We were pleased to host the Inaugural Lecture by Professor Munshi Sulaiman, Research Director at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University. This lecture was part of BRAC University’s initiative to introduce newly appointed professors and their body of work to the academic community.
Date: 10 March, 2025
Time: 11 AM to 1 PM
Venue: Auditorium (Ground Floor), BRAC University New Campus, Merul Badda, Dhaka
In this Inaugural Lecture, Professor Munshi Sulaiman presented on:
“The Half-Life of Evidence in Economics: How Research Findings Hold, Shift, or Fade Over Time”
The discussion explored how research findings evolve, drawing from:
- Research on BRAC’s Ultra Poor Graduation Program, which has shown long-term sustainability.
- A study on skills training programs, where midterm findings shift in the long term.
- Research on social norms and child FGM management, examining the short-term impacts in the absence of long-term evidence.
The BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) are organizing an international conference on July 2-3, 2025, in Accra, Ghana, focused on the role of digital inclusion in women’s empowerment.
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, women’s access to digital connectivity has become a key factor in expanding their economic opportunities. The conference will explore how digital inclusion provides women with the tools and agency to navigate both formal and informal economies, opening new avenues for economic independence, financial decision-making, and social empowerment.
Building on research from WEE-DiFine, WEE-Connect, IPA, and others, the event will examine the pathways through which digital access translates into economic autonomy and gender equality.
The conference will also host an exhibition showcasing the work of Ghanaian-based academics and implementers, offering a platform for local perspectives on how digital inclusion is shaping women’s social and economic futures in the region.
More details will follow.
BIGD hosted a conference and a special exhibition showcasing artwork, photo stories, and audiovisual creations from gender justice movements in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. These works—created as part of the ‘Sustaining Power: Women’s Struggles against contemporary backlash in South Asia’ (SuPWR) program—aimed to highlight the struggles of gender justice movements in the subcontinent and celebrate the progress while acknowledging the challenges and backlash faced by movements in the shifting socio-political context of the subcontinent. The exhibition aimed to foster learning among the public and build solitary within and across movements. On the other hand, the conference examined how economic shocks and the rise in populist agendas have affected space for advocating women’s rights and gender equality agendas across South Asia. The day-long conference brought together researchers, gender justice struggles in Bangladesh that have been researched, and academics and practitioners to share insights and findings from cross-regional analyses.
BIGD organised a workshop at the Six Seasons Hotel to reflect on the learnings from our research on Whole Child Development (WCD) in Bangladesh. The workshop aimed to strategize with BIGD’s partner community—including BRAC Institute of Educational Development, Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN), Synergos, Frameworks Institute, and icddr,b—to develop an Early Childhood Development (ECD) advocacy position to catalyse meaningful changes. Participants at the workshop reflected on the challenges and opportunities in prioritising WCD in the country, co-created an action plan to prioritise the issue, and discussed how the action plan could be disseminated to the government.
