Md. Azizul Alam is the National Project Director (NPD) of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project and an Additional Secretary of Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh. He is the focal point for social protection, coordinate financing SSNPs, gender budget report, support disability, child focused budgeting.
Dr. Md. Ferdous Hossain is the Executive Director (ED) of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance.In 1988 he joined in BCS administrative cadre as Assistant Commissioner and Magistrate. He has vast experience as Assistant Commissioner and Magistrate, Assistant Commissioner (Land), Nazaratte Deputy Collector (NDC) in the field administration. He has been working in different capacities like, Assistant Secretary, Senior Assistant Secretary, and Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, Economic Relations Division, Finance Division, and Ministry of Science ICT. He has also working experience as Deputy Director in the Deepening Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (DMTBF) Project under the Finance Division and in the Basic Literacy Project under the Ministry of Primary and Mass-education. He has worked as a national consultant in Deepening Mid-Term Budgetary Framework (DMTBF) Project of Finance Division and Strengthening Land Management in Bangladesh of the Ministry of Land. Dr. Ferdous completed Ph. D form the Institute of Bangladesh Studies (IBS), University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh in 2005. He obtained BSS (Hons) and MSS in International Relations from University of Dhaka in 1982 and 1983 respectively and Post Graduate Diploma in Development and Planning from the Academy of Planning and Development, Bangladesh in 1998. He has also received several national and international training from different institutions.
Md. Ataur Rahman is the Deputy Director of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance. He obtained a BSc Ag (Hons) and an MSc in Agriculture from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymenshing and Post Graduate Diploma in Good Governance. He has also got different types of national and international training from different institutions. He has long experience in the field administration. He has been working in the field administration as well as different ministries in different capacity like Assistant Commissioner & Magistrate, Assistant Commissioner (Land), Revenue Deputy Collector (RDC), Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Senior Assistant Secretary, Deputy Director (DMTBF) Project, Deputy Director (Basic Literacy) Project and Deputy Secretary.
Siddiqur Rahman Choudhury is working as a Team Leader of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. He is a former Secretary of Ministry of Finance of Bangladesh. Mr. Choudhury held many important positions during his service to the Government of Bangladesh. Currently, he works also as a Director and Member of Social Marketing Company (SMC) of Bangladesh.
Moin Chowdhury is the Project Manager for Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. Previously he has managed the finances and administration of DfID-Bangladesh’s flagship, award-winning extreme poverty reduction intervention, The Chars Livelihoods Programme Phase 2 (CLP2 £82.7M) as the Finance Director. Moin began his career as an officer in the Bangladesh Army. During his time in the Army, he was assigned as the Operations Officer at the Forces Headquarters of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) in 2001. Moin has an MBA from CASS Business School, City University, London in his credit. Besides MBA, he also achieved Masters of Defence Studies (MDS) degree from the Defence Services Command and Staff College in Bangladesh.
Md. Manzoor Alam Bhuiyan is a Social Protection Specialist (SPS) for the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in the Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project. He Obtained an MSS in Economics, MBA and LLB Degree. He has vast experience in the field administration. He has also got different types of national and international training from different institutions. He has been working in the field administration as well as different ministries in different capacity like Assistant Commissioner & Magistrate, Assistant Commissioner (Land), Nezarat Deputy Collector (NDC), Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Deputy Commissioner (DC), Deputy Secretary and joint Secretary.
A.K.M Shamsuddin is currently working for the Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project of the Finance Division as Social Protection Specialist (SPS) of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME). He is a retired Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh and worked as Secretary of the Ministry of Primary and Mass education. After retirement from government service in 2007, he worked in some very import projects of the GOB as a consultant. He also worked directly with different development partners as a consultant. He worked in the diplomatic circle also and was the High Commissioner of Bangladesh to Kenya.
Md. Abdul Matin Chowdhury is currently working as a Social Protection Specialist for Ministry of Education under Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. He had been working for a long time in the field of poverty alleviation, income generation, self-employment, education, skill development, gender issues, disaster management, administration of land and criminal justice and management of labour migration. He previously worked for the Government of Bangladesh in different capacities at the field and the policy levels.
Kazi Ariful Huda is currently working as a Social Protection Specialist for Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW) under the Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. He has more than thirty years’ experience in multi-sectoral development project management and technical assistance in the area of Social Protection and development programs. He also provided consultancy services as National Consultant at the World Bank, DSS of MoSW, National Consultant of Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, ILO, SDC, UN Women and IOM, UNICEF, GTZ, Comic Relief UK, Boom NL, AKF UK, CRI UK, CARE International, DAM UK, BRAC etc. He previously worked with a number of INGOs and national NGOs such as SC Australia, Tere des Hommes NL, Concern Worldwide etc.
