Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad is a Bangladeshi economist and development thinker and activist. He is currently the chairman of Dhaka School of Economics, a constituent institution of the University of Dhaka, devoted to post-graduate studies in economics and related subjects. He is also the chairman of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, which is largest rural development funding, skill development and management support agency in Bangladesh. He received the highest national civilian award Independence Award 2019; and Ekushe Padak 2009, presented by the Government of Bangladesh.
Early life and education
Ahmad was born in 1943 in Sylhet district of Bangladesh, which was at that time part of Indian Assam. His father, the late Mumtazul Muhaddisin Moulana Md. Mufazzal Hussain, was a member of the Assam Legislative Assembly from 1946–52 and later a college professor. Ahmad was taught by his father until he went to school at the 8th grade. He achieved outstanding results in both secondary and higher secondary levels. He studied at the University of Dhaka, obtaining BA in economics and MA degrees in 1961 and 1962 respectively. Later, he went to the London School of Economics, University of London, on a national merit fellowship and obtained MPhil and PhD degrees. He was active in promoting Bangladesh's nationalist aspirations during the 1960s and worked in the Planning Cell of Bangladesh Government-in-Exile during the War of Liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.
Career
Ahmad spent 23 years in a research career at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and its predecessor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, having been a Research Director for a number of years. He left BIDS in 1987 and then worked as the chairman of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad, which he helped, set up in 1980. He left BUP on taking over as chairman of the Governing Body of PKSF in November 2009. He is the founder chairman of Dhaka School of Economics -DScE, established in August 2010. He was elected President of Bangladesh Economic Association, the apex body of economists of Bangladesh, for consecutive three terms from 2002 to 2010. He was Coordinating Lead Author and Lead Author of the Third and the Fourth Assessments respectively of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published respectively in 2001 and 2007. He was President of the Kuala Lumpur-based Association of Development Research and Training Institutes of Asia and the Pacific—ADIPA from 1979–83 and Vice-President of the Rome-based Society for International Development from 1988–91. He led many UN FAO/WFP food and crop assessment missions during the 1990s and early 2000s to food deficit African and Asian countries facing food crisis due to natural disasters and civil strife. In addition to his other responsibilities, he is currently Coordinator of Bangladesh Climate Change Negotiation Team within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He represents Bangladesh in the UN Open Working Group on Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. He is also a member of the Executive Board of Clean Development Mechanism of Kyoto Protocol, representing non-Annex-1 countries.
Publications
His publications and research and other works include 40 books and over 250 articles, research reports and unpublished papers. He has also contributed numerous columns in newspapers. He is a well-known expert on water and climate change issues. Some of Ahmad's publications are listed below:
2020: Climate Adaptation for a Sustainable Economy: Lessons from Bangladesh, an Emerging Tiger of Asia, NOVA Science Publishers, New York, USA, 2020.
2019: Perspectives on People Centered Development with Particular Reference to Bangladesh, Aloghor Prokashona, Dhaka.
2018: Socio-Economics of Bangladesh Through the Decades, Pathak Shamabesh, Dhaka.
2017: Environment, Climate Change and Water Resources, Pathak Shamabesh, Dhaka, August 2017.
2016: Sustainable Development and All That, Pathak Shamabesh, Dhaka.
