Trafficking Women and Children in Bangladesh: A Silent Tsunami of Bangladesh

Trafficking in human beings is abhorrent phenomenon. Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. The major purpose of this paper is to analyze the present state and process of trafficking, network relations among the traffickers and the causes of trafficking and its impact in a patriarchal social system like Bangladesh. The trafficking has become a major issue of concern and its intensity is growing day by day in Bangladesh. This paper also suggests some suggestions to prevent trafficking as well as to reintegrate the trafficked victims with the main stream of population

The impact of Micro-finance program on the poor: A Comparative study of Grameen Bank, BRAC and ASA in some selected areas in Bangladesh

The Grameen Bank (GB), BRAC and ASA in Bangladesh have developed a successful model of reaching credit to resource poor households that are generally bypassed by Government financial institutions. The article is mainly the comparison of the micro-finance program among the Grameen Bank, BRAC and ASA in Bangladesh. It includes the observations, general overview of micro-finance in Bangladesh. The comparison of the key indicators of microfinance services in Bangladesh. This paper includes some recommendations for the improvement of micro-finance programs in Bangladesh

EXPLORING BANDARBAN THROUGH TREKKING TRAILS: A NEW HORIZON FOR COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

Bandarban is regarded as one of the most attractive travel destinations in Bangladesh. This is the most potential tourist destination that will certainly flourish in near future. But no significant attempts have been made to explore and exploit this potential sector in Bandarban. Consequently, the benefit of tourism has remained very limited for the local people. The purpose of the study was to identify and explore different trekking routes of Bandarban for adventure-loving tourists. Further, another objective was to identify possible further involvement of the local communities in tourism through which they can upgrade their economic status. Community-based tourism development can be the most suitable concept not only for community development but for tourism development in Bandarban also. In this study, some potential trekking trails have been identified as well as discovering some potential ways of involving local ethnic communities living alongside the trekking trails in tourism

Integration of building maintenance cost model into the design stage

Maintenance of buildings and other assets are important in order to lengthen the lifespan of the buildings and to retain their good condition. Modern building has witnessed tremendous and progressive transformation in the use of complex design, innovative building materials and modern construction technologies. Thus, the resultant cumulative negative impact increases maintenance cost at post-occupancy phase is a recurrent problem within the construction sectors. In addition, lack of facilities management (FM) concepts and their limited integration in the design are among the problems. This research investigated the impact of design on maintenance cost performance of building projects by addressing the identified problems that include the assessments of design defects during post-occupancy phase, and parameters impact on maintenance and development of a maintenance cost model for building projects. A quantitative research approach that uses questionnaire survey was adopted for data collection. 71 questionnaires were distributed to FM organizations in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Johor Bahru of Malaysia. The retrieved administered questionnaires revealed a 43.67% (31) response rate. Collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) to calculate the frequency, mean, standard deviation (SD), relative importance index (RII) and rank analysis. The empirical findings revealed that design errors, lack of maintenance plan and lack of understanding of FM significantly affected the maintenance cost. Thus, the most important design factors are inadequate working drawing details, incomplete working drawing and specification, inappropriate selection and specification of materials and non-availability of specific building materials in the market. Besides, “architectural design defects” and “structural components” are prevalent factors for increasing maintenance cost. In addition, eight design parameters rated as very important for cost model development are cost effectiveness, value of asset, environment, practiced culture, design adaptability, health and safety, client and end-user desires and responsibility. The research concludes by developing a maintenance cost model that integrates the statistically assessed thirty-seven design factors and ten design parameters. The defects in the design factors were categorized as architectural, structural and mechanical-electrical-plumbing (MEP). Finally, the study revealed that the integration of design factors and design parameters into a design stage is capable of reducing 15-20 percent maintenance cost in building projects. Therefore, this research is of practical significance to designers and facilities managers, as it will prompt the management of building facilities to focus on the most important factors affecting the maintenance cost, thereby reducing the total cost

Tourist-Group Consideration in Tourism Carrying Capacity Assessment: a New Approach for Saint Martin’s Island, Bangladesh

Everything has a capacity that it can tolerate or afford, beyond which it cannot serve. Tourism development and management should also be based on the recognition of the limits of a destination. As a result, tourist destinations must have their carrying capacity assessed and managed accordingly with a view to protecting them from getting exploited. In assessing tourism carrying capacity of a particular destination, the formulae given by Cifuentes (1992) and recommended by IUCN (Ceballos-Lascuráin, 1996) are widely used around the world. The formulae recognize the ‘necessary distance between two tourists’ as a factor that affects tourist satisfaction; and thus, consider it in assessing physical carrying capacity (PCC) of a destination. But Tran Nghi et al. (2007) argue that, the necessary distance between two groups on a route, as well as distance between two people, affects tourist's comfort and should be considered when assessing tourism carrying capacity (TCC). Tran Nghi et al. (2007) tried to make some adjustments to the formulae and used some techniques to consider tourists as in separate groups- not as an individual in a mass. When it is about assessing carrying capacity of a trekking trail or walking route where tourists have to be in a line one behind another, carrying capacity can be calculated for group of tourists using this adjusted formula. But when it is about a beach or a park where tourists are not in queues or lines- rather scattered in the whole area, carrying capacity cannot be calculated based on tourist-group, -rather as a mass. To calculate TCC of such destinations (beach/park) a new technique is proposed and used on the basic formulae of Cifuentes in this study.  This new technique is applied in calculating the TCC of the Saint Martin’s Island, the only coral island of Bangladesh, as a case study. Keywords: tourism carrying capacity (TCC), Cifuentes' methodology, tourist-group, Saint Martin’s Island

