The 2nd Regional Annual Review and Management Meeting of the “Village Dynamics in South Asia” (VDSA) project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and jointly implemented by ICRISAT, IRRI and NCAP with national institutes in Bangladesh and India, was held on 10-11 March at the BRAC Centre Inn, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The meeting discussed progress and achievements in data collection, processing, analysis, dissemination and web hosting of VDSA data and research findings. It also reviewed papers prepared under the project and developed detailed work plans for 2012 for three regions – SAT India, east India and Bangladesh.

The meeting was attended by VDSA Project Advisors Mahabub Hossain (Executive Director, BRAC), Mruthyunjaya (former Director, NAIP, ICAR); Project Leaders MCS Bantilan (Research Director, RP-MIP, ICRISAT), Samarendu Mohanty (Head of IRRI Social Sciences Division); project coordinators of three regions, Uttam Deb and P Parthasarathy Rao (ICRISAT), Humnath Bhandari (IRRI) and Anjani Kumar (NCAP). VDSA team members Alamgir Chowdhury, Anisatul Fatema Yousuf, Joseph Balagtas, Padmaja Ravula, Kamala Gurung, Usha Rani Ahuja, VR Kiresur, Taznoor S Khanam, and Lalmani Pandey presented papers and work plans in this meeting.

Participants of the 2nd Regional Annual Review and Management Meeting of the “Village Dynamics in South Asia” project held in Bangladesh.

Project team members from IRRI, ICRISAT, Socioconsult, NCAP, and UAS Dharwad participated in the deliberations and discussions. Among others, the meeting was enriched through the comments of distinguished experts Randolph Barker (Emeritus Scientist, IRRI), Sattar Mandal (Member, Bangladesh Planning Commission), Zainul Abedin (IRRI representative in Bangladesh) and Ashwani Kumar (Director, Directorate of Water Management, ICAR, Bhubaneswar). As part of capacity building efforts of the VDSA project, a training session on Nutritional Anthropometry and Rain Gauge was also conducted for 18 field investigators and field supervisors working in Bangladesh villages. VK Chopde and Kavitha Kasala served as resource persons during the training while John Marandy, Liakut Al Mahmud, and Golam Mindia Chowdhury facilitated and organized the event.