Young People in Bangladesh:
Facing the Challenges in the New Millennium CPD's Leadership Programme for Young Scholars and Professionals

In order to enhance the capacity of the young people who will provide leadership in this millennium to a country rich in its potential but afflicted by mass poverty and deprivation, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) envisages their active participation in a constructive dialogue on national policy choices in the context of an emerging global scenario. With the onset of market-based economies and in view of the ensuing rapid globalisation, the neophyte leaders will be faced with the formidable challenge of addressing the pros and cons emanating from a new structure of global governance. Today's young people must be exposed to the various dimensions of the embryonic problems that inform the developmental process, so that in time they are adequately prepared to face the frontier problems and are capable of putting forward appropriate solutions. With this objective in mind, the Programme on Young People in Bangladesh organised by CPD aims to:

• promoting cognisance about the cardinal developmental challenges to be faced by Bangladesh in the new millennium

• encouraging the creative ideas of young scholars and professionals in articulating the development agenda of the country

• making the new generation of leaders conscious of the changing features of global governance and public goods

• stimulating young people's aptitude towards effective interface with the global public policy network.

An Advisory Committee has been constituted to monitor the implementation and progress of the programme, with Professor Rehman Sobhan in the Chair and Professor Mohammad Yunus as the Convenor. The programme has received support from Better World Fund of the United Nations Foundation.

Programme Components

To facilitate the aforementioned objectives through a focused capacity building initiative, the programme is devised into four components.

Small Grants for Young Scholars: Unique Opportunity for Empirical and Action Research

• This is a rare opportunity for motivated individuals to conduct empirical and action research on a limited scale on any topic pertinent to the country's reform and development pursuits. The subject matter essentially has to be forward-looking.

• As part of this programme CPD is inviting fresh graduates and graduate students of such disciplines as Economics, International Relations, Journalism, Political Science, Sociology or any specialised discipline in Business Studies.

• The applicants will be selected from students of five batches with the middle batch of students being those completing their Master's degree in the Year 2000.

• The research endeavour would be facilitated through necessary institutional contacts and references, and the researchers will get an opportunity to work under CPD's supervision.

• Research papers produced under the Small Grants component, which are evaluated highly, will be published by the CPD in a Series to be specially brought out as part of the programme.

• The grantees, on completion of their study, which may form part of their dissertation work or any academic requirement by the corresponding departments, will present their findings at a dialogue arranged by CPD.

• The selected young researchers will be provided with financial grants to cover expenses related to the conduct of their respective studies.

Internship for Young Professionals: Rich Exposure to the Development Discourse

·     This is a particularly exciting offer for those aspiring to build an academic or research-oriented career. Prospective executives of various development agencies will also benefit from the internship. Involvement with the CPD as an Intern provides an excellent opportunity to interact with a leading civil society think-tank in Bangladesh and to gain first-hand exposure to frontier developmental issues and critical development policy challenges facing Bangladesh.

·      CPD will involve the interns in its ongoing research programmes, where they would be required to put in supervised research input. The internship also provides a scope to participate in various in-house, national and international dialogues.

·      The duration of the internship will be usually for a period of three to six months.

·      Non-resident Bangladeshis are also encouraged to apply for the internship.

·      Only Graduates and Ph.D. students should apply.

CPD YLP Album

CPD Intern List

Appreciation Courses on Policy Issues: Understanding the Challenges of the New Millennium

• In order to promote leadership skills among the young people of Bangladesh, appreciation courses and policy dialogues will be held on strategic issues of national and international importance. In this context, it may be mentioned that the CPD will be open to suggestions from, and will also contact potential participants as regards selection of particular themes and issues for the policy dialogues.
   

• CPD looks forward to participation of the younger generation of professionals, with their vocation falling into any of the following categories:

Youth Conference on Shaping a Modern Bangladesh: Ideas and Vision

·    A two-day Youth Conference will be organised towards the end of the programme period, hopefully in December 2000. This conference will bring out the perspectives and concerns of the young people of Bangladesh on the future of the country. The Conference will open a door of communication for young people and will provide a platform to discuss contemporary critical issues. Selected outputs emerging out of the various programme components will be presented at the Conference. The Conference will provide an opportunity to the young professionals and scholars to share and debate their ideas and vision with a broad spectrum of the civil society.

·    Besides young people from our country, the Conference will also host several young scholars, professionals and opinion leaders from the South Asian countries.

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