AID cooperative agreement no. 388-0079-A-00-9093-00 with The Asia Foundation for a program in institutional strengthening of civic participation in Bangladesh

The project will focus on six areas: Parliament, elections, the press, the judiciary, local government, and constitutionalism. Specifically, TAF will: (1) strengthen the Bangladeshi Parliament by training staff of the Parliament Secretariat, developing orientation and in-service training programs for Members of Parliament, and improving library, information, and research services; (2) encourage citizen participation in the electoral process and improve election fairness by helping indigenous NGO"s to produce voter literacy materials, create a citizens" action group, and bring an international observer team to Bangladesh for a national election; (3) promote effective journalism and freedom of the press by upgrading teaching, curricula, library services, and training opportunities at institutions involved in journalism training, such as Dhaka University"s Department of Mass Communication and the Press Institute of Bangladesh; (4) strengthen the administration of justice by helping the Ministry of Law and Justice to develop improved training programs for all levels of the judiciary and to reduce case backlogs by upgrading court management; (5) promote decentralization by enhancing the research and training capacities of the National Institute of Local Government and by supporting pilot projects in local government; and (6) stimulate research on constitutionalism by supporting university workshops, research projects, etc., and by creating a de facto center for the study of constitutionalism at a Bangladeshi university.