Archives: Studies

Study

Transforming Gender Norms for Rural Women’s Digital Finance Empowerment: A Qualitative Evidence

Motivation 

Persistent gender inequalities and entrenched patriarchal norms in rural Nigerian communities severely constrain women’s economic empowerment and household decision-making. Consequently, women face disproportionate exclusion from the formal financial system, with only 31 percent holding formal financial accounts compared to 61 percent of men. While 31.4 percent of women borrow to finance their businesses, a mere 3.7 percent utilize formal financial institutions, and only 3.9 percent have mobile money accounts that could ease transactions. This gender gap, driven by patriarchy, gender norms, and limited decision-making power, leaves 98 percent of women excluded from formal credit markets. Furthermore, while digital financial literacy interventions have shown some promise in increasing engagement, existing evidence regarding digital interventions aimed at shifting gender norms remains mixed. These variations highlight the critical need to understand household dynamics and male attitudes before deploying digital financial services (DFS) targeted specifically at women. 

Objective 

This exploratory qualitative study investigates the feasibility of a feminized, community-based digital financial program designed to train both spouses and strengthen men’s support for women’s financial inclusion. Targeting married couples in rural Sokoto State, Nigeria, the study addresses seven central issues: the extent of male dominance in rural households, spousal financial inclusion patterns, household DFS preferences, barriers and potential for DFS uptake, expectations from a community-based DFS intervention, and the prospects of mobilizing male support for an upcoming randomized controlled trial (RCT). By co-training spouses in digital financial literacy, the project tests a theory of change positing that joint engagement can reshape intra-household norms, increase men’s willingness to support women’s access to digital credit systems, and diminish structural male dominance in financial decision-making. 

Proposed impact

The research will generate rich qualitative data that deepens the understanding of how marital structures, household power relations, and gender norms shape women’s engagement with DFS in rural Sokoto State. It will document prevailing social norms regarding financial authority within both monogamous and polygamous households, and surface the strategies women use to privately negotiate, accommodate, or resist gendered control over their financial autonomy. Ultimately, the findings will yield theory-building and policy-relevant insights to inform the deployment of future gender-sensitive digital finance interventions, aiming to improve financial inclusion by aligning program designs with women lived realities and household constraints in low-income, socially conservative contexts.

Photo credit: Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Overview

Status: Ongoing 

Associated Institute: Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) 

Associated Investigators: Oluwabunmi Adejumo, PhD (Obafemi Awolowo University); Uchenna Efobi, PhD (University of Kent); Toyin Olowogbon, PhD (Federal University Oye); and Prof. Akintoye Adejumo (Obafemi Awolowo University) 

Country: Nigeria 

Implementation Partners: Usman Dan Fodio University and YABO Microfinance Bank

Capital Journey Phase I: Mapping BRAC’s Capital Enablers

Phase I of the Capital Journey study examined whether BRAC’s program records can be linked into a longitudinal account of how women access and use capital. Drawing on key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and an assessment of roughly 145,000 datapoints across five branches, it found that inconsistent identifiers and late digitisation make cross-program linkage largely infeasible, with match rates below 4%. The study recommends a universal beneficiary identifier, a data-sharing protocol, and branch-level digitization as preconditions for longitudinal analysis.

Researchers: BRAC Central Data Unit and LightCastle Partners

Partners: BRAC; Gates Foundation

Timeline: 2024–2025

Status: Completed

Contact: Raisa Adiba; raisa.adiba@bracu.ac.bd

Context

Over more than two decades, BRAC has accumulated an extraordinary volume of beneficiary records across microfinance, ultra-poor graduation, health, education, and urban development. In principle, these records describe the same women moving between services over time, a ready-made longitudinal account of how poor households acquire, use, and lose access to capital. In practice, each program maintains its own identifiers, storage conventions, and digitization timelines, and much of the older record base remains on paper at branch level. Phase I of the Capital Journey study was commissioned to establish how much of that latent longitudinal value can actually be recovered from the data as it currently exists, and what would be required to unlock the rest.

