Working Papers (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10361/119

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Countering online gender-based violence: cyber security or state security and the dilemmas of policy engagement
(Institute of Development Studies, 2025) Antara, Iffat Jahan; Sultan, Maheen; Novelly, Shamshad Navia; Islam, Mohaiminul
Bangladesh has experienced rapid growth in the number of active internet and social media users. Internet subscribers have increased from 31.1 million in February 2012 to 131.37 million in December 2023. Online participation has increased, and the nature of this participation has changed over time, with social media playing a significant role in shaping public opinion and mobilising social movements. This paper explores the dilemmas faced by gender justice activists in Bangladesh regarding whether and how to engage with laws that conflict with fundamental freedoms and rights, while acknowledging the importance of a legal framework to regulate cyberspace. The research also examines the difficulties and limitations faced by activists in navigating existing institutions and laws to provide redress for victims of online gender-based violence (OGBV).
Resource leakages in primary schools in Bangladesh: Do horizontal checks have an effect on the quality of governance?
(ACE SOAS Consortium, 2025-03) Khan, Mushtaq; Rabbani, Mehnaz; Hossain, Faruq; Ananna, Rabeena Sultana
Bangladesh has successfully increased spending on primary education and achieved impressive improvements in enrollment rates; however, the quality of learning outcomes remains a serious concern. The governance of schools is an important determinant of poor learning outcomes as it can result in a loss or diversion of teaching resources. To improve governance, the state has focused on formal arrangements that we describe as ‘vertical enforcement’. Bodies such as School Management Committees, Parent–Teacher Associations and Social Audit Committees operate at the school level, while other bodies operate at higher levels and affect the flow of resources from the treasury to schools. This paper argues that the quality and effectiveness of vertical checks at any level depends on complementary ‘horizontal checks’. It investigates three important sources of corrupt leakages associated with poor governance in primary schools in Bangladesh: the inflation of student numbers, the misuse of school development funds, and the failure to check poor teacher allocation and effort.
(Digital) cash transfers, privacy and women’s empowerment: evidence from Uganda
(2025-06) Greco, Giulia; Gulesci, Selim; Prabhakar, Pallavi; Sulaiman, Munshi
This study reports findings from a randomized controlled trial in Uganda that provided unconditional cash transfers to married women, varying the payment method (cash or mobile money) and whether spouses were informed. Results show that mobile money transfers significantly enhance women’s economic independence and decision-making power, as reflected in increased personal labor income and greater say in household decisions. In contrast, cash transfers are more effective in reducing intimate partner violence (IPV), especially when both spouses are informed about the transfer. These findings reveal a critical trade-off: while digital payments promote women’s financial control, they may be less effective in addressing IPV. The study underscores the importance of considering both economic empowerment and safety outcomes when designing transfer programs for women.
গ্রামীণ সংস্কৃতির পালাবদল (Changing rural culture)
(BIGD, 2025-06) Shatil, Tanvir; Zaman, Shahaduz
Two kinds of changes are evident in the cultural landscape of rural Bangladesh. While the visible changes can be easily discernable, the invisible changes are just as difficult to perceive. This Working Paper looks at how the local communities observe and comprehend the transformation in the cultural domains of rural Bangladesh. For data collection, 10 villages across several districts of the country were surveyed for narrative enquiries through a focused ethnographic approach.
গ্রাম পরিবর্তনঃ প্রেক্ষাপট ও গবেষণা কৌশল (Changing village: context and methodology)
(BIGD, 2025-06) Shatil, Tanvir; Zaman, Shahaduz
BIGD conducted an ethnographic study in 2023 to understand the transformations taking place in rural communities of Bangladesh. Based on that experience, we realized that the various social, economic, cultural, and political characteristics once considered intrinsic to rural identity—particularly in studies on rural Bangladesh from the 1970s and 1980s—have undergone significant changes in different dimensions and directions. The perspective of viewing villages as isolated from cities or the global context has changed (Partha, 2024); we now live in an era of market economy and globalization. This paper looks into the changes that have occurred in Bangladesh over the past 25 years, with emphasis on migration, culture, local institutional and social stratification, financial inclusion, environment and climate change, built environment, and agriculture.
