The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) of the University of Dhaka arranged a day-long workshop on ‘Better Management of Migrant’s Remittances: Needs Assessment Workshop for Bank Officials’, with the support of DFID on 8 December 2007. The Workshop was organized for the Upazilla level bank officials. Dr. Tasneem Siddiqui, Professor, Dept. of Political Science, University of Dhaka presented the key note paper on the overall migration scenario in Bangladesh and the contribution of remittance to the economy of Bangladesh.

The workshop highlighted the remitting experiences of the migrants through banks at both sending and receiving ends. Through a participatory process, factors that constrained remittance transactions including wrong names in the form, name of branch, account name and number were discussed.

Mr. Richard Boulter, Senior Advisor, DFID Bangladesh was present as the Chief Guest, along with Mr. Richard Moss, Project Leader, Remittance and Payments Partnership Project as the Special Guest. Dr. C. R. Abrar, Executive Director RMMRU, highlighted the need for customer friendly services to the remittance receiving families. Mr. Richard Moss, Remittance and Payments Partnership Project, Bangladesh Bank, highlighted new methods that will have impact on future remittance transfer flow, such as – Instant Cash, Door-to-door services, Mobile-to-mobile services, etc.

The participants of the workshop comprised of 25 Upazilla level Bank Officials from Tangail, Comilla and Chittagong, which are high migration prone areas of Bangladesh. Mr. Md Nazrul Islam, AGM, F/C Management Division, Agrani Bank and Mr. Md. Nazir Hossain Senior Principal Officer, Training Institute, Janata Bank were among the other resource persons to conduct the training sessions.