Objectives

The study set out to determine the feasibility of using BRAC’s longitudinal programme data to reconstruct women’s capital journeys across services. It further sought to assess the quality, completeness, and accessibility of the records held at branch level, to identify the ecosystem factors that enable or obstruct women’s access to capital along those journeys, and to prescribe the data structures and governance arrangements BRAC would need to put in place for such analysis to become possible. The findings were also intended to inform the design of a subsequent phase of work.

Methodology

The study used a mixed-methods design across five branches selected for geographic and climatic contrast: Chowdhury Bazar (Habiganj), Seroil Colony (Rajshahi), Chilmari (Kurigram), Mongla (Bagerhat), and Gulshan (Dhaka). Fieldwork comprised 35 key informant interviews with program managers, branch managers, and field officers, five focus group discussions with microfinance beneficiaries, and on-site inspection of branch data repositories. On the quantitative side, roughly 145,000 datapoints across four programmes were assessed for completeness, consistency, and accessibility. Record-linkage exercises were then run between microfinance records and those of the ultra-poor graduation, health, education, urban development, and integrated development programmes, using national ID and contact number as candidate keys. Qualitative and quantitative evidence were read together to explain why observed linkage rates were so low.

Findings and Recommendations

Cross-programme linkage proved largely infeasible with current data. Fewer than 2% of ultra-poor graduation beneficiaries could be matched to microfinance records using national ID, and match rates across all programme pairs remained under 4%. Restricting to female beneficiaries with a recorded national ID raised the rate only to 3.31%, or 658 individuals. Microfinance, ultra-poor graduation, and urban development records were judged usable; health, education, and integrated development data only partially so; and no digitised climate change programme data was available. Digitisation at most branches began only in 2023, leaving earlier years on paper.

The study recommends five preconditions for longitudinal analysis: a data-sharing protocol aligned with GDPR, ISO, and FAIR principles; a universal beneficiary identifier with national ID cross-verification; a digital data topsheet tied to branch manager performance targets; a shift from vendor-led delivery to co-creation with BRAC’s central data teams; and revised officer targets to unblock progression from Dabi to Progoti. These findings shaped Phase II.

General Equilibrium Effects of the Ultra-Poor Graduation Programme: A Scoping Study

When an anti-poverty programme reaches a whole locality rather than a handful of households, it changes the wages, rents, and prices that everyone faces. This five-month scoping study builds the design and evidence base for a randomized saturation trial of the market-wide effects of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation programme in rural Bangladesh. 

Researchers: Munshi Sulaiman, PhD; Imran Matin, PhD; Narayan Das, PhD; Oriana Bandiera, PhD; Robin Burgess, PhD; and Stefano Caria, PhD

Partners: BRAC Bangladesh (Ultra-Poor Graduation Programme); BRAC USA; STICERD, London School of Economics; and GiveWell

Timeline: July–November 2026

Status: Ongoing

Contact: Raisa Adiba; raisa.adiba@bracu.ac.bd

Context

BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) programme is among the world’s most rigorously evaluated poverty interventions, with sustained welfare gains documented for direct beneficiaries in Bangladesh and across sub-Saharan Africa. Yet almost all of this evidence stops at the household boundary. When a graduation programme operates at scale, it also moves the markets around it: agricultural day-labor wages, land rental and tenancy terms, and prices along local commodity value chains. Recent work on large-scale cash transfers in Kenya found a substantial local fiscal multiplier, as demand-side expansion raised incomes for non-recipients. Whether an asset-based intervention such as UPG produces similar spillovers in the densely populated, agrarian economy of rural Bangladesh remains unknown, leaving its welfare footprint and cost-effectiveness at scale incompletely understood.

Objectives

The scoping study aims to synthesize evidence on the market-level effects of graduation-type programmes; to characterize labor, land, and commodity market conditions across contrasting agro-ecological settings; to identify localities with sufficient ultra-poor density to support a saturation design; to develop an operationally feasible randomized saturation design for the next phase of work. 

