BRAC Institute of Governance and Development - BIGD

25/09/2026

We are excited to share that "Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the Bangladesh Paradox" (LSE Press, 2024) by Professor Naila Kabeer (Professorial Fellow, BIGD; Emeritus Professor, LSE) has won the 2026 ACLS Open Access Book Prize in the Political Science category.

The book explores how Bangladesh achieved unexpected social progress in recent decades, particularly for women, and shows how that change was driven by the everyday agency of ordinary, often very poor, women.

About the award
The ACLS Open Access Book Prize and Arcadia Open Access Publishing Award, a joint initiative of the American Council of Learned Societies and Arcadia, recognize, respectively, the authors and publishers of exceptional, innovative, and open-access books.

📖 Read the book for free through the first link in the comments.

24/09/2026

How can financial products better respond to the liquidity needs and risks women face beyond access to credit?

Join us at Financial Inclusion Week 2026 for Beyond Credit: Rethinking Liquidity and Risk for Women, a virtual conversation bringing together researchers and practitioners working across financial inclusion and women’s economic empowerment.

The session will take place on 7 October 2026, from 10:00–10:45 PM Bangladesh time (16:00–16:45 UTC).

Register link in the first comment. 👇

22/09/2026

📢 The May–August 2026 edition of our quarterly newsletter is out!

This issue of BIGD Works features the inaugural State and Future of Democracy in Bangladesh conference, which also marked the launch of our flagship State of Governance in Bangladesh 2026 report.

This issue also captures other milestones from this quarter:
● A national dissemination event organized with UN Women
● A high-level roundtable co-organized with the International Growth Centre (IGC)
● The new cohort of the Young Researchers' Fellowship (YRF) program
● The new Digital Intelligence and Implementation Research (DIIR) unit
● A new Tong Alaap podcast episode on media coverage of sexual violence and its effects on rural women's employment in Bangladesh
● A selection of our latest publications

Read our newsletter to find out more. Link in the comments.👇
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Photo credit: Md. Morshed Khandokar Joy

20/09/2026

📢 New Recruitment Announcement!

BIGD is hiring a Research Fellow to support the design, implementation, and management of high-quality research programs on economics, gender and politics, and other development issues.

In this mid-senior role, the Research Fellow will work under the guidance of the Cluster Lead or Research Director and help lead research teams. We are looking for someone with a PhD in political science, public administration, public policy, economics, development studies, sociology, international relations, or a closely related discipline. Candidates must have at least five years of post-PhD experience in policy-oriented research (or seven years of progressively responsible research experience overall), along with experience managing applied research projects and supervising teams. Proficiency in statistical software such as Stata, R, SPSS, or Python is also required.

🗓️ Application Deadline: 25 September 2026

Application link in the comments. 👇

19/09/2026

📈 Admissions Open for 2026 | Post Graduate Diploma in Knitwear Industry Management (PGD-KIM) at BIGD, BRAC University

PGD-KIM is a nine-month, fully-funded program built for ambitious RMG professionals offered by the Executive Development Centre (EDC) at BIGD, with support from SICIP, Finance Division, Ministry of Finance.

📅 Application Deadline: 11 October 2026
📝 Admission Test: 16 October 2026 at 10.00 AM

Application link in first comment. 👇

17/09/2026

Can a program designed for the ultra-poor create economic benefits for an entire village?

At বিআইজিডি গবেষণার খোঁজখবর on 8 September 2026, Sreevidya Ayyar, PhD Candidate in Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), presented “Trickle-Up: Village-Wide Effects of Targeting the Ultra-Poor.”

Using evidence from BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation (UPG) program across 1,309 villages in Bangladesh, the study looks beyond the direct impact on program beneficiaries to examine how social assistance can reshape local economies. The findings point to substantial wealth gains among non-beneficiary households, particularly those who are richer and own land, suggesting that the effects of targeting the ultra-poor can extend well beyond those who receive the support.

15/09/2026

Democracy is shaped not only by institutions, but by the people who engage with them.

This year’s International Day of Democracy, under the theme “Raising Hands and Voices | Fostering Agency and Ownership through Deliberative Democracy,” highlights the importance of participation and ownership in shaping democratic futures.

