On 6th September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group met with Md. Abdur Rahim, assistant professor, and Md. Samiul Islam, lecturer of Asia Pacific University.
Firstly, Md. Adbur talked about a department of law. In Bangladesh, the President is a leader and the deputy commissioner is a leader of state. Supreme court is in Dhaka. There are two types of law: one is a civil law and another is a criminal law.
Secondly, Md. Samiul mentioned human rights. In Bangladesh, there are public human rights lawyers and they plead poor people. In addition, Bangladesh promotes justice for women. Finally, we had a question-and-answer period and then some of students asked questions to Md. Adbur and Md. Samiul. (Yuko Honda)

　On 6th September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited JPMO (Joint Programme Monitoring Office) of UNFPA in Dhaka. The presentation of UNFPA was delivered by two officers; Ms. Marianne Berner, the International Programme Manager, and Md, Shahidul Haque Khan, the Communication Officer. First, Ms, Marianne Berner gave a lecture to the students about the activities and outcomes of GOB joint programme to address Violence Against Women (VAW). Second, Md, Shahidul Haque Khan explained the 16 days of activism against gender violence campaign which will be held from 25th November to 10th December 2012. Finally, after the presentation, the study group members had lunch with some officers of UNFPA and had a pleasant time. (Aimi Ezawa)

　On 5th September, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited BRAC University in Bangladesh. First, the University staffs took the students to the library and explained about it. The library owns a collection of more than 35,000 volumes, and students can search various books by the Internet which they want to read. Then the Hasegawa study tour group had a meeting with 4 students of BRAC University. We had a wonderful conversation and shared the information of each other. It was a short time, but we formed a strong friendship. (Yui Narikawa)

On 5th September 2012, the India and Bangladeshstudy tour group visited BRAC Dhaka Office in Bangladesh and Md Fariduzzaman Rana,Sr. Manager Visitors Communications, gave us a lecture. First, he talked about the history of BRAC. Bangladesh became independent in 1971. BRAC was established in 1972. Second, he explained Microfinance programme of BRAC to us. The Microfinance Programme started in 1974 and it raised the capacity of women empowerment. Third, he told us that education programme started in 1985 and BRAC has focused on human resources development and the children who had dropped out of school. Finally he answered the questions we asked. (Moe Kurisu)

　On 5th September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study group visited JICA Dhaka office in Bangladesh and Mr. Imai, the vice-chief in JICA Dhaka office, gave us a presentation following four points. At the beginning of the presentation, he briefly gave us the information of Bangladesh such as population, religion and so on. Secondly, he mentioned the situation of economy of Bangladesh. He said the Bangladeshi government aim to enter the middle class countries until 2021. Then he explained the situation of investment from Japan and also the attractive points of it. Finally, he introduced the results and principle of Japan’s ODA and also JICA’s projects such as infrastructure in India. (Aimi Ezawa)

On 4th September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited UNICEF Dhaka office in Bangladesh. First, Ms. Iftikhar Ahmed ChowDhury, Communication Officer, gave us a lecture on the outline of UNICEF’s activities in Bangladesh and she explained main issues which are concerned with education, water sanitation, child protection, life skill training and health. Second, Ms.Shamima Siddky, Education Specialist at Education Section, delivered a presentation focused on Non-Formal Education. She mainly mentioned a structure of education in Bangladesh and consciousness of people for education and child labor. Especially, she emphasized the educational difference between urban and rural area. At the end of her presentation, We watched a short film focused on children’s voice.
After the briefing, we visited MAWTS. MAWTS is working with UNICEF and there, children between the ages of 13 and 17 are learning repairing mobiles, tailoring, motorcycle repairs and roof tiling. Many on them are coming from slum areas in Dhaka. We inspected the class rooms, talked and took pictures with students. It was very impressive that they have high motivations for acquiring skills through going to the schools. It was a wonderful day that we could interact with children in Bangladesh.
(Yuuka Hirakawa)

