Prashikhkhan Upakaron O Sahayika is an essential guide  for use of the human rights defenders, researchers, journalists, development workers, trade unionists and community leaders who work with marginalized and excluded communities. The guide, on one hand provides plenty of background information and on the other, assists in developing thinking ability on exclusion challenges and skills.

Chapter one of the guide provides background and primary information and analysis on marginalized and excluded communities that include Adivasis, tea workers and their communities, Harijans, Bede, Jaladas, sex workers and transgender, Kaiputra (pig rearing community),  Rishi and Biharis in particular. Chapter two discusses skills necessary for investigation, FGD, communication and writing case studies. 

Chapter three includes names, brief description and contact details of organizations—local, national and international) related to tea industry, tea workers and ethnic communities; annotated bibliography on selected books, report and documentary films on tea workers and smaller ethnic communities; the small ethnic communities cultural act 2010; Facilities provided to the tea workers by Bangladesh Labour Rules, 2015 and Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation Rules, 2010; Agreement between Bangladesh Tea Association and Bangladesh Cha Sramik Union (1 January 17 to 31 December 2018); glossary on tea, tea industry, tea gardens, tea workers and smaller ethnic communities; and international (ILO) instruments and law.

‘At the national level Bangladesh has had eight parliamentary elections, three presidential elections and three referendums since its independence. Many of these elections were shams, heavily rigged and invalid. Of course, the fifth, seventh and eighth parliamentary elections enhanced democratic credibility and generated hope among the voters about establishing democracy in Bangladesh. However, the lingering political unrest, mistrust and uncertainties stand out to be serious limiting factors for establishing democracy in Bangladesh. It is in this context that Bangladesh now awaits the ninth parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2007.
There are many conditions that shape the aspired politics and democratic institutions of a country like Bangladesh. The free flow of information is one such condition that can be strengthened by research, documentation and investigative reporting on politics, candidates who contest in the elections, irregularities that take place during election times in violation of electoral laws, code of conduct, and so on. With this in mind the Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD), a non-profit Bangladeshi organization engaged in research and writing on parliamentary elections among other issues, has produced this book, “Handbook on Election Reporting”.

The handbook [first published in 1995 and then in 2001] has turned out to be a useful guide for reporters, election monitors and researchers. SEHD committed to publish the third edition of the handbook before the ninth parliamentary elections. SEHD now fulfills its commitment by publishing the third edition of the handbook.
The handbook [with 19 chapters] compiles practical guidelines for election reporting at different stages; essential background information on elections in this country, which can be helpful in writing analytical reports; thumbnail sketches of the laws and opinion polls concerning elections; coverage of elections in the electronic media; annexes on the containment in the constitution about the non-party caretaker government, code of conduct for the political parties and candidates; list of the constituencies with the winners and runners-up in the 2001 elections; names and contacts of the major political parties, and a list of election maladies that generally occur in the Indian elections that may be comparable to our situation.

The handbook also puts together relevant contacts and their telephone numbers that may be helpful for reporters and election observers to quickly locate different sources of information.

Contributing writers: Mr. Ataus Samad, Prof. M. M. Akash, Prof. Sakhawat Ali Khan, Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman, Mr. Obaidul Huq, Mr. Richard Galpin, Mr. Farid Hossain, Dr. Subrata Shankar Dhar, Mr. Philip Gain, Ms. Q. A. Tahmina, Mr. Shishir Moral, Mr. Muniru-zzaman, Mr. Manik Saha, Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque, Ms. Rizwana Hasan, Ms. Khadiza Khanam, Ms. Shanjida Khan Ripa, Mr. Alimul Hoque and Mr. Abdur Razzak Khan.

Powerful reporting is essential for newspapers and other news media. It requires a great deal of investigation, analysis, deep background, primary information and much more. The book, REPORTING GUIDE is all about powerful reporting. It is an essential guide for journalists, students, academics of journalism, environment and human rights activists and writers who care about excluded, deprived and marginal people.

Since its inception, Society for Environment and Human Development (SEHD) has promoted investigative reporting and action-oriented research. It is from this commitment that it has regularly organized training and workshops to share skills required for research, documentation and reporting. Skills and materials that the professional journalists, researchers and activists have shared in these training and workshops provide useful guidance for powerful reporting and writing. REPORTING GUIDE puts together these materials, practical tips and advices that can be used in any training for journalists and activists.

The book contains theoretical discussions on different kinds of reporting. But what make their write-ups unique is the use of practical experiences and anecdotes. In this part of the book, special attention has been given to practical tips, use of information sources, structures of different reports, editing tips and the professional behavior of journalists.

One important write-up of the book provides all that a journalist or an activist needs for effective use of applied research techniques in reporting. A long write-up discusses the details of feature writing and provides many tips for feature writers.

Discussion on reporting environment, ethnic communities, and women issues explain how important it is for journalists to investigate, interpret and accommodate deep background in reports. The experiences of two journalists in reporting on sex workers illustrate how a serious reporter eventually becomes an author on a subject.

One unique feature of the book is the use of many published reports, features, interviews, and quotes with different write-ups. This confers a meaning to the theoretical discussion.

Contributing writers: Hassan Shahriar, Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman, Khondker Ali Ashraf, Hedayat Hossain Morshed, Farid Hossain, Philip Gain, Qurratul-Ain-Tahmina, Dulal Chandra Biswas, Partha Shankar Saha, Mobashshira Farzana Mithila, Ranjan Karmaker, Lucille Sircar, Sanjida Khan Ripa, Khadiza Khanam and Arafat Ara.