http://www.asiaportal.info/ The 20 newest items in the Bangladesh collection at the Asia Portal en-us Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/f2e73dc0-74b5-4985-9bab-fa502f8011cc http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/f2e73dc0-74b5-4985-9bab-fa502f8011cc WFPs country profiles with facts and figures, annual reports, current operations and crisis pages. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8356530a-1dd8-47a0-a4d3-8fb82e388f23 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8356530a-1dd8-47a0-a4d3-8fb82e388f23 The South Asia Terrorism Portal was launched in March 2000, with an initial 1,921 pages of data and information. By 2006, this database had already grown to over 35,000 pages. SATP is the largest website on terrorism and low intensity warfare in South Asia, and creates the database and analytic context for research and analysis of all extremist movements in the region. SATP has been set up to counter the progressive distortions regarding, and the international community’s neglect of, the wide range of terrorist movements within South Asia, and particularly in India. SATP establishes a comprehensive, searchable and continuously updated database on all available information relating to terrorism, low intensity warfare and ethnic/communal/sectarian strife in South Asia. SATP features include: * Daily news updates on terrorism and related issues in South Asia * Continuously updated Assessments, Backgrounders and Timelines for each of the major conflicts in the region * Extensive and continuously updated data sheets and statistics on important parameters relating to major conflicts * Extensive archives of research and analyses relating to conflicts and terrorism, including the complete text of Faultlines: Writings on Conflict & Resolution; Selected Articles from the Indian Defense Review, as well as other papers and material. * Profiles of major terrorist groups operating in the region * Important documents, laws, treaties, conventions and statements connected with such conflicts. * Bibliographies * Links * Maps. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/10dac033-4ec8-4f31-bea8-be1c129e3de8 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/10dac033-4ec8-4f31-bea8-be1c129e3de8 South Asia Analysis Group is a non profit non commercial think tank. The objective of the group is to advance strategic analysis and contribute to the expansion of knowledge of Indian and International security and promote public understanding. In so doing, the SAAG seeks to address the decision makers, strategic planners, academics and the media in South Asia and the world at large. The group holds the concept of strategy in its broadest meaning-including mobilization and application of all resources to understand national and international security. The articles in this site are provided by scholars with many years of experience in political and strategic analysis. The aim of the group is not to compete with Governments, Academics, NGOs or other institutions dealing with strategic analysis and national security but to provide another point of view for the decision makers and other national/international think tanks. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/34642f49-105f-45d1-8d9a-37cf771e949b http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/34642f49-105f-45d1-8d9a-37cf771e949b DFG-Projekt "Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Suedasien", Südasien-Institut / Bibliothek Im Neuenheimer, Heidelberg, Germany. The information gateway for South Asia Studies, which offers you a comprehensive access to professionally selected and annotated internet resources as well as other scientific information. Savifa offers access to information and literature from and about South Asia as a subject gateway within the broad range of the regional sciences. So far the following elements are available: SavifaGuide: [...] Up to now 1300 resources have been catalogued and annotated in SavifaGuide; mostly in English, but also in many Indian languages, e.g. Urdu, Bengali/Assamese and Tamil. SavifaDok: an open access electronic platform for publishing and archiving academic literature in the field of South Asian studies. We publish books, articles and research papers as well as multi media documents. OLC-SSG South Asia: a bibliographical article database which provides access to table of contents of about 220 journals relevant to the study and research on culture, politics and languages of South Asia. The journals are usually indexed back to the year 1993. Acquisition lists. Site contents: New (Newsletter, New Acquisitions); Search (Metasearch, SavifaGuide, OLC-Article Databases, E-Journals, Document Server); Interactive (Publishing, Directory of South Asian Scholars, Suggest a Website, Comments); About Savifa (Special Subject Collection, Project Description, Publications). [A bi-lingual (DE, EN) site] http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b00631e3-f81b-4c77-86fc-2147bba3a3ad http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b00631e3-f81b-4c77-86fc-2147bba3a3ad Network of some 35 national policy institutions, commercial banks and NGOs from nine countries in Asia - namely Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Its objective is to link microfinance with the financial system. It pursues this objective through research, advocacy, policy dialogue, information sharing and capacity building. The BWTP Network arose out of the Banking with the Poor project of the Foundation for Development Cooperation. The Foundation is an independent, non-profit organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, whose aim is to strengthen international cooperation and development, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. The Banking with the Poor project is aimed at exploring, demonstrating and publicising the potential for increased access to credit for the poor on a sound commercial basis. The essence of Banking with the Poor is to establish linkages between commercial banks on the one hand, and non-government organisations (NGOs) and self-help groups (SHGs) of the poor on the other. WWW site provides details of the structure and governance of the Network, its members and associates, listings of publications (many in full text) and newsletters, links to member's websites and key microfinance sites, and contact details. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b30d5986-98dc-4114-97e1-5dde4ea62a2a http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b30d5986-98dc-4114-97e1-5dde4ea62a2a Application of GIS in ecotourism development : a case study in Sundarbans, Bangladesh / Md. Azizur Rahman. - Mid Sweden University. Department of Social Sciences, 2010. - 79 p. (Master's thesis) GIS can be used in tourism as a decision supporting tool for sustainable tourism planning, impact assessment, visitor flow management, and tourism site selection. Therefore, the potential for GIS applications in tourism is significant. The purpose of the study was fixed to explore the potential of using GIS for planning resources pertinent to ecotourism development. The study investigated a case study in Sundarbans which is the largest mangrove forest region of the world, located in the southern part of Bangladesh and the Indian region of west Bengal. However, the current study considered only the Bangladesh part of Sundarbans for study and prepared ecotourism planning for this region. The Sundarbans plays an important role for the national economy of Bangladesh because of its natural resources and tourism activities. Moreover, this forest has been facing some problems due to unplanned development and tourism activities. The ultimate result of unplanned development is land use change, increasing deforestation, biodiversity losses and decreasing upstream flows. Therefore, the study considered this mangrove for ecotourism planning and development and GIS used as decision supporting tools. Moreover, this study tried to find some answers from the research questions. Tourism is a phenomenon, which often highlights that lack of planning and management in terms of environmental concern. For ecotourism planning this thesis quantifies land use change in the Sundarbans over 33 years (1977-2010) using Landsat TM, ETM & MSS satellite imagery and prepared vector maps based on LGED map for ecotourism mapping in Sundarbans, GIS assist in this process. The study found that, the land use of Sundarbans changed over the study period and the density of forest declined at the same time. However, the change occurred because of various human activities and climate change effects. Tourism has a little bit of contribution in the periphery area for this change but tourism has not yet been considered responsible for these effects largely as it is at a very early stage. This research proposed for community development and involvement for local people as a part of hospitality services in ecotourism industries in this region because they can assist tourists according to their experience as guides in the forest. Moreover, they can be employed in the service industries operating or accompanying jungle boat trips and wilderness trails and assisting in transport operation. For ecosystem protection in Sundarbans this study proposed a 300 meters buffer zone around the sanctuaries. Finally, this study proposed an outline for ecotourism planning in the Bangladesh part of Sundarbans where GIS assist in the planning process. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/aa1c72d1-bd64-41f3-84c8-154b5acfaf9b http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/aa1c72d1-bd64-41f3-84c8-154b5acfaf9b Performance evaluation and ratio analysis of Pharmaceutical Company in Bangladesh / Hossan Faruk, Ahsan Habib. - University West, Department of Economics and Informatics, 2010. - 63 p. (Master's thesis) The thesis applies performance evaluation of pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh. It means evaluate how well the company performs. The main aim is achieved through ratio analysis of two pharmaceutical (Beximco and Square pharmaceutical) companies in Bangladesh. The main data collection from the annual financial reports on Beximco and square pharmaceutical companies in 2007 to 2008.Different financial ratio are evaluated such liquidity ratios, asset management ratios, profitability ratios, market value ratios, debt management ratios and finally measure the best performance between two companies. The mathematical calculation was establish for ratio analysis between two companies from 2007-2008.It is most important factors for performance evaluation. The graphical analysis and comparisons are applies between two companies for measurement of all types of financial ratio analysis. Liquidity ratio is conveying the ability to repay short-term creditors and it total cash. It determines perform of short term creditor of both pharmaceutical companies under the three categories such as current ratio, quick ratio and cash ratio. Asset management ratio is measurement how to effectively a company to use and controls its assets. Its also quantify into seven categories for both pharmaceutical companies such as account receivable turnover, average collection period, inventory turnover, account payable turnover ,account payable turnover in days ,fixed asset turnover ,total asset turnover. Profitability ratio is evaluate how well a company is performing by analyzing and how profit was earned relative to sales, total assets and net worth for both pharmaceutical companies. Debt coverage ratio is performing that the property insufficient to collect their mortgage for both companies and market value is perform the stockholder to analysis their future market value of the stock market. Overall analyses are measurement the best one between Beximco and Square pharmaceutical companies. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/66aa500c-1f13-4dc3-8cda-cf4895389ab2 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/66aa500c-1f13-4dc3-8cda-cf4895389ab2 Epidemiological and spatial association between arsenic exposure via drinking water and morbidity and mortality : population based studies in rural Bangladesh / Nazmul Sohel. - Uppsala : Uppsala University, 2010. - x, 51 p. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis ; 549) The overall aim of this thesis is to evaluate the risk for increased morbidity and mortality due to long-term arsenic exposure via drinking water by use of epidemiological and spatial approaches in studies performed in Matlab, Bangladesh. A total of 166,934 individuals aged 4 years and above were screened for skin lesions in 2002-2003. Another sample of 115,903 adults aged 15 years or more and a third sample of 26,972 pregnancies in 1991-2000 were considered in a historical cohort and an ecological study, respectively, where risk of adult mortality and spatial clusters of foetal loss and infant death were analysed in relation to arsenic exposure. The study findings underlines that the ongoing arsenic exposure has resulted in a series of severe public health consequences in Bangladesh that call for reinforcement in the mitigation efforts. Knowledge about the spatial distribution of exposure and health effects may be of value in that process. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/a737c33b-fb3c-412c-8f43-d1c688f02e1d http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/a737c33b-fb3c-412c-8f43-d1c688f02e1d Review of the ongoing project (2005-2009) and appraisal of project entitled promotion and projection of women’s human rights in Bangladesh project (2010-2014) of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) / Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman and Sanjida Kasem. - Oslo : Norad, 2010. - 38 p. (NORAD collected reviews ; 25/2009) Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) is a social and political right based activist organization with a working philosophy premised on the principles of volunteerism and responsiveness to social and political rights and justice of women. Evidences reviewed and the empirical observations reveal that during the programme period (2004 2009), BMP to a great extent has been able to achieve noticeable success in attaining major programme goals and tangible targets. The most significant features of BMP are: a. as a social activist organization it has utilized the “social capital’, b. carefully maintained its “institutional image, heritage and the legacy of leadership ”, c. installed a spirit and culture of ‘volunteerism “to its members and activists; d. it tend maintain a feature of “low cost” organization. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/52b54702-a338-42b5-8d06-b0938019fdee http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/52b54702-a338-42b5-8d06-b0938019fdee Mid-term review report of core projects of Ain o Salish Kendra (2007-2010). - Oslo : Norad, 2010. - 86 p. (Norad collected reviews ; 24/2009) ASK is implementing its program through different units to achieve different outputs/results. The aim is to reach the purpose and goal of the program. RT reviewed all the ASK documents and cross-checked the effectiveness of program strategy through field visits in 4 different districts. It was noticed in available documents, discussion with ASK personnel and field observation that, there is significant lacking persisting in linkages between efforts by different units. This lacking persisting at different levels of program implementation. RT believes efforts of different units are making significant contribution in achieving goals and purpose. But more integrated approach by different units can help increase both effectiveness and efficiency of the program at field and national level. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/cb765f42-37d5-4cf5-934e-e206fb35eb59 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/cb765f42-37d5-4cf5-934e-e206fb35eb59 Report of the Review (2007-2009) and Appraisal (proposed phase 2010-2012) of Manusher Jonno Foundation / Salahuddin M. Aminuzzaman. - Oslo : Norad, 2010. - 30 p. (NORAD collected reviews ; 26/2009) Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) was created by a Human Rights and Governance Initiative (HUGO) funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). The HUGO programme originated in CARE/Bangladesh but later turned into an independent Bangladeshi institution as MJF in 2002. In January 2006, MJF was registered as an independent Trust with the Government of Bangladesh. The overall objective of MJF was to create within Bangladesh an institutional leader in human rights and governance programming with the capacity to garner international support. The ultimate goal of MJF is to make poor women, men and children more able to achieve their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and to improve their security and well-being. One recent review observed that “MJF has established itself as a national leader in human rights and governance. MJF has positioned itself as a repository of information and a "clearing house" for human rights and governance ideas and strategies. Manusher Jonno Foundation currently funds 123 national (and some international) partner NGOs. The individual partner projects are organized under seven major programmatic themes that represent the institutional priorities within the human rights and governance agenda. These thematic programmes are 1. rights of marginalized populations; 2. violence against women; 3. child protection; 4. workers' rights; 5. access to justice; 6. Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), 7. Governance Performance Monitoring. In addition two other programmes like Capacity building and Communication & Media are carried out as cross cutting activities under such programmes are integrated within the other thematic programme areas. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/bbd5d779-16e3-47be-b1f2-31d266e62953 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/bbd5d779-16e3-47be-b1f2-31d266e62953 The Asian Barometer is a research project led by staff and researchers at the National Taiwan University. It is conducting public opinion research into citizen's attitudes towards politics, power, reform, and democracy in Asia. Research covers 13 Asian nations: Japan, Mongolia, North Korea; South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia; India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The website provides information on the aims, methodology and activities of the survey. It includes access to a growing number of detailed working papers which discuss the findings. However, access to many of the datasets is currently restricted to subscribers only. Topics covered include political participation, voting trends and patterns, levels of confidence and trust in political and economic institutions; perceptions of the state of democracy in specific Asian nations and states of governance and development in the region. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b8975776-1b86-4806-afcd-15ed627bdeda http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b8975776-1b86-4806-afcd-15ed627bdeda Bangladesh has some social safety net programs that transfer food to the poor, some that transfer cash, and some that provide a combination of both. This study evaluates the relative impacts of food and cash transfers on food security and livelihood outcomes among the ultra poor in Bangladesh. The programs impacts are evaluated according to various measures, including how well transfers are delivered; which transfers beneficiaries prefer; how accurately the programs target the extremely poor; effects on food security, livelihoods, and women’s empowerment; and cost effectiveness. The report identifies what has and has not worked in food and cash transfers and recommends ways of improving these programs. This study will be valuable to policymakers and others concerned with poverty reduction in Bangladesh and elsewhere. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/df9e1a07-1c40-4b31-92cb-6ff0e9786990 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/df9e1a07-1c40-4b31-92cb-6ff0e9786990 Natural disasters have particularly devastating impacts on economic growth in developing countries because they impede the accumulation of capital. The resilience of labor markets is crucial especially for the poor who rely only on labor to diversify their income portfolio and buffer against risk. Such a risk management strategy may become more challenging as global climate change increases the frequency of natural disasters. This discussion paper uses the Bangladesh Flood Impact panel household survey to evaluate how the 1998 “flood of the century” affected wages in Bangladesh and find long-term declines in wages where non-agricultural labor markets are more severely affected. The paper also evaluates how soil quality and proximity to auxiliary labor markets cushion labor markets against the disaster. The most compelling evidence shows that workers in areas further from centers of economic activity are more vulnerable to flood-induced wage losses. The report suggest that future emergency relief and climate change programs should consider the protection of labor markets by improving infrastructure to facilitate job searches in alternative locations or reduce migration costs. IFPRI Working Paper 2010 by Valerie Mueller and Agnes Quisumbing Development Strategy and Governance Division Poverty, Health and Nutrition Division http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b5f8a78b-0e89-412f-9603-575c96f0524c http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/b5f8a78b-0e89-412f-9603-575c96f0524c This case study highlights the experience of undertaking a priority implementation partnership (PIP) on mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into the planning, design and construction of health facilities in Bangladesh. It shows that planning, design and construction standards need to take hazard resilient factors into consideration to allow the impact of disasters on health facilities to decrease. It assesses the health facility construction in the country and looks for existing entry points for integrating disaster risk reduction within the approval process, site selection and design stage of health facilities, then into the construction, maintenance and assessment of the same. The document provides some recommendations and identifies some specific initiatives as future activities. It also links the project with the UNISDR "Safe hospitals" Campaign in the context of the Hyogo Framework for action. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8e43273a-4fd0-4c12-9cc2-2726843b7fb0 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/8e43273a-4fd0-4c12-9cc2-2726843b7fb0 Asian Affairs is produced and published by by Larkincil International Ltd, a private consulting company based in Hong Kong providing policy makers, transnational group executives and major think-tanks with a strategic perspective of Asian affairs through specific research studies and confidential reports. asian affairs is dedicated to regular studies and analysis of Asia, South, Southeast and East Asia, particularly in the field of international relations, economics and financial affairs.The purpose of Asian Affairs is to strengthen communication and understanding and to offer a platform of exchange of information between Asia and Europe in the field of regulations, policies and economic trends and business cooperation. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4d652d18-5cda-49a1-81b1-501267e33e69 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/4d652d18-5cda-49a1-81b1-501267e33e69 The cost of weak regional cooperation tends to hurt the poor more than the other segment of the population. Two of the poorest South Asian countries are Afghanistan and Nepal; both are land locked. Several lagging regions in the larger South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are located in the border areas and suffer from lack of market integration. Over 500 million people, most of them very poor, live in the Indus and the Ganges–Brahmaputra river basins. These great basins are shared by six nations and are characterized by almost no cooperation and, instead, marked political sensitivity and tension. Several attempts to promote cooperation have failed. Climate change is predicted to have serious impacts on the monsoon, on river flows, and on the rising sea level, with increased incidence of floods and droughts in areas where current shocks already regularly and severely affect the lives and livelihoods of large numbers of people. The report looks at the many policy and institutional constraints that contribute to the present state and have made South Asia one of the least integrated regions of the world. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/668148e4-7091-427b-a77f-f487a0bce093 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/668148e4-7091-427b-a77f-f487a0bce093 This case study provides an insight into the potential impact of climate change on security and conflict dynamics on Bangladesh. It forms part of a series of papers exploring the relationship between violent conflict, insecurity and climate change that seek to generate further debate and action on this important topic. Climate change is predicted to have an overall negative impact on long-term security and conflict dynamics, acting as a threat multiplier that increases the volatility of existing causes of conflict and may generate new insecurities. There is significant evidence to suggest that the environmental degradation caused by climate change is already fuelling insecurity, in particular related to a growth of internal migration. http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/815c5a3c-7667-4425-8b4c-f4db51e23d66 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/815c5a3c-7667-4425-8b4c-f4db51e23d66 Focusing on the coastal areas of Bangladesh, this report analyses the impact of disasters with specific reference to the effects of climate change. It also looks at the nature of the disasters that frequently occur and discusses efforts to mitigate their impact. The coastal areas of Bangladesh are different from rest of the country because of their unique geo-physical characteristics and different socio-political consequences that often limit people’s access to endowed resources and perpetuate risk and vulnerabilities. Bangladesh’s coast is the biggest victim to natural disasters and highly affected by climate change with problems including salinity and water logging, soil erosion, flooding and cyclones.' http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/94f5d71f-13f4-4134-91f0-d81825252394 http://www.asiaportal.info/purl/94f5d71f-13f4-4134-91f0-d81825252394 Voicebd.org Web site and organisation is an activist, rights based research and advocacy place working around the issues of globalization. It critically works/campaigns on neo-liberal economic hegemony, role of International Financial Institutions (IFIs), WTO and TNCs, aid conditions, food sovereignty, media, communication rights and information and communication technologies, governance and human rights, policy research and advocacy etc, both at local and national levels. It strategically works through networking and partnership for a new development paradigm establishing a micro-macro linkage in order to generate increased support for policy influencing to create a just society. It believes in promoting the capacity, knowledge and empowerment of people, the voices of unheard. VOICE has been registered under Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Government of Bangladesh. VOICE is associated with the various national and international networking to link local people’s struggle with international movements. Such as, it has the voting membership with World Association for the Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), Association for Progressive Communication (APC), One World South Asia, NGO Forum on ADB, Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN), International Food Sovereignty Network (IFSN), Asia Pacific Food Sovereignty Network (APNFS), Alliance for Economic Justice, Bangladesh, Alliance against WB’s Immunity, Campaign for Good Governance, People’s Alliance Against WTO, etc. It is the member of CRIS campaign and also works as a Secretariat of Communication Rights in the Information Society (CRIS) Bangladesh. Besides, it also coordinates a countrywide network ‘Right to Food Movement’ as a secretariat. VOICE is also accredited by United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in WSIS process and was the founding member of Bangladesh Working Group on World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).