Compensation preferences in agricultural insurance among smallholders in rural Kenya
(2025) Cecchi, Francesco; Kannan, Samyuktha
Despite the high incidence of adverse weather shocks, the demand for agricultural insurance remains stubbornly low in Kenya, even among risk-averse smallholder farmers with poor access to social safety nets. Two major barriers to adoption concern are: (i) cyclical illiquidity in agriculture households and (ii) the lack of trust in insurance providers. Standard insurance contracts that provide compensation for losses as a lump sum over an uncertain time horizon post-harvest exacerbate these concerns. In this study, recent advancements in digitally-enabled loss estimation and payments infrastructure to modify contracts in a manner than can address these barriers are leveraged. The study examines whether allowing farmers greater choice in structuring compensation transfers from agricultural insurance reveals preferences for earlier and/or smaller transfers and secondly, whether farmers value an insurance product with customised compensation preferences more than a standard contract.
Evolution of village social order in rural Bangladesh: a 50-year analysis
(BIGD, 2025-06) Hassan, Mirza; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Shahan, Asif; Proma, Aishwarya Sanjukta Roy; Nur, Jahid; Tasnim, Sumaiya; Ahamed, Raihan
Villages as a research focus received high priority during the 1970s. This focus waned over time, particularly in the post-2008 period, a time when the country also began to face a serious political setback and came under dominant party rule for the next 15 years. The altered political context had a profound impact on policy, governance, and sociopolitical processes at both national and local levels. In this context, the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) took the initiative in 2023 to study the major changes in the villages of Bangladesh, particularly over the past 25–30 years. The broad Changing Village study encompasses seven thematic areas: culture, migration, climate change and environment, built environment, financial inclusion, agriculture, and social and political order. The detailed context of the Changing Village study, its methodology, sampling, and the description of the sample villages can be found in the paper, গ্রাম পরিবর্তনঃ প্রেক্ষাপট ও গবেষণা কৌশল (Changing Village: Context and Methodology). This working paper is based on research conducted under the social and political order theme.
অভিবাসন ও পরিবর্তনশীল গ্রাম (Changing village: migration)
(BIGD, 2025-06) Chowdhury, Afsan
This paper examines how migration is reshaping rural life in Bangladesh. Both international and internal migration have reduced poverty, expanded financial flows, and created new social classes. International migration—mainly to the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia—brings remittances but also involves debt, fraud, and uncertainty. Internal migration, particularly in garments and construction, offers income opportunities, with women increasingly engaged. Migration shapes families by changing marriage practices, household authority, and generational roles. It also reshapes local power structures as remittance receivers gain influence. Although investment opportunities remain limited, migration continues to drive major economic and social transformations in villages.
Protecting women’s family rights in a minority community: Hindu family law reform in Bangladesh
(Institute of Development Studies, 2025) Sultan, Maheen; Roy Nath, Shravasti; Rabbi, Abu Sayem; Islam, Mohaiminul
Family laws in Bangladesh are shaped by religious laws and traditions which have traditionally shown discrimination towards women irrespective of their religious identities. There has been an emphasis on reforming Muslim family laws to abolish discrimination and to ensure equality in conformity with international human rights standards. In recent times, however, civil society actors have attempted a range of reform initiatives on Hindu family laws, particularly in relation to marriage registration and inheritance. They have achieved partial success but have faced resistance from the Bangladeshi state as well as from conservative Hindu religious leaders. This paper explores how backlash manifests in law reforms relating to minority communities. The authors examine the nature of backlash from the state, the Hindu community, and Hindu religious leaders, as well as the strategies taken by pro-reform actors to counter this backlash, and the effectiveness of these strategies.
Group versus individual coaching for rural social protection programs: evidence from Uganda, Philippines, and Bangladesh
(National Bureau of Economic Research, 2025) Beam, Emily A.; Brune, Lasse; Das, Narayan; Dercon, Stefan; Goldberg, Nathanael; Haque, Rozina; Karlan, Dean; Khan, Maliha; Parkerson, Doug; Pople, Ashley; Sawada, Yasuyuki; Udry, Christopher; Zizzamia, Rocco
Multifaceted social protection programs in low-income countries often include both capital grants and informational and behavioral support on the premise that households face simultaneous and multiple frictions. To tackle informational and behavioral constraints, programs typically deploy either individual or group coaching visits from field agents. The relative efficacy of individual versus group coaching could provide insights into the underlying mechanism through which information and behavioral support change household decisions. However, in three similar randomized evaluations in Uganda, the Philippines, and Bangladesh, we find no differences in efficacy. Given its 15–20% lower costs, group coaching is more cost-effective.