Md. Golam Moula is currently working as the Finance Manager of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project. Moula is an accounting professional working in development field last 24 years in line with finance, administrative and HR management in Bangladesh. He is a master degree holder in accounting with CA course completed. He worked as the managerial position in different international development agencies likes; Save the Children-USA, Concern Worldwide-Ireland, Room to Read-USA and many other organizations. Moula has highly professional experience and strong skill in the field of finance and administrative works.
Tania Islam Sara is working as the National Communication Specialist of Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) Project. She has over nine years of experience in communications, brand management, events management, media campaigns, and market communications. She has extensive knowledge and experience in working with various development organizations and private sector firms around Bangladesh. Tania has a proven track record of organizing high profile events for clients, having won several awards for her creative supervision of numerous launch campaigns while working at Carrot Communications Ltd., a sister concern of Market Access Group. Her experience spans a rare gamut of acquired expertise due to working for leading organizations in both the private and development sectors – for instance Unilever Bangladesh Limited and Maxwell Stamp PLC. Prior to the SPFMSP Project, Tania has worked for Community Legal Services (CLS) Bangladesh Programme as a Communications and Knowledge Management Specialist, and also for the world’s largest NGO BRAC as a Communications and Documentation Manager for one of their core programmes called Community Empowerment Programme (CEP). Academically, Tania obtained an Advanced Certificate in Business Administration (ACBA) in 2014, under Management Development Program (MDP) of Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka, with distinction. She also has an Executive Masters of Business Administration, EMBA degree with distinction from North South University, obtained in 2013 with a Major in Marketing. Tania did her Bachelor of Computer Science with a Minor in Business from BRAC University in 2006.
Justus O. Oguna – a successful and talented IT Consultant with extensive experience in ICT including System Analysis, Design and Development, Project Management, Technical Documentation, Web Development, Systems Administration, Systems Training, Systems Support and Maintenance and vast Internet Technologies experience. He has more than 6 years’ experience in reviewing and developing MIS for Social Protection having worked in Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Somaliland and now in Bangladesh social protection programmes as MIS Consultant.
Md. Ahsan Habib is currently working as a Maintenance Engineer for the SPFMSP Project. He has more than 19 years of experience in the field of Information Technology specialising in Network System and Server Solution, Power Management and Maintenance and web Development.He has depth knowledge in PHP, MySQL, HTML, Joomla, Word Press, RDBMS, Java EE, Windows Server, Microsoft Exchange, and Red Hat System Administration. He also has knowledge on server hardware including rack mounted, blade server, and server administrations. He has working experience with government financial management projects especially in Ministry of Finance Bangladesh funded by DFID, World Bank, Aus Aid, and GoB. He successfully worked in various projects RIBEC, FMRP, FSMU, DMTBF, PEMS and SPFMSP. He graduated in Computer Science and Engineering from Asian University of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
Naila Karim Chowdhury is currently working as a programmer for the Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. She has more than 11 years of experience in the field of Information Technology specialising Network and Communication, Web Development, End User Support, and Asset Management. She has knowledge on ISO, CMMI Level3 Documentation, Cisco, PHP, MySQL, Web Development framework (MVC, Joomla), RDBMS, Java EE, Windows 2012 Server and Microsoft Exchange 2013, Red Hat System Administration, Police Information Management System (ERP). She successfully worked for 5 years as an ICT Management Officer in different UNDP projects funded by DFID, World Bank, Aus Aid, GoB, and other donors. She also has worked for financial projects of DMTBF, PEMS, and joint-venture company. She graduated in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Science and Technology, Chittagong in 2004.
Md. Sajidur Rahman is currently working as a programmer for the Strengthening Public Financial Management for Social Protection (SPFMSP) project. He has more than 6 years of experiences in the field of Information Technology specialising in design and development of MIS, business process analysis and design, development and implementation of information systems especially in Govt. and Non-Govt. organisations. He has experience in ISO, CMMI Level3 Documentation, JAVA EE, Android, 
Dr. Kavim V. Bhatnagar is a Social Protection Economist. He has an in in-depth knowledge and broad based experience in designing, developing and articulating inclusive pension systems in developing countries like India, Nepal, Bangladesh (Ongoing), Rwanda, Cambodia etc. and has vast experience of implementing inclusive contributory and co contributory pensions for the poor in India. A specialist in development economics, social protection, social security and inclusive growth, he brings to the table a unique combination of an ex Indian civil servant (voluntarily retired in 2012) with a broad canvas on strengthening public financial management in social protection policy and strategy; a researcher and a writer, a consultant on PFM pension reforms and social protection and implementer of inclusive pension reforms –formal and informal sector. His achievements include Micro Pension Innovation in India including designing, innovating, testing, rolling out and implementing individual account based co/contributory micro pensions for the working poor and labour classes. An MBA and a PhD in Management (Pension Economics) he is well accomplished with vast research, consulting and implementation experience and has written extensively on inclusive finance, pension and development sector in refereed journals; presented several research papers at national and international conferences and has made substantial impact on Public Policy Domain and Governance. He is also a visiting faculty at the South Africa based Economic Policy and Research Institute (EPRI), National Academy for Training and Research in Social Security, Ministry of Labour, Government of India; Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) Bangalore (IIMB), Indore (IIMI), Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and has rendered consultancy on projects to the ADB, DFID, KfW, UNDP, World Bank, etc.
