The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993 by Professor Rehman Sobhan, its Founder Chairman, with support from leading civil society institutions in Bangladesh, is mandated by its Deed of Trust to service the growing demand originating from the emerging civil society of Bangladesh for a more participatory and accountable development process. CPD seeks to address this felt-need from
the perspectives of marginalised stakeholders, by way of organising multistakeholder consultations, by conducting research on issues of critical national, regional and global interests, through dissemination of knowledge and information on key developmental issues, and by influencing the concerned policy making processes. CPD strives to bridge the gap between empirical research and policy advocacy through a sustained effort in public policy analyses. CPD endeavours to create a national environment conducive to open public discussion on important policy issues with a view to ensuring domestic ownership over the policy agendas, and also building a broad-based support for such policies. Over the past seventeen years CPD has emerged as Bangladesh's premier civil society think-tank and has established its credibility as one of the very few platforms in Bangladesh where civil society organisations, stakeholder groups and political parties, often with diverse views and perspectives, are agreeable to sit around a dialogue table, and conduct an informed discussion about key issues of developmental concern and interest. Over the years, CPD has evolved into a South Asia centre of excellence and has attained credibility as a distinguished focal point for issues relating to the least developed countries (LDCs).
