Research and Policy Integration for Development - RAPID

RAPID is pleased to host an internal workshop inspired by the Jack Lovell Fellowship, established by Kivu International in memory of Jack Lovell, a dear friend of RAPID with whom the team had the pleasure of working. Following Jack’s passing in January 2024, Kivu initiated the fellowship to honour his memory and carry forward his legacy by supporting early-career researchers through mentorship, practical experience, and professional development.

The workshop will focus on the theme of Learning and Professional Growth. It will feature a session by Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque on Research, Evidence and Writing in the Age of AI, followed by reflections from the Jack Lovell Fellows, Ishrat Jahan Ish*ta and Md Salay Mostofa, on their experience during a four week fellowship at Kivu International in London.

Although the workshop is an internal RAPID event, key insights and highlights from the sessions will subsequently be shared on RAPID's official website.

📢 Revisiting RAPID’s Policy Brief | Closing Bangladesh’s Gender Wage Gap

Women wage employees in Bangladesh earn approximately 35% less than men on average. What lies behind this persistent disparity, and what can be done to address it?

In this RAPID Policy Brief, “Closing Bangladesh’s Gender Wage Gap: Beyond Education and Skills,” we revisit the evidence and policy priorities for advancing wage equality, including equal-pay enforcement, wage documentation, pay transparency, formalisation, and improved childcare and safer transport.

📖 Revisit the policy brief for evidence-based insights and policy recommendations to promote a fairer and more inclusive labour market.

The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) has long assessed national logistics systems. While the legacy LPI relied largely on perceptions of freight forwarders and express carriers, LPI 2.0, introduced in 2025, places greater emphasis on operational shipment-tracking data across maritime, aviation and postal networks.

This shift creates an opportunity to rethink logistics measurement and its use in policy. For Bangladesh, the key lesson is to focus less on international rankings and more on measurable outcomes, including faster cargo clearance, lower dwell times, stronger port and transport connectivity, reliable supply chains, efficient air-cargo services and greater use of digital trade processes. Regulatory predictability, institutional credibility and transparent service standards also matter, as businesses and investors assess both physical infrastructure and the wider operating environment.

Bangladesh’s LPI 2.0-era strategy should therefore combine operational performance reform with institutional credibility, supported by a national logistics data system, clear service-level targets and regular publication of verified performance indicators. The goal should be to improve the functioning, reliability and predictability of the logistics system—not simply its ranking.

Bangladesh needs substantial long-term financing to meet its climate and sustainable development objectives, yet its financial system remains dominated by short-term bank lending and shallow capital markets. Green, Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked (GSSS) bonds could diversify the financing base, but their viability depends on credible regulatory, institutional, and market foundations.

This brief assesses Bangladesh’s readiness for a scalable GSSS bond market, drawing lessons from international experiences. These experiences highlight the importance of sound bond-market infrastructure, clear standards, public-sector participation, and bankable project pipelines.

The brief proposes a sequenced approach combining a national GSSS framework, stronger institutional coordination, targeted credit enhancement, domestic market development, and a small public-sector pilot issuance.

📢 Publication Alert!

RAPID is pleased to share its Policy Brief, titled “Untapped Revenue Potential in Bangladesh: Tax Compliance, Equity and Reform.”

📄 Read the Policy Brief: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iz2RISoOhy51hLVOa77D9RSpTT9GFqDR/view

Authors: Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Dr Md Deen Islam and Tashin Rifat

📢 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 — 𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗜𝗗 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 | 𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

👇 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

#𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗜𝗗𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗵 #𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 #𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 #𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 #𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗵 #𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

Congratulations to Asaf Ibne Salim, Senior Research Associate, and Chowdhury Lamia Tarik, Research Officer, on being recognised as RAPID’s Staff Members of the Month for August 2026! 🌟