Naheed Sultana is working as a Social Protection Specialist for Capacity Development & Institution Building with SPFMSP Project of Maxwell Stamp Plc. in Bangladesh. Her professional responsibility with MSP relates with Assessment of capacity and learning needs of GoB officials who are working with Social Protection Program in Bangladesh. She coordinates study visits and other national and international capacity building events for GoB officials, planning and delivery of training events, network training and workshops. Organizing logistics of internal and external SPFMSP training events including liaising with external training providers, arranging suitable venues, publicity and delegates bookings, answering delegate queries, monitor attendance, assist in creating a working registration through intranet and dealing with any problems which might arise. Support/manage the production of seminars and conferences. She evaluates effectiveness of capacity building interventions through feedback from participants, measures impact through various research methods. Naheed Sultana has over 20 years of experience as a Training Specialist. She worked in that capacity for International Fertilizer Development Center, Counterpart International, and Academy for Educational Development, Plan International, PRIP Trust, Save the Children (USA), and BRAC. She has obtained a Master’s in Education from Queen’s University in Canada and a Masters in Social Work from Rajshahi University in Bangladesh. Core areas of her interests are but not limited to broadly Capacity building and mainstreaming gender in the organization. She has professional knowledge on, gender analysis, gender audit, client needs assessment, design & implement gender awareness training, gender policy formulation & monitoring of implementation, integration of gender in program planning, steps against gender-based violence, writing report, appraise proposal & organization review.
SPFMSP Project Coordinator
“…She has become the centre of our small and confined world; she is our bundle of joy at present and a big hope for the future. Now that she has become part of our lives and is 14 months old and we have named her as KUHU, only regret we have is - why we were not able to decide for adoption a bit earlier?...”
“…I brought my little daughter home when she was 2.5 years old and now she is 8. Ever since she came to my life, my journey has been more worthy than ever….”
“…Baby looked at my wife with a deep sharp look without much blinking. She kept on looking. Tears of joy filled our eyes….”
“…Like all parents, I also have questions about what kind of a person my daughter will grow up to be. Her personality is very different from mine, and we already have our share of skirmishes but that just makes the relationship seem even more natural….”
All of the parent reviews posted on the ‘Success Stories’ page of Central Adoption Resource Authority’s (CARA) website are written by couples/single women who adopted girl children. That also seems in line with the findings of CARA’s own survey; data released by India’s nodal authority on adoption revealed that more girls were adopted than boys this year.
Incidentally, this is also the highest number of adoptions registered in the country since 2015.
There’s also data to show that of the total number of 4,027 adoptions, the majority were adopted within the country (3,347) while 653 went to parent/s outside India.
First, the Good News
So, in a utopian world, that should mean more people wanting to adopt girl children over boys, right? In fact, this isn’t even a new 2019 trend – a reply to an RTI filed by the news agency PTI last year revealed heartening stats: Nearly 60 per cent of children adopted in the last six years were girls across states in India. The state that led the pack was Maharashtra, closely followed by Karnataka.
In fact, this followed trends from the year before (2016-2017), when once again, Maharashtra and Karnataka recorded the highest numbers of girl adoptions, followed by West Bengal.
In an interview to PTI at the time, CARA CEO Deepak Kumar stated that, “This reflects that things are changing now. Moreover, people feel that it is easier to manage a girl child than a boy, and that’s another big plus point for the girl child to be considered for adoption”.“One reason might be cultural acceptance. You no longer feel like you need a son to carry on the vansha – or perhaps, you already have a son. Another reason could definitely be greater gender sensitisation since information is being disseminated on ground against female foeticide and sex determination tests. However, yet another possible reason could be that more girls are being adopted because there are no girls available due to said tests.”The Abandoned Girls
However, the heartening girl adoption statistic also throws up an obvious question – are more girls being abandoned and sent to adoption centres, thus leading to the surge in adoption numbers?
These facts were provided by an SOS Children’s Villages report. In the same year, UNICEF reported that India was home to a total of 26.9 million abandoned and orphaned children.