Achieving scale collectively
(National Bureau of Economic Research, 2021-06) Bassi, Vittorio; Muoio, Raffaela; Porzio, Tommaso; Sen, Ritwika; Tugume, Esau
This cross-sectional assessment surveyed 1,115 firms and 2,883 employees between 2018 and 2019 in the Central, Western, and Eastern regions of Uganda to understand the importance of the rental market to productivity in developing countries. It argues that rental market interactions allow small firms to increase their effective scale and mechanize production, even when each individual firm would be too small to invest in expensive machines. An equilibrium model of firm behavior was built and estimated with the data. Findings show that once accounted for rental market interactions, the average firm size increased by 77%, from 5 to 8.8 employees, and the share of firms with more than 10 employees increased from 5% to 33%. These findings speak to the importance of rental markets for the mechanization and productivity of small firms. This paper shows, the rental market shapes the effectiveness of policies to foster mechanization, such as subsidies to purchase machines.
The savings and growth nexus in Bangladesh
(BIGD, 2021-09) Rahman, Dr. Sultan Hafeez; Hafeez, Dr. Sultan
The paper investigates the causal relationship between Bangladesh’s gross domestic savings (GDS) and gross domestic product (GDP) in the years 1980 to 2018. Using yearly time series data from the period, the authors employ one long-run and two short-run causality tests to identify the direction of causality between the two variables. Bangladesh experienced stellar GDP growth between 1990 and 2019, averaging 6.5 percent per year. In the latter years, this rate was over 7 percent per year. Despite that, its GDS rate only increased to 22 percent from 15 percent in the same period. This is in stark contrast to the scenario in countries like India, China, Indonesia, and Thailand. The Philippines, however, had a low savings rate like Bangladesh. A common feature of both countries is their large remittances and the broad-based growth effects in the economies. In both Bangladesh and the Philippines, gross national savings (GNS) rather than GDS caused greater investment. Thus, domestic savings were clearly not the key driver of growth in Bangladesh, which is inconsistent with the view of capital fundamentalists and neoclassical growth theory. The findings suggest that, in the short run, the direction of causality between savings and economic growth is unidirectional from economic growth to savings. And in the long run, there is no evidence of statistically significant causality in either direction. In other words, higher economic growth induced savings in Bangladesh in the studied period of time.
Livelihood transitions of women workers during COVID-19: The case of domestic workers in Dhaka
(BIGD, 2021-12-12) Kabeer, Naila; Huq, Lopita; Aktar, Taslima; Al Mamun, Saklain; Alam, Afsana; Nath, Shravasti Roy; Sultana, Razia
The paper draws on primary research into the conditions of domestic workers in Bangladesh and how they coped with the shocks and disruptions associated with COVID-19. We can see our research as a lens to view the lives and livelihoods of workers with no legal or social protection and with the tenuous relationship they have with their employers. The country’s trade unions bypassed these workers during this unprecedented crisis which they had to deal with almost entirely on their own. We carried out detailed qualitative interviews by telephone between January and February 2021 with 30 female domestic workers aged over 18 years. These were “untied” domestic workers who worked for more than one employer and lived in their own accommodations. We asked them to recall their lives and livelihoods before COVID-19 (Jan–Feb 2020), to discuss the period of strict lockdown (Mar–Apr 2020) and then the changes that may have occurred after April when the strict lockdown was lifted. Almost all domestic workers in our study had lost their jobs within a day after the lockdown was announced, pushing them into extreme uncertainty. Since domestic workers were the main breadwinners for most of the households in our sample, the loss of their jobs meant a total or substantial loss of income for at least two-thirds of our respondents. Some domestic workers received government relief, but lack of NID cards and contacts with influential community members made accessing it very difficult and impossible for some.