Methodology

The study will run three parallel workstreams. The first analyses 2022 population and housing census microdata matched to small area poverty estimates, alongside upazila land office records and BRAC’s administrative coverage data, to identify unions with sufficient ultra-poor density to sustain a saturation design. The second collects primary scoping data across roughly 400 unions in four agro-ecological zones, namely the drought-prone Barind tract, saline-affected coastal areas, riverine chars, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, covering casual labor market structure and prevailing wage rates, savings and credit portfolios, commodity value chains, land tenancy and rental arrangements, and the availability of administrative records for tracking. The third translates these inputs into the trial design itself: a union-level randomization into high-saturation, low-saturation, and pure control arms, with villages and households randomized within, together with cluster matching protocols, power calculations, and a cost model.

Findings and Recommendations

Forthcoming.

Women’s Initiative for Socioeconomic Empowerment (WISE): Direct and Spillover Effects of Increasing Women’s Access to Digital Workfare Payments

Motivation

Many women in rural India have bank accounts but still face barriers to accessing digital financial services and participating in the workforce. As government welfare programs like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), [1] increasingly rely on digital payment infrastructure, many women remain excluded due to low digital literacy, limited mobility, weak access to mobile phones and the internet, and difficulties navigating Aadhaar-bank-MGNREGS linkage processes. This is especially true for “inactive” women workers, who have not recently participated in MGNREGS and often struggle to access wages and employment opportunities despite a strong demand for work.

MGNREGS (now VBGRAMG), is one of India’s largest public employment programs and an important source of income for low-income rural women. However, the shift toward Aadhaar-Based Payment Systems (ABPS) risks deepening exclusion for women who are unable to complete required digital linkages. In partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), the Madhya Pradesh State Employment Guarantee Council (MPSEGC),  and PRADAN, this RCT study examines whether improving women’s access to digital wage payments and providing group-based training can increase women’s economic participation, financial inclusion, and empowerment.

Objective

The RCT has two core treatment arms: Government-led efforts to “link” women workers to the MGNREGS digital payments system and a group-based training to equip women to access MGNREGS work, covering information on the payments progress and how to request work from local leaders, who serve as program gatekeepers. Our digitally-enabled training intervention also encourages collective action by women, building on earlier work by Field et al. (2016), which highlighted the potential value of group-based training and peer support when restrictive gender norms constrain women’s behaviours. Our research will enroll 6265 communities (Gram Panchayats) in 90 blocks in Madhya Pradesh, home to approximately 1.17 million women. We also randomly vary the intensity of community-wide training coverage and training delivery models (NGO vs. Government led), allowing us to assess effects on directly treated women, untreated women, and local markets and villages. Our study directly contributes to WEE-DiFine’s research priorities by testing scalable mechanisms that expand women’s access to and use of digital financial services (DFS) and evaluating the resulting effects on empowerment, safety, and gender norms within a large-scale government program.

Proposed Impact

The study will generate rigorous evidence on how digital public payment systems can improve women’s economic empowerment at scale. Findings will help policymakers identify effective and scalable strategies to expand women’s access to digital financial services, public employment, and income control through large government programs such as MGNREGS/VBGRAMG.

The research will also provide insights into how group-based support, peer networks, and collective action influence women’s agency, labor market participation, and gender norms. By examining both direct and spillover effects, the study contributes to a broader understanding of how digital financial inclusion shapes women’s economic opportunities and social outcomes. The findings are expected to directly inform policy discussions within the Ministry of Rural Development and the Madhya Pradesh government on strengthening women’s participation in digitally enabled welfare systems.

If successful, the interventions could be scaled across Madhya Pradesh and adapted for implementation in other Indian states, contributing to more inclusive and gender-responsive digital public infrastructure.

[1] This is currently transitioning to Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (VBGRAMG) 

Photo by Amol Sonar on Unsplash

Overview

Status: Ongoing

Associated Institute: Inclusion Economics India Centre at Institute of Financial Management and Research (IFMR)

Associated Investigators: Rohini Pande (Yale University and Yale Inclusion Economics); Simone Schaner (University of Southern California); Charity Troyer Moore, (Ohio State University); Erica Field (Duke University); Lisa Ho (Columbia University); and Urmi Bhattacharya (Inclusion Economics India Centre at IFMR)

Country: India

Implementation Partners: Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)

WEE-DiFine thematic area(s): access to finance; safety; bargaining power; transaction costs; behavioral influence; mobility

Proof-of-Concept Study: Structural Design and Electrical Configuration of the Agrivoltaic System

The agrivoltaic (AgPV) project is developed as a proof-of-concept to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of dual land use combining solar energy generation and agricultural production. It follows phased engineering workflow, both structural and electrical, covering site assessment, design, simulation, construction, etc. The framework was structured around three land-use systems: solar-only, agriculture-only, and AgPV design, to compare energy yield, agricultural productivity, and total system costs/revenue to determine whether integrated land use provides higher economic returns than separate single-use systems.

