Hossain Zillur Rahman

Hossain Zillur Rahman is an academic, economist and policy maker from Bangladesh. By training an eminent economist and a political sociologist, Hossain Zillur Rahman is renowned as a poverty and governance specialist of the country. He led the drafting of the poverty reduction strategy of the government in 2005 and was a member of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation (ISACPA). He founded the Dhaka-based think-tank Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC)in 1996 and prior to that was for over twenty years a leading researcher at the Bangladesh Institute of development Studies. On 9 January 2008, he was appointed as an adviser (cabinet minister) to the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed and was entrusted with the ministries of commerce and education. He served in this capacity till evening of 6 January 2009. He brokered between the army-controlled Caretaker government and the two major political parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) till election was held on 29 December 2008. He is credited with a lead role in the successful return of Bangladesh to electoral democracy. In April,2009 he was elected the President of the Dhaka University Economics Department Alumi Association DUEDAA. In November 2009, he was awarded the Dr. John Meyer Global Citizenship Award by Tufts University, Boston, USA. He is currently the Executive Chairman of the Power and Participation Research centre (PPRC)and leads major research on inclusive growth, urbanization, social protection and quality education.