The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) awarded its first ‘Aziz- ul- Haq Rural Development Medal – 2021 to the H.E. Sheikh Hasina, MP, Honorable Prime Minister of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Today, in a simple and gracious ceremony, this medal was officially handed over to the Honorable Prime Minister by Dr. Cherdsak Virapat, Director General of CIRDAP at Gonobhaban. H.E. After receiving the award, the Prime Minister said, “I think people of Bangladesh are the recipients of this award and I am dedicating this to them. I think nominating for this award means that Bangladesh is nominated for the award”. The premier also said CIRDAP is always working on rural development in their respective countries, adding, “Getting an award from there is just as highly honorable for me as well as for my country.” Click here to see the detailed press release.

Greetings from the editorial team of Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development (APJORD) and Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP).   We are happy to announce that APJORD Volume 31: issue 1 (June 21) and issue 2 (Dec. 2021) are out now.   APJORD is a peer reviewed half-yearly academic journal and flagship publication of CIRDAP. This bi-annual journal is devoted to the issues and discussions on rural development, primarily in the Asia-pacific region. The journal provides a platform for the academicians, policymakers, development practitioners, research scholars and others interested in integrated rural development (IRD) to exchange and share ideas, opinions, field observations, and empirical findings on various facets of rural development.   If you wish to get the copies, please contact with Sage publishing click here.  

Date:  8 JUNE 2022 Time: 11:00 AM (DHAKA TIME) 12:00 PM (BANGKOK TIME) Click here for zoom link. Click here to see the details. Presenter Suchana Apple Chavanich, Ph.D. Professor, Chulalongkorn University Reef Biology Research Group, Department of Marine Science Faculty of Science, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Click Here to see the press release of GC 23. Click Here to see the press release of EC 33.

Next in our Webinar Series Bangladesh! Bangladesh is a member of such international organizations as the UN, WTO, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, and others.With a population of 166 million, Bangladesh suffers from floods, cyclones, storm surges, riverbank erosion, earthquake, drought, salinity intrusion, fire, and tsunamis. Date: 26th May, 2022 Time: 1000 CET / 1700 CET Register Our speaker is Anisur Rahman. Anisur currently works as a National Consultant (SFDRR) at UNDP Bangladesh. He is an experienced professional in the field of Urban Planning and Disaster Risk Management with a demonstrated history of working in the South and Southeast Asian Countries. Skilled in Urban Planning, Capacity Building on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Sustainable Development, Urban Environmental Management, Proposal Writing, and Technical Management. Anisur is a strong operations professional with a Master of Science (MSc) focused in Urban Environmental Management from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. During the webinar, we will hear more about how the country of Bangladesh prepares for disasters such as cyclones, and the impact on coastal communities. REGISTER TODAY Register today and watch the webinar live or via live stream, and also get notified when recordings are available.

The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2022 (IWD 2022) on its premises. This year’s theme is, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. CIRDAP also organized a Discussion Forum for celebrating the International Women Day on the topic:  We can #Break the Bias. Here are some moments of the celebration:

The Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the pacific (CIRDAP) appoints Dr. Muhammad Israr as its new IRD Expert. Dr. Muhammad Israr is a civil servant and senior bureaucrat. He is a citizen of Pakistan. He is graduated from Australian National University (ANU), Australia and earned his PhD in Rural Development from the Institute of Development Studies (AUP). He has about 30 years of research experience in policies formulations pertaining to Agriculture, livestock, fisheries, integrated Rural Development, sustainable development and climate change. He is well conversant in the fields of integrated business projects, development projects, institutional development and management consulting. Dr. Muhammad Israr has sufficient number of national and international research publications to his credit. During his professional career, he worked for the integrated rural development covering the aspects of agriculture, livestock and fisheries and integrated water resources management through high efficiency irrigation systems. Dr. Muhammad Israr is currently working as secretary Agriculture, livestock, fisheries and Cooperative Department, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and is presently implementing projects pertaining to water & crop sector, livestock sector, enterprises development in the context of agribusinesses under Agriculture Emergency program and transformation plan. Dr. Muhammad Israr is having good back ground in training and development aspects of the HR Development especially financial and taxation management as well as managing across cultures. His research interests are development of rural communities through common facilitation centers and farm services centers in the rural economies of the developing nations.

We are pleased to invite you to a Policy Workshop on Prospects of Commercial Production of Sea Bass in Bangladesh to be held at 3:00 pm on Sunday, May 15, 2022 at the Conference Room (CICC-2) of CIRDAP, Chameli House, 17 Topkhana Road, Dhaka 1000. This workshop is jointly organized by Fishery Products Business Promotion Council (FP-BPC), Ministry of Commerce and Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation (BSFF). As you know, presently, Aquaculture production in the coastal region of Bangladesh depends largely on the production of Black Tiger Shrimp while some other species like Asian Sea Bass (Lates calcarifer) are also produced following traditional practices using trash and live fishes as feed. A planned strategy to produce Sea Bass, as is done in many Asia-Pacific Countries, using modern production methods involving, among others, breeding process to produce fingerlings in hatcheries and use of formulated feed, can open up new opportunities for farmers in the coastal region to produce an additional species which is indigenous to the region and comparatively less susceptible to diseases compared to Black Tiger Shrimp. In this connection, it may please be mentioned here that H.E. Mr.  M. A. Mannan, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Planning has kindly consented to grace the workshop as the Chief Guest and Mr. Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Dr. Mohammad Yamin Chowdhury, Secretary, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and Dr. Cherdsak Virapat, Director General, CIRDAP will attend the workshop as Special Guests. Dr. Aziz Bin Arshad FASc, the renowned Sea Bass breeding specialist and Professor of Fisheries Biology, University Putra Malaysia would make the keynote presentation and Mr. Somboon Laoprasert, Marine Shrimp and Aquaculture Expert, CIRDAP will make a presentation on the Thai Experience on Commercial Sea Bass Farming on the occasion. Mr. Md. Abdur Rahim Khan, Coordinator, Business Promotion Council & Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce will chair the event while Syed Mahmudul Huq, Chairman, BSFF will moderate the discussions. Your august presence in the workshop will make the workshop more interactive. A copy of the invitation card is enclosed herewith for your kind reference. We would appreciate if you could kindly confirm your kind participation at your earliest convenience. Click here to see the invitation card.