Researchers: Rohini Kamal, PhD; Mohammad Tofail Bin Azam; Mohammad Ifaz Uddin, and Sajjad Hossain 

Partner: Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF), BRAC University Department of EEE

Timeline: 2025–2027

Status: Ongoing 

Contact: Rohini Kamal, PhD; rohini.kamal@bracu.ac.bd 

Context 

The successful implementation of the agrivoltaic system depends on context-specific structural and electrical designs that can balance energy generation, agricultural productivity, and system safety under local environmental conditions. Despite growing global adoption, empirical evidence on agrivoltaic system design and performance in Bangladesh remains limited. In particular, there is a lack of locally validated engineering approaches regarding panel layout, structural configuration, foundation design, and electrical system integration. To address this gap, BIGD, along with its implementation partners, initiated a proof-of-concept agrivoltaic pilot to develop and evaluate engineering designs suitable for Bangladeshi conditions. The study compares alternative agrivoltaic configurations and conventional land-use systems to assess their technical feasibility and support future agrivoltaic deployment in Bangladesh.

Objectives 

  • To optimize the electrical design of the agrivoltaic system through site-specific solar resource assessment, shading analysis, panel orientation, tilt angle selection, and system sizing.
  • To develop and compare alternative agrivoltaic system configurations to identify the most suitable design for local conditions.
  • To design a structurally safe and cost-effective system in compliance with the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC), ensuring long-term structural reliability.
  • To evaluate the technical feasibility and operational performance of the system through continuous monitoring of energy generation, environmental conditions, and system reliability.

Methodology

EEE, BRAC University conducted solar irradiation analysis, sun-path assessment, and shadow simulations to optimize panel orientation and row spacing. Using these, the team developed the layout design and carried out inverter sizing, grounding design, and overall system integration using 625W photovoltaic (PV) modules. A weather station was also installed for continuous performance monitoring. Site selection was informed by soil testing conducted by the Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) to assess bearing capacity, and structural design and analysis were carried out under BNBC 2020. The structure consists of galvanized steel frames on reinforced cement concrete (RCC) footings, modelled in STAAD.Pro under dead, live, wind, and seismic loads, with foundation and member sizes optimized for soil conditions, safety, and cost. An automated sprinkler-based cleaning system was also integrated. Construction included installation of structures, PV modules, inverters, irrigation, and monitoring systems, alongside low-carbon design measures such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) in rice cultivation and the future use of alternative binding materials to replace cement and concrete blocks to reduce carbon emissions.

Two upcoming technical reports/publications on

  • EEE report on Design, Analysis and Implementation Progress of the Agrivoltaic Pilot Project in Bangladesh
  • Structural Analysis and Design of the Agrivoltaic Pilot Project

 

 

Crop Yield Performance Under Agrivoltaics: Evidence From a Comparison With Open-Field Cultivation

The study examines the performance of crop growth, crop health and yield difference of different crops under solar panel with consideration of microclimatic condition. By examining the output difference, this impact evaluation study is looking into the sustainability measures to be taken to ensure food security along with sufficient level of energy generation while reducing carbon emissions.  

Researchers: Rohini Kamal, PhD; Mohammad Ifaz Uddin; and Arghya Bhuiyan 

Field Researcher: Mehedi Hasan Bappy 

Partner: Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF) 

Timeline: 2025–2027 

Status: Ongoing 

Contact: Rohini Kamal, PhD; rohini.kamal@bracu.ac.bd 

Context 

Being an agrarian economy, Bangladesh is still facing food insecurity coupled with agricultural land depletion. Government policy therefore emphasizes protecting agricultural land to sustain food production and supply. However, climate change, fossil fuel dependence, and resource depletion show that using land solely for agriculture, solar energy, or other economic activities cannot ensure long-term sustainability. Agri-photovoltaics offers a modern integrated approach by combining crop cultivation with solar power generation on the same land. Shade-tolerant crops are especially suitable, while sun-loving crops may also be cultivated under controlled conditions if energy gains compensate for yield losses. The study is the first in Bangladesh to assess its potential.