　On 3rd September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited UNDP Dhaka office in Bangladesh and had an informative presentation on governance by Ms. Rae Ann Peart, Programme Analyst, and Mr. Siamul Huq Rabbany, Programme Officer. At the beginning of the presentation, they explained current affairs and challenges in Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh has made significant progress on human development indications and towards the achievement of MDG targets, profound issues still remain in the democratic governance field like the construction of democracy. Then, they informed three governance programmes and their achievements: political governance, public administration and justice and human rights. (Yui Narikawa)

On 3rd September 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited World Bank Dhaka office in Bangladesh and Mr. Yoichiro Ikeda, Operations Officer Country Management Unit, gave us a presentation about the results, challenges and activities of World Bank in Bangladesh. First, he asked us whether Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world or not and talked about Bangladesh after independence from Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Second, he mentioned the challenges such as fundamental infrastructure, environmental pollution, increase in population in urban areas and so on. Especially, he emphasized the lack of governmental capacity. Finally, he referred to activities of World Bank which are aimed at sustainable growth. (Yuna Kitamura)

On 31th August 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited World Bank New Delhi Office in India. The presentation was delivered by three specialist, they gave us a lecture about World Bank’ activities in India. Firstly, Ms. Preeti Kudesia talked about overview of the World Bank’s strategy in India and She emphasized that World Bank especially focuses on poverty reduction. Secondly, Ms. Deepa Sankar mentioned at education program. In addition, she showed us a short film to convey the diversity of education in India. Finally, Ms. Ashi Kathuria lectured about nutrition issue in India and South Asia, and then she gave us details of the key role of gender. (Yuki Shozui)

On 31st August 2012, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited International Labour Organization (ILO) office in India. First, Mr. Anandan P. Menon who is programme officer briefly explained activities conducted by ILO in India. Especially, he mentioned that child labour was the most serious problem in India. Next, Mr. Sher Verick who is senior employment specialist lectured the challenge of creating more decent work in a fast growing economy in India. Mainly, he gave a full detail of problems of poverty and stagnant of employment with help of some visual graphs. Last, Ms. Neetu Lamba who is programme officer focused on child labour and education. She said there were five important points of child labour. Among them, she emphasized on ILO conventions and importance of education for children in India. (Minshik KIM)

　On 29th August 2012, the India and Bangladesh study-tour group visited the UNDP in New Delhi. The 6 officials in the UNDP India: Ms. Mona Mishra, the Executive Officer; Ms. Meenaz Munshi, the Research Associate; Ms. Ritu Mathur, the Programme Analyst; Ms. Preeti Soni, the Advisor; Mr. G Padmanabhan, the Emergency Analyst; and Ms. Nandita Surendran, the Communications Analyst in the UNDP India, welcomed the group and delivered insightful lectures on the comprehensive information of the UNDP India with some movies. They talked about the Human Development and the 5 focus areas which the UNDP India tackles: “poverty reduction”, “democratic governance”, “energy and environment”, “disaster risk reduction” and “HIV and development”. Then, Ms. Nandita Surendran introduced the 4 outcome areas in the India Country Programme Document (CPD) towards the future, from 2013 to 2017. In these areas, she insisted on the importance of inclusive growth in terms of redressing the gaps and the balance in India.
(Shogo Yoshida)

All seminar students really appreciate to UNDP India for introducing this briefing and the seminar students in their facebook page.

On 29th August, the India and Bangladesh study tour group visited JICA in India, and had an informative lecture by Mr. Ejima, who is the head of the Indian office. At the beginning of the lecture, he informed that Japan has invested the most money for India to support development. Then, he introduced JICA’s programmes in India minutely. JICA has some field projects on such as infrastructure, environment and education. Finally he noted that Japan has invested much money and supported the area which India needs only because Japan believes the government of India has ability to manage it effectively. After his presentation, he responded some questions by the students.(Yui Narikawa)