Livelihood transitions and coping with shocks: Women in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector coping with COVID-19
(BIGD, 2022-01-03) Kabeer, Naila; Huq, Lopita; Aktar, Taslima; Al Mamun, Saklain; Alam, Afsana; Nath, Shravasti Roy; Sultana, Razia
This paper examines in detail the experiences of a small group of workers from the export-oriented ready-made garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh and how they coped with the shocks and disruptions associated with COVID-19. The research is based on qualitative interviews of male (10) and female (30) RMG workers and several key informant interviews (KIIs) with NGO staff and trade union leaders working on the RMG industry in Bangladesh. It was carried out from Jan–Feb 2021. Due to the COVID-19 situation, this research was conducted over the phone. The garment workers went through a period of uncertainty and hardship, exacerbated by the government’s lack of clarity about the duration of the lockdown and employers’ responsibility. Although there was provision for a stimulus package, the research found that the more privileged sections of the garment workforce, those working in registered factories, benefited from these provisions. Those in small, unregistered factories suffered the same fate as informal workers: deprived of their jobs and left to cope on their own.
Recovery with distress: Unpacking COVID-19 impact on livelihoods and poverty in Bangladesh
(United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research, 2022-02) Rahman, Hossain Zillur; Rahman, Atiya; Islam, Md. Saiful; Faruk, Avinno; Matin, Imran; Wazed, Mohammad Abdul; Zillur, Umama
The social and economic impact of COVID-19 has been deep, wide-ranging, and multi dimensional. While anecdotal evidence of distress among the poor, particularly those with informal occupations, has been widespread, effective policy response has required real-time, researched data disaggregated for urban and rural populations and for various categories of the poor. The Power and Participation Research Centre and BRAC Institute of Governance and Development’s four round panel survey during 2020–21 provides unique insights into how COVID-19 impacted specific categories of the poor and vulnerable in Bangladesh, their coping strategies, and the extent to which policy support materialized. While the poor as a whole demonstrated their agency in the face of the crisis, their resilience has been as much about deepening vulnerability as about recovery, representing an unfair burden of distress resilience. Informal workers, women, and the urban poor have been disproportionately impacted.
Tracking gender-based violence and backlash against women’s rights in the digital space: Cases from Bangladesh
(BIGD, 2022-01) Mahpara, Pragyna; Antara, Iffat Jahan; Nath, Shravasti Roy; Pabony, Nuha Annoor
Social media platforms such as Facebook can be effective in spreading positive awareness of gender equality and women’s rights; however, those who oppose these beliefs also use the same platform as a medium for spreading their ideologies. This paper aimed to examine the backlash faced by women public figures who are active on social media and shared content about Gender-based violence, along with the actors behind it. The study also looked into two controversial national events which raised discussions on sexual harassment and violence against women and the effectiveness of the Digital Security Act (DSA) 2018 and other relevant laws and policies used to counter these sorts of violence. A qualitative approach was followed with an analysis of the Facebook accounts related to the case studies and some quantitative data was collected through CrowdTangle software. The study showed that all female public figures faced a backlash mostly from men and boys with some comments from women. While they sought a remedy, DSA did not play a strong role. Women’s rights issues such as women’s education, employment, and domestic violence are seen as liberal feminism while issues like consent, divorce, single parenthood, sexuality, and gender diversity are considered more radical issues.
Social life of masks: Experience from Bangladesh
(BIGD, 2022-04-30) Zaman, Shahaduz; Matin, Imran; Shatil, Tanvir; Hossain, Faruq
The framework of masks’ social life is critical in numerous ways to understanding people’s behaviour concerning public health issues by providing a nuanced understanding of the use of masks in the community from a multi-dimensional socio-cultural perspective. This explores people’s attitudes towards public health measures, current practices, and the barriers to following them. This study aims to conduct explorative research to obtain a deeper understanding of the performance of masks as a material in society. It focuses on (a) how masks acquire meanings in different contexts throughout their lifetime and (b) how masks affect people’s behaviour in society. Two communities, namely Shibganj Upazila from Chapainawabganj District and Bhaluka Upazila from Mymensingh District, were selected for data collection. The anthropological study uses a set of qualitative techniques, including observation, in-depth interviews (35), key informant interviews (24), focus group discussions (15), and testimonies on masks (20) to collect data. The study finds the framework of the “social life of things” useful in many ways to deeply understand different local dynamics and contexts related to mask use in Bangladesh. For example, the study finds that people are not merely concerned with compliance or non-compliance with masks but also concerned with many other attributes of masks, such as fabric, colour, design, fashion, and the quality of the mask, since masks are associated with people’s social lives in various ways. Moreover, the study uncovered some ways of promoting mask use in public spaces. This includes providing free masks; delivering messages on mask-wearing in various ways, both verbally and using HBCC materials, and engaging local elites in mask-promoting activities.
