Dr Ahmad delivered the keynote address at the Centre on Integrated
Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) (www.cirdap.org.sg/) on July 6,
2009 at Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Dr. Ahmad’s paper tried to study the changing rural livelihoods in
South-East Asia (SEA) covering Myanmar, Malaysia, Thailand,
Philippines, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Indonesia. It analyzed the trends,
major issues and challenges the region is facing in overcoming poverty
and improving the livelihood of its people. The paper also focused on
constraints and opportunities presented/brought up by some core issues:
poverty, food security, access to assets, gender, globalization, the
vulnerability context and their effects on the livelihoods of the
people of the region. The paper presented the study on vulnerability
context from reducing forest areas, food security in terms of the
number of undernourished, gender and human development and
globalization and its effects on migration.
According to Dr Ahmad, “poverty is the biggest challenge for the
Southeast Asian region”. The economic growth of a country is not
possible unless there is a positive change in the livelihood of rural
people.
Dr Ahmad is the principal Investigator of the project titled “Online
Pilot Programme on Sustainable Development Practices in Public Policy”
funded by UNU (Japan). His research interests include economic
geography, regional and rural development planning, community
development, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society and
globalization. He can be contacted by Email: morshed@ait.ac.th or at AIT
Ext: 5664
Media coverage on his presentation can be viewed here:
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=95822
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/print_news.php?nid=95754
http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2009/07/07/news0170.htm
http://www.theindependent-bd.com/details.php?nid=132745
http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=89043&cid=2