The Social Development Foundation (SDF), under the Financial Institutions Division (FID) of the Ministry of Finance, organized a high-level workshop titled “Rural Livelihood Transformation and Inclusive Resilience Initiatives” on Wednesday, 10 December 2025, at 11:00 a.m. The event took place at Ballroom I of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka, located at 107 Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Dhaka.
The Honorable Adviser to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. The workshop was further distinguished by the presence of Ms. Nazma Mobarek, Secretary, Financial Institutions Division (FID), Ministry of Finance; Mr. Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance; and Dr. Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Secretary, Finance Division (FD), Ministry of Finance, who attended as Special Guests.
The program was presided over by Dr. Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Chairman of SDF and former Secretary to the Government of Bangladesh. Also in attendance was Ms Samina Yasmin, Senior Agriculture Specialist and Task Team Leader of the ongoing World Bank-supported Resilience, Entrepreneurship, and Livelihood Improvement (RELI) Project as Guest of Honour. The workshop commenced with a recitation from the Holy Quran, followed by a welcome address delivered by SDF’s Managing Director, Mr. Md Nurul Amin.
The Keynote Presentation on “Rural Livelihood Transformation and Inclusive Resilience Initiatives” was delivered by Dr. Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Chairman of RAPID Bangladesh. His presentation was followed by an enriching scholarly dialogue and an interactive Q&A session with participants. The second session of the workshop featured group discussions on five thematic areas of the RELI Project, culminating in a collective presentation of major findings and a synthesis of key insights. The session was facilitated by Mr. Arijit Chowdhury, Member, Board of Directors, SDF. The event brought together high-ranking government officials, development practitioners, policy thinkers, scholars, representatives of national and international development organisations, officials from the World Bank, SDF beneficiaries, and members of the media.
The main attraction of the workshop was the flamboyant life changing accounts of the two of the beneficiaries of SDF’s RELI project who radically transformed their lives with the support from SDF.
The keynote speaker Dr. Mohammad Abdur Razzaque critically analyzed the current poverty status of Bangladesh, poverty alleviation approaches, provided an insightful account of SDF’s RELI project intervention popularly known as Community Driven Development (CDD) approach and finally came up with recommendations to further scale it up in the future in urban areas as well. Guest of Honour Ms. Samina Yasmin spoke about the potential ways to make the poverty alleviation efforts more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable. In this regard, she commended about the findings of the keynote paper and pledged to continue the support of the World Bank to eradicate poverty and ensuring dignity which is right now at the heart of World Bank’s agenda.
Honorable Chief Guest Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, in his speech, stated that he was the founding board member of SDF, and thanked the World Bank to support SDF all the way. He particularly emphasized on the importance of taking initiatives to reduce poverty in rural areas and remaining vigilante to properly implement the project, creating more rural entrepreneurs for job creation, increasing the participation of women for family welfare, and putting more effort on overall development instead of focusing on urban poverty reduction. He recalled the support of SDF to the martyred and injured of July-August 2024 movement. Ms. Nazma Mobarek, one of the special guests, accentuated about the urgency of poverty reduction initiatives in the wake of recent poverty increase, expanding the Social Safety Net programs, eulogized the Participatory Identification of Poor (PIP) followed by SDF and recommended to replicate the model of RELI project. Whilst Mr. Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD) expressed his optimism about the RELI project intervention and its components like healthcare and nutrition, savings etc., spoke highly about incorporating insurance to tackle climate vulnerability and sustainability, and expanding RELI project’s reach in urban areas, Dr. Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Secretary, Finance Division (FD) highlighted about rural employment, entrepreneurship, and microfinance activities of SDF and RELI project to eradicate poverty, made a point of improving eligibility criteria of selecting poor, and government’s initiatives to alleviate poverty. Dr. Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Chairman of SDF highlighted to follow the recommendations of keynote speaker and thanked the beneficiary members of SDF who provided eloquent accounts of their life changing transformation.
The workshop’s overarching objective was to reflect on the lessons learned, challenges encountered, and emerging opportunities from the implementation of the RELI Project. Participants also deliberated on priority actions for accelerating rural poverty reduction, inform the policy makers and donors about the contributions of SDF over the years in ameliorating poverty and innovative ideas to inform future successor initiatives. The program concluded with closing remarks by the Chairperson of SDF, marking a thoughtful end to a day of insightful deliberations and collective learning.