In Bangladesh, government is the main driver of large-scale, sustainable transformation. In view of this, one of IFPRI’s focal areas in Bangladesh is government capacity strengthening. Earlier this year, on February 8, Dr. Akhter Ahmed was first invited to present on trends in food security in the country and the policy implications to additional secretaries across various ministries at the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC).
On June 13, Dr. Ahmed was invited to present to a second batch of 30 government officials from various ministries. These trainings are exceptionally unique opportunities for IFPRI's high impact research to be disseminated more inclusively, beyond ministries usually reached (e.g., food, agriculture, women and children affairs) to include other ministries that are not directly related to food security (road transport and bridges, railways, youth and sports, etc.); and to promote interministerial dialogues extensively across the government.
The purpose of these engagements is to impart high quality trainings for developing competent, professional civil servants dedicated to public interest. Additionally, as many government officials are contracted on a rotational basis, sensitizing government officials broadly on food security is valuable because someone who may be based in an unrelated ministry now may be reassigned to a related ministry later. As Bangladesh is grappling with formidable food security challenges, it is becoming increasingly important to think and train outside the box.