Prof. Badiul Alam Majumdar

Vice President, The Hunger Project

Prof. Badiul Majumdar was made a vice president of The Hunger Project on April 26, 2003 at the annual meeting of the Global Board of Directors. In making the appointment, President Joan Holmes made the following statement:

"Next Thursday, May 1st, marks the 10th anniversary of Prof. Majumdar joining the staff of The Hunger Project.

"I will always remember the first time we met. Our mutual friend, Gias Kamal Choudhury, brought Prof. Majumdar to a meeting I was holding with the first crop of Hunger Project volunteers in our tiny Dhaka office.

Click here for a video featuring Badiul

"I was determined to get across the distinctions of self-reliance and dependency - and it was a hard sell. After listening for just a few minutes, Badiul spoke powerfully to the exact point that needed to be made, and he spoke as a Bangladeshi - to Bangladeshis. I knew at that moment that Prof. Majumdar was born to lead The Hunger Project in Bangladesh.

"Badiul brought to this job outstanding credentials. He was a professor of business and economics in the state of Washington. None less than Peter Drucker - the dean of American management - wrote Badiul’s recommendations. And more importantly, Badiul brought his heart, vision and extraordinary passion.

"For the past ten years, Prof. Majumdar has pioneered what it means for The Hunger Project to be both a strategic organization and a large-scale grassroots movement in the developing world.

"For example, the number of grassroots animators trained and empowered has virtually doubled ever year - making The Hunger Project the largest volunteer-based development organization in Bangladesh. And through 2002, this growth was achieved with no significant increase in budget.

"Prof. Majumdar has kept The Hunger Project - and the transformation it stands for - at the cutting edge and in high public profile, and done so in a way that includes and empowers other leaders and other organizations.

"As early as 1993, when the late Jim Grant, executive director of Unicef, needed to bring together major Bangladeshi organizations in a nationwide campaign - organizations that were otherwise not speaking to one another - he turned to The Hunger Project and to Badiul, and Badiul pulled it off.

"Today, Badiul has positioned The Hunger Project as the leading organization catalyzing national movements for strong local democracy - for a cleaner environment - and for an end to all forms of discrimination against girls - all key issues for the end of hunger.

"Prof. Majumdar’s leadership has extended beyond Bangladesh’s borders. Regionally, he participated in our first Women’s Initiative meeting in Jaipur in 1998, our fact-finding trip to Pakistan in 1998, the first Training of Trainers in India in 2001, and he brought a delegation of local Bangladeshi elected leaders to West Bengal in 2002. He has been an inspiring speaker at Hunger Project fundraising events in North America, Europe, and this August will tour Australia.

"Congratulations, Badiul, on a great first 10 years!"