EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

Jahan Ara Begum, MSS

Chairperson, CDA

Jahan Ara Begum is the Chairperson of the Centre for Development Action (CDA). She is a former Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh. Prior to that, she also held several important positions during her service to the Government of Bangladesh including Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forest and Ministry of Women and Children Affairs; Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism and Ministry of Industries and Assistant Director, NGO Affairs Bureau and Disaster Management Bureau. In 1989, she joined the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) administrative cadre as an Assistant Commissioner and Magistrate. Her primary areas of interest include planning and project management, project appraisal and evaluation, women empowerment, good governance, disaster management and maternal and child health. Above all, Ms. Begum has a good heart to love and help people. Currently, she is also involved with Bangladesh Girl Guides Association as a Treasurer.
Ms. Begum obtained her BSS (Hons) and MSS in Public Administration from the University of Dhaka in 1980 and 1986, respectively. She also did a Postgraduate Diploma in Population Sciences from the University of Dhaka. Furthermore, she has received different types of professional training from national and international institutions.

Md. Golam Kibria, MPH

Executive Director, CDA

Md. Golam Kibria is the Executive Director of the Centre for Development Action (CDA). He brings with him about ten years of experience in research design, data analysis, and report writing. His primary areas of research interest include sexual & reproductive health, occupational health, mental health, adolescent health, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), nutrition, health policy, tobacco control, and drug & substance abuse.
Before his appointment as an Executive Director of CDA, Mr. Kibria served as a Research Fellow and Research Officer for GIZ Bangladesh and Marie Stopes Bangladesh. He also served as a Principal Investigator (PI) for many research projects including tobacco control projects funded by Johns Hopkins University, USA and Ministry of Health and Welfare, Bangladesh. He published several research articles in peer-reviewed international journals and attended many scientific conferences. Currently, he is an editor of the Bangladesh Journal of Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation (BJOTR) and a lifetime member of Bangladesh Tobacco Control Research Network (BTCRN).
Mr. Kibria earned an MPH (Master of Public Health) degree from North South University in 2019 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from United International University in 2012. He also completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English from Rajshahi University in 2005 and 2007 and did a postgraduate diploma in population sciences from Dhaka University.

Dr. Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader, PhD

Director-Research

Dr. Mohammad Delwer Hossain Hawlader is an Associate Professor at the Department of Public Health, North South University and Director – Research at the Centre for Development Action (CDA). He is also a visiting Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan. He has 19 years of experience in public health research. His research interests lie primarily in the areas of maternal and child health, nutrition, infectious diseases, autism, disability, and chronic diseases.
Dr. Delwer joined the Department of Public Health, North South University as an Assistant Professor in January 2017 and served the department as a Chairman from 2017 to 2018. Prior to this, he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Epidemiology, Bangladesh University of Health Sciences from 2014 from 2016. He worked in the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) in various capacities including Senior Research Investigator and Research Investigator. Furthermore, he served as a Principal Investigator for a good number of research projects funded by national and international organizations. To date, he has published more than 30 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and participated in many international conferences. Morever, he is an editorial board member of some reputed international peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Delwer has achieved his PhD degree from the University of Tsukuba, Japan in 2014. He obtained his Master of Public Health (MPH) from Karolinska Institute, Sweden in 2006 and MBBS from Sir Salimullah Medical College, Bangladesh in 1999.