The development of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and challenges of Environmental and Social Reporting in Bangladesh

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been recognised as corporation’s strategic tools to response the social obligation and corporation’s sustainability. The meaning and importance of CSR has been changed over time. At the inception, CSR was the obligation to pursue corporation policies and decision based on the desirable objectives and values of the society. But now corporate social responsibility is regarded as corporate sustainability and corporate citizenship. In this paper we have analysed content of 70 (Out of 123) audited corporate annual reports listed in the Dhaka Stock exchange of Bangladeshi companies. Realizing the importance of CSR we have attempted to find out the development of CSR, and formulate a strategic corporate CSR model for Bangladeshi Companies and justified the model compared with the international companies CSR activities. We have also identified the challenges of environmental and social reporting. We found that it is very hard to segregate environmental cost and social audit as they are arisen number of ways. The environment and social audit are not mandatory and should be reported in the notes to the financial statements. Key words: Corporate Social Responsibility, Strategic CSR Model, Challenges of Environmental costs, Social Reportin

Use and Addiction of Smartphone in Adolescence Students in Bangladesh: Social Networking and Gaming Service

Smartphone becomes most popular in adolescence students for special feature like social networking and gaming service. Although smartphone are useful and convenient, adolescences are dependent on smartphone more and more for unnecessary communication. This study attempts to identify use patterns of smartphone and enlightened factors of the smartphone addiction in adolescence student in Bangladesh. For this cross-sectional study, 385 adolescence students were selected by stratified sampling with proportional allocation and also use a structured questionnaire has been developed to gathered data from adolescence students. More than 50% early adolescence students spend at least 3 hours on smartphone in a day for purpose of social media like you tube, facebook whereas 80.9% late adolescence students spend time on playing online game on smartphone.More than half (51.9%) of the parents encourages their early adolescence child use smartphone whereas friends encourages more (78.3%) late adolescence students

How does CSR enhance the financial performance of SMEs? The mediating role of firm reputation

This study investigates the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the mediating role of firm reputation from a developing country perspective. Empirical research was carried out, and data were gathered using a questionnaire from 402 owners/managers of SMEs in Eritrea, a country in East Africa. Smart-Partial Least Squares structural equation modelling was employed. The results showed that CSR significantly influences the performance of SMEs, and this relationship is partially mediated by firm reputation. This research contributes to the knowledge of how CSR activities lead to SMEs’ financial performance. This strengthens prior evidence on the impact of CSR on business performance while also contributing significantly to the literature on the mediating role of reputation between social and financial performance. The application of the relationship to SMEs in developing nations reinforces the originality of this study. It makes substantial contributions to the literature in terms of theory, practice, and policy

Assessment of the ichthyofaunal diversity in the Juri River of Sylhet district, Bangladesh

This study was conducted to assess the present status of ichthyofaunal assemblages in the Juri River of Fenchuganj upazila in Sylhet district, Bangladesh. Survey works were made in three different locations of the river during May to December, 2018 comprising direct fish catch observations, questionnaire interviews, focus group discussions with fishers, fish traders, aratders (wholesalers) and river bank community members, and key informant interviews with upazila fisheries officer, district fisheries officer, non-governmental organization officials, and local leaders. The results revealed that a total of 75 species of fishes under 25 families were available. Among these species 11 were commonly available, 32 were moderately available, 25 were less available, and 7 were rarely available. Cyprinidae was the leading family consisting of 27% of the total fish population of the study area. However, 10 vulnerable, 8 endangered and 1 critically endangered fish species were also found in small amount. During this study the highest number of species (61) was found in the catches in October and lowest number of species (22) was recorded in July. According to the perceptions of fishers and resource person degradation of habitat, climate change, and human activities are the triggering agents for declining ichthyofaunal diversity in this river. Therefore, this study recommends application of proper management measures including community participation to conserve the ichthyofaunal diversity and enhance fish production in the Juri River

Determinants of Drought Tolerant Rice Variety Adoption: Evidence from Rural farm Household in Northern Part of Bangladesh

The drought-tolerant rice variety Binadhan-19 study was conducted in five districts: Mymensingh, Ranpur, Pabna, Rajshahi and Chapainwabganj of Bangladesh. A total of 200 farmers were randomly selected (40 from each location) to collect the data with a pre-designed questionnaire. Tabular, descriptive statistics and Probit model were used to fulfil objectives. The estimated log-likelihood value of gender, farm size, yield, agricultural extension services have a statistically and significant positive effect on the adoption of the variety. The household characteristic related variables such as age, experience, annual income, human labour, duration of the variety have no statistically significant effect on the adoption of the variety. Marginal coefficients indicate that if male farmers increased by 100%, the probability of adopting the Binadhan-19 variety would increase at 38 times more likely to adopt the variety. If the farm size of Binadhan-19 increased by 100%, the probability of adopting the variety would be increased by 0.07%. A farmer who has access to agricultural extension service is about 39 times more likely to adopt the variety. Again, if the yield increased by 100%, adopting the varieties would increase by 0.08%. The marginal coefficients of locations and soil fertility are negatively significant, indicating that if these two variables increased by 100%, the probability of adopting the varieties would decrease by 0.06% and 30%, respectively