Khondokar Shakhawat Ali
I am a sociologist, policy researcher and teacher. For three decades I have worked on how national policy in Bangladesh — on education, social protection, local government and digital finance — meets the people it is written for.
- Development Sociologist
- Policy & Financial Inclusion Expert
- Senior Academic Leader
- Founder, Knowledge Alliance
From the field upward
I was born in Chattogram in 1965. I studied sociology at the University of Chittagong and finished my M.S.S. in 1994. That year I joined Gonoshahajjo Sangastha (GSS) as a research associate, designing monitoring frameworks for non-formal primary schools and studying what social mobilisation actually changed in the communities around them.
Postgraduate training in participatory monitoring and evaluation at the University of Wales, Swansea (1998) and in development programme evaluation at the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction in the Philippines (2001) gave that fieldwork its method. A year at the Programme for Research on Poverty Alleviation at Grameen Trust followed, and then eighteen years at the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).
Research and policy
At PPRC I worked as principal investigator and project leader on research and monitoring funded by DFID/FCDO, the World Bank, Sida, the Swiss and Netherlands embassies, the Canadian High Commission, UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO. Two pieces from those years stand out: the national review of social safety nets prepared with UNDP, and the study of the political settlement behind basic education quality reform, carried out with the University of Manchester.
Education has been the longest thread. It runs from a case study of one hundred years of a single government primary school to sector mapping, upazila-level budget analysis, and policy and technical guidance for the Five-Year Education Plan (2020–2025) as Emeritus Fellow at Unnayan Shomonnoy. Most recently, at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, I led policy research on how rural society in Bangladesh is changing.
Digital finance and inclusion
Mobile financial services are where questions of poverty and questions of regulation meet. In 2017 I published Mobile Financial Service in Bangladesh: Achievement, Opportunity and Challenge, on the sector's institutional bottlenecks, on interoperability and on consumer protection. I have served on the Management Board of Nagad, and I advise the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on scaling the industry and its payment infrastructure so that it reaches people who are still unbanked.
Teaching and editing
I have taught since 2004 — at City University, ASA University Bangladesh, United International University and BRAC University's BIGD — mostly research methodology, sociology and development studies.
For nine years, from 2012 to 2021, I was Executive Editor of Protichinta, Prothom Alo's journal on society, economy and politics, commissioning analytical work from economists, sociologists and policymakers. Before that I spent six years as Communication Coordinator at BRAC Development Institute, turning field research into policy briefs and publications.
I am the founder of Knowledge Alliance. Outside research I also write memoir and poetry: Kusumito Ispat remembers my comrade Shahid Anwar and the 1980s, the years of military rule in which I was a student in Chattogram; Monobhumir Akash (2021) is a collection of poems, and Heart of Horizon is its English translation.
Research that stays inside an institution has done half its job. The rest is getting it in front of the people it is about.
Languages
I write, teach and publish in Bangla and in English.
On YouTube
Lectures and interviews
A public lecture, television interviews on mobile money and health care, a seminar on Gramsci, and shorter pieces from my own channel.
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Khondokar Shakhawat Ali on YouTube
Lectures, talks and discussions on policy and society.
Experience
The posts I have held, and the work done in each.
Education
2001
Post Graduate Certificate in Development Program Evaluation
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), Philippines
1998
Post Graduate Certificate in Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation
University of Wales, Swansea, UK
1994
M.S.S. in Sociology
University of Chittagong
Sociology and social theory. Second class, first position.
2023 — 2026
Visiting Research Fellow & Faculty Member
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University
National policy research on how rural society in Bangladesh is changing, alongside postgraduate teaching.
- Led policy research on ‘Changing Rural Society in Bangladesh’, analysing long-term socioeconomic transitions to inform rural development strategy, agrarian policy and safety net design.
- Designed and taught postgraduate courses in Qualitative Research Methodology, Development Studies and Civil Society Innovations.
- Brought more than 25 years of field research — at GSS, PRPA and PPRC — into BIGD's research agenda.
2020 — Present
Emeritus Fellow
Unnayan Shomonnoy
Policy guidance on national education planning and on the governance of primary and secondary education.
- Provided policy formulation and technical guidance for the Five-Year Education Plan (2020–2025) — sector priorities, budget allocations and institutional reform road maps.
- Advise government bodies and civil society coalitions on education governance, drawing on decades of research on grassroots school governance and learning outcomes.
2017 — Present
Board Member & Senior Advisory Expert, Fintech & Financial Inclusion
Nagad (Digital Financial Service) & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Board-level governance at a mobile financial services provider, and advisory work on scaling the sector so that it reaches people without a bank account.
- Served as a Management Board Member at Nagad, with governance oversight, policy strategy and risk mitigation for one of South Asia's fastest-growing mobile financial services platforms.
- Wrote Mobile Financial Service in Bangladesh: Achievement, Opportunity and Challenge (2017), on institutional bottlenecks, interoperability and consumer protection.
- Advise the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on scaling the MFS industry, policy bottlenecks and digital payment infrastructure for unbanked and marginalised people.
