The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) has reconvened the 16 Citizen's Taskforces to reassess the recommendations they made in June 2001 before the general elections.

The initiative will review how many of the recommendations have been implemented by the government. The CPD taskforces were set up before the October 2001 general elections to provide inputs to the pre-election debate and discussions on critical development issues and also to come up with a set of policy recommendations for the newly elected government. The CPD organised a meeting yesterday where the chairmen and member secretaries of the original taskforces were present. CPD Chairman Professor Rehman Sobhan chaired the meeting.

"As the government has now entered its second year in office, it is being increasingly felt that the recommendations of the taskforces should be revisited in order to put under scrutiny to what extent those recommendations are being implemented by the incumbent government," a CPD release said.

The new initiative will also come up with policy recommendations for the government that the CPD hopes would help it in its preparation for the Aid Group meeting scheduled in May 2003.

Apart from a careful review of the outcomes of various public policies, the works of the taskforces will also be discussed in regional dialogues. The final reports of the taskforces will be presented at a National Forum to be held at the end of April this year.

The Daily Star and Prothom Alo will collaborate with the CPD in carrying out stakeholder consultations.