People

Khondokar Shakhawat Ali is a Visiting Research Fellow at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, Brac University.

A sociologist, researcher, and founder of the Knowledge Alliance, Shakhawat Ali was one of the key architects in developing civil society activism through projects such as Bijoy Mela (1989-1990) in Chattogram, the Local Government Support Group (2000- 2003), and the Shushikkha Andolon (2004-2008), a citizen initiative on local government and primary education. He is currently the Emeritus Fellow of Unnayan Shamannay.

He has more than 27 years of experience as a sociologist, researcher and teacher, Shakhawat has taught sociology, research methodology, and development studies in educational institutes such as the City University and the ASA University. Previously, he was the Executive Editor of Protichinta, a journal on society, economy, and politics. He worked at the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) for almost 17 years as a Research Fellow. Before that, he worked at the Program for Research on Poverty Alleviation (PRPA), Grameen Trust, and Gonoshahajjo Sangastha (GSS). In addition, Shakhawat has also worked for development organizations such as DFID, World Bank, Sida, the Embassy of Switzerland, the Embassay of the Netherlands, the Canadian High Commission, ActionAid, Save the Children, Plan International, and NETZ Bangladesh, apart from working with UN organizations such as the UNDP, UNICEF, and UNESCO. He has written more than 30 research and evaluation reports on education, development, technology, and NGOs in development, fundamentalism, gender, governance, etc. He has authored several books including Mobile Financial Service in Bangladesh: Success, Prospect and Challenges published in 2017.

He completed his Masters in Sociology from Chittagong University in 1994. He studied at the University of Wales, Swansea University, and the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, Philippines.