10-19-04
Fulbright Scholar
from Behrend Builds Capacity
for Research in Bangladesh
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Syed Saad Andaleeb, who first left Bangladesh at the age of twenty-two, has returned time and again to help his native country find ways to move forward economically, socially, and politically. In the United States, Andaleeb is editor of the Journal of Bangladesh Studies and a professor and program chair in marketing at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College; in Bangladesh, he has proven to be a remarkable force for change in both healthcare and education. Last year Andaleeb returned to Dhaka as a Senior Fulbright Scholar at East West University (EWU), on sabbatical from Penn State Behrend and prepared to accomplish two goals: build capacity for knowledge-building research, and conduct research on the country's ailing healthcare system. |
According to Andaleeb, the most rewarding accomplishment of his sabbatical was developing an "adda," or forum, on research methods. The research adda has already helped, and will continue to help native scholars take steps toward an infrastructure that allows Bangladeshis to build their own locally relevant knowledge base.
"The people of Bangladesh are standing on the crutch of knowledge borrowed from British and American textbooks," said Andaleeb. "They need to meld what they've borrowed with local knowledge, gleaned from local research, to address the specific issues the country faces."
But research has a low priority in Bangladesh universities, where Andaleeb found that research budgets, when they existed, were deplorable. Funds for faculty to travel to conferences are nearly non-existent, and the few seminars, symposia, and conferences organized in the country were simply random events, not ways of gathering knowledge. Writing in an opinion piece published in Dhaka's The Daily Star, Andaleeb said "even the lack of in-house informal exchange of scholarly views is depressingly lacking as faculty find time for little intellectual discourse."
In spite of the bleak outlook at their universities, two hundred researchers, academics, and professors showed for Andaleeb's first research adda.
"It was obvious that they are starved for guidance on how to conduct research that will give them useful knowledge about their country." said Andaleeb. "After conducting four addas, and a research methodology workshop, I am now working with sixteen professors on research into service quality in Bangladesh. We are studying bus transportation, telephone service, healthcare, and higher education. And the members of the adda continue to meet and develop new research ideas. They are developing into a real learning community." Others felt the same. In a note to the Fulbright administrator, the vice chancellor of EWU wrote, "The concept of the
'Research Adda' initiated by Professor Andaleeb is now a serious issue and will hopefully be sustained on a multi-university framework."
Andaleeb also spent part of his Fulbright year in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare studying Bangladesh's healthcare system, where costs have increased significantly but the quality of medical care has not. Doctors often ignore their appointments at rural medical care centers, and those patients who can afford it are seeking medical care outside the country, resulting in a loss of income and foreign exchange for the country.
"In addition to conducting my own studies, I have put together a team of researchers who are now in the final phase of data collection on healthcare service delivery," said Andaleeb. "I've already presented two seminars on healthcare organized by Narigrontho Probortona and The American Center in Bangladesh, and I've been invited by Cornell University's South Asia program in November and Harvard University's School of Public Health in March to share my findings. The quality of healthcare service delivery is a matter of great importance not only for Bangladesh, but for all. Ultimately, I would like to seek funds to start a center for quality in public health services in developing countries."
Andaleeb is quick
to point out that as troubled as the future in Bangladesh
may appear, there are many good, creative individuals working to make
the country a better place to live and work. Muhammad Yunus, former
professor of economics at Bangladesh's Chittagong University, devised
the concept of microlending and came to found the extraordinarily
successful microfinancing enterprise Grameen Bank, which has helped
communities of the poor rise above their poverty. In a country
crossed by rivers and waterways and routinely ravaged by floods,
diarrhea used to take a heavy toll. But in recent years, thousands of
school teachers have been trained in oral rehydration therapy (ORT).
They know that increasing a dehydrated
child's liquid intake - especially using oral rehydration salts (ORS),
a precisely mixed solution of sugar, salt and water - while continuing
normal feeding can replace lost fluid within hours and save a child's
life.
In addition to a busy year teaching thirty-six undergraduate students
and thirty-three MBA students, developing and conducting a three-phase
workshop on research methods, providing assistance to the Health
Economics Unit of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and
conducting research, he wrote nine opinion pieces for Dhaka's The
Daily Star about his vision of Bangladesh and four journal
articles about his research.
Andaleeb provides strong evidence that his year as a Fulbright Scholar made a difference to Bangladesh, but the year clearly has affected him as well. He has written moving opinion pieces that demonstrate his global views and his yearning for peace not only in Bangladesh, but around the world.
He writes eloquently, "Today peace and security are absolute prerequisites for the world to heal. No nation can enjoy its prosperity and the dividends of progress while others are ruthlessly exploited to a state of abject deprivation. Herein lies the root of all division, misunderstanding and bad faith. The way to peace and security is through the alleviation of global poverty; by gradually reducing the disparity between classes, peoples, and nations; by understanding and respecting the fact that all nations have their own histories, cultures and life patterns that are distinct and something they cherish; by promoting greater and continuing dialogue among nations; and by raising the quality of life of the peoples of the world."
Contact: Loretta Brandon, 814-898-6063, lzb6@psu.edu