The political economy of the landscape of trade unions in Bangladesh: The case of the RMG sector
(BIGD, 2022-07) Hassan, Mirza M; Aziz, Syeda Salina; Rahemin, Raeesa; Khan, Insiya; Hoque, Rafsanul
The paper explores the political economy landscape of trade unionism in Bangladesh. The focus is on the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector, where trade unions (TU) are highly salient and relatively more operational because of the sector’s economic importance, numerical strength of the labour, high degree of concentration of the industries, and TU’s global network, among other factors. Relying predominantly on primary data, we look at both the formal and informal dimensions of industrial relations and their implications for the state-capital-labour interactions as well as governance of TUs. Literature on RMG-related TUs in Bangladesh generally examines it from a social movement perspective. We take a slightly different approach in this paper by making a modest attempt to fulfil the knowledge gaps in TU research. We do this by exploring the formal and informal aspects of relations between the regulatory institutions and the TUs and, more importantly, the internal governance of the TUs themselves as noted above. Additionally, we explore the two-way relational dynamics of TU leaders and the garment workers. These areas have not received much attention in the extant literature. By adopting a politico-sociological perspective, the paper reflects on the collective action dynamics of industrial labour in the context of the global south.
Pathways out of ultra-poverty: A mixed methods assessment of layered interventions in coastal Bangladesh
(Chronic Poverty Advisory Network, 2022-07) Diwakar, Vidya; Kamninga, Tony; Mehzabin, Tasfia; Tumusiime, Emmanuel; Kamal, Rohini; Pabony, Nuha Anoor
Studies suggest impoverishment in Bangladesh has been driven by climate-change-related shocks, ill-health and healthcare expenses, poor access to agricultural markets and services, and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Multi-sectoral programmes have the potential to address these challenges. This research explores the potential of multi-sectoral integration and layering of the Ultra Poor Graduation (UPG) programming combined with inclusive Market Systems Development (iMSD); climate-related Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR); and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) interventions to enhance individual and community level resilience capacities and prevent re-entry of participants of the UPG program into poverty. We examined this potential in southwest Bangladesh based on the Nobo Jatra Project (NJP), a Resilience and Food Security Activity (2015- 2022) funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium of NGOs led by World Vision. We used a mixed methods research approach to examine and compare wellbeing and resilience indicators among a sample of respondents of NJP exposed to different combinations of the interventions. The study set out to test three hypotheses which have been used to organize the key findings and programming recommendations. The results show that participation in the UPG programme with iMSD is associated with the development of absorptive and adaptive capacities that can tackle chronic poverty. Secondly, strengthening resilience capacities to anticipate and absorb disaster and health shocks may prevent households from falling back or deeper into ultra-poverty. Moreover, transformative actions such as women empowerment, access to markets, participation in savings groups, and social networks improve women’s ability to sustain escapes from poverty.
Social protection intervention: Evaluation research design
(Institute of Development Studies, 2022-09) Ton, Giel; Roelen, Keetie; Howard, Neil; Huq, Lopita
This paper describes the research design for investigating and evaluating the Child Labour: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) social protection cash-plus intervention in a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. After an introductory section, the second section elaborates on contribution analysis – the methodological approach underpinning the research design. The third section provides an overview of the intervention, and the fourth explores the overall design of the evaluation, its guiding framework, and the timeline of the intervention rollout and data collection. The fifth and sixth sections address the project’s suite of quantitative and qualitative methods and the approach to data analysis. Using four-panel surveys, bi-monthly monitoring, in-depth interviews, group discussions and direct observations, the research will zoom in on specific behaviours. First, at the individual level, the authors want to learn how people adopt alternative livelihoods in response to the intervention. Second, at the household level, they consider how community mobilisation and cash transfers help households to resolve intra‑household problems. Third, at the group level, they consider how groups manage collective action in response to community mobilisation. For each of these behaviour change outcomes, they want to understand the realist evaluation question, ‘Why does the intervention work, for whom, and under what conditions?’ they also want to assess whether these new behaviours change the propensity for children to be involved in the worst forms of child labour.

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