2024 — 2025
Assistant Professor, Department of Development Studies
United International University (UIU)
Taught Bangladesh Studies and Development Economics, and mentored undergraduate and graduate students in policy analysis, governance frameworks and development evaluation.
2012 — 2021
Executive Editor
Protichinta — Prothom Alo's journal on society, economy and politics
Nine years directing the editorial vision of a journal that connects academic research, political economy and national debate.
- Commissioned and curated analytical papers from economists, sociologists and policymakers on state capacity, industrial growth and democratic governance.
2015 — 2018
Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Sociology
ASA University Bangladesh
Taught Qualitative Research Methods, Environmental Sociology and Social History, with an emphasis on field-level policy evaluation.
2006 — 2012
Communication Coordinator
BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University
Led knowledge and policy communication for the institute — turning field research into policy briefs and academic publications.
- Ran knowledge translation, policy brief production and academic publishing for BDI.
- Built communication networks linking BRAC's field programmes with international development partners and national regulatory bodies.
2004 — 2009
Assistant Professor
City University
Taught core courses in Sociology, Research Methodology, Entrepreneurship and Human Resource Development.
2000 — 2018
Senior Research Fellow & Fellow
Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC)
Eighteen years of policy research on social protection, education and governance, much of it as principal investigator.
- Co-authored Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh: Review of Issues, Analytical Inventory with UNDP — a national policy review that informed the rationalisation of state safety nets.
- Co-led research with the University of Manchester (ESID) on the political settlement and basic education quality reforms in Bangladesh.
- Principal investigator and project leader for research and monitoring frameworks funded by DFID/FCDO, the World Bank, Sida, the Swiss and Netherlands embassies, the Canadian High Commission, UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO.
- Led primary and secondary education mapping, upazila-level education budget evaluations and grassroots rights assessments for Save the Children, ActionAid, Plan International and NETZ Bangladesh.
1999 — 2000
Program Officer
Programme for Research on Poverty Alleviation (PRPA), Grameen Trust
Managed competitive poverty research grants funded by the Royal Netherlands Development Fund, evaluating microfinance models, grassroots institution-building and social mobilisation strategy.
1994 — 1999
Research Associate, Research, Monitoring & Evaluation Unit
Gonoshahajjo Sangastha (GSS)
Designed monitoring frameworks for non-formal primary education and grassroots social mobilisation, with extensive field studies of school quality and community empowerment.
Civil society and advocacy
2000 — Present
Gayanmela (Knowledge Fair) Movement
Conceived and introduced the ‘Gayanmela’ concept in Bangladesh — a model for opening public policy research to ordinary citizens and connecting academic insight with the grassroots.
2004 — 2008
Shushikkha Andolon — Citizen Movement for Education & Local Governance
A key organiser of national civil society advocacy for decentralised primary education, school governance reform and empowered local government bodies.
2000 — 2003
Local Government Support Group
Led a citizen policy coalition advocating fiscal and administrative decentralisation of local government in Bangladesh.
1989 — 1990
Bijoy Mela Civil Society Initiative
Co-organised the cultural and socio-political mobilisation in Chittagong that promoted democratic rights, civic awareness and constitutional governance.
In the news
Reports that quote me or record a talk. Each link goes to the outlet's own page.
Prothom Alo English · 30 September 2025
'East India companies' must face punishment: Mohammed FarashuddinSpoke at the Policy Research Institute's Monthly Macroeconomic Insights programme, arguing that the central bank needs real autonomy to prevent money laundering.
Dhaka Tribune · 15 January 2023
‘Bangladesh becoming more financially inclusive, but still more work to be done’Spoke at the launch of the Findex 2021 Bangladesh findings, organised by BIGD and the World Bank.
The Business Standard · 3 June 2021
Corporate tax on MFS set to go upQuoted on the proposed rise in corporate tax on mobile financial services, and on why its cost would fall on poorer users making small transactions.
United News of Bangladesh · 4 October 2020
1 in 3 MFS accounts received Covid-19 financial supportSpoke at the BIGD seminar ‘Last Mile Experience of Mobile Financial Services during COVID-19’.
Subject areas
The full range
Grouped by field. Every line below is something I have researched, taught, evaluated or written on.
Education policy
- National education planning
- Primary & secondary education governance
- Education quality reform
- Education sector mapping
- School budget analysis
Social protection & poverty
- Social safety nets
- Poverty research
- Rural social change
- Microfinance
Financial inclusion
- Mobile financial services
- MFS regulation & interoperability
- Consumer protection
- Digital payment infrastructure
- Board-level governance
Governance & civil society
- Political settlement analysis
- Local government & decentralisation
- NGO accountability
- Human rights & governance mapping
- Civic advocacy
Research & evaluation methods
- Qualitative research methodology
- Participatory monitoring & evaluation
- Development programme evaluation
- Multi-donor evaluation frameworks
Teaching & knowledge communication
- Development studies
- Sociology & social history
- Journal editing
- Policy briefs
- Public knowledge dissemination