Anthony Saich
Daewoo Professor of International Affairs and the Harvard Kennedy School; Director of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia
Bangladesh Public Administration Project
Working with public servants in Bangladesh to build the capabilities, skills, and knowledge to meet the country’s development goals
The Bangladesh Public Administration Project is a multiyear initiative housed at Harvard Kennedy School’s Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia. In collaboration with the Governance Innovation Unit (GIU) in the Prime Minister’s Office of Bangladesh, the purpose of this project is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Bangladesh civil service and the individual capacity of its civil servants. Its activities are designed to ensure that public servants in Bangladesh have the capabilities, skills, and knowledge to meet the country’s development goals, which include accelerating progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs), attaining upper middle-income status by 2031, becoming a high-income ‘SMART Bangladesh’ by 2041, and transitioning to full environmental sustainability by 2100.
The project accomplishes this through three mutually dependent and integrated elements:
Rigorous curriculum review
We are collaboratively reviewing and revising curricula at three of the country’s public administration training entities: the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), the Bangladesh Civil Service Administration Academy (BCSAA), and the Institute of Public Finance (IPF). The purpose of the review is to ensure content is up to date, the instruction techniques are learner-centered, and the trainings equip civil servants with the skills and capabilities necessary to meet the country’s development goals and serve the residents of Bangladesh.
Training and teaching
We are training a pool of 100 current and future public administration trainers on learner-centered, interactive pedagogical techniques to maximize student learning and engagement. We also plan to host workshops with Bangladesh senior leaders on topics related to the SDGs and other development goals.
We are training a pool of 100 current and future public administration trainers on learner-centered, interactive pedagogical techniques to maximize student learning and engagement. This includes training on the case method and development of teaching cases. We also plan to host workshops with Bangladesh senior leaders on topics related to the SDGs and other development goals.
Research
HKS faculty affiliated with the Bangladesh Public Administration Project conduct collaborative policy research with GIU officials, research fellows, students, and Bangladeshi colleagues. One aim of this collaboration is to build the research capacity of the Bangladesh civil service. Research also supports the development of curricular materials, such as teaching cases.
Meet the Team
Jay Rosengard
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Director, Indonesia Public Policy Program
Jessica Creighton
Program Director, Bangladesh Public Administration Project
Malcolm McPherson
Academic Director, Bangladesh Public Administration Project
Sarzah Yeasmin
Project Manager, Bangladesh Public Administration Project
Edward Cunningham
Director of Ash Center China Programs and of the Asia Energy and Sustainability Initiative; Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Arnold Howitt
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
Jeeyang Rhee Baum
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy
THE LATEST NEWS, RESOURCES, AND RESEARCH
Occasional Paper
Powering Bangladesh’s Future: Risks and Opportunities in Solar Energy Deployment
This policy paper aims to provide an analysis of the current state of the solar power industry in Bangladesh, identifying the gaps and risks associated with the implementation of the government’s renewable energy goals.
Policy Brief
Bangladesh’s Inflationary Bias
The challenge in this policy note is to look beyond the transitory factors in Bangladesh that have moved relative prices up (or down) to identify the longer-term factors that generate and sustain general price increases and to explain why those factors endure.
Policy Brief
Bangladesh’s Tax-to-GDP Ratio
The tax-to-GDP ratio in Bangladesh has been exceptionally low, both absolutely and relative to the nation’s peers, for the last five decades. An excellent starting point for reform would be the World Bank’s recent proposals for enhanced revenue mobilization, which build upon the long-delayed reforms.
Policy Brief
Exchange Rate Management in Bangladesh
This policy note discusses the macroeconomic difficulties in Bangladesh created by the counterproductive manipulation of the exchange rate from the mid-2000s and suggests potential remedies.
Policy Brief
Budget Compression in Bangladesh
The study aimed to determine if Bangladesh’s decades-long high-level performance contradicted the widely accepted “stylized fact” among development specialists that “institutions matter.”
Policy Brief
Tax System Digitalization to Enhance Revenue Mobilization in Bangladesh
This policy brief focuses on improving tax implementation, with the hope that the impact of administrative reforms will be accelerated and amplified if undertaken simultaneously with fundamental tax policy reform.
Feature
A Transformative Learning Experience for Civil Servants and a New Direction for Civil Service Pedagogy
The Bangladesh Public Administration Project’s 2024 pedagogy fellows use the case method to equip the next generation of civil servants to meet Bangladesh’s development goals.
Feature
Rajawali Semester in Review
This past semester, the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia engaged in conversations and research on topics ranging from Indonesia’s election to US-Taiwan relations with the goal of continuing to develop policy solutions to the region’s most pressing concerns.
Feature
Poised for continued growth, Bangladesh must first navigate geopolitical constraints
Speaking at Harvard Kennedy School, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen MC/MPA 1979 noted that the country plans to be poverty free by 2041. Yet challenges—like climate change and rising fuel costs—loom large.