For Bangladesh, these questions are particularly significant amid an ongoing democratic transition. BIGD’s "State of Governance in Bangladesh 2026—Rupture, Reform, and Reimagining Democracy: Navigating the Agony of Transition" traces the aspirations that emerged from the July 2024 Uprising, the challenges that shaped the transition that followed, and the emergence of new political and civil society actors. It argues that a liberal democratic space remains viable, but requires continued civic vigilance and active renewal of democratic norms.

Read the State of Governance in Bangladesh 2026 Report and reflect on what it takes to make democratic participation meaningful. Link in the comments below. 👇

14/09/2026

📢 নিয়োগ বিজ্ঞপ্তি

বিআইজিডি খানা পর্যায়ে তথ্য সংগ্রহ ও নিয়মিত প্রাথমিক স্বাস্থ্য পরীক্ষা পরিচালনার জন্য ৫ (পাঁচ) জন নারী ফিল্ড রিসার্চার (নার্স) নিয়োগ দেবে।

নির্বাচিত প্রার্থীরা প্রদত্ত ট্যাবলেট/স্মার্টফোনে SurveyCTO ব্যবহার করে বাড়ি বাড়ি গিয়ে তথ্য সংগ্রহ করবেন এবং রক্তচাপ, পালস, ওজন ও উচ্চতাসহ নিয়মিত প্রাথমিক স্বাস্থ্য পরীক্ষা পরিচালনা করবেন। গবেষণায় Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)-এর মতো সংবেদনশীল বিষয় অন্তর্ভুক্ত থাকায় উত্তরদাতার গোপনীয়তা ও মর্যাদা বজায় রেখে ধৈর্য ও সহানুভূতির সঙ্গে কাজ করতে সক্ষম প্রার্থী প্রয়োজন।

আবেদনকারী প্রার্থীদের Diploma in Nursing Science and Midwifery অথবা BSc in Nursing ডিগ্রি ও BNMC-এর বৈধ রেজিস্ট্রেশন থাকতে হবে। প্রার্থীদের ভাইটাল সাইন পরিমাপে ন্যূনতম ১–২ বছরের ক্লিনিক্যাল বা মাঠপর্যায়ের অভিজ্ঞতা থাকতে এবং জরিপভিত্তিক তথ্য সংগ্রহের পূর্ব অভিজ্ঞতা থাকতে হবে। শুধুমাত্র নারী প্রার্থীরা আবেদনের জন্য যোগ্য।

📍 কর্মস্থল: নওগাঁ ও জয়পুরহাট জেলা
🗓️ আবেদনের শেষ তারিখ: ৩০ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০২৬
💼 চাকরির ধরন: চুক্তিভিত্তিক (দৈনিক মজুরি)

আবেদনের লিংক 👇

বিআইজিডি খানা পর্যায়ে তথ্য সংগ্রহ ও নিয়মিত প্রাথমিক স্বাস্থ্য পরীক্ষা পরিচালনার জন্য ৫ (পাঁচ) জন নারী ফিল্ড রি.....

12/09/2026

📢 New Op-ed Alert!

Can Bangladesh expand solar power without sacrificing agricultural land, livelihoods, and food security?

In a new The Daily Star op-ed, BIGD Research Fellow Dr. Rohini Kamal argues that Bangladesh’s renewable transition must move beyond conventional land acquisition for solar projects, which can deepen land conflicts and threaten livelihoods.

Drawing on BIGD’s work on agrivoltaics, she highlights land-sharing as a way to expand solar while preserving agriculture, food security, and climate resilience.

Read the full op-ed via the link in the first comment below. 👇

📷 Emdadul Islam Bitu for the H&M Foundation

09/09/2026

🔊 New Tong Alaap episode out now! 🎙️

How does the fear and stigma of sexual violence affect women's employment in rural Bangladesh?

In this episode of Tong Alaap, the first in our audio podcast series, Dr. Imran Matin (Executive Director, BIGD) speaks with Dr. Adnan M. S. Fakir (Associate Professor, University of Sussex) about how the nature of local media coverage of sexual violence affects women's employment in rural Bangladesh.

Follow the link in the first comment to watch the full episode. 👇