My name is Faress Bhuiyan and I am an Associate Professor of Economics. Leading this program to Bangladesh holds a very special place in my heart for three reasons. First, I love learning and teaching about economic development. This trip offers an amazing real-world lens to our bookish and theoretical understanding of development. Bangladesh is at the crossroads of a number of issues of interest to me (e.g., poverty alleviation, economic growth, women’s rights, microfinance, rural-urban migration, climate change, and etc.) with a myriad of development projects currently being practiced and tested. For me and my students, this is the closest thing to a lab that a social scientist studying economic development can get.
Second, over the years we have made some incredible connections with local non-profits and development think tanks. This means our students have spent time chatting with development giants like Nobel Laureate Prof. Yunus, the father of micro-finance and social business and current head of the interim government of Bangladesh; interacting with villagers and the targeted clients of non-profit projects; learning from the directors of major foreign government donors like USAID; and learning from those who work for these non-profits at the field level. We get to ask questions that interest us and often are able to get candid answers about the reality that is not always as rosy or as miserable as we may think.
Third, I grew up in Bangladesh and love to introduce those I care about (that would be you), to the culture, the cuisine, the sights, the heritage, and the people. This may take the form of visiting some national heritage sites, trying out different local cuisines, visiting local malls/flea market, and attending a cricket match.
Overall, taking students on this particular OCS trip is one of my most cherished experiences at Carleton and I believe it gives students interested in economic development a very deep understanding of the realities on the ground that the innovators in the development sector face today.