BAEN History

BAEN wants cooperation from AESA and GFRAS for Capacity Development of Extension and Advisory Service Providers Evolution of Bangladesh Agricultural Extension Network (BAEN) Prof. Dr. Md. Sekender Ali, Secretary General, BAEN 2010: Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) was established. 14-15 January, 2014: Agricultural Extension in South Asia (AESA) as a part of GFRAS organized a meeting at Katmandu, Nepal for “Strengthening Extension and Advisory Services in south Asia”. A total of 29 participants from seven South Asian countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Srilanka and India attended in this meeting. Kbd. Md. Himidur Rahman, the then Project Director of Second Crop Diversification project (SCDP) under DAE was selected as the Country Representative of Bangladesh. Accordingly, Dr. Rasheed Sulaiman, Chairman, GFRAS and Focal Point of AESA requested Kbd. Md. Hamidur Rahman through Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh to lead the establishment of a country forum in Bangladesh. 01 September, 2014: SCDP with technical collaboration from AESA organized a one day meeting on “Agricultural Extension in Bangladesh” at BARC. A total of 75 participants from various Departments of Bangladesh involved with agricultural extension and advisory services attended in this meeting.

The meeting was decided to form an extension network in the name of “Bangladesh Extension Network (BENet). An Ad-hoc Executive Committee of BENet was formed consisting of 18 Members. 23 September, 2014: Ad-hoc Executive Committee meeting of BENet was held at SCDP-DAE Conference room Chaired by Prof. Dr. M. Abul Kashem, BAU, Mymensingh. A sub-committee was formed headed by Prof. Dr. Md. Sekender Ali of SAU, Dhaka for preparing the constitution of BENet. 12 February, 2015: A seminar was organized by Integrated Farm Management Component (IFMC) of DAE to Create a National Platform for Extension Actors (NPEA) and a Working Committee was formed. 12 July, 2015: A working committee meeting of NPEA was held and decided to work with BE-net and form a sub- committee to develop a ToR for NPEA and BE-net. 26 July, 2015: NPEA-BEnet sub-committee meeting proposed a draft ToR 16 September, 2015: A joint meeting of NPEA and BE-net working committee representatives was held and decided to work together with a new name as Bangladesh Agricultural Extension Network (BAEN). The meeting formed a 7-member sub-committee headed by Prof. Dr. Md. Sekender Ali of SAU, Dhaka to make a draft bylaw for the new organization and finalize work plan of BAEN for 2016. 01 & 20 October, 2015: Two meetings of Draft bylaw preparation sub-committee were held and committee proposed a draft bylaw for Bangladesh Agricultural Extension Network (BAEN). 23 November, 2015: Second joint meeting of NPEA and BE-net executive committee was held and discussed with draft bylaws of BAEN. 29 November, 2015: Meeting of bylaw preparation sub-committee was held and the subcommittee corrected draft bylaws of BAEN. 15 December, 2015: Third joint meeting of NPEA and BE-net executive committee was held. The meeting approved the bylaws of BAEN, formed the first executive committee headed by Kbd. Md. Hamidur Rahman, DG, DAE and finalize work plan of BAEN for 2016.