The situation only went downhill from there. In 2017, a Childline India Foundation (CIF) study – supported by the Ministry of Women and Child Development – found that of the 26.9 million abandoned and orphaned kids, only 4,70,000 children were in some kind of institutional care. How many of these kids actually make it to families through institutionalised adoption then, since CARA figures show that there have been a total of 4,027 adoptions?
Also, it’s possible the 26.9 million itself is an under-reported number.
The Missing Girls
Here’s another number to ruminate upon: in 2015, a hard-hitting, data-driven interactive published by Tania Boa, Gerhard Bliedung and Benjamin Wiederkehr – called ‘Unwanted’ – found that 6,29,000 girls are missing in India every year.
The interactive claimed – “Every 50 seconds, a parent in India kills their daughter.”
The researchers credited their computation and final numbers to ‘Trends in Selective abortion of girls in India’ (a study conducted by the Centre for Global Health Research) and the 2001 and 2011 census.
Which brings us to the question of…
...The Girls Killed at Birth
An IndiaSpend report published in May 2018 found that “fewer girls are being born in north and west India, and fewer girls are being born in richer states that poorer states”. According to the Sample Registration System (SRS) 2013-2015 – the latest available data – Haryana has the worst sex ratio with 831 girls per 1,000 boys – but other states with low sex ratio are Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, among others.
Yet, interestingly, Maharashtra has the highest number of girl adoptions from the state. The latest available data for the state – from 2017-2018 – shows that, of a total of 642 adoptions in the state, 353 were girls (reported by PTI).
Why the disparity between its sex ratio and adopted girl children?Not Enough Children in Adoption Centres
A report in LiveMint found – “As of May 2017, there were 15,200 prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) while child care institutions (CCIs) have only 1,766 children in their care across the country”.
The very next year – 2018 – a reply to an RTI filed threw up statistics that had only worsened: 1,991 children (that included 1,322 girls) were available for adoption. Yet the number of prospective parents had increased to 20,000.
Clearly, more girls were indeed put up for adoption in the past year. And yet, if the numbers of abandoned and orphaned children are anything to go by, not all kids even find their way to adoption centres. So clearly, there must be hundreds of ‘missing’ children out in the country – and not enough adoption centres to house them.2019’s figures revealed by CARA reveal that 653 adoptions out of 4,027 were inter-country – aka 653 children were adopted by prospective parents outside India.Inter-Country Adoption Isn’t Always a Boon
While CARA’s numbers might be officially recorded, above-the-board data (in late 2015, India had changed its adoption rules to allow CARA to monitor all intra- and inter- country adoptions through its online database, thus making the process shorter and more transparent), not all numbers get reported. The numbers don’t account for the many babies trafficked from hospitals and traded on the black market.
In February 2017, 19 people were chargesheeted from West Bengal’s Baduria, North 24 Parganas district in connection with a newborn trafficking case. The racket was allegedly carried out by two private clinics, with the help of an NGO.Parents were often told they had given birth to stillborns – even as their crying, very-much-alive babies were whisked away.
“West Bengal, with its porous border with Bangladesh and Nepal, records the highest number of women and children trafficked compared to other states across the country. Last year, government data indicate, 19,223 women and children were trafficked, compared with 15,448 in 2015. But the real number is unknown.” – reported News Deeply, investigating the West Bengal baby trafficking racket.In 2017, Firstpost too profiled various men and women of Indian origin across the world who had been trafficked and were now hunting for their biological parents. It raised pertinent questions about the 2017 West Bengal baby trading racket, the 2011 child trafficking racket in Pune and the 2005 child trafficking racket in Chennai where professional kidnappers lifted children and sold them overseas for thousands of dollars. Significantly, in both the latter cases, adoption agencies were the linchpin of the rackets.
Geeta Menon tells The Quint:
“When trafficking takes place, it is safe to say that it’s largely intra-country. Children are trafficked from India to foreign nations. One reason is the huge amount of money involved; the other, being that other countries may not have the same girl child-boy child prejudice that India has. So, they’re far more open to the idea of adopting girls.”Thus, while official records report heartening increases in the number of girl children adopted across the country, who’s counting the heads of baby girls and infants who go “missing” in the swathes of baby trading marketeers?
A Sliver of Promise
… might come in the form of CARA’s transparency of adoption guidelines.
The system matches prospective parents directly with children who live at registered adoption agencies and orphanages to make the process simpler. Deepak Kumar even claims that parents have been able to exhibit their keenness to adopt a girl because of this system –
Kumar, in the PTI interview, claimed: “It is not that availability of the girl child is higher but that parents are opting more for a girl child. We give them three choices - one can either opt for a girl or a boy or can give no preference...The percentage of those opting specifically for girls to boys would be 55:45”.
Perhaps that choice, marked in ink, by a prospective parent on an adoption paper, is a promise of hope.