PROFESSOR ROWSHAN ARA
Sr. Research Consultant
- PhD in Philosophy from the University of Dhaka
- 42 years of experience, including working experience in 37 Studies and 6 publications
- 25 years of experience working with Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP), UNESCAP, UNDCP, UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO, UN Women, FPAB, USAID, and Save the Children UK.
- Key expertise includes gender, youth & women development, poverty reduction program, socio-economic development, women empowerment, impact evaluation, training, and community mobilization.
- Extensive field-level experience in socio-economic and health status of rural women of Bangladesh and through training motivated them to participate in IGA through skill training leading to poverty reduction.
- Fair knowledge of the socio-economic status of women of Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Singapore
As a Professor of the Department of Philosophy, University of Dhaka., Professor Rowshan Ara has been closely associated with adolescent, youth, gender, and capacity building work since 1978. She obtained her PhD from the Department of philosophy, University of Dhaka, and Diploma in Youth and Development from Asia-pacific Common Wealth Centre, Chandigarh, India. She started her career as a Part-Time Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Dhaka. At present, she is the Honorary Professor in that department.
In 1987, she started her career as a consultant specializing in evaluation workshops in the ‘Youth Leadership Course’ for UNESCAP. Since then, she has been working in Advocacy work and prepared research materials supporting capacity building in gender issues and empowerment of young women. She conducted several capacity-building programs on gender issues for the rural youths (both male and female) of CBOS, members of NGOs, civil servants, teachers, and Trainers of HRD throughout Bangladesh. She organized PRA, RRA, FGD, and KII about gender issues in the rural communities of Bangladesh and identified possible activities on cross-cutting gender issues in the various project components. She suggested mechanisms that will enhance social and economic benefits for the target group. Professor Rowshan Ara served as a Gender Expert and Gender Specialist in multiple gender-oriented research projects with HDRC, World Bank, HelpAge International, and UNFPA. She has also work experience in both qualitative and quantitative field studies.
In her long career in consultancy, Professor Rowshan Ara worked in various capacities as (a consultant) for 37 studies. She attended five international meetings, training, and conferences in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, and Singapore. She worked as a Trainer at Sheikh Hasina National Training Institute, Savar, Dhaka. This institute is working under the Ministry of Youth & Sports supervision. She has six publications on youth, adolescence development, and social mobilization. She published five novels and one storybook on the socio-economic problem of young women. She also shared her interest in script-writing and short film production on social issues.