Meeting with Grantees
Naimur Rahman, Chief Operating Officer of ANSA-SAR attended a meeting for the ANSA-SAR supported initiative implemented by Public Affair Center on the 4th-5th January, 2012 in Bangalore.
One of ANSA-SAR's partners, Manusher Jonno Foundation organised a half-day experience sharing workshop on January 12, 2012. The workshop brought together the four partner NGO's such as the Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Agrogoti Shangstha, Jagrata Jubo Shangha and RDRS. In both these events the current activities and future prospects of the project were reviewed and discussed. The workshop was attended by Naimur Rahman and Nuzhat Jabin.
"Open Doors" 2012 Conference
On the 16-18th January 2012, a regional conference was held in Manila for Procurement Practitioners in East- Asia Pacific named "Open Doors 2012". Open Doors 2012 supports ANSA in East Asia Pacific region to provide the networking, capacity building and technical support necessary for the SAc practitioners to turn into a resource group for sustained and quality procurement work. Mr. Naimur Rahman participated in this event.
Workshop for Community of Practice on Right to Information
From January 22-23 ANSA SAR organised a Design Workshop for the Community of Practice (COP) on Right to Information (RTI). The COP on RTI is anchored by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) in India. The two-day event brought together members of civil society organisations from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal- this group would form the core group of the COP. The two day workshop was designed to enable each participant to establish RTI in their own countries.
Presentations by Partners
On January 30, Orissa based ANSA-SAR partners namely Sambandh, YSD, Adhar and CDS made presentations by the ANSA-SAR funded Initiatives to World Bank's State Portfolio Review Committee.
Completion of Baseline Study of "Capacity Building for Promoting Governance"
Capacity Building for Promoting Governance, a joint initiative of IGS and BPATC in partnership with MDF, ISS and VU Amsterdam, completed its baseline study as part of inception phase activities. Mr. Martin, Project Coordinator from MDF conducted the baseline study in consultation with IGS and BPATC representatives. Activities under baseline study included capacity assessment of trainers' team of IGS and BPATC, capacity assessment of curriculum designer team, gender assessment and organisational sustainability assessment. This baseline was carried out during 4-20 January 2012. BPATC and IGS trainers' team, curriculum designers' team and working group participated in various exercises related to this baseline. Methodology of the project baseline study included interactive discussions, demonstration, presentation, self-assessment, self reflection and peer assessment. Various prescribed formats, which were also developed in consultation with IGS and BPATC, were used in baseline. The baseline study ended with development of gender plan, organisational sustainability plan and self development plan by trainers and curriculum development teams from IGS and BPATC.
6th Meeting on Public Private Stakeholders' Committee
The 6th Public Private Stakeholders Committee (PPSC) meeting was held on the January 4, 2012 at the NEC Conference Room of the Planning Commission Campus in Dhaka. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Md. Mozammel Haque Khan, Secretary of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED), Ministry of Planning. Mr. Iqbal Mahmood, Secretary of Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Manzoor Hasan, Advisor to the Institute of Governance Studies, BRAC University and Mr. Amulya Kumar Debnath, Director General of Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) were also present. Mr. Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Research Associate of IGS & Ms. Begum Mahmuda, Controller (Finance & Accounts) of Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board made presentations in the event. It was featured in national dailies such as Prothom Alo, Jugantor, Dainik Janakantha, The Independent, The Financial Express and the Daily Sun.
Presentation made by Visiting Research Fellow
Mr. Shahidul Islam, Visiting Research Fellow of IGS made a presentation at the 2nd Yunnan-Bangladesh cooperation dialogue, jointly organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies and Yunnan Development Research Centre, Dhaka, from January 4-6, 2012. The presentation topic was 'Boosting Trade Partnership and Strengthening Bangladesh-China Connectivity'.