Course Title:    Doctor of Philosophy in Government

Thesis Title:     Partnership for Development: Alternative Approaches to Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Supervisors:    Professor Mark Turner & Dr Mary Walsh

Abstract:

Poverty has been identified as the worlds biggest problem. The international community recognises that reducing global poverty is one of the major development challenges of the 21^st century (World Bank 2001, p.1). The first goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Some countries and regions have made remarkable progress in attaining the first goal of the MDGs. However, the proportions of poor peoples living on less than $1 a day are still very high in some regions. For example, in 2004, the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day was 41.1 in Sub-Saharan Africa and 29.5 percent in South Asia (Millennium Development Goals Report 2007, p.6). The problem of poverty is particularly severe in Bangladesh. The population below $1 income a day is 41.3 percent and below the national poverty line is 49.8 percent (Human Development Report 2007/2008). This research seeks to address this problem by examining the use of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) for poverty alleviation. This research aims to explore different Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements for poverty alleviation in Bangladesh and seek stakeholders opinion on the performance of these PPP arrangements. It also seeks to identify different factors that assist and hinder the establishment and performance of these PPPs. This research will utilise the Mixed Methods Approach as its research method. It will involve both qualitative and quantitative data, and use multiple methods since the purpose of this research is to obtain different but complementary data on the same topic to best understand the research problem (Creswell & Clark 2007, p. 62).

PowerPoint presentation for initial seminar (PPT 633kb) 

Biography:

Nilufa Akhter Khanom, as a senior official has been serving for the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh more than 14 years. She joined at the Bangladesh Civil Service in April 1994. During the period of service, she served in the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Currently, she is a Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Establishment, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.

Nilufa graduated with a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Canberra in 2002. She has a B.SC (Honours) and M. Sc in Psychology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and a Bachelor in Economics from the National University of Bangladesh. Currently, she is doing her PhD in Government at the University of Canberra.