PROKAS (Promoting Knowledge for Accountable Systems) is an innovative programme, initiated by the British Council in 2015, that brings together the Govt. of People's Republic of of Bangladesh, civil societies and the private sectors to bring about positive changes to improve the lives of the citizens of Bangladesh. It further helps to shape new relations and working practices between these different stakeholders.
PROKAS emphasises and supports these actors to identify, develop and implement collaborative projects in which each partner has their interest or incentive for change, as well as a collective incentive for change. PROKAS does this by identifying issues around which multiple stakeholders can converge, each bringing their unique perspectives and assets to the table. By doing so, PROKAS is facilitating partners to address transparency and accountability problems in themes that are critical to Bangladesh’s economic future, including improved accountability for fairer labour migration; strengthened transparency around climate financing and adaptation; and improved transparency relating to food safety governance. In last four years PROKAS has successfully achived the follwoign in different sectors such as -
Labour Migration:
- Multi-stakeholder engagement for contribution to the rule and regulation development process
- Establishig local level migration grievance management system that reduced the migration fraud and other issues gradually
Climate Finance Transparency Mechanism (CFTM):
- Multi-stakeholder engagement for contributing to the Climate Fund Tracking Process of Bangladesh Government.
- Establishing local level climate network to ensure accountability of climate fund utilization
Food Safety:
- Multi-stakeholder engagement for the poultry feed safety for safe poultry product
Due to the excellent result delievred by the PROKAS team and thier partners the British Council has been awarded a contract extension of 18 months to continue implementation of the £8.9m DFID-funded PROKAS programme in Bangladesh.
Mr Nurul Islam, MP, Honourable Minister for the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment says, “Around one crore expatriates from Bangladesh are living in different countries. Their relentless contribution has played a vital role to keep the economy smooth during the economic crisis. So our main challenge is to ensure the safe, secure and harassment-free service to this huge number of expatriates. Effective steps are being taken to stop the harassment of migrants due to corruption and different complications.”
The next 18 months will focus on projects that will expand to new themes related to Bangladesh's reality, including climate, migration and the accountability of international trading policy and practice.