WHO WE ARE

Understanding Governance in the Context of Bangladesh

Global experiences of past decades have demonstrated that governance is an essential factor in security, democratization and development. Governance broadly means the legal, systemic and institutional arrangements for efficient and effective management of a country’s resources in a manner that is responsive to people’s needs. Quality of governance is crucial in promoting socio-economic and political development, and sound management and leadership are its key elements. Development is no longer a matter of providing resources to satisfy the basic needs; instead, it is more about creating an enabling environment within which the people can exercise their fundamental rights as citizens and feel secure. This rights and security-based approach to development places governance at the Centre of attention. The improvements in institutional and societal frameworks of governance that includes political and legal, judicial and administrative affairs are vital to the prosperity of a nation.

Despite the crucial importance of governance issues, there remains a substantial gap in understanding how and in what respects governance can make a difference for development. A need for a sound understanding of the conceptual framework of governance, determining the indicators of good governance, ascertaining managerial and leadership considerations, assessing the security matrix, and exploring ways and means for achieving good and effective governance is indisputable. This is consistent with the current needs and imperatives of national and global politics, economy and security. There are compelling reasons to undertake programs in governance and security studies to resolve the serious problems faced by Bangladesh.

What is the Centre?

Founded in 2004 and ramping up operations to become a full-fledged Think Tank by 2016, the Centre for Governance Studies strives to address the challenges for Bangladesh in coping with the rapidly changing national and global scenarios. The Centre aims at facilitating collaborative efforts among the academic community, government, private sector, civil society and development partners to improve the quality of governance, address the security needs of Bangladesh, foster the conditions for efficient and prudent utilization of available resources towards poverty reduction, human resource development, and stabilization of political and social order through increased democratization, participation and sustainable economic growth.

Objectives of the Centre

• To act as a Centre of excellence on governance and security study, training, research, and networking;

• To instil interactions and exchanges of ideas, scholarship, and dialogues among members of the community, academics, policy-makers, and practitioners;

• To facilitate democratic governance in Bangladesh by encouraging best practices in applying the rule of law, rights-based governance approaches, human security, and sustainable social, political and economic development.

• To enhance the capacity of the concerned national institutions through research, surveys, education and training, and to offer advice and assistance on policy and strategic issues to enable efficient public service delivery having a greater amount of accountability, transparency and sense of responsibility

• To create greater awareness in the society about the rights and obligations of the citizens and need for and means to gain access to public services aiming at the improvement in quality of life, through optimum utilization of national resources and international cooperation

• To establish linkages with national, regional and international counterpart institutions and international development organizations to introduce current thoughts on governance and security issues and replicable best norms and practices, and arrange for dissemination of ideas and information on good practices, appropriate modalities and techniques of governance and carry out advocacy for adoption thereof.

Organization and Management

The Centre is a non-profit autonomous think-tank. The affairs of the Centre are conducted in accordance with policy decisions approved by a 9-member Board of Directors that includes eminent academics, scholars and practitioners. An advisory board comprised of distinguished individuals belonging to civil service, judiciary, business, media and academic community guides the Board of Directors. Courses, research, and other substantive works are conducted through distinguished faculty members, fellows, resource persons, and other Centre staff members.