The Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad (BUP) is a non-profit research organization devoted to the promotion of basic as well as action research on environment, development and socioeconomic sector. It was established in 1980 and is registered with the Government of Bangladesh under the Societies Act 1860.

In the field of independent development research and dialogue activities, the BUP has played the pioneering role in this country. When it was established in 1980, it was virtually the first of its kind in the country and represented a new vision. It has conducted many seminal research works on key national development issues and played a key role in popularizing roundtable discussions and dialogues on important issues of policy relevance. It also pioneered public opinion research in Bangladesh, initiating the activity in 1994.

Nationally and internationally, the organization is usually known as BUP, which is the abbreviation of its full name. It is now well-established as a leading think-tank of Bangladesh. The BUP’s research areas include a wide range of issues relating to sustainable development, covering social, economic, environmental and cultural aspects of development efforts. It has also earned wide recognition for its planning forum which organizes policy debates on not only national issues but also regional and international issues. The BUP is governed by its own constitution and managed by an Executive Board. Dr. Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, an economist and development thinker and activist of international repute, is the Founder Chairman of the BUP.

In its 33 years journey, BUP worked through technical and financial partnership with many international and national organizations including but not limited to World Bank, USAID, Harvard University, UNICEF, Christian Aid, United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), UNFPA, Concern Worldwide, ADB, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), IUCN, UN Millennium Campaign, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Action Aid Bangladesh, Oxfam, IWMI Sri-Lanka, FAO, CIDA, Ford Foundation, the British Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), , Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC), Ministry of Environment and Forest, Fund mobilize by the PKSF, Institute of Micro Finance (InM), ILO and Planning Commission.

BUP has vast working experience in policy sector. Recently, BUP worked on UNDP funded ‘Capacity Development for Climate Change Policy Making and Financing’ project. To perfom the assignment the organization has reviewed all environmental policies of Bangladesh including but not limited to National Environment Policy, Coastal Zone Policy and National Landuse Policy. In 2001, BUP conducted Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) on ‘Consolidated PRA Report of 18 Upazillas for the Development of Plan of Action for the Implementation of the National Agriculture Policy’, which was supported by FAO.