Dr. Ken Afful, Independent Evaluator, commissioned by International Development Research Centre (IDRC), visited the Institute of Governance Studies (IGS), BRAC University on 31st March, 2014. Dr. Afful spent a hectic day in the Institute, University and BRAC and had series of meetings with the top management, researchers and other officials to assess and evaluate how effectively the TTI grantee (IGS) used their grants in the Phase I and to evaluate of Phase II application, submitted by BIGD. The Institute received Think Tank Initiative (TTI) grants for last 4 years.
IGS-BDI Executive Director Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman welcomed Dr. Afful to IGS in the morning and discussed vision, mission, objectives, targeted outputs, utilisation of funds in Phase I. He also expressed sincere appreciation to IDRC for the grant under the TTI provided to IGS over last four years which has enabled so many of the accomplishments including two annual flagship publications of IGS to be sustained by the IDRC grant. Dr. Hafeez wished that with the autonomy already provided by BRAC University’s Board of Trustees to BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), it will have much more to show for the IDRC grant this year, and hoped very much that IDRC will continue to support BIGD at this crucial time to transition and for the long haul –TTI Phase II.
Later, BIGD Institutional Advisor and former IGS Director (during Phase I application) Barrister Manzoor Hasan had a meeting with Dr. Afful, where he presented the genesis, evolution and context of IGS and BIGD’s establishment, progress to date, the ongoing merger, and future structural direction of BIGD. He also expressed confidence that if the Phase II grant materialises, BIGD may be expected to emerge as a top rated centre of excellence in Bangladesh and the wider region around it.
In the afternoon, Dr. Afful joined a Lunch meeting with Mr. Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairperson, BRACNet Limited, the faculties and staff members of IGS-BDI. After lunch, Dr. Afful met Mr. Ahmed Mushtaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice-Chair and Interim Executive Director of BRAC.
Later, Dr. Afful participated in a number of meetings with Research team comprising Research fellows, Senior Researchers, Faculty members’ and others led by Dr. Minhaj Mahmud, Head of Research, BIGD; Communications team led by Mr. Ekram Hossain, Project Manager (Communications), IGS and Finance, Administration, IT & HR team led by Mr. Alamgir Kabir, Head of Operations (Admin, Finance, HR & IT), BIGD. Different teams made separate presentations on the responsibilities, activities, the ways of works, achievements, and the targets/plans of each team to be achieved in 2014 and further on.