Objectives 

The study aims to assess crop yield differences under agrivoltaics conditions compared with conventional open-field cultivation. Specifically, it examines whether controlled agrivoltaics environments can support the cultivation of both food and non-food crops while maintaining sustainable yield levels. The study also seeks to evaluate how crop growth, crop health, and yield-related parameters vary under solar panel structures in comparison with open-field conditions. In doing so, it intends to generate evidence on the suitability of agrivoltaics as a sustainable land-use approach that can balance agricultural production, renewable energy generation, and climate-resilient farming practices. 

Methodology 

The study will follow a comparative impact evaluation approach to assess crop performance under agrivoltaics and conventional open-field cultivation. Selected crops will be cultivated in both environments, and their growth and yield performance will be monitored throughout the production cycle. Data will be collected on crop growth indicators, crop health conditions, and yield-related parameters, including plant height, tiller number, panicle formation, grain production, and other crop-specific yield components. Microclimatic variables such as temperature, humidity, light intensity, and soil moisture will also be observed to understand how solar panel shading influences crop performance. The study will compare results between agrivoltaics plots and open-field plots to identify yield differences and crop suitability. In addition, field observations and regular monitoring will be conducted to assess plant stress, pest incidence, and overall crop conditions. The findings will help evaluate whether agrivoltaics can support sustainable crop production while contributing to renewable energy generation. 

Findings and Recommendations 

Forthcoming.   

Childcare Support, Maternal Distress, and Sleep Quality in Low-Income Urban Bangladesh

Childcare constraints are an underexamined dimension of women’s well-being in rapidly urbanizing low-income settings. This cross-sectional mixed-methods study examines how the availability and type of household childcare support shape maternal psychological distress and sleep quality among low-income mothers of young children in urban Bangladesh, drawing on survey data from 3,529 mothers across Dhaka, Gazipur, Tongi, and Savar alongside sixteen in-depth qualitative interviews.

Researchers: Aloka Ahmed Oishy; Ishraq Sabbir Nirjhor; Raisa Adiba; and Shaila Ahmed, PhD

Partners: Gates Foundation (GF)

Timeline: 2023–2026

Status: Ongoing

Contact: Raisa Adiba; raisa.adiba@bracu.ac.bd

Context

Childcare access in urban low-income households of Bangladesh is severely limited, constraining women’s economic participation and concentrating caregiving responsibilities on mothers. Rapid urban migration, cramped housing, and the transient nature of city livelihoods leave many families without the extended-kin networks that traditionally provided care, while affordable formal services remain scarce and unevenly distributed. The consequences of this care burden for maternal psychological health and sleep are plausible but rarely measured directly. Although childcare constraints are widely discussed in relation to employment, few studies link household childcare availability to mothers’ mental well-being and rest in low-income settings. This study addresses that gap by examining how childcare support shapes maternal distress and sleep quality.

Objectives

This study aims to understand how household childcare arrangements relate to the mental well-being of mothers in low-income urban Bangladesh. It seeks to estimate the association between the availability of childcare support and maternal psychological distress, and to examine how the source of that support, whether provided within the household or arranged outside it, relates to mothers’ distress levels and sleep quality. The study further aims to surface the everyday mechanisms through which childcare constraints affect mothers’ rest and emotional health, drawing on their own accounts to interpret the quantitative patterns.

Methodology

This study uses a cross-sectional, mixed-methods design that combines a large household survey with a smaller set of in-depth interviews. The survey covers 3,529 low-income mothers, each with at least one child under eight years of age, living across four urban areas: Dhaka, Gazipur, Tongi, and Savar. Mothers’ psychological distress is captured using the widely used Kessler-10 scale, alongside their own reports of sleep quality and how often they wake during the night. The quantitative analysis estimates how childcare support relates to distress and sleep while accounting for differences between locations and the clustered structure of the sample. To understand the reasons behind these patterns, sixteen in-depth interviews were analyzed thematically, allowing mothers’ own explanations of how caregiving shapes their rest and emotional health to inform the interpretation.

