, A Civil Society Report on The Progress of MDGs in Bangladesh, 2007. Piron, L-H with Evans, A. (March 2004). ODI - Overseas Development Institution. Working Paper 237, Politics and the PRSP Approach: Synthesis Paper. Planning Commission, GoB. (August 2009). Steps Towards Changes. National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II, FY 2009-11. Planning Commission, GoB. (October 2008). Moving Ahead. National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II, FY 2009-11. Rahman, M. Ehsanur & Rahman, M. Habibur, (April 2009). Mapping of Non-Formal Education Activities in Bangladesh. Prepared by CAMPE for Bureau of Non-formal Education, MoPME, supported by Sida & UNESCO.

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Rahnuma Afrin. (October 2000). Adolescence Trapped in Motherhood Image. ActionAid Bangladesh. Ramachandran, N. (November 2006). Women and Food Security in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns. Research Paper No. 2006/131. UNU-WIDER. Reddy, Sanjoy G. and Heuty, Antoine. DESA Working Paper, No.30, (September 2006). Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Whats wrong with existing analytical models? Renzio, P. (September 2004). The Challenge of Absorptive Capacity: Will lack of absorptive capacity prevent effective use of additional aid resources in pursuit of the MDGs? Report on a seminar held at DFID. DfID & ODI. Sida. (March, 2007). Progress in educational development, Education Division. Step Towards Development (2009). A Brief Gender Review of the National Budget 0809.Technical Support from Unnayan Samunnoy. Temple, F. T. (May 2002). Growth and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh. World Bank. The NSAPR and Budget Strategy. Collected from internet. The World Bank. (1995). Development in Practice: Toward Gender Equality, the role of public policy. The World Bank. (2002). Report No-23594-BD. The Female Secondary School Assistance Project-II. Project Appraisal Document. The World Bank. (2004). Report No-27630-BD. Primary Education Development Project-II. Project Appraisal Document. The World Bank. (2006). World Development Report 2007 Development and the Next Generation. The World Bank. (February 2005). Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Bangladesh: How Likely and What will it Take to Reduce Poverty, Child Mortality and Malnutrition, Gender Disparities, and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?. Human Development Unit, South Asia Region. UNCDF Working Paper. (December 2006). Gender Development: Investment methods for greater equity. UNDP, Bangladesh. (January 2009). Financing Growth and Poverty Reduction: Policy Challenges and Options in Bangladesh. Dhaka: HDRC. UNDP. (2003). Human Development Report Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty. UNDP. (2009). Human Development Report Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. UNDP. HDR Presentation. (2009). Human Development Report 2009 - Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development. UNFPA. (2004). Investing in People. National Progress in Implementing the ICPD Programme of Action 1994-2004. International Conference on Population and Development.

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UNIFEM & ICRW Bulletin. Result-Based Initiatives: Womens economic empowerment works. We can prove it. UNIFEM South Asia Office, (2005). Accountability to the Worlds Women Progress of South Asian Women 2005. UNIFEM South Asia Office, (2007). Progress of South Asian Women 2007. Institute of Social Studies Trust. UNIFEM. (2008). Progress of the Worlds Women 2008/2009. Who Answers to Women? Gender & Accountability. United Nations (April 2006). Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Fifth Periodic report of State parties Bangladesh. CEDAW/SP/2006/2. United Nations (January 2003). Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Fifth Periodic report of State parties Bangladesh. CEDAW/C/BGD/5. WHO and World Bank. Dying for Change: Poor peoples experiences of health and illhealth. Voices of the Poor project. World Bank & UPL. (2000). Bangladesh Education Sector Overview. Vol.I. World Bank & UPL. (2000). Bangladesh Education Sector Overview. Vol.II. World Bank & UPL. (2000). Bangladesh Education Sector Overview. Vol.III. World Bank Institute. (2002). Gender and Risk in the Design of Social Protection Interventions.

wkvevZv cKvkbv, evsjv`k wkv Kwgkb wicvU 1974| MYmviZv Awfhvb: GWyKkb IqvP - 2002| MYmviZv Awfhvb eyKjU, (2004), Mvevj Kvb di GWyKkb - wK I Kb? MYmviZv Awfhvb eyKjU, (2004), mevi Rb wkv nvwiq hvIqv Avi Si cov wkwKkvi`i K_v| Dbqb c`c (2009), AvRvwZK bvix w`em| wekl msLv - 2009|

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Books: Ahmed, Q. K. (July 2005). Poverty and Education with Particular Reference to Bangladesh. Dhaka: CAMPE. ------------ (2005). The Millennium Development Goals: A Panacea or Yet Another Agenda. Dhaka: CAMPE. Jalaluddin, A. K. and Chowdhury. A.M.R. (ed.) (1997). Getting Started- Universalising Quality Primary Education in Bangladesh. Dhaka: UPL. Kabeer, N. (2001). Bangladeshi Women Workers and Labour Market Decisions: The Power to Chose. Dhaka: UPL. Kabir, N., Nambissan, G. B., Subrahmanian, R., (ed.) (2003). Child Labour and the Right to Education in South Asia: Needs Versus Rights? Dhaka: UPL. Khan, S. (1993). The Fifty Percent: Women in Development and Policy in Bangladesh. Dhaka: UPL. Khan, S. R. (2001). The Socio-Legal Status of Bangali Women in Bangladesh: Implications for Development. Dhaka: UPL. Nath, S.R. and Mahbub, A. (2008). Inside Schools, Dhaka: Academic Press and Publisher Library.

evsjv`k jLK wkwei, (1990), evsjv`ki wkv : AZxZ, eZgvb I fwelZ| gvbvb, Av. L. (1978), wkvi BwZnvm I wkvbxwZi g~jK_v. Avyjvn ev`vm| ivk`v, G. Gb. (mv), (1996), wkv`kb: j I mgvR, wkvevZv cKvkbv | ivk`v, G. Gb. (mv), (1997), wkvevZv - 1987-1997 wbevwPZ iPbv, wkvevZv cKvkbv |
Policies / Acts / Conventions: Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, collected from internet.

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