Abstract
The deadline of achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has ended in 2015 and now the world is targeting to realize another set of comprehensive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) between 2016 and 2030. The 2015 MDGs progress report by the Planning Commission’s General Economics Division (GED) claims that Bangladesh has recorded remarkable advancements in a number of targets of MDGs in terms of food security, health, education and poverty alleviation. However, due to shortage of funds from local and overseas sources, the country is still facing several challenges to the attainments of some other targets of MDGs. Similarly, ascertaining the availability of funds is going to be one of the greatest challenges for Bangladesh to achieve SDGs. For SD, Bangladesh needs massive infrastructural development such as roads, bridges, recreational parks, schools, colleges, universities, religious and cultural institutions. Mobilization of resources through taxes, fees or toll is not enough to finance these much-needed public goods. Hence, finance by individuals as well as by institutions such as private, public, NGOs is very important. It is historically evident that zakat and awqaf jointly played colossal role for socio-economic development in the Muslim societies. These institutions are still capable of offering a universal solution to achieve SDGs. In particular, awqaf is capable of serving an effective third sector (besides private and public sector) as a vehicle for SD. This paper, based on literature survey and secondary data, aims to explore the socio-economic role of awqaf (endowments) in financing SDGs in Bangladesh.
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Notes
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Khan, F., Hassan, M.K. (2019). Financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The Socio-Economic Role of Awqaf (Endowments) in Bangladesh. In: Ali, K., Hassan, M., Ali, A. (eds) Revitalization of Waqf for Socio-Economic Development, Volume II. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18449-0_3
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