Findings and Recommendations

Forthcoming.

Motherhood, Labor Markets, and Home-Based Childcare Provision: Reflections From a Pilot Project in Urban Bangladesh

Market-oriented approaches to childcare risk overlooking the relational nature of care work. Drawing on survey and qualitative interview data from low-income urban Bangladesh, this mixed-methods study foregrounds how mothers weigh trust, proximity, moral values, and emotional safety when deciding who cares for their children, and how these priorities shape their willingness to use home-based childcare services and to pursue paid work.

Researchers: Kate Brockie; Tasnim Tabassum Diana; Taslima Akhter, Shamshad Navia Novelly, Farhana Kabir; Aloka Ahmed Oishy; Raisa Adiba; Shaila Ahmed, PhD; Munshi Sulaiman, PhD; and Naila Kabeer

Partners: Gates Foundation (GF)

Timeline: 2023–2026

Status: Ongoing

Contact: Raisa Adiba; raisa.adiba@bracu.ac.bd

Context

The link between women’s labour force participation and access to affordable, quality childcare has become a central concern in development discourse across the low-income urban Global South, where caregiving falls disproportionately on women and formal childcare remains limited or unreliable. In Bangladesh, female labour force participation stands at 44.2 percent against 80.9 percent for men, a gap shaped in large part by the invisible burden of unpaid childcare. In urban slums dominated by nuclear households, women often lack kinship-based support and have few viable options to balance work and care. This study draws on a larger BRAC evaluation testing a decentralized, home-based childcare model designed to address the trust and access barriers institutional daycare cannot.

Objectives

This study aims to understand how mothers in low-income urban Bangladesh make decisions about paid work and childcare, and what they value most when entrusting their children to others. It seeks to identify the qualities—such as trust, proximity, moral values, and emotional safety—that shape mothers’ choices between caring for children themselves and using external providers. The study also aims to learn how mothers’ aspirations for employment interact with available care options, and to draw out what these preferences imply for designing a viable, care-centered, home-based childcare model that families would actually use and trust.

Methodology

This study uses a mixed-methods design that pairs a large survey with later qualitative fieldwork. The survey reached 3,529 mothers of children under eight and was carried out between May and June 2024 in four urban areas: Dhaka, Gazipur, Tongi, and Savar. After the survey, BRAC introduced a home-based childcare model and tested two ways of encouraging take-up—cash support given with conditions attached and cash support given without conditions—assigning families to these options at random over a six-month period. The qualitative phase, conducted between February and March 2025, drew on detailed interviews with twelve carefully chosen mothers in Dhaka, where uptake of the service was highest, and Tongi, where it was lowest, with an even balance of mothers who used the service and those who did not. These were complemented by interviews with BRAC’s female field supervisors to capture frontline perspectives.

Findings and Recommendations

Forthcoming.

Barriers to Women’s Political Participation, Representation and Leadership in Bangladesh

Despite gradual increases in women’s political representation at local and national levels in Bangladesh, persistent barriers — including party dynamics, financial constraints, and violence against women in politics (VAWP) — continue to limit meaningful participation and leadership. This study examines how laws, policies, and political processes shape these opportunities and constraints, drawing on regional consultations and in-depth interviews with women across diverse backgrounds. The findings will raise stakeholder awareness and inform a national VAWP survey ahead of the upcoming elections.

