Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad

Chairman

Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad (Bengali: কাজী খলীকুজ্জমান আহমদ), the reverend Senior Economist of Bangladesh, is the Chariman of Governing Council of the Dhaka School of Economics. He is also the current Chairman of Institute of Micro Finance (InM) as well as QK Ahmad Foundation. He is Former Chairman (November 2009 to September 2023) of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation(PKSF) and the founding Chairman of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP).

He is the recipient of the Independence Award (Swadhinata Puroskar) 2019, Ekushey Padak 2009, National Environment Award 2019 and is a member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) team.

Early Life and Education

Q K 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 (MLA) 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 (Hons) in economics and MA (Econ.) degrees in 1961 and 1962 respectively. Later, he went to the London School of Economics(LSE), University of London, on a national merit fellowship and obtained MPhil (Econ.) and PhD (Econ.) 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.

Work

Ahmad spent 23 years in a research career at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and its predecessor Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), having been a Research Director for a number of years. He left BIDS in 1987 and then worked as the chairman (chief executive) of Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP), 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 April 2010. He was elected President of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA), 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 (IPCC), 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 (which is now renamed the Asian Political and International Studies Association—APISA) from 1979–83 and Vice President of the Rome-based Society for International Development (SID) 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 was(2009-2014) Coordinator of Bangladesh Climate Change Negotiation Team within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). He represents Bangladesh in the UN Open Working Group (OWG) on Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He is also a member of the Executive Board of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol, representing non-Annex-1 countries.

Awards

• 2005: Received Mercantile Bank Award-2005.
• 2007: Is a Member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -IPCC Team.
• 2009: Was awarded the Ekushey Padak 2009.
• 2012: He was awarded Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) Gold Medal.
• 2017: Prokriti Shongrokkhon Podok 2017, Prokriti O Jibon Foundation (POJF), Dhaka.
• 2017: MTC Global Life Time Achievement Award 2017 by MTC Global—A Global Think Tank in Higher Education, Bangalore, India.
• 2019: Independence Award (Swadhinata Puroskar) 2019, the highest Bangladesh National Civilian Award, presented by the Government of Bangladesh.
• 2019: National Environment Award 2019, presented by the Government of Bangladesh.

Publications

His publications and research and other works include 35 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:

• 2009: Tackling Social Exclusion: South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Description.
• 2007: Socio-Economic and Indebtedness-Related Impact of Micro-Credit in Bangladesh, ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB), ISBN 984-0517-78-3.
• 2005: Emerging Global Economic Order and the Developing Countries, (editor), University Press Ltd (UPL), ISBN 984-0517-57-0. Description.
• 2005: Climate Change and Water Resources in South Asia, (co-editor), Francis & Taylor,ISBN 0-415-36442-6. Description.
• 2001: Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Region: A Framework for Sustainable Development (co-editor), University Press Limited (UPL), ISBN
• 1996: The Implications of Climate and Sea-Level Change for Bangladesh, co-editor, Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISBN 0792340019. Description.
• 1984: Rural Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh Experiences and Policies (co author) A WCARRD follow up Study, In depth Studies Series 10, FAO. Description.

Email: qk_ahmad@yahoo.com; qk_ahmad@dsce.edu.bd