Researchers: Maheen Sultan; Shahida I. Khandaker; Marufa Akter; and Iffat Jahan Antara

Partner: UN Women and UN Electoral Support Programme

Timeline: 2025–2026

Status: Ongoing

Contact: Maheen Sultan; maheen.sultan@bracu.ac.bd

Context

Women’s political representation is recognised by the Bangladesh Government, international agencies, and global conventions as essential for transformative gender equality. However, women’s participation remains limited despite gradual increases at both local and national levels. Legislative provisions have enabled women’s election to reserved seats across local government bodies and 50 reserved seats in the national parliament, with a slow rise in women contesting general seats. Recent discussions in the National Consensus Commission resulted in only minimal agreement on women’s nominations, an outcome contested by women’s groups. Persistent barriers — including limited financial access, male-dominated party cultures, gender stereotypes, and widespread experiences or fear of harassment, abuse, and violence both offline and online — continue to restrict women’s leadership and require deeper exploration.

Objectives

The study aims to examine how laws, policies, and political processes shape opportunities and constraints for women’s political participation and leadership in Bangladesh, including how party and institutional mechanisms influence their access to leadership and how violence against women in politics (VAWP) affects their willingness to participate. It further seeks to explore how these dynamics vary across regions and identities, raise stakeholder awareness, and inform a national VAWP survey ahead of the upcoming elections.

Methodology

The study will draw on eight regional consultations across all divisions of Bangladesh, providing a broad national picture of the barriers and enablers of women’s political participation. These will be complemented by 40 in-depth interviews with women who have contested elections, aspire to enter politics, or have previously held any position in public office. An intersectional lens will be applied throughout, with representation ensured across diverse ethnic, religious, and age groups. The interviews will explore lived experiences of political engagement, incidents of VAWP, strategies for navigating political spaces, and consequences for well-being. Data will be analysed thematically to identify patterns across regions and identities, and ethical standards — including informed consent and confidentiality — will be strictly maintained throughout the research process.

Findings and Recommendations

Forthcoming.

Windows of Opportunity: One-Stop Shops as Intermediaries Between Digital States and Non-Digital Populations

One-stop shops have emerged as critical intermediary institutions in digitising governance systems, bridging the gap between digital states and citizens who lack access to devices, connectivity, or digital skills. This study examines how these spaces — their organisational design and frontline workers — either enable inclusion or reproduce exclusion in access to digital public services. Drawing on qualitative, case-based methods including interviews with policymakers, service providers, and citizens, the research informs debates on Digital Public Infrastructure and equitable digital governance.

Researchers: Miguel Loureiro; Syeda Salina Aziz; Asif M. Shahan, PhD; Taslima Aktar; Raihan Ahamed; and Sadman Mujtoba Rafid

Partner: IDS

Timeline: 2025–2026

Status: Ongoing

Contact: Taslima Aktar, Senior Research Associate; taslima.41@bracu.ac.bd

Context

The study is situated within broader global and national transitions toward digital governance, with particular attention to contexts such as Digital Bangladesh. While digitalisation promises efficiency and transparency, it also risks excluding ‘analog citizens’ who lack access to devices, connectivity, or digital skills — leaving them unable to access public services they are entitled to. One-stop shops emerge as critical interfaces within Digital Public Infrastructure, mediating between state systems and citizens who cannot navigate digital channels independently. Understanding their role — and the discretion exercised by the frontline workers staffing them — is essential for assessing whether digitalisation advances inclusive governance or deepens existing inequalities.

Objectives

This study aims to examine how one-stop shops function as intermediary institutions between digital states and digitally marginalised citizens, analysing how their organisational design and frontline workers either enable or reproduce exclusion in accessing digital public services. It seeks to understand the mediating role of these spaces within Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and assess whether digitalisation advances inclusive governance or deepens existing inequalities. The findings will contribute to broader debates on state–citizen interaction and inform policy recommendations for more equitable digital governance systems.

Methodology

This study employs a qualitative, case-based research methodology to examine how one-stop shops function as intermediary institutions between digital states and non-digital or digitally marginalised populations. Data will be collected through semi-structured key informant interviews with policymakers and system designers, in-depth interviews with frontline service providers, and interviews with citizens who rely on one-stop shops to access digital public services, complemented by a review of relevant policy and operational documents. A purposive sampling strategy is used to select diverse service sites and participants, and the data are analysed using thematic analysis to identify patterns related to mediation, discretion, inclusion, and exclusion within digital governance systems. Ethical standards, including informed consent and confidentiality, are strictly maintained throughout the research process.

Findings and